A Mormon Girl Among Jews

I roomed with a Mormon in college. We had a great friendship. Neither of us ever gave the other offence over the religion thing. I learned a lot, he learned a lot.

Best wishes to you in your journey.

Wonderful writing. A pleasure – truly – to read.

My best friend in the sixth grade was Mormon. I saw the Hill Cumorah Pageant when I was 11. I knew my ancestors came from Chicago but before that Belarus, not Israel. I’m still confused about how the Israelites made it from Jerusalem to Salt Lake, but you wrote a really nice essay.

Cine Cafe in Gaslamp makes a great sandwich. Ate there three times over the past five days.

The Saga of Ancient Hebrew Explorers — Who Really DiscoveredAmerica?hope-of-israel.org/hebinusa.htm
I read it… kinda interesting. Truth? I don’t know.

It seems like Ms Brooks had an extraordinarily unusual childhood compared to most Mormons, or that she overemphasizes the “Mormonness” of it for effect- I have known many Mormons and talked about growing up, and none of their stories or consciousness seems so heavily flavored with mormon or pioneer themes, especially on weekdays or with friends. I think it’s true that most Mormons view Jews as God’s people, definitely in history and probably today, the same way many American Christians do, but beyond that young Ms Brooks seems to have been unusually preoccupied with their place in her belief system. I would love to read about her parents and what they were like religiously, I think that might explain alot.

Like contemporary Jews and Americans in general, Mormon kids spend far more hours during their childhood watching TV or playing pogs or pokemon or power rangers or whatever than they do in Church, and sadly many come away with only cursory understanding of their religion or the thought and heritage in it. Apart from premarital sex and drinking in high school, and maybe a likelihood of playing the piano, Mormon kids are on average virtually indistinguishable from their classmates growing up. In other words “raised on stories of the Israelites and end-times” isn’t remotely accurate in describing typical Mormon childhoods.

Using an exotic sounding ‘other’ to offset oneself from the norm or build interest in readers is an interesting literary technique, but hopefully in the process readers don’t confuse this author’s story with Mormon reality, or take her as representative of Mormons in general. Every person and every life is unique, but Ms Brook’s story may be few clicks beyond that, among Mormons or otherwise. An enjoyable read all the same.

Yeah, she seems to like to emphasize the “weirdness” factor a lot – it gets her the attention she seems to crave. Like you, my experience has not been nearly so exotic.

I used to be a Mormon and her description of that mindset in Mormonism especially during that time seems completely accurate.

wisdom?? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

EZRA

&

THE BLOODLINE

Racism was invented

By the Jewish Priest
Ezra!

Ezra & Hitler are in total
agreement

“it
was against the will of the Eternal Creator. . .Nations that make mongrels of
their people or allow their people to be turned into mongrels sin against the
Will of Eternal Providence.”

Mein Kampf, p. 186 .
. . p.162

The Book of Ezra is the Mein Kampf of the
Bible

In 587 B.C. Jerusalem was conquered by the Babylonians.
The town and the Temple
were razed to the ground and the Jewish people were exiled to the land of their
captors. But fifty years later Cyrus, King of Persia, conquered the conquerors
and established his own rule in Babylon.
He was well-disposed toward the Jewish people living there and issued an edict
allowing them to return to their own country. But not everyone wanted to go.

Although the siege of Jerusalem had been brutal,
once the people were settled in their land of exile, living conditions kept
improving. Ultimately, they were given the opportunity to become contributing
members of the Empire and encouraged to retain their own Jewish culture. By the
time Cyrus came to power, the majority of Jewish people did not want to
exchange a prosperous lifestyle for the uncertainty of returning to a country
that had been lying in ruins for half a century. But they were quite generous
in their financial and moral support of those who were willing to go back and
resettle their homeland.

When the first group of exiles
arrived back in Jerusalem,
circa 537 B.C., they found things were even worse than expected. The
countryside was desolate and rebuilding loomed as a monumental task. And other
problems faced the returnees. They had
come back ready to reclaim Jerusalem
and institute their own agenda. But
when they arrived they found that the ruins of the city were inhabited by the
descendants of poor peasants who had hidden out in the hills during the
Babylonian siege. They had escaped capture while the wealthy merchants,
landowners and priests who had substantial lands and other holdings, had been
rounded up and deported by their conquerors.

During the years of Exile, the peasants left behind had
made a life for themselves that centered around Jerusalem. They built homes for their
families and for many years had eked out a living in the barren countryside.
And during those years, the peasant survivors of the southern kingdom of Judah
had made common cause with those left alive after the takeover of the northern
kingdom of Israel.
[1] The bitter rivalry that had once divided the Jewish tribes had been healed
by the misfortunes they suffered and by the need for mutual aid if any of them
were going to survive.

But those who first returned from
Babylonian Exile, under the leadership of the High Priest Jeshua, had nothing
but contempt for those who had been left behind. They were considered ignorant;
the dregs of society, because without the leadership of the exiled priests and
scribes, they would not have properly fulfilled the religious rules and
regulations that were supposed to govern daily life. Therefore, they were
ritually unclean and were to be shunned. Of course, ritual impurity can be
remedied over a period of time by observing every jot and title of the Law but
this remedy was not applied to those who had been left behind. Their impurity stemmed from intermarriage
with mixed-race Jews. They had mixed the pure blood line of Abraham through
intermarriage with those of impure lineage and their offspring had been
contaminated.

So, although the resident
survivors around Jerusalem thanked God for the
return of the Exiles and wanted to help them rebuild the Temple site, they were not allowed to do so.
They presented themselves to Jeshua and other leaders saying

“We would like to build with you, for we
seek your God as you do and we have sacrificed to him since the time of
Esarhaddon” [2]

Their offer was refused, they
were unworthy; unclean. They reacted to this bigotry by harassing the returnees
as they undertook the reconstruction of the Temple.

But despite various problems, the
altar was reestablished and dedicated to God by a massive slaughter of animals
that provided a great feast for the people. In a total rejection of the oracles of the Latter Prophets,
who condemned killing animals in the name of God, one hundred bulls, 200 sheep, 400 lambs and 12 goats were
sacrificed and slaughtered on the altar site. [3]

In the generations that followed,
the descendants of those who returned from exile married, raised families and
centered their religious life around the altar at Jerusalem. And for those who married other
pure-blooded Jews there were no problems. However, some of them were marrying
those whose bloodlines had been
tainted by intermarriage. The religious leaders were very disturbed by this
trend, but were unable to do anything about it until a priest named Ezra
arrived in Jerusalem.

Ezra was a scribe as well as a
hereditary priest. As a scribe he was trained in the minutiae of religious law
and was qualified to translate and interpret those laws. In Babylon he had been the equivalent of a
minister for Jewish affairs at the Persian
Court and he used that position to secure letters
of authority from the king. He had himself sent to Jerusalem as a political and
religious leader, empowered to collect money, appoint judges and punish with
death, banishment, confiscation or imprisonment any Jew who did not obey the
laws he expounded.

Armed with that power, Ezra
arrived in Jerusalem almost a hundred years
after the first returnees had come back from Babylon and lost no time in instituting a
policy of ethnic cleansing. He, and other like-minded leaders, were determined
to get rid of those half-breeds who were the offspring of several generations
of unions between pure-blood Jews and the impure resident survivors.

In ancient Israel mixed marriages had been
allowed, but eventually they came into disfavor. Foreign women were blamed when
Jewish men failed to fulfill their religious obligations or fell into
idolatrous worship. The reaction against such marriages was an attempt to avoid
influences that might dilute or corrupt Judaism.

However, those foreigners who
were willing to renounce their pagan worship and follow all the requirements of
Jewish law and worship could be accepted into Judaism.

But Ezra introduced a new element
into his ban on intermarriage. The issue was not whether or not a spouse was
willing to worship the one God; beliefs did not matter. The issue was whether
or not a person was a pure-blooded Jew. For the first time, one group of people
viewed other groups as a contaminating influence – - a source of racial or
ethnic impurity – - regardless of how they lived or what they believed.

Ezra began his purge with a
lengthy speech-prayer that he gave in the Temple
court-yard. For the benefit of God and the assembled people, he gave a synopsis
of Israelite history and then told the Lord how angry He was going to be about
what was taking place in the present. Because the chosen people had
intermarried “with wicked people. . . You will be so angry that You will
destroy us completely and let no one survive.”[4] Not surprisingly, the
assembled men were terrified by the message that God would completely destroy
them if they did not cast off their contaminated wives and children. And this
time no one would escape; Abraham’s descendants would be wiped out.

This public speech-prayer,
threatening the extermination of an entire people, is universally praised by
religious spokesmen who echo the sentiments of the Inter-national Bible
Commentary:

“Ezra’s prayer is one of
the most moving of all the prayers which are recorded in Scripture.”[5]

Having established the threat of
annihilation, Ezra took the next step in implementing his purge. He issued a
proclamation demanding that all the Jewish people come to a meeting in Jerusalem. By now they
were scattered about the countryside and under ordinary circumstances many
would not have bothered to come. But this was not an ordinary situation; Ezra
used the extraordinary powers given to him by the Persian King to insure full
attendance.

“A proclamation was issued
throughout Judah and Jerusalem for all the exiles to assemble in Jerusalem. Anyone who
failed to appear within three days would forfeit all his property. . .and would
himself be expelled for the assembly.”[6]

Under the impetus of that threat,
all the Jewish males assembled in the Temple
square. There they were given details of the purge that was about to take
place. They were to turn in any members of their family who were tainted by
non-Jewish blood. They were informed that committees would be set up to
investigate all reports of the existence of such undesirables. There was no way
to avoid detection. There was no escape.

“Ezra the priest selected men
who were family heads, one from each family division and all of them designated
by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to investigate the
cases and by the first day of the first month they finished dealing with all
the men who had married foreign women.”[7]

It took three months for this
systematic purge to identify all the undesirables.

Not only did Ezra demand that the
foreign wives of Jewish men be cast off, he demanded that all the children of
such marriages be sent away. His edict was multi-generational. Children,
grandchildren and great grandchildren were to be cast off, never again to see
their families.[8] And wives, who had been with their husbands only a few
years, as well as those who had spent a lifetime with their mates, must also be
sent away. No one whose blood was contaminated with non-Jewish blood could
stay.

Of course, there was no place for
most of them to go. In that day and time women, children, the frail and the elderly,
had no way to sustain themselves. The homes from which they were banished were
the only homes they had known. They were sent out into a hostile environment
with no resources and few skills. For many of them, Ezra’s proclamation was a
death sentence.

The fate of women and children
without male protection was well-known among the Hebrew people. The Prophets
had repeatedly spoken of God’s concern for the oppression they suffered at the
hands of their own people and the oft-repeated Psalm 146, clearly told of the
Lord’s special concern for them;

“(God) protects the strangers
who live in our land and helps widows and orphans. . .he judges in favor of the
oppressed.” [9]

Ezra’s threats of retribution
forced the acceptance of his purge in spite of such demands for the care of the
powerless from both the psalmist and the prophets. Unless the assembled men did
what he demanded, they themselves would become outcasts; they would lose their
property and be banished from their homes. Faced with such drastic
consequences, it is not surprising that the Bible reports only four of the
assembled men protested Ezra’s demands.[10]

In Ezra’s time there was no
precedent for the kind of massive purge he wanted to institute and the men of
Israel may not have been aware of the extent of the suffering he was about to
unleash on so many people. But it is difficult to understand how Ezra’s policy
of ethnic cleansing can continue to receive religious endorsement in a
post-Holocaust world. Yet modern Christian scholars continue to endorse Ezra’s
purge because the scribe who wrote the biblical account claimed that “God’s
holy people had become contaminated” by marrying those whose bloodlines were not pure.”[11]

Consequently, modern commentators
have turned the victims, who were banished from their homes into the villains.
Ezra is applauded for his courage in demanding that the national and religious
purity of his people be maintained and those who lost everything in the purge
are seen as transgressors who had taken part in what the Evangelical Commentary
calls “the reprehensible sin of intermarriage.” [12]

And a Catholic scholar notes that
in Ezra’s “concern for racial purity” can be seen as a religious reason for the banishment of
undesirable children and wives. Another scholarly note says

“if (Ezra’s) reforming measures
seem severe, it is because his zeal was great, and the need to protect his
community, urgent.” [13]

Because all the protagonists in
the story of Ezra’s purge were male and because Bible scholars are usually
male, some people of faith have hoped that with the inclusion of female
exegetes a more comprehensive and compassionate understanding of the scriptures
might emerge. Unfortunately, the publication of The IVP Women’s Bible
Commentary has momentarily dashed those hopes. [14] Typical, is the comment
regarding Ezra and his emphasis on the need for a pure lineage:

“(Ezra’s) radical
emphasis on pure lineage. . .was timely and vital for the continuation of pure
religion.”

The commentator goes on to claim
that had he not instituted this ethnic cleansing, the Jewish people would have
become extinct.

Jewish apologists, as well as
their Christian counterparts, continue to insist that Ezra’s purge was an
absolute necessity. Rabbi Bernard M. Caspar, Dean, University of Jerusalem,
writes that

“the great problem which faced
Ezra upon his arrival in Jerusalem
was the danger of assimilation for the newly established community. During the
period of the Babylonian exile. . .a small nucleus of original Israelites from
the North of the country were now mixed with other (impure) colonists not only
in blood but also in cultural standards.” [15]

This contemporary support for the
divine right of a people to rid themselves of the culturally and ethnically
undesirable is not limited to religious spokesmen. A best selling, 20th century
author, supported Ezra’s concept, writing that

“The loss of racial purity will
wreck inner happiness for ever. It degrades men for all time to come. And the
physical and moral consequences can never be wiped out.”

He also said that the result of
mixing a pure-blooded people with those who are mixed, always results in the
degeneration of the pure-bred. And although he did not claim or affirm the
biblical claim that intermarriage with undesirables would ultimately lead to
the destruction of an entire people and their culture because

“it was against the will
of the Eternal Creator. . .Nations that make mongrels of their people or allow
their people to be turned into mongrels sin against the Will of Eternal
Providence.” [16]

His book became just as popular
as the Bible. By 1933 Mein Kampf was
alternating with the Bible for the number one spot on Germany’s best seller list. In his
book, Adolph Hitler did not introduce a new concept to the people of Germany;
he built on the foundation of the Judeo-Christian acceptance of Ezra’s purge as
a necessary and godly undertaking.

Although horrified by the
Holocaust, traditional Christians and Jews continue to endorse the purge that
was instituted by Ezra. And as long as they attribute that ancient, man-made
reign of terror to God, Western civilization is threatened by a foundational
belief that ethnic cleansing can be a godly undertaking, necessary for the
survival of a nation. Unless it is repudiated, this potentially destructive
belief, usually concealed beneath the surface of everyday life, will continue
to erupt in terrible ways that cannot be predicted.

[1] Survivors of the
Northern kingdom of Israel
came to be called Samaritans. Their kingdom fell to the Assyrians in 722 B.C.

[2] Ezra: 4:2 JB

[3] Ezra 6:16, 17 JB

[4] Ezra 9:14 TEV

[5] IBC p. 495

[6] Ezra 10:7, 8 NIV

[7] Ezra 10:16, 17
NIV

[8] The policy instituted by Ezra
was more severe and contradicted the Deuteronomic Law which said: “You shall
not detest an Edomite… you shall not detest an Egyptian…The sons of the third
generation who are born to them enter the assembly of the Lord.”
Deuteronomy. 23:8

[9] Psalm 146 is the first
of a third Hallel: Ps 146 – 150 (JB note p. 927

[10] Ezra 10:15 TEV

[11] Ezra 9:2
TEV

[12] Evangelical Commentary
on the Bible, p. 295

[13] Jerusalem Bible, Old Testament, p. 495

[14] InterVarsity Press,
2002

[15] An introduction to
Jewish Bible Commentary, Rabbi Bernard M. Caspar, Dean, The Hebrew University
Jerusalem. Publ: Thomas Yoseloff, NY © 1960 World Jewish Congress.

[16] Mein Kampf, p.
186 . . . p.162

“YOU TALKING TO MEEEEE”?

“When a grown-up man has intercourse with a little girl it is
nothing, for when the girl is less than this (three years and a day) it is as
if one put the finger into the eye.” The footnote says that as “tears come
to the eye again and again, so does virginity come back to the little girl
under three years.” Kethuboth 11b.

The Oedipus complex was the invention of Sigmund
Freud!

Freud originally discovered, in the treatments partially
conducted under hypnosis, that all his Jewish patients, both male and female,
had been abused children and recounted their histories in the language of
symptoms. After reporting his discovery in Jewish psychiatric circles, he found
himself completely shunned because none of his fellow Jewish psychiatrists was
prepared to share the findings with him. Freud could not bear the isolation for
long. A few months later, in 1897, he described his patients’ reports on sexual
abuse as sheer fantasies attributable to their instinctual wishes.

Freud’s father was a pedophile! In a letter to his
friend Wilhelm Fliess, he wrote:

“Unfortunately, my own father was one of these
perverts and is responsible for the hysteria of my brother (all of whose
symptoms are identifications) and those of several younger sisters. The
frequency of this circumstance often makes me wonder.”

Fliess’s son, Robert Fliess
exposed his own father as being another pedophile who had sexually abused him
when he was a child.

Hello Lynn,

Masonic Origin of the Joseph Smith’s “Doctrine of Cain”Joseph Smith’s father, Joseph Smith, Sr., was a Mason and his brother, Hyrum, who was 6-years his senior, had been indoctrinated into Freemasonry by their father. They proceeded to indoctrinate young Joseph in the rights of Freemasonry, even though he would not even become a Mason until 1842. During his indoctrination into Freemasonry by his father and brother in the 1820’s and 1830’s, Smith learned that Freemasonry was based on the Book of Enoch, that the Book of Enoch was of Jewish origin, that Freemasonry affirmed Jewish culture and that Freemasonry propagated the notion that there was but one God who had created everyone. Joseph Smith, who was pro-slavery, anti-Semitic and didn’t subscribe to the Freemason’s “One God” theory, didn’t take kindly to the fact that his father’s religion (Presbyterian), Freemasonry and the Judeo-Christian Laws of America all originated from Jewish culture. Then, in 1842, he specifically set out to steal Freemasonry, bastardize it and morph it into the rights, rituals and symbolism of his radical Mormon religion, which was racist, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian and anti-American. By 1844, after he had completed the process of bastardizing, distorting and deranging Freemasonry, the basic foundation of his Mormon religion was now complete, and bore no real resemblance to Freemasonry. So, Joseph Smith morphed the “one God and single bloodline” concept of Masonic lore and morphed it into his own racist “Doctrine of Cain” or “Two-Seeds Doctrine”, which is what white supremacist neo-Nazi “Identity Christians” call this Mormon doctrine today. Coincidentally, all of the most radical Identity Christian groups ever formed were formed by Mormons who had been indoctrinated into the theology of Joseph Smith since childhood.

Unfortunately you are wrong. It is uneducated people who set out to harm others armed with nothing but rumor and innuendo. I happen to know the LDS church’s doctrine and have done research on Joseph Smith and he did not preach hatred and antisemitic beliefs. Our religion teaches tolerance and understanding. We do good works in the community. If we were to “hate” the Jews as you claim we would not be friend of Israel and we are. You are part of the problem with the world and there is not much difference between your hateful preaching and the Evil Muslims. When you live free of the hatred in your heart you will see that the LDS religion is nothing like you have accused.

Flagging your posts as spam.

Flagged for fake Talmud quotes that are anti-semitic in nature.

Leonardo, you are living in fantasyland. The Ku Klux Klan HATED Mormons and even lynched Mormon missiobaries. The original Mormons were from New England and other non-slave owning parts of America, and the Church grew through thousands of convertsnfrom Britain and Scandinavia. There was no cultural affinity between Mormons and slave holders, one of the reasons the governor of Missoui in 1838 ordered all Mormons driven from the state orbexterminated! Once they had started their setylements in the West, the Mormobs sent missionaries to invite American Indians and Hawaiians to join the Church. The town of Laie, Brigham Young University Hawaii and the Polynesian Cuktural Center are a directndescendant ofnthose eforts. Larry Echohawk, until recently head of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and a Mormon General Authority, and a Pawnee Indian, us another. Mormons have gone out from Utah into over 150 nations to invite peopke into their Church, and it includes a million peopke in Mexico, a million in Brazil, a million thrpugh Asia and Polynesia, and 400,000 in African batiins like Nigeria and Uganda.

I wonder of Joanna is familiar with the story of how Senator Elbert Thomas of Utah, a Democrat and unuversity prifessir who gad served a Mormon mission in Japan, was instrumental in forcing Roisevelt to accept Jewish refugees from the Holocaust, afterFDR had initially turned away such people by the thousands. Thomas also helped my Japanese mother and me immigrate to America despite the racist laws which prohibited Japanese immigration, that had been enacted in 1923 with explicit support from FDR.

Wait a minute, how did Joseph Smith know Talmud??? And if he acknowledged the Talmud’s authority, then why didn’t he abide by TALMUDIC understanding of Eve’s rape by the serpent as well as her intimacy w/Adam??? The word in reference to Adam and all animals is NOT physical intercourse, but KNOWLEDGE. It means Adam couldn’t tie into “knowing” the essence of all of the animals. He wanted to KNOW Eve. After that INTELLECTUAL KNOWLEDGE came CARNAL KNOWLEDGE the idea is similar w/the serpent & Eve.

Lenny, you’re an anti-Semitic schmuck! I just explained to you that these Talmudic quotes do NOT advocate sexual intercourse w/a less than 3 year old girl, Rebi Shim’on bar Yochai is merely stating that IF it were done then it is not considered intercourse & therefore she’d be permitted to marry a cohen as well as claim the dowry of a virgin (200 zuz, instead of 100 zuz).

Joanna, a lot DOES depend on JEWS, but when the marry gentiles, then that is the end of their Jewish lines & G-d doesn’t like it. Take a peek here so you can see how he feels about it: Numbers 25:10-30:1

Lots of Jews (not exactly Israelite) came to salt Lake City with westward expansion. Just like other western States, Jews set up many small businesses in Utah. One important guy in Salt Lake City is Samuel Newhouse, a mining tycoon, who’s responsible for the building of two of our most iconic Downtown buildings: Boston building and the Manhattan building. He must have been pining for the East when they were christened such names.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Newhouse

One of our earliets governers was SImon Bamberger. He was a pretty damn big deal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Bamberger

There are a few Jewish families still in Utah that can trace their lineage back to the 1800′s in the time of the “Wild West” sort of era.

Ancient Israelites is a WHOLE other story. Can’t help you there.

I have seen these passages in the Talmud and Ra’anan is absolutely right, you are wilfully distorting the source in order to pursue a Jew-hating agenda.

There are Jews who are a blight to our people.
You’re one of them.

Actually, Mormons always struck me culturally as a right-wing echo of urban liberal Jews, sort of what we would be if we had settled in red-state America and tried to adapt to their values instead of the values of the Northeastern upper and middle class. They value education, but mostly for their men–their women are supposed to produce lots of kids. They’re thrifty and hardworking. And they’re paranoid about persecution (based on history), which they express by stockpiling food and water and being as aggressively normal as possible in that 1950s way, instead of making the ADL and SPLC and going after prejudice in general.

I really enjoyed the article. As someone who has a child who has intermarried, it’s very good to read the views of an intelligent and, obviously, caring person from the other 1/2 of a marriage.

I am, however very disturbed by some of the comments that have appeared. That, of course excludes those from Mr. de Paor, who is the one who is disturbed.

As someone who has really enjoyed reading about the home grown American religions over the years, I am surprised (although I shouldn’t be) by the vehemence of some of the posts. Over 2 1/4 centuries, we have grown a number of religions, with a variety much greater than any other country.

From Deism (which, while developing in Europe, reached its heights in America) and, essentially, gave birth to the Constitution of the U.S. and probably to agnosticism, which may be the largest, least acknowledged religion in the country: to the self defeating Shakerism; to the medical fraud turned tax avoiding religion, Scientology; to the weirdness of Theosophy; and of most significance to Mormonism, which was a product of it’s time and place, where Freemasonry influenced almost everything, and has its own spectrum of observance, from “reform” through standard brand and into fundamentalist, which still espouses plural marriages.

We need to spend time understanding what Mormonism is. We also need to remember that there was a time that Judaism proselytized and was only stopped from fear of attack by the Christians, or Moslems in power. Yes, we should remember that the Mountain Meadows massacre did occur, but we have such massacres in our background. We should remember that, while mainstream Mormonism only ended plural marriages so that Utah could become a state, the edict of Rav Gershom ending plural marriages (in the lands of the Ashkenazim) was in response to the Christian society in which they lived.

Maybe it’s time that we stopped referring to “them” or us as conservative or liberal and begin to look at individual political issues in terms of how we perceive the imperatives of our religion.

Michael, I disagree. It is far more important to answer false claims
point by point. Without information/knowledge you can’t exercise free
choice. What if YOU could have PERSUADED Adolf Hitler that he was
wrong??? What if you could persuade someone NOT to commit suicide???
What if you could persuade someone NOT to commit violence against
another? Forums are a marketplace of ideas, allow each idea stand on its
own merit & don’t shy away or run to ban something because it’s not
comfortable. If an idea is uncomfortable or even repulsive, then
articulate a counter position!

i may be SO Jewish that i cannot see anything else. I do have concerns for everybody and truth on ALL levels. This Marriage of a Mormon and a Jew is quite something. what a tough two people to bring together, could turn out to be a good and interestingly deep union. im just concerned in other places when it comes to Torah.

Hi
RaymondSwenson,

Now, now Ray, no silly tantrums!

Deal with the issues; make your argument to the best of your ability.

God HATES people who are not honest!

They said Jesus had a demon when they couldn’t answer Him.

You are acting like those Talmudic Jews!

Hi
RaymondSwenson,

Joseph Smith Didn’t Believe the Book of
Mormon…

So Why Should Anyone Else?

In 1844 Joseph Smith declared that the Book of Mormon was “the
most correct of any book on earth, and the keystone of our religion, and a man
would get nearer to God by abiding by its precepts than by any other book”
(Teachings of the Prophet Joseph Smith, p. 194, and History of the Church,
4:461).

One would think that the Prophet would found his church upon the
teachings of this “keystone” book. Let’s see if he did.

Ask yourself the following twenty questions and try to
chapter-and-verse them the Book of Mormon.

1. Where in the Book of Mormon does it teach that Elohim (God the
Father in Mormonism) was once a mortal man and that he was not always God?

1. God once was a mortal. man — If you said it doesn’t, you’re right.
The Book of Mormon never says God was once a man. In fact, it teaches that God
was always God. Take for instance Moroni
8:18. It says God is unchangeable from all eternity to all eternity. Joseph
Smith, however, taught,

“We have imagined and supposed that God was God from all eternity,
I will refute that idea, and take away the veil so that you may see’ (Teachings
of the Prophet Joseph Smith. pg. 345).

2. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that God has a body of flesh and
bones?

2 God has a body of flesh — If you said it doesn’t, you’re right. The
Book of Mormon never says God has a body of flesh and bones. On more than one
occasion it clearly teaches that God is a God of spirit (see Alma
18:2-5, 24-28; Alma
22:9-1 1). This is taught in Doctrine of Covenants 130:28. See also Parley P.
Pratt, Key to the Science of Theology 1978 ed., p. 23.

3. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that God is married in heaven?

3. God is married — If you said it doesn’t, you’re right. The Book of
Mormon never teaches that God is married. This was taught by LDS Apostle Orson
Pratt (The Seer, pp. 37, 158).

4. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that men can become Gods?

4. Men can become Gods — If you said it doesn’t, you’re right. The
Book of Mormon never says men can become Gods. This was publicly proclaimed by
the Prophet Joseph Smith on April 7, 1844 at the general conference of the LDS Church
in Nauvoo. Known as the “King Follett Discourse,” it is recorded in
the Journal of Discourses s: 1-1 1 See also The Teachings of the Prophet Joseph
Smith, pp. 342-362, and the teachings of the Prophet Lorenzo Snow quoted by
Milton R. Hunter in The Gospel Through The Ages, pp. 105-106.

5. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that temple participation is
necessary to become exalted?

5. Temple
participation is necessary -If you said it doesn’t, you’re right. The Book o/
Mormon never mentions that men must participate in temple ordinances in order
to become exalted. This is found in Doctrine of Covenants 131:14. See also
Bruce R. McConkie. Mormon Doctrine, p. 779.

6. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that Jesus and Lucifer are
brothers?

6. Jesus and Lucifer are brothers – If you said it doesn’t. you’re
right. The Book of Mormon never teaches Jesus and Lucifer are brothers. This is
found in Milton R. Hunter. The Gospel Through the Ages. p. 15.

7. Where does the Rook of Mormon teach that the blood of Christ does
not cleanse certain sins?

7. The cleansing power of Christ’s blood is not, always sufficient –
If you said it doesn’t your right. Never does the nook of Mormon hint that
there are sins beyond the cleansing power of Christ’s blood. However, second
LDS Prophet Brigham Young taught,

“There is not a man or woman, who violates the covenants made with
their God, that will not be required to pay the debt. The blood of Christ will
never wipe that out, your own blood must atone for it; and the judgments of the
Almighty will come, sooner or later, and every man and woman will have to atone
for breaking their covenants” (Discourses of Brigham Young, p. 385).
Mormon Apostle Bruce McConkie wrote,

“But under certain circumstances there are some serious sins for
which the cleansing of Christ does not operate, and the law of God is that men
must have their own blood shed to atone for their sins” (Mormon Doctrine,
P. 92).

8. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that a person can lose his
salvation if he is not baptized on behalf of dead relatives?

8. Baptism for the dead — If you said it doesn’t you’re right. The
Book of Mormon never teaches baptism for the dead is a necessary ordinance. In
fact, the Book of Mormon teaches if a person dies in his sins, the devil has
sealed him his and this is the final state of the wicked. (see Alma 34:34,35).

However, tenth LDS President Joseph Fielding Smith stated, “If we
wilfully neglect the salvation of our dead, then also we shall stand rejected
of the Lord, because we have neglected our dead; and just so sure their blood
will be required at our hands … we cannot be saved without them”
(Doctrines of Salvation 2: 145, 149)

9. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that there is more than one God?

9. The Plurality of Gods — if you said it doesn’t, you’re right. The
Book of Mormon never teaches there is a plurality of Gods. In fact, it strongly
teaches there is only one true God (see Alma
1 1:26-29). This was proclaimed by the Prophet Joseph Smith, History of the
Church, 6:474.

10. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that males must hold either the
Aaronic or Melchizedek Priesthood?

10. The Priesthood — If you said it doesn’t, you’re right. The Book of
Mormon never mentions either the Aaronic or Melchizedek priesthood. You will
find this in Gospel Principles, p. 73.

11. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that you can’t drink coffee or
tea?

11. Can’t drink coffee or tea – If you said it doesn’t, you’re right.
The is taken from Doctrine and Covenants 89. Still, this health law never
mentions coffee or tea specifically, only “hot drinks.”

Mormon General Authority George Q. Cannon included soup in this
prohibition when he said. “We must not permit them to drink liquor or hot
drinks, or hot soups or to use tobacco or other articles that are
injurious” (Journal of Discourses 12:223).

12. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that there are “three
degrees of glory”?

12. Three degrees of glory — If you said
it doesn’t, you’re right. The terrestrial, telestial, and celestial kingdoms
are never mentioned in the Book of Mormon. See Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine,
pp.777-778.

13. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that the Holy Ghost is a son of
God just as Jesus is a son of God?

13. The Holy Ghost is a son of God — If you said it doesn’t, you’re
right. Only Jesus and those who embrace Christ as their savior are given that
title in the Book of Mormon. Under the heading of “Holy Ghost,” The
Encyclopedia of Mormonism, Vol. 2, states. “The Church of Jesus Christ of
Latter-day Saints teaches that the Holy Ghost is a spirit man, a spirit son of
God the Father.”

14. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that polygamy was approved by
God?

14. Polygamy was approved by God -If you said it doesn’t, you’re right.
Polygamy is never mentioned in a positive way in the Book of Mormon, it is
always described as an abominable practice. However, LDS Prophet Joseph E Smith
taught that polygamy was essential to exaltation (Journal of Discourses,
20:28).

15. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that if a man wishes to be
saved he must have a woman by his side?

15. A man must have a woman to be saved – If you said it doesn’t,
you’re right. The Book of Mormon never teaches that. However, Brigham Young
taught, “No man can be perfect without the woman, so no woman can be
perfect without a man to lead her. I tell you the truth as it is in the bosom
of eternity. If he wishes to be saved, he cannot be saved without a woman by
his side” (as quoted by Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness, p.
215). See also Improvement Era, Vol. 2 1, Dec. 1917, pp. 105-106, as well as
Joseph F. Smith. Gospel Doctrine, p. 272.

16. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that faithful members of the
Church must wear sacred under-garments that have the power to protect them?

16. Protective Garments – If you said it doesn’t, you’re right. The Book
of Mormon never mentions “garments of the Holy Priesthood” yet Temple Mormons
are told that if they do not defile them the garment will “be a shield and
a protection” to them against the power of the Destroyer. This is found in
Bruce R. McConkie. The Mortal Messiah, 2:295. See also Teachings of Ezra Taft
Bensun, p. 357.

17. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that official church doctrine
must be voted on by the general membership?

17. Doctrine to be voted on — If you said it doesn’t, you’re right. Never
were the words of the Book of Mormon prophets sustained by the believers in the
Book of Mormon in order to be considered official teaching. The LDS vote
“to sustain” official teachings as well as church officials. However,
see Bruce R. McConkie, Mormon Doctrine, pp. 149150.

18. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that the Black race (seed of
Cain) survived the flood because the devil needed a representation on earth?

18. The Seed of Cain — If you said it doesn’t, you’re right. This
abominable concept is not to be found in the Book of Mormon. However, third LDS
Prophet John Taylor said,

“And after the flood we are told that the curse that had been
pronounced upon Cain was continued’ through Ham’s wife, as he had married a
woman of that seed. “And why did it pass through the flood? Because it was
necessary that the devil should have a representation upon the earth as well as
God” (Journal of Discourses, 22:304).

19. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that God is the offspring of
another God who, in turn, is the offspring of still another God, etc.?

19. God having a father and grandfather — If you said it doesn’t,
you’re right. However, Joseph Smith claimed, “If Jesus Christ was the Son
of God, and John discovered that God the Father of Jesus Christ had a Father,
you may suppose that He had a Father also” (Teachings of the Prophet
Joseph Smith, pg. 373).

20. Where does the Book of Mormon teach that the highest level within
the celestial kingdom is the “Church of the Firstborn”?

20. The Church of the Firstborn — If you said it doesn’t, you’re
right. Such an expression is never used in the Book of Mormon. The Church of
the Firstborn is found in Doctrine & Covenants 76:94 and The History of the
Church 1:283.

Frustrated and confused? Joseph Smith apparently did not believe the
teachings of the very book that he proclaimed in the Introduction to the Book
of Mormon as “the most correct of any book on earth!”

This presumable fact can be demonstrated by a careful examination of
these twenty distinctive teachings of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day
Saints. If you had difficulty locating these teachings, then read on, for, in
fact, they cannot be found in this “most correct” book. The Book of
Mormon does not teach:

Therefore, if Joseph Smith did not really believe the Book of Mormon,
then why should you — or anyone else?

Now that’s a very good question!

I know how I would answer it!

How about you?

1.
Case of Rabbi Pinchas
Lew (Pottville, IA and Chapel Hill, NC)
(Accused of exposing
himself and touching his genitals repeatedly in front of an unrelated woman in
his home)

2.
Case of Rabbi David
E. Lipman – Kiruv Rabbi (Prescott, AZ; Cranston, R.I.) (Pleaded guilty to one count of sexual
exploitation of a minor, a Class 2 felony, and three counts of attempted sexual
exploitation of a minor, Class 3 felonies. Lipman pleaded guilty to
pertain to the computer images of children younger than the age of 15. ).

3.
Case of
Rabbi/Psychologist Mordecai Magencey (St. Louis, MO) (Lost
his license to practice in the State of Missouri
because of his sexual misconduct with his patients.)

4.
Case of Rabbi
Richard Marcovitz (Oklahoma City, OK) (Convicted of indecent or lewd acts with a
child, and sexual battery)

5.
Rabbi Jacob A. Max
(Baltimore, MD) (Convicted on charges of a sex offense in the fourth
degree and second degree)

6.
Case of Rabbi Samuel
Mendelowitz – Licensed Marriage Counselor (Teaneck, NJ) (Accused of gross malpractice with four female patients between 1981
and 1992. He allegedly pressured women to remove their blouses and touched them
sexually, engaged in masturbation and oral sex with one patient, and disparaged
their husbands and urged them to have extramarital sex with what he called
“surrogate lovers” male patients in his group sessions.)

7.
Case of Rabbi Yaakov
Menken (Baltimore, MD) (There is a Call for Action on this
case. Serious allegations have been made against Rabbi Yaakov
Menken which include sexual harassment, sexual misconduct and sexual
assault. Menken’s alleged modus operandi (M.O.) is of becoming a father
figure to vulnerable young women and eventually allegedly sexually assaulting
them.)

8.
Case of Rabbi Yona
Metzger (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of sexually misconduct with four men)

9.
Case of Rabbi Juda
Mintz – AKA: Yehuda Mintz (Montreal, Canada; Williamsburg, NY; Atlanta, GA; Mt.
Freedom, NJ; Los Angeles, CA; Venice, CA) (Convicted -
internet sting on child pornography)

10. Case of Rabbi
Avrohom Mondrowitz, M.Sc., Ph.D., L.N.H.A. (Chicago, IL; Brooklyn, NY;
Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused
of two counts of sex abuse with boys at a special education school in New York.
He is currently a college professor in Jerusalem,
Israel).

11. Case
of Rabbi Shalom Nagar – AKA Shlomo Nagar (Ariel, Israel) (Arrested
for allegedly raping a woman who had turned to him for advice. Nagar,
married with children, has served for many years as the chief rabbi of this
mainly secular town, the largest Jewish settlement in Samaria)

12. Case of Cantor Howard
Nevison (New York, NY) (Nevison pleaded guilty to misdemeanor
charges of indecent assault, terroristic threats, simple assault, corruption of
minors and endangering the welfare of children. Two
felony counts of involuntary deviate sexual intercourse will be dismissed when
Nevison is sentenced. A sentencing hearing has not been scheduled.)

13. Case of Rabbi
Gabriel Ohayon (Boca Raton, FL) (Alleged rabbinical sexual misconduct.
A former employee sued a Boca
Raton Judaic studies institute, alleging that Rabbi
Gabriel Ohayon groped and sexually harassed her).

14. Case of Rabbi
Yehuda Aryeh Oratz (AKA: Yehoda A. Oratz) (LAKEWOOD, NJ; Marietta, GA;
Brooklyn, NY) (Convicted
of stalking children under the age of thirteen, and then sexually assaulting
them. The Victims did NOT know the offender.Please note that there is
more then one Rabbi Yehuda Oratz. This convicted offender was born on
April 11, 1967).

15. Case of Rabbi
Michael Ozair (Beverly Hills, CA)
(There is a Call
for Action on this case. Convicted, pleaded no contest to oral copulation
with a 14-year-old minor. )

16. Case
of Cantor Alain Oziel (New York, NY; Toronto, Canada) (Convicted on one count of indecent
assault, gross indecency and attempted buggery during the period January 1,
1981, to December 31, 1982, of a teenage boy. He was sentenced to five
years’ in prison. Oziel’s sentence was reduced due to his deteriorating
health).

17. Case
of Rabbi Haim Pardes – Former President of the Tel Aviv Rabbinical Court
(Israel) (Convicted
of sexually blackmailing” and performing “licentious acts” with
women who sought his counsel in a synagogue. Pardes was sentanced to six months
in prison and given an 18-month suspended prison sentence and fined 25,000
shekels ($12,500).

18. Case of Lou Pearlman
- Mentor to the Stars (Queens, NY, Hollywood, CA) (Alleged child molester)

19. Case of Rabbi
Avrohom Reichman (Williamsburg, Brooklyn, NY) (Accused of child molestation)

20. Case
of Shimon Rosen (Monsey, NY) (Convicted sex offender)

21. Case of Cantor
Stanley Rosenfeld (Warwick, RI) (Convicted of molesting a 12-year-old boy
he was tutoring.)

22. Case of Rabbi
Edward Schlaeger (Shelton, CT; West Haven, CT) (
Arrested on a warrant Saturday and charged with one count of third-degree
possession of child pornography.)

23. Case
of Rabbi Arthur Charles Shalman (AKA Charles Friedman, Charlie Frideman, Arthur
Friedman, Arthur Shalman) (Buffalo, NY) (The Rabbinical Assembly concluded that Rabbi
Shalman violated several principles of rabbinic conduct. Accused of sexual
misconduct toward female congregational members. )

24. Case of Rabbi
Ephraim Shapiro (Baltimore, MD) (There is a Call for Action on this
case. Accused of molesting several boys.)

25. Case
of Cantor Robert Shapiro (Detroit, MI)
(Pleaded guilty to 14
counts of indecent assault and battery on a mentally retarded person. In
return, Norfolk County prosecutors dropped seven counts
of rape.)

26. Case of Yisroel
Shapiro (Baltimore, MD) (Accused of molesting children)

27. Case of Cantor
Michael Segelstein (Las Vegas, NV)
(There is a Call for
Action on this case. Originally arraigned on one count each of
attempted sexual assault, battery with intent to commit sexual assault and open
and gross lewdness. On December 19, 2002, Michael Segelstein pled guilty to the
lessor charges of open or gross lewdness, in which he received one year
suspended sentence with conditions and court ordered into counseling. According
to court documents, Segelstein’s probation was successfully completed. He has
since been discharged. A civil suit is currently pending.)

28. Rabbi Ben Zion
Sobel (New York, NY; Jerusalem, Israel) (“Rabbi Ben Zion Sobel is one of the
most notorious pedophiles he has known, leaving hundreds of boys he has
victimized. At one point Rabbi Shach made a rabbinic decree stating that Rabbi
Ben Zion Sobel could NEVER teach again.” “Ben Zion has left survivors
in both the United States
and Israel.”
“His modus operandi was extremely violent and barbaric.” )

29. Case of Rabbi Jack
Sparks (Talleyville, DE; Newark, DE) (Arrested on charges of child endangerment of a fourteen-year-old
boy.)

30. Case of Rabbi David
Alan Stein (AKA: David Stein, David A. Stein) – Dean of Jewish Life, American
Hebrew Academy’s former director of campus (Greensboro, NC) (charged with eight counts of
having sex with a student. The alleged sex acts
occurred on campus during the 2006-07 school year. The student was a
16-year-old male.)

31. Case of Robert
Sternberg (AKA: Yerachiel Sherberg, Robert Stein) (Monsey, NY) (Convicted
sex offender)

32. Case of Rabbi
Ze’ev Sultanovitch (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of sexually molesting a number of
adult yeshiva students at the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva)

33. Case of Rabbi
Melvin Teitelbaum (Los Angeles, CA)
(Charges dismissed at
the request of the District Attorney’s Office, which conceded it had
insufficient evidence to prosecute.Teitelbaum then a filed a $10-million damage
suit in Los Angeles Superior Court. In his suit that the Jewish Federation
Council of Greater Los Angeles, the Jewish Family Service of Los Angeles and
the family that accused him conspired to have him arrested and charged.Later,
confronted with evidence that placed Teitelbaum elsewhere at the time of the
alleged incident, the siblings changed their story, a move the prosecutor said
was “devastating” to their credibility.)

34. Case
of Rabbi Aron Boruch Tendler (Los Angeles, CA; North Hollywood, CA) (Accused
of sexually abusing teenage girls. Please Note: There is more then one
Rabbi Aron Tendler. This page is about Rabbi Aron Boruch Tendler, who was
born on January 15, 1955.)

35. Case of Rabbi
Mordecai Tendler (AKA: Mordechai Tendler) (Monsey, NY) (Accused
of innappropriate sexual behavior with women in he counseled that had gone on
for years. According to Rabbi Benzion Y. Wosner, head of the Shevet Levi
rabbinical court in Monsey, One should never allow their wives or daughters to
go to Rabbi Mordecai Tendler at all including [for] counseling… and all his
rulings are null and void.” He also stated: “The RCA had every right
to oust this rabbi from their organization, and his own congregation has the
same obligation.” In conclusion, he wrote, “the rabbi can no longer
officiate at divorces, weddings, etc.)

36. Case of Rabbi
Isadore Trachtman (Chicago, IL and Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused
of cultic type practices and sexual offenses)

37. Case of Rabbi
Hirsch Travis (Monsey, NY) (Charged with the sexual abuse of an unidentified
27-year-old female patient. He was also charged with posing as a Brooklyn
doctor specializing in infertility problems, and illegally operating the
Fertility Foundation in the Borough Park section of Brooklyn.)

38. Case of Rabbi
Eliyahu Tzabari – Former chief rabbi of Ganei Tikva, Israel (Charged with sexually abusing a
women with whom he counseled).

39. Case of Rabbi Ivan
Wachmann – Manchester, England (Accused of sexual misconduct with women
from his Manchester
synagogue)

40. Case of the Rabbi
Tzvi Wainhaus (AKA: The Rabbi at Hillel Torah (Chicago, IL) (arrested on October 26, 1999 and
chargedwith sexual exploitation of a child. The report states that while
he was tutoring an 11-year-old child, Wainhaus removed all of his clothing and
exposed himself to the minor while stating that the minor “was a very sexy
child”)

41. Case
of Rabbi Matis Weinberg (Baltimore, MD, Santa Clara, CA and Har Nof, Israel) (There is a Call for Action on this case. Accused of
cultic type practices and sexual offenses)

42. Case
of Rabbi Yaakov Weiner (New York, NY and Israel) (Accused of molesting boy at Camp Mogen Avraham, New
York)

43. Case of Rabbi Israel Weingarten
(Monsey, NY; England; Israel; Belgium) (

44. Case of Rabbi
Nachman Weisfeld (Northern, Israel) (Convicted of physically and sexually
abusing children under his care in an education institution)

45. Case
of Rabbi Yaakov Weiss (Loudonville, NY) (Accused and arrested on charges of having
a sexual relationship with a 13-year-old boy).

46. Case
of Rabbi Don Well – Principal (Brooklyn, NY) (Accused
and charged with Rabbi one count of third-degree sexual abuse).

47. Case of Cantor
Phillip Wittlin (Harrisburg, PA) (Convicted of molesting two girls)

48. Case
of Rabbi Hershel J. Worch (Manchester, England, Mbale, Uganda; Melbourne,
Australia; Pawtucket, RI; Chicago, IL; Istanbul, Turkey) (There
is a Call for Action on this case. Formerly known as the Case of the Unnamed
Rabbi in West Rogers Park). Accused of
cult like practice which include BDSM (Bondage, Domination, Sadism, Masochism).
The alleged offender originially mmets his victims on line. Allegations
include using a mixture of kabbalah, hypno-eroticism and other manipulative
techniques to enagage his potential victims prior to sexually assaulting them.

49. Case of Rabbi
Mordechai Yomtov (Los Angeles, CA)
(WARNING: Rabbi
Mordechai Yomtov, is in violation of sex offender registration requirements in California for past 2
years. If you know his whereabout please notify the California authorities at: (916) 227-4974.
Convicted of sexual abuse and committing lewd acts against three boys)

Case of Sabbatai
Zevi (Accused of cultic type practices and sexual
offenses.)

1.
Case of Rabbi
Sheldon Zimmerman (New York, NY) (Suspended from the Reform movement’s rabbinic organization because
of sexual impropriety was later hired to a top position by a program that sends
thousands of young Jews on free trips to Israel.. Sheldon
Zimmerman was based in Cincinnati, OH, yet, also had responsibility for the
Hebrew Union College’s campuses in New York, NY; Los Angeles, CA and Jerusalem,
Israel
.)

2.
Case of the Rabbi Max Zucker
(Dallas, TX) (Accused by three women of improperly
touching)

3.
Case of a List of
Abuses at Ner Israel (Toronto, Canada)
(High school
student, said he was assaulted by two college students)

4.
Case of The Zwi Migdal
Society (Brazil, South Africa, India, China and Poland) (According
to reports there were rabbis who were members of the society. From the 1860s to
the beginning of the Second World War, thousands of naive, impoverished Jewish
girls from eastern Europe were sold by Jewish mobsters into sexual slavery.
This hugely profitable (annual revenues of $50 million in the 1890s) commerce
in flesh was operated by the Zwi Migdal, a criminal association)

5.
Case of The
Unnamed Kidnapping Chazen /Cantor (Toronto, Canada) (Accused
of kidnapping young boys from Europe and bringing them to Toronto, Canada)

6.
Case of the
Unnamed New York Rabbi Who Has An Unhealthy Interest In Teenage Boys

7.
Case of the
Unnamed Rabbi – Principal Who Inpregnated A Girl With Learning Disabilities (There
is a Call for Action on this case. The Awareness
Center is looking for all
the information we can find regarding the Rabbi-Prinicipal who inpregnated a
girl with learning disabilities at school he was principal at.)

8.
Case of The Unnamed
Orthodox Rabbi (Quebec, Canada) (An undercover reporter posed as an
employee of an escort service. One of her two clients included a Hasidic
rabbi, who masturbated in a motel room while looking at pornography on
television and at the reporter in her underwear.)

9.
Case of
40-year-old man residing in an ultra-orthodox yeshiva (Several yeshiva students have testified in
the case and verified suspicions that a 40-year-old man who resides in the
yeshiva sexually assaulted them).

And Other Trusted Officials (Parents, Teachers, Camp Counselors,
etc.)

Case of
Yisrael Abadi – Teacher (Holon, Israel) (Convicted of sexually molesting three children, aged eight to
10, in the synagogue where he teaches)
Case of Faiz
Suleiman Abukarinat – The Negev Pedophile (Israel) (Convicted of kidnapping and raping three girls from Beersheba and Ashdod)

Case of Eugene
Abrams (AKA: Eugene George Harris) (Long Island, NY; Miami, FL) (Convicted on 77 counts of child of rape, incest, sodomy and
obscenity involving five young girls, including his own daughter. He
spent 10 years in Attica
State Prison. He was
also convicted of running a nationwide child pornography ring on Long Island, He relocated to Flordia and was charged
and convicted ofsexually assaulting a 4 1/2-year-old girl).
Case of Joyce
Abrams (North Bellmore, NY) (Convicted of running a nationwide
pornography ring with her husband Eugene Abrams,
out of their home. One of the victms was her own daughter).
Case of Faiz
Suleiman Abukarinat – The Negev Pedophile (Israel) (convicted
and sentenced to 30 years in prison for kidnapping and raping three girls
from Beersheba and Ashdod)
Case of
Errine Renata Acciaroli (AKA: Shlomit Acciaroli) – Special Education
Teacher (Hamilton, Canada) (Found guilty of professional
misconduct for kissing a 10th grade student after asking him to make love
to her and showering him with gifts, e-mails, phone calls and visits to
his home)
Case of Arie Adler
and Marisa Rimland (New York, NY) (Arie Adler was accused of molesting his daughter.
Marisa Rimland murdered her daughter, and then committed suicide).

Case of
Gerald “Ajax” Ackerman – Former Mayor (Port Huron, MI) (Convicted and sentenced to up to 38 years in prison for
having sex with children he was supervising as part of a youth program he
ran).
Case of Simcha
Adler – Ohel Counselor (Borough Park/Brooklyn, NY (Plea-bargained charges of sodomy, sexual abuse and two counts
of endangering the welfare of a child down to attempted sodomy.)

Case of Ya’acov
Agmon – Director of Habima Theater (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Accused of sexually harassing a secretary who worked for him
for two-and-a-half years with words and deeds, and of committing indecent
acts against her on three separate occasions. The prosecution closed the
file for lack of sufficient evidence).
Case of Tal Alaluf (Arrested and confessed to raping a 13-year-old boy he
“groomed” via an Internet chat room, according to police
detectives).
Case of Hen
Alkobi (Haifa, Israel) (Accused of raping and sexually abusing teenage
girls in the Haifa
area, ended in a plea bargain arrangement.)
Case of Ben Amotz
(Tel Aviv and Jaffa, Israel)
(Allegedly lured
12 to 13-year-old girls to his apartment using drugs)
Case of Isa
al-Natcha (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted and sentence to 25 years for robbery, rape and
false imprisonment, terrorized the women working at the brothels, raped
them and stole money and possessions from them.)
Case of
Igor Antapika – Haifa, Israel; Soviet Union (AKA: Street Stairwell Rapist)
(sentenced Igor
Antapika, known as “the stairwell rapist,” to 31 years in
prison. The 25-year-old serial rapist who had terrorized Haifa women in 2004 was convicted on
eight of nine counts. He earned his nickname after assaulting his victims
in dark stairwells in the city’s Hadar and Carmel neighborhoods)
Case of
Herbert Aptheker – (Accused of sexually abusing his
daughter)
Case of Eugene
Loub Aronin – School Counselor (Joppa, TX and Buffalo Grove, IL (Convicted in 1984 of sexually assaulting a 10-year-old boy)

Case of David
Carl Arndt, M.D. (Boston, MA)
(Charged with
four counts of statutory child rape and one count each of indecent assault
and battery, drugging a person for sexual intercourse, contributing to the
delinquency of a child, and possession of the drugs ketamine hydrochloride
(“Special K”) and methamphetamine).
Case of
Michael Ashbal – Hebrew Academy Teacher (Miami Beach, FL; Barbados) (Arrested for allegedly fondling an 11-year-old male student.)

Case of Stanley
Ashman (AKA: Stanley Virgil Ashman, Butch Ashman) (Baltimore, MD) (In 2006, police overheard a telephone
conversation between the woman and Ashman in which the former teacher
admitted to having sex with her when she was 14, and repeatedly
apologized, according to court records)
Case of
Samuel S. Aster – Music Teacher/College Professor (Teaneck, NJ) (Gave prosecutors a sworn statement detailing the crimes and
his videotaping of them.)
Case of
Yehezkel Atar (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted of raping a nine-year-old girl).

Case of
Boris Bardichevsky (Petah Tikva, Israel) (Arrested this week by the Israel
Police’s Etgar unit on suspicion of trading in women).
Case of Leeore
Batshaw – Psychology Student at The University of Winnipeg (Israel) (Convicted
– internet sting on child pornography)
Case of
Philip Bender, Consultant (Columbia, MD; Baltimore, MD) (Pleaded guilty to one count of child
abuse in return for prosecutors’ recommendation for probation before
judgment).
Case of Uriel
P. Bendavid – AKA: Peter Bendavid, Peter U. Ben, Peter U. Bendavid, Peter
U. David, Peter D. King (Passaic, NJ) (Convicted of endagering the welfare of a child The
victims were students at the school where Bendavid taught)
Case of Ralph
Harrison Benning (Fulton County, GA) (pleaded guilty
to molesting and murdering Peter Downing Howell Jr., 8. Benning told
police he killed Howell on the site where he was molested as a child).

Case of Shimon
Bentov (Jerusalem, Israel) (Charged with alleging he committed
sexual assaults on children and child-pornography offences).
Case of Achi
Ben Shalom – Music Teacher (San Francisco, CA) (Arrested for alleged “lewd and lascivious acts”
with a female student).
Case of
Robert Berezin (Brooklyn, NY; Skokie, IL) (Allegations were made that he entered the apartment of one of
his tenents in the middle of the night, pushed her against the door,
groped and forced his tongue into her mouth. When he was leaving, she
said, he suggested she could provide sexual favors in lieu of rent).

Case of
Alexander Berg (Czech Republic; Haifa, Israel; Petah Tikva, Israel; Tel
Aviv, Israel) (Extradited from the Czech Republic to
Israel under suspicion of involvement in women trafficking, as well as a
myriad of related offenses including pimping, imprisonment, assault,
threats and rape.)
Case of
Jonathan (Yochanan) Berkowitz, MSW, CSW, LMSW – Yoga Instructor (Monsey,
NY; New York City, NY; Passaic, NJ; Clifton, NJ) (Allegations of sexually
inappropriate behavior and of allged date rape)
Case of Harvey
N. Berish – School Teacher (Bronx, NY) (Drama
teacher in an intermediate school in the Bronx
was arrested on charges that he had sexually abused four boy pupils).

Case of Ariel
Berlin – Retired Travel Agent
(Arrested along
with an a father
who is an Ex-convict, who offered up his 5-year-old daughter for
sex).
Case of David
Steven Berman (Ruislip, England) (Convicted and sentenced to prison.
Berman admitted to 13 charges of making indecent images of children.
Judge Jeremy Connor stated: “The images showed children as young as
six, some with elements of sadism.”)
Case of
Yoav Biran (Jerusalem, Israel) (Accused of distributing
child pornography over the Internet, also of preforming indecent acts on
children. Also see: Case of Rafael Kaplanovsky and Case of Itai Snapier).
Case of Moni Biton
(Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted and sentence to sentenced
to 22 years for purchased a stun gun, tear gas, knives and scissors, and
decided in advance which brothels him and his friends would attack).

Case of
Yaron Blanc (Ariel, Israel) (Accused of using the internet to lure minors for
sexual activity)
Case of Baron
Bloom (London, England) (Convicted of indecently assaulting a
15-year-old girl. The judge ordered Bloom’s name to be placed on the sex
offenders register for 10 years and sentenced him to one year’s
imprisonment).
Case of
Harold Bloom – Humanities and English Professor at Yale (New Haven, CT) (Accused of sexually
harassing students).
Case of Yossi
Boker, Assistant Commander – Police Investigative Department (Jerusalem, Israel) (Arrested on charges of sexual
harassment.)
Case of
Yitzhak Bohasilovsky (Bnei Brak, Israel) – (confessed
to series of indecent acts involving 300 children)
Case
of Nachman Borenstein – Teacher’s Aide at Talmud Torah (Jerusalem, Israel)
(Convicted
of molesting five children)
Case of
Peter Braunstein (New York, NY)
(Accused of
drugging and molesting a woman for 13 hours. He entered her
apartment by wearing a firefighter’s uniform, after allegedly setting
small hallway blazes to trick his way into her apartment.)
Case of Zerach
Brown (AKA: Scott Brown) (Seattle, WA; New York, NY) (Arrested in 1999 in Mountaindale, NY
on charges relating to sexually improper conduct in respect to minors.)
Case of
Michael Broman (Givatayim, Israel) (Arrested this week by the Israel
Police’s Etgar unit on suspicion of trading in women).
Case of Rami
Buchnik – Physical Education Teacher (Tiberias, Israel) (Arrested after complaints that he had
been molesting youths at several kibbutzim in the region. He was also
charged with possession of an unlicensed firearm).
Case of
Lieutenant Colonel Eli Buhbut – Israel Defense Forces (Accused of sexually assaulting
another officer)
Case of Franklin
“Jack” Burr – Piano Teacher (Edison, NJ) (On
trial charged with sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
He is facing up to 20 years in prison).
Case of Ralph
Capone – School Custodian, Patachogue: Medford School District (Long
Island, NY) (Accused of asking two male students
in their 20s, working on the High School equivalency diploma, claimed
Capone asked them for oral sex).

Case of Chaim Ciment
(Williamsburg/Brooklyn, NY) (Accused and charged with first-degree
sexual abuse, after allegations were made that he fondled a 17 year old
girl in an elevator).
Case of Adiah
Cohen, Moshav Shadot, Israel (Accused of sexually assaulting a
woman in the washroom of DOME in Tel Aviv)
Case of David
Cohen (Jupiter, FL) (Convicted of Lewd, Lascivious Child acts with a minor
child)
Case of James A.
Cohen – Jewish Youth Group Leader (Davi, FL) (Convicted child molester,
sentenced to 9 years for assaulting 4 boys)
Case of
Larry Cohen – Soccer Coach (Lake Oswego, OR) (Accused of molesting two
individuals.)
Case of
Lawrence Cohen – Kindergarten School Teacher (Manalapan, NJ; Brooklyn, NY) (Convicted and sentenced to 10 years in federal prison for
transmitting child pornography through his home computer).
Case of Lewis K.
Cohen (AKA: Keith Cohen, Lewis Cohen) (Milwaukee, WI) (Convicted after being charged with using a computer to
facilitate a child sex crime and child enticement-exposing sex organs.
Cohen used his work and home computers to engage in sexually
explicit conversations with a 14-year-old boy in Internet chat rooms. The
complaint also charges that Cohen sent nude photographs of himself and
other males to the boy via e-mail).
Case of Phillip
“Eli” Cohen (London, England) (Accused of 13 charges of indecently assaulting a boy and four
offences of indecently assaulting a girl)
Case of Seth
David Cohen, MD (Southfield, Michigan) (Convicted- Pled no contest to Accosting a Minor for Immoral
Purposes)
Case of
Stephen Colmer (Brooklyn, NY; Passaic, NJ; Jerusalem, Israel) (Indicted on charges of child
sexual abuse. He attempted to escape facing charges by moving to Israel)

Case of Victor
Wayne Cooper (CA) (Convicted of four counts of lewd and
lascivious acts upon a child. He is serving four consecutive terms of
fifteen years to life due to two prior rape convictions).
Case of
Stuart Cooperman, MD – Pediatrican (Merrick, New York) (Accused of molesting six female patience).
Case of
Corrido (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Suspected of sexually abusing several minors claims to
have witnessed the murder of 10-year-old Alexandra Brandt in 1994)

Case of Jon
Andrew Cottriel (Holdenville, OK) (Convicted of Forcible Sodomy and Rape in the 1st
Degree).
Case of Gil
Dahan (Convicted
of a gang rape and sodomy of a 20-year-old mentally disabled woman, and of
confining her).
Case of Oren
Danan (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Confessed
to child abduction, sexual assault, and attempted murder of a neighborhood
girl)
Case of Sliman
Dawiri (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted and sentence to 28 years
for robbery, rape and false imprisonment, terrorized the women working at
the brothels, raped them and stole money and possessions from them).
Case of Lior
Dekel (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Arrested after the girl told her school counselor of
the rape. In the past, a court acquitted Dekel of rape charges against a
16-year-old girl due to lack of evidence.)
Case of Gary
Dolovich, former Executive Director of Manitoba Kosher, Winnipeg, Canada (Arrested and charged with 17 counts of distributing child
pornography).
Case of Eric
Dorfner, BBYO Group Leader (Evesham/Cherry Hill, NJ) (Plead guilty and was sentenced to five years in state prison
for sexually abusing two teenage boys once in his care.
Case of Gary
Edelman (Skokie, IL) (Convicted sex offender)
Case of
Mordechai Ehrman (AKA: Morton Ehrman) – Simcha’s Play Group (Brooklyn, NY) Accused of molesting dozens of
students).
Case of Ariel
Elimelech, Jerusalem, Israel (Convicted of rape and indecent
assault under aggravated circumstances, of two minors aged 14 and 17)

Case of
Victor Einhorn – Owner of Two Brooklyn-Based Bus Companies (Brooklyn, NY) (Pleaded guilty to two of 12 counts of unlawfully transporting
minors to a New Jersey
hotel for sex)
Case of
Benjamin Elisha (Miami, FL) (Convicted of sexually assaulting a
10-year-old in a Swap Shop restroom).

Case of
Jeffrey Epstein (New York, NY; Virgin Islands) (Allegedly solicited sex with a minor at least three times
between August 1 – October 31, 2005. He has been charged with four counts
of unlawful sexual activity with a minor and of lewd and lascivious
molestation).
Case of Werner
Erhard (AKA: John Paul Rosenberg) Founder EST (now called Landmark Forum) (Accused of incest, which were later recanted. Also
accused of cult like practices)
Earl R.
Everett – Teacher South County Jewish Community Day School (Boca Raton, FL)
(Arrested and charged
with sexual battery on a child under the age of 12 (the girl was 7).
His victim was not one of his students.)
Case of
Shmuel Faber – KACH Rescue Squad Volunteer, Israel (Accused of sexually pressuring two
women into sexual acts, so that they could obtain better treatment).
Case of Ed Fagan,
Attorney (Short Hills, NJ) (Accused of paying to have sex with a
minor)
Case of Naftali
Feig (Chicago, IL; Beachwood OH; Cleveland, OH; Far Rockaway, NY; St.
Louis, MO) (Convicted after communicating online
for months with an investigor posing as 12-year-old girls.)
Case of
Robert Feivish – security guard (Brooklyn, NY) (Convictedof
sexually abusing a teenage boy over the course of a year, at times in a
synagogue).
Case of
Joseph Fisher (Jerusalem, Israel)
Case of Irina
Fishman (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted of delivering women to work
as prostitutes)
Case of
Zora Flagashvili (Convicted of a gang rape and sodomy
of a 20-year-old mentally disabled woman, and of confining her).
Case of
Hbrandon Lee Flagner (Akron, OH) (Convicted of the kidnapping and aggravated murder of
Tiffany Jennifer Papesh a 8-year-old girl. Flagner also claimed to have
molested hundreds of girls during his life. While in prison, Flagner
convert to Judaism by an Chasidic rabbi.)
Case of Rabbi G.
George Fox (Galveston, TX)
Case of
Kenneth A. Frank, MD (AKA: Yonatan Efrat) (Bakersfield, CA; Ra’anana,
Israel, Tel Aviv, Israel) (Frank was convicted on Dec. 20,
1989, in Kern County (California) of drugging and raping two woman in
separate incidents in 1985 and 1986)
Case
of Arnold and Jesse Friedman “Capturing the Friedmans” (Great
Neck, NY) (Convicted
sex offenders). Also see: Case of Ross
Goldstein
Case of Steven
Lewis Friedman (Interstate, CO; Citrus, FL; Hewlett, NY) (Convicted sex offender).

Case of Steven
Frucht – Housekeeping Supervisor – Yeshiva University (New York, NY) (Accused
of sexual misconduct and sexual harassment of at least four female
employees)
Case of
Dennis E. Fulbright (Boley, Oklahoma) (Convicted of Lewd or indecent acts with a child under 16, Rape
in the first degree, Burglary, nad Larceny of Merch from Retaile.)

Case of Ramon
Gantz – Gym Boss (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted and sentanced after slipped two tablets of the
dance drug into the victim’s orange juice after she rebuffed his romantic
advances on a Monarch flight from Tel Aviv to Gatwick).
Case of Ellen
Garfield – Music teacher (Boston, MA) (Acquitted
of charges she raped a 14-year-old boy.)
Case of Avraham
Ger (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Accused of sexually assaulting
several girls and boys)
Case of Daniel
Gersh – Former FA-Registered Coach (Bloomingburg, New York; Ilford, Essex,
England) (Arrested
after admitting to 60 counts of assault and related charges, including
molesting nine boys, aged seven to 11, and filming several of them.
Daniel Gersh stated in court: “My life is over. I have been
trying to hide this since I was 13 years old.”)
Case of Ovadia
Gershon – Director of Group home for Mentally Challenged minors (Tel Aviv,
Israel) (Convicted raping a mentally
challenged resident in a group home in Tel Aviv, Israel)

Case of Barry
Gerstein – Attorney at Law (Beverly, MA) (Convicted and sentenced to serve seven to fifteen years at
MCI-Walpole and ordered to serve a concurrent ten- to eighteen-year
sentence for the cases in Norfolk County)
Case of Ofer
Glazer (Tel Aviv, Israel) (Convicted of two incidents of
committing obscene acts and of sexual harassment).
Case of
Richard “Steve” Goldberg (Long Beach, CA) (Allegedly engaging in sex acts with several girls under
10 in California.
He is on the
FBI’s ten most
wanted fugitives list)

Tribalism vs. Universality:

The Triumph of Jonah and Ruth

Solveig Eggerz

Issues

Winter 1997

During the sixth century B.C.E. Babylon and Egypt competed with one another for control of Judah. The
inhabitants of Jerusalem
resisted the powerful Babylonian army for two years. When Jerusalem
fell in 587 B.C.E. the Babylonians destroyed Solomon’s Temple
and sent the people of Jerusalem to Babylon, which marked the
beginning of the Exile. During the Exile, the faith in Yahweh developed into
Judaism. Without a state of their own, Jews retained their identity by focusing
on their writings, their laws, their records of the past. For this reason scribes became important. The exiles also listened
to prophets such as Jeremiah and Ezekiel. It was in Babylon
that the priest Ezekiel had his vision of a resurrected Israel.

In 539 B.C.E. after the Jews had been in exile for a little
over 50 years, the Persian king Cyrus the Great conquered Babylon
which included the annexation of Jerusalem.
He issued the Edict of Cyrus which permitted the Jewish exiles to return to
their homeland and rebuild Solomon’s Temple.
But most Jews were comfortable in the Diaspora and chose not to participate in
the reconstruction of a Jewish state.

According to the Bible, 42,360 exiles returned to Jerusalem in the year 520 B.C.E. under the leadership of
Zerubbabel, a member of the Davidic line who became Persian Governor of Judah. A
religious exclusivity, which manifested itself in an intolerance of foreigners,
characterized these years after the return from Babylon. This early group of returning exiles
discriminated against Samaritans as well as against other Jews regarded as
heretical. Partly because of this expressed hostility, the new colony faltered.
But in 458 B.C.E. Ezra the scribe and priest brought more exiles. And in 445
B.C.E. Nehemiah, a powerful Persian official, arrived and took over the
governorship of Judah.
He had the authority to build Judah
into an independent political unit within the Persian Empire.

Returning Exiles

The returning exiles were serious about the purification of
Judaism as described in Nehemiah 8:

“And all the people gathered as one man
into the square before the Water gate; and they told Ezra the scribe to bring
the book of the Law of Moses which the Lord had given to Israel. And Ezra the priest brought
the law before the assembly . . . And he read from it facing the square before
the Water gate from early morning until midday . . .”

What he read was the essence of the xenophobic strain in
Judaism. In exile it had been the task of Ezra, as befitted a scribe, to study
and copy the writings of the Jews. Creativity and inspiration are the
characteristics of prophets, not scribes. When the exiles looked to a scribe to
shape the new Jewish nation, they looked to one whose interest is in a dogged
preservation of the letter of the law. It was this kind of inflexibility
coupled with nationalism that motivated Ezra to demand the dissolution of all
marriages between returning Jews and those who already dwelled in Israel. Chapter
nine of Nehemiah describes the need for Jews to separate from “foreigners”
and chapter thirteen ends with the condemnation of all foreign marriages.

Ezra’s laws were a return to an isolationist tribalism of an
earlier period of Judaism. The reason for the ban on intermarriage was not
strictly religious, for the Samaritans had accepted the religion of Judaism.
Rather the cause was rooted in a racial, ethnic, nationalistic chauvinism.
So natural was intermarriage between Jews and non-Jews in Jerusalem
at this time that a grandson of the high priest had married the daughter of the
governor of Samaria during a period when
Nehemiah was in Babylon.
Upon his return, Nehemiah insisted that this marriage be dissolved. The
bridegroom refused, and was expelled from Jerusalem
which led to the final split between the Samaritans and the Jews.

Countervailing Force

The countervailing force to the rigidity of Ezra and
Nehemiah manifests itself in the teachings of two little books in the Bible —
the books of Jonah and Ruth. The conflict between the nationalistic viewpoint
on the one hand, and the universalistic on the other, has been described by Dr.
Julian Morgenstern, former president of Hebrew Union
College, as that between
universalism and particularism. He states:

“separate Jews from others. ‘Universalism’ on
the other hand, concentrates upon those aspects which unite Jews with others.
The ideas are not mutually exclusive of each other. The particularists say that
Judaism must be separate and distinct in order to preserve the identity of the
Jews. When this has been achieved then they can concern themselves with other
people. The universalists also feel that Jews must remain Jews, but they
emphasize seeking ways and means of working with all men.”

The Book of Jonah supposedly refers to the Israelite prophet
Jonah who prophesied during Israel’s
expansion under King Jeroboam II (785-745 B.C.E.). God commands Jonah to
prophesy to the people of “that great city” of Ninevah, so that its
wayward people may repent of their evil ways. If they will do this, God will
forgive them. During the time of the prophet Jonah, the Assyrian empire was in
a period of decay. Ninevah was but a small provincial town, and the capital of
Assyria was Calah.
Yet the memory of the hated Assyrian empire, whose leaders were known for their
cruelty to those whom they conquered, lived on. That memory was certainly vivid
enough to make preaching forgiveness to a despised enemy a hateful enterprise
to an Israelite prophet.

Moral Message

Although the story of Jonah alludes to an ancient city, and
to a prophet of an earlier time, it is not an historical account but rather a
parable that contains a moral message. But it is also a story of a
fish in a long tradition of such stories. Elsewhere in the Bible we encounter
Leviathan, the monster of the deep. In mythology fish frequently swallow
humans. An ancient Egyptian account tells of a shipwrecked traveler who is
swallowed by a serpent and thus carried to land. The fish that swallows Jonah
is often referred to as a whale, perhaps because a whale is a mammal with warm
blood and lungs, rather than a true fish with cold blood and gills. The
imagination, already straining to envision the prophet discovering God within
the fish’s belly, would presumably snap at the vision of a frigid hiding place.
But the only
type of whale with a throat large enough to swallow a man is the sperm whale,
and these do not exist in the Mediterranean.

Thus the story of Jonah is a fantasy, which has inspired many
writers.

Herman Melville in his classic story, Moby Dick, describes
Jonah as “the God-fugitive,” guilty of “wilful disobedience of
the command of God.” Jonah is a man wrapped up in the notion that he can
escape the presence of God. Melville’s preacher describes him thus:

“See ye not then, shipmates, that Jonah
sought to flee world-wide from God? Miserable man! Oh! most contemptible and
worthy of all scorn; with slouched hat and guilty eye, skulking from his God;
prowling among the shipping like a vile burglar hastening to cross the sea. So
disordered, self condemning is his look, that had there been policemen in those
days, Jonah, on the mere suspicion of something wrong, had been arrested ere he
touched a deck.”

Narrow Nationalism

Written sometime between 500 and 250 B.C.E. the book of Jonah
is generally seen as a polemic against the narrow Jewish nationalism embodied
in the reforms of Ezra and Nehemiah. It posits tolerance of non-Jews in
contrast to Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s stress on a pure blood race of Jews under an
exclusively Jewish God.

Jonah is one in a long line of Biblical figures who argue
with God. When Abraham learned that God planned to punish Sodom, he protested that there must be at
least 50 good people in the evil city. Abraham bargained with God to spare the
city on behalf of even so few as ten righteous people. The suffering Job
accused God of injustice, and proclaimed his own innocence. Moses tried to
evade his mission of leading the Israelites out of Egypt, begging God, “Send I
pray some other person.”

And when God calls Jonah, “Arise, go to Ninevah, that
great city, and cry against it,” Jonah flees to Joppa and boards a ship
bound for Tarshish, thinking he can thus escape the presence of the Lord.

Tribal God

Here Jonah is depicted as erroneously viewing God as a
tribal God of so limited power that his hand would not stretch as far as
Tarshish at the western end of the Mediterranean.
He thinks that
God’s jurisdiction extends only over Palestine.
But the first two chapters of the Book of Jonah proclaim that God is
everywhere. As Jonah hurries from God’s presence:

“The Lord hurled a great wind upon the
sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to
break up.” The sailors were frightened, “and each cried to his
god.”

Jonah, perhaps to ensure that he would escape God’s voice,
had hidden himself in the inner recesses of the ship and fallen asleep. To
determine who was the cause of the storm, the sailors cast lots, and the lot
fell upon Jonah.

When they had cast Jonah into the sea, “the sea ceased
from its raging.” The Lord then arranged for a great fish to swallow
Jonah, and he stayed in the belly of the fish for three days. It is this part
of the story that fascinates mythologists as well as some psychologists. Joseph
Campbell, the late mythologist, refers to the event as a “practically
universal” mythic theme, featuring a hero “going into a fish’s belly
and ultimately coming out again, transformed.”

The descent into darkness represents the conscious
personality being overwhelmed by the unconscious. Campbell notes that,

“Metaphorically, water is the unconscious,
and the creature in the water is the life or energy of the unconscious, which
has overwhelmed the conscious personality and must be disempowered, overcome
and controlled.”

It is indeed inside the belly of the fish that Jonah submits
himself to the will of God.

“But I with the voice of thanksgiving will
sacrifice to thee; what I have vowed I will pay.”

And the Lord commands the fish to vomit Jonah out on the dry
land. After this Jonah fulfills God’s command to go to Ninevah and deliver
God’s request for repentance as well as his promise of forgiveness to those who
repent. Jonah prophesies so successfully that the entire populations of Ninevah
puts on sackcloth and begins to fast as an act of repentance.

Mercy and Repentance

Here Jonah assumes the role of prophet not only as a
deliverer of oracles but as a persuader, as a proclaimer both of God’s mercy,
and the power of repentance. It was the beginning of the sense that deeds make
atonement for a man.

The figure in the story, Jonah, accepts the concept of
atonement, but not the extension of God’s mercy to other peoples.

When the people of Ninevah repent, God forgives them, and
spares the city.

“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and
he was angry.”

The prophet complains to God for having spared Ninevah. The
book ends with God’s chastisement of Jonah:

“And should not I pity Ninevah, that great
city, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand persons who do
not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?”

Thus, the Book of Jonah demonstrates that God is merciful.
But it also shows that God is universal both in the sense of being everywhere,
as well as in the sense that all humans, not just the Jews, are his concern.
This last point runs counter to the beliefs of the reluctant prophet, Jonah,
for his view was closer to the primitive conception of God presented in I Samuel
15 where Samuel demands that Saul totally destroy the Amalekites, men, women
and children, as revenge for earlier acts by the Amalekites against the
Israelites. For
Jonah, like Samuel, views God as a tribal deity who favors Israel over its
enemies.

Universal God

Throughout this fantastical story, Jonah remains a man not
quite right with God. And that is the whole point. He is the narrow-minded
nationalist of the post-exilic period while God emerges as a truly universal
God, one who
cares for Jew and Gentile alike.

Written at a similar time as the Book of Jonah, the Book of
Ruth presents the same message of tolerance and universality. Ruth was a
Moabite who had married a Hebrew, the son of Naomi. When her husband died, Ruth
said to her mother-in-law Naomi:

“Entreat me not to leave thee and to
return from following after thee; for whither thou goest, I will go; and where
thou lodgest I will lodge; thy people will be my people, and thy God, my God;
where thou diest, will I die, and there will I be buried;; the Lord do so to me
and the more also, if aught but death part thee and me.”
(Ruth 1:16)

Ruth returned with Naomi to Judah and married the Hebrew Boaz
and gave birth to a son, Obed. This child was viewed as Naomi’s grandson and
she became his nurse:

“And the women of the neighborhood gave
him a name saying, ‘a son has been born to Naomi.’

“They named him Obed; he was the father of
Jesse, the father of David.” (Ruth 4:17)

Thus, Ruth, a Moabite woman, was the great grandmother of
David, the greatest king of the Hebrews.

Intermarriage Not Forbidden

In his book, Not By Power: The Story of the Growth of
Judaism, Rabbi Allan Tarshish writes:

“This is a bombshell; for it informs us
that David . . . the man from whom the Messiah is supposed to come, was a
descendant of a Moabitish woman. The great-grandmother of David was not born a
Jewess. Thus the story shows that even in those early days intermarriage on a
racial or national basis was not forbidden. It makes the important point that
Ezra’s and Nehemiah’s ban on intermarriage with Samaritans or those of other
lands who had become Jews, was a policy opposed to basic Jewish
practice.”

This, Tarshish points out, is another aspect of an important
message:

“As God was a universal God, so Judaism
was a universal religion, not merely a tribal or national religion. Any person
of any nationality group who wished to become a Jew could do so, and marriage
should not be based upon national or racial criteria, but upon the criterion of
religion. The Book of Ruth won out over the policies of Ezra and Nehemiah, for
it was placed in the canon of the Holy Scriptures.”

Rabbi David Goldberg, in his book The Leaven of Judaism,
declares that,

“Ruth constitutes a repudiation of the
racist views expounded by Ezra, denouncing them by implication as anti-Torah,
hence anti-Jewish . . . In contemporary terms, Ezra could be properly
characterized as a Jewish isolationist, a chauvinistic nationalist, perhaps
even a racist. Fortunately, the narrow aspect of Ezra’s Judaism did not
register with the learned of his own generation. Ezra’s racist nationalism was
repudiated.”

Xenophobic Ideas

Rabbi Harold Schulweis, a respected Conservative rabbi in Encino, California,
sharply criticizes Judaism’s xenophobic ideas, going back to Ezra, and
including the 18th century classic “Tanya,” by the founder of Chabad
Hasidism, Shneur Zalman, which contends that the souls of gentiles
“emanate from unclean husks that contain no good whatever.” He cites
a more recent source, the Orthodox rabbi and philosopher Michael Wyschograd who
argued in his 1983 book The Body of Faith that Judaism is a “carnal
election,” claiming that God chose to elect a biological people that
remains elect even when it sins.

Schulweis writes:

“Too many of our people do
no appreciate the universalism in Jewish life. Apparently, it has not registered
that it was the Book of Ruth not the Book of Ezra that the rabbis selected to
be read on the festival of revelation, Shavuoth. Ruth is celebrated as the
spiritual heroine of that text — astoundingly for Ruth is a Moabite . . . .
Jews, even those who pray, seem not to be aware that the 13th blessing of the
Amidah, recited thrice daily, asks that God’s tender mercies be stirred toward
the righteous proselytes. Do we mean what we pray? . . . Too many of our people
are not even aware that the first convert to Judaism was none other than
Abraham, who opened his tent and, with Sarah, converted pagans to Judaism. Who
are we Jews but, as the Haggadah reminds us, children of
idol-worshipers?”

Message of Tolerance

Those who continue to assert the narrow, tribal nature of
Judaism are ignoring the outcome of the struggle between the opposing
viewpoints during the fractious post-exilic period. Today, it is the lesson of
Jonah, not that of Samuel, that is read as the prophetic portion on the Day of
Atonement, a message of universalism. Similarly the rabbis did not select the
Book of Ezra to be read on Shavuot, the Festival of Revelation, nor did they
select the passage from Deuteronomy 23:3, “no Ammonite or Moabite shall
enter the assembly of the Lord,” but rather they chose the Book of Ruth, the book of the
Moabite woman, symbol of tolerance, and great-grandmother of King David.

Shalom Michael Shapiro,

ALL TOGETHER:

CRUCIFY HIM! CRUCIFY HIM!

WE WILL NOT HAVE THIS MAN EXPOSING OUR FALSE CULTS!

WE LOVE OUR CULTS!

SIGNED

TALMUDIC JEW

The Talmud is Judaism’s
holiest book (actually a collection of books). Its authority takes precedence
over the Old Testament in Judaism. Evidence of this may be found in the Talmud
itself, Erubin 21b (Soncino edition):

“My son, be more careful in the observance of the words of the
Scribes than in the words of the Torah (Old Testament).”

Jewish scholar Hyam Maccoby, in “Judaism on Trial,” quotes Rabbi Yehiel ben Joseph:

“Further,
without the Talmud, we would not be able to understand passages in the Bible
… God has handed this authority to the sages and tradition is a necessity as
well as scripture. The Sages also made enactments of their own … anyone who
does not study the Talmud cannot understand Scripture.”

4 BILLION JEWS SLAUGHTERED BY EMPEROR
HADRIAN

Over
four billion Jews were killed by the Romans in 135AD… 64 million children
wrapped up in Torah scrolls and burnt…. apparently

The Jews’ last
stand at Bethar, Judah

in the final
Roman Jewish war 135AD

“The voice of Jacob’: this is the cry caused
by the (Roman) Emperor Hadrian who killed in the city of Bethar four hundred
thousand myriads”

Babylonian Talmud Gittin 57B

Myraid = 10,000

.

400,000 x a
myraid = 4,000,000,000 (four billion)

“There
were four hundred synagogues in the city of Bethar, and in every one were four hundred
teachers of children, and each one had under him four hundred pupils, and when
the enemy entered there they pierced them with their staves, and when the enemy
prevailed and captured them, they wrapped them in their scrolls and burnt them
with fire.”

Babylonian Talmud Gittin 58a

Four hundred synagogues each with

Four hundred teachers each with

Four hundred students

400 x 400 x 400 = 64,000,000 (sixty four million)

There wasn’t
4,000,000,000 people on Earth, until 1970, and ancient demography indicates
that there were not 16 million Jews in the entire world at that time, much less
64 million Jewish children or four billion Jews.

Gittin 57b

R. Hiya b. Abin said in the name of R. Joshua b. Korhah: An old
man from the inhabitants of Jerusalem told me that in this valley Nebuzaradan
the captain of the guard killed two hundred and eleven myriads,1 and
in Jerusalem he killed ninety-four myriads on one stone, until their blood went
and joined that of Zechariah,2 to
fulfil the words, Blood toucheth blood.3 He
noticed the blood of Zechariah bubbling up warm, and asked what it was. They
said: It is the blood of the sacrifices which has been poured there. He had
some blood brought, but it was different from the other. He then said to them:
If you tell me [the truth], well and good, but if not, I will tear your flesh
with combs of iron. They said: What can we say to you? There was a prophet
among us who used to reprove us for our irreligion, and we rose up against him
and killed him, and for many years his blood has not rested. He said to them: I
will appease him. He brought the great Sanhedrin4 and
the small Sanhedrin5 and
killed them over him, but the blood did not cease. He then slaughtered young
men and women, but the blood did not cease. He brought school-children and
slaughtered them over it, but the blood did not cease. So he said; Zechariah,
Zechariah. I have slain the best of them; do you want me to destroy them all?
When he said this to him, it stopped. Straightway Nebuzaradan felt remorse. He
said to himself: If such is the penalty for slaying one soul, what will happen
to me who have slain such multitudes? So he fled away, and sent a deed to his
house disposing of his effects and became a convert. A Tanna taught: Naaman was
a resident alien;6
Nebuzaradan was a righteous proselyte;7
descendants of Haman learnt the Torah in Benai Berak; descendants of Sisera
taught children in Jerusalem;
descendants of Sennacherib gave public expositions of the Torah. Who were
these? Shemaya and Abtalion.8
[Nebuzaradan fulfilled] what is written, I have set her blood upon the bare
rock that it should not be covered.9

The voice is the voice of Jacob and the hands are the hands of
Esau:10
‘the voice’ here refers to [the cry caused by] the Emperor Hadrian11 who
killed in Alexandria of Egypt sixty myriads on sixty myriads, twice as many as
went forth from Egypt. ‘The voice of Jacob’: this is the cry caused by the
Emperor Vespasian12 who
killed in the city of Bethar four hundred thousand myriads, or as some say,
four thousand myriads. ‘The hands are the hands of Esau:’ this is the
Government of Rome which has destroyed our House and burnt our Temple and driven us out
of our land. Another explanation is [as follows]: ‘The voice is the voice of
Jacob:’ no prayer is effective unless the seed of Jacob has a part in it. ‘The
hands are the hands of Esau:’ no war is successful unless the seed of Esau has
a share in it. This is what R. Eleazar said:13
Thou shalt be hid from the scourge of the tongue;14
this means, thou shalt be protected from the heated contests15 of
the tongue.

Rab Judah said
in the name of Rab: What is meant by the verse, By the rivers of Babylon there we sat down, yea, we wept when we remembered
Zion?16
This indicates that the Holy One, blessed be He, showed David the destruction
both of the first Temple and of the second Temple. Of the first
Temple, as it is written, ‘By the rivers of Babylon there we sat, yea we wept’;
of the second Temple, as it is written, Remember, O Lord, against the children
of Edom17 the
day of Jerusalem, who said, rase it, rase it, even unto the foundation thereof.18

Rab Judah
said in the name of Samuel, or it may be R. Ammi, or as some say it was taught
in a Baraitha; On one occasion four hundred boys and girls were carried off for
immoral purposes. They divined what they were wanted for and said to
themselves, If we drown in the sea we shall attain the life of the future
world. The eldest among them expounded the verse, The Lord said, I will bring
again from Bashan, I will bring again from the
depths of the sea.19 ‘I
will bring again from Bashan,’ from between
the lions’ teeth.20 ‘I
will bring again from the depths of the sea,’ those who drown in the sea. When
the girls heard this they all leaped into the sea. The boys then drew the moral
for themselves, saying, If these for whom this is natural act so, shall not we,
for whom it is unnatural? They also leaped into the sea. Of them the text says,
Yea, for thy sake we are killed all the day long, we are counted as sheep for
the slaughter.21 Rab
Judah, however, said that this refers to the woman and her seven sons.22 They
brought the first before the Emperor and said to him, Serve the idol. He said
to them: It is written in the Law, I am the Lord thy God.23 So
they led him away and killed him. They then brought the second before the
Emperor and said to him, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the
Torah, Thou shalt have no other gods before me.24 So
they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next and said to him,
Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, He that sacrifices unto
the gods, save unto the Lord only, shall be utterly destroyed.25 So
they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next before the Emperor
saying, Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, Thou shalt not
bow down to any other god.26 So
they led him away and killed him. They then brought another and said to him,
Serve the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, Hear, O Israel, the
Lord our God, the Lord is one.27 So
they led him away and killed him. They then brought the next and said to him,
Serve the idol. He replied; It is written in the Torah, Know therefore this day
and lay it to thine heart that the Lord He is God in heaven above and on the
earth beneath; there is none else.28 So
they led him away and killed him. They brought the next and said to him, Serve
the idol. He replied: It is written in the Torah, Thou hast avouched the Lord
this day … and the Lord hath avouched thee this day;29 we
have long ago sworn to the Holy One, blessed be He, that we will not exchange
Him for any other god, and He also has sworn to us that He will not change us
for any other people. The Emperor said: I will throw down my seal before you
and you can stoop down and pick it up,30 so
that they will say of you that you have conformed to the desire31 of
the king. He replied; Fie on thee, Caesar, fie on thee, Caesar; if thine own
honour is so important, how much more the honour of the Holy One, blessed be
He! They were leading him away to kill him when his mother said: Give him to me
that I may kiss him a little. She said to him: My son, go and say to your
father Abraham, Thou didst bind one [son to the] altar, but I have bound seven
altars. Then she also went up on to a roof and threw herself down and was
killed. A voice thereupon came forth from heaven saying, A joyful mother of
children.32

R. Joshua b. Levi said: [The verse, 'Yea, for thy sake we are
killed all the day long'] can be applied to circumcision, which has been
appointed for the eighth [day]. R. Simeon b. Lakish said: It can be applied to
the students of the Torah who demonstrate the rules of shechitah on themselves;
for Raba said: A man can practise anything on himself except shechitah,33 and
something else. R. Nahman b. Isaac said that it can be applied to the students
who kill themselves for the words of the Torah, in accordance with the saying
of R. Simeon b. Lakish; for R. Simeon b. Lakish said: The words of the Torah
abide only with one who kills himself for them, as it says, This is the Torah,
when a man shall die in the tent etc.34

Rabbah b. Bar Hanah said in the name of R. Johanan: Forty se’ahs

.

1.
V.
II Kings XXV, 8ff.

2.
The
son of Jehoiada the high priest. V. II Chron. XXIV, 22.

3.
Hos.
IV, 2.

4.
The
high court of 71 members.

5.
The
lesser court of 23 members.

6.
One
who merely abstains from idolatry but does not keep the commandments.

7.
Who
accepts all the laws of Judaism with no ulterior motive.

8.
The
predecessors of Hillel and Shammai. V. Aboth, I.

9.
Ezek.
XXIV, 8.

10.
Gen.
XXVII, 22.

11.
[Graetz,
Geschichte, IV, p. 426, on the basis of parallel passages emends; 'Trajan', the
reference being to the massacre of Alexandrian Jews by Trajan as a result of an
insurrection. V. Suk. 51b.]

12.
This
seems a mistake here for Hadrian. [V. J. Ta'an. IV.]

13.
The
remark made above that through malicious speech the Temple was destroyed etc. (Rashi). [Maharsha
refers it to the efficacy of the 'voice of Jacob.']

14.
Job
V, 21.

15.
Apparently
this means ‘slander’. [According to Maharsba render: 'Thou shalt be protected
(find refuge) in the heated contests of the tongue', i.e., prayer'.]

16.
Ps.
CXXXVII, 1.

17.
Stands
for Rome.

18.
lbid.
7.

19.
Ps.
LXVIII, 23.

20.
[H]
of which [H] is taken as a contraction.

21.
Ibid,
XLIV, 23.

22.
The
same story is related of Antiochus Epiphanes in the second book of the
Maccabees.

23.
Ex.
XX, 2.

24.
Ibid,
3.

25.
Ibid,
XXII, 19.

26.
Ibid,
XX, 5.

27.
Deut.
VI, 4.

28.
Ibid,
IV, 39.

29.
Deut.
XXVI, 17, 18.

30.
The
seal had engraved on it the image of the king and by stooping down to pick it
up he will make it appear as if he is worshipping the image (Rashi).

31.
Lit.,
‘accept the authority’.

32.
Ps.
CXIII, 9.

33.
For
fear that he might accidentally cut his throat.

34.
Num.
XIX, 14. The meaning in the context is of course quite different.

Oh my gosh! What do you think you’ve proven by publicizing a list of sinful Jews? Is that supposed to somehow invalidate Judaism? If I give you a list of physicians who smoke will that mean that medicine is invalid or that the smoking doctors have a problem??? Really, Lenny, WHY DO YOU HATE JEWS SO MUCH? You know that w/o Jews the world would be little more than Jurassic Park & you’d probably be one of the first pests to be hunted down. Lenny, what do you like most about Jews? I’ll tell you what I dislike about your behaviour. You’ve made false claims about the Talmud supporting pedophilia, I showed you that you were wrong, so instead of admitting it, you illogically throw a list of sinning Jews at us as if that will somehow show that the Talmud really does support pedophilia. If you can’t admit that you were wrong, then, to me, that shows that you are just an Jew-hater, but I’d really like to know why. Do you feel that a Jew once hurt you??? If so, please put it on the table & let’s talk!

I found no reference to Solomon
offering human sacrifices to Molokh. Also not in ‘Amos 5.

Why are you quoting Acts???

Yithro advised Moses & G-d back up
Yithro just similar to the daughters of Tzelafechad challenging Moses & G-d
backing them up. Don’t forget that Yithro had by this time already become
Jewish, his descendents lived in Jericho &
then moved to Arad.

To say that the true religion is the
G-d of the prophets is ridiculous because G-d is obviously greater than His
prophets & G-D Himself backed up Yithro.

Molokh was a very specific type of
idolatry & you are giving it a much wider definition which it doesn’t have,
but now I’ve seen that you’ve given yourself away as a CHRISTIAN MISSIONARY!!!

A son of the founder of the protestant
movement, Martin Luther, who called synagogues “brothels” & that
our “rabbis should not be allowed to teach on pain of death.” We’ve
had quite enough of your “love.” Thanks, but no thanks! Discussion is
over!

When my Israeli Aunt, Uncle and two cousins lived in Salt Lake City for two years in the late 1960s, they were treated a lot worse than being subjected to fake Seders…I hope things have improved at least a little!

BLOOD ATONEMENT:

The Mountain Massacre

While these are facts, they
are not half told;

For hundreds have been
killed for gold;

Both men and women have been
slain

And robbed to add to
Brigham’s gain.

What bloody deeds, what sin
and strife,

What sacrifice of human
life,

What deeds of plunder have
been done,

To raise a gory throne for
Young.

But the waters are stained
with blood, and the milk is turned to whey,

And the honey has lost its
sweetness, the people seem to say;

And dupes are getting scarcer,
and obedience is dead,

And all the old man’s
judgments and plummets, too, have fled.

So sad and sickening is this
gospel plan

As taught by Brigham, to
poor fallen man,

That every time I mention
his ill name.

It sends a shudder quivering
through my frame.

I also tremble for the deeds
he’s done;

For life destroyed, for
blood he caused to run;

For victims frozen on the
plains, through him,

While starving, suffering,
falling limb from limb.

Dear Sister, in this sad
letter I have told you the truth.

Burst off every fetter,
remove this Priestly yoke.

And never rest contented,
till every link is broke.

For every man in Utah and woman shall be
free,

And shouts shall echo
through the

land for God and liberty!

I DON’T JEWS! I HATE HYPOCRITES! LIKE THESE ONES:

The Danites were a fraternal organization founded by Latter Day Saint members in June 1838, in the town of Far West in Caldwell County, Missouri. During their period of organization in Missouri, the Danites operated as a vigilante group and took a central role in the events of the 1838 Momon War. Whether or not the Danites existed in the years after the 1847 arrival of the LDS in Uth is still debated. However, they remained an important part of Mormon and non-Mormon folklore, polemics, and propaganda for the remainder of the 19th century, waning in ideological prominence after Utah gained statehood. The exact nature and scope of the organization, and the degree to which it was officially connected to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, are a matter of some dispute among historians. In 1834, during the march of Zion’s Camp, Joseph Smith created a militia known as the “Armies of Israel” to protect his community; this group was also called the Danites. After the 1838 war, the term “Danite” was often connected with any Latter Day Saint militarism, including the Nauvoo, Illinois police, the bodyguards of Joseph Smith, Jr., the “Whistling and Whittling Brigades”, and Brigham Young’s so-called “Destroying Angels” or “Avenging Angels.” Although some members of these later groups had been Danites in the Missouri period, the leadership of the 1838 secret society, particularly Sampson Avard, was not associated with the leadership of the peace-keeping militias using the same name.In Bennett’s time the number of the Danites was over two thousand. From their “elite,” to use the word of George Q. Cannon, twelve men were selected, called Destructives, or Destroying Angel, and sometimes Flying Angel. Their duty was to act as spies, and to report to the first presidency. Their oath was as follows:

“In the name of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, I do covenant and agree to support the first presidency of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, in all things, RIGHT OR WRONG; I will faithfully guard them and report to them the acts of all men, as far as in my power lies; I will assist in executing all the decrees of the first president, patriarch or president of the twelve; and that I will cause all who speak evil of the presidency, or heads of the church, to die the death of dissenters or apostates, unless they speedily confess and repent, for pestilence, persecution and death shall folUnv the enemies of Zion. I will be a swift herald of salvation and messenger of peace to the saints, and I will never make known the secret purposes of thissociety, called the Destroying Angel, my lifebeing the forfeiture in a fire of burning tar and brmistone. So help me God, and keep me steadfast.”

Hi
Ra’anan,

Read SLOWLY & CAREFULLY:

In ancient Israel mixed marriages had been
allowed, but eventually they came into disfavor. Foreign women were blamed when
Jewish men failed to fulfill their religious obligations or fell into
idolatrous worship. The reaction against such marriages was an attempt to avoid
influences that might dilute or corrupt Judaism.

However, those foreigners who
were willing to renounce their pagan worship and follow all the requirements of
Jewish law and worship could be accepted into Judaism.

But Ezra introduced a new element
into his ban on intermarriage. The issue was not whether or not a spouse was
willing to worship the one God; beliefs did not matter. The issue was whether
or not a person was a pure-blooded Jew. For the first time, one group of people
viewed other groups as a contaminating influence – - a source of racial or
ethnic impurity – - regardless of how they lived or what they believed.

Ezra began his purge with a
lengthy speech-prayer that he gave in the Temple
court-yard. For the benefit of God and the assembled people, he gave a synopsis
of Israelite history and then told the Lord how angry He was going to be about
what was taking place in the present. Because the chosen people had
intermarried “with wicked people. . . You will be so angry that You will
destroy us completely and let no one survive.”[4] Not surprisingly, the
assembled men were terrified by the message that God would completely destroy
them if they did not cast off their contaminated wives and children. And this
time no one would escape; Abraham’s descendants would be wiped out.

This public speech-prayer,
threatening the extermination of an entire people, is universally praised by
religious spokesmen who echo the sentiments of the Inter-national Bible
Commentary:

“Ezra’s prayer is one of
the most moving of all the prayers which are recorded in Scripture.”[5]

Having established the threat of
annihilation, Ezra took the next step in implementing his purge. He issued a
proclamation demanding that all the Jewish people come to a meeting in Jerusalem. By now they
were scattered about the countryside and under ordinary circumstances many
would not have bothered to come. But this was not an ordinary situation; Ezra
used the extraordinary powers given to him by the Persian King to insure full
attendance.

“A proclamation was issued
throughout Judah and Jerusalem for all the exiles to assemble in Jerusalem. Anyone who
failed to appear within three days would forfeit all his property. . .and would
himself be expelled from the assembly.”[6]

Under the impetus of that threat,
all the Jewish males assembled in the Temple
square. There they were given details of the purge that was about to take
place. They were to turn in any members of their family who were tainted by
non-Jewish blood. They were informed that committees would be set up to
investigate all reports of the existence of such undesirables. There was no way
to avoid detection. There was no escape.

“Ezra the priest selected men
who were family heads, one from each family division and all of them designated
by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to investigate the
cases and by the first day of the first month they finished dealing with all
the men who had married foreign women.”[7]

It took three months for this
systematic purge to identify all the undesirables.

Not only did Ezra demand that the
foreign wives of Jewish men be cast off, he demanded that all the children of
such marriages be sent away. His edict was multi-generational. Children,
grandchildren and great grandchildren were to be cast off, never again to see
their families. [8] And wives, who had been with their husbands only a few
years, as well as those who had spent a lifetime with their mates, must also be
sent away. No one whose blood was contaminated with non-Jewish blood could
stay.

Of course, there was no place for
most of them to go. In that day and time women, children, the frail and the
elderly, had no way to sustain themselves. The homes from which they were
banished were the only homes they had known. They were sent out into a hostile
environment with no resources and few skills. For many of them, Ezra’s
proclamation was a death sentence.

The fate of women and children
without male protection was well-known among the Hebrew people. The Prophets
had repeatedly spoken of God’s concern for the oppression they suffered at the
hands of their own people and the oft-repeated Psalm 146, clearly told of the
Lord’s special concern for them;

“(God) protects the strangers
who live in our land and helps widows and orphans. . .he judges in favor of the
oppressed.” [9]

Ezra’s threats of retribution
forced the acceptance of his purge in spite of such demands for the care of the
powerless from both the psalmist and the prophets. Unless the assembled men did
what he demanded, they themselves would become outcasts; they would lose their
property and be banished from their homes. Faced with such drastic
consequences, it is not surprising that the Bible reports only four of the
assembled men protested Ezra’s demands. [10]

[4] Ezra 9:14 TEV

[5] IBC p. 495

[6] Ezra 10:7, 8 NIV

[7] Ezra 10:16, 17
NIV

[8] The policy instituted by Ezra
was more severe and contradicted the Deuteronomic Law which said: “You shall
not detest an Edomite… you shall not detest an Egyptian…The sons of the third
generation who are born to them enter the assembly of the Lord.”
Deuteronomy. 23:8

[9] Psalm 146 is the first
of a third Hallel: Ps 146 – 150 (JB note p. 927

[10] Ezra 10:15 TEV

MOMONISM UNVEILED;

OR

THE LIFE AND
CONFESSIONS

OF THE LATE MORMON
BISHOP,

JOHN D. LEE;

(Written by Himself)

EMBRACING A HISTORY
OF MORMONISM FROM ITS INCEPTION

DOWN TO THE PRESENT
TIME, WITH AN EXPOSITION

OF THE SECRET
HISTORY, SIGNS, SYMBOLS AND CRIMES OF THE

MORMON CHURCH.

ALSO THE TRUE HISTORY
OF THE HORRIBLE BUTCHERY KNOWN AS

THE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS
MASSACRE.

–PUBLISHED 1877–

PREFACE

I WAS requested by John Doyle Lee, after he had been
sentenced to be shot for the part he took in the commission of the Mountain
Meadows Massacre, to publish an account of his life and confessions, in order
to inform the world how it was that he had acted as he had, and why he was made
a scapegoat by the Mormon Church. I accepted the trust, and, in giving
publicity to the facts now, for the first time fully brought to light, I am
only performing what I believe to be a duty–to him, and to the public.

The Mountain Meadows Massacre stands without a parallel
amongst the crimes that stain the pages of American history. It was a crime
committed without cause or justification of any kind to relieve it of its
fearful character. Over one hundred and twenty men, women and children were
surrounded by Indians, and more cruel whites, and kept under constant fire,
from hundreds of unerring rifles, for five days and nights, during all of which
time, the emigrants were famishing for water. When nearly exhausted from
fatigue and thirst, they were approached by white men, with a flag of truce,
and induced to surrender their arms, under the most solemn promises of
protection. They were then murdered in cold blood, and left nude and mangled
upon the plain. All this was done by a band of fanatics, who had no cause of
complaint against the emigrants, except that the authorities of the Mormon
Church had decided that all the emigrants who were old enough to talk, should
die–revenge for alleged insults to Brigham Young, and the booty of the
plundered train being the inciting causes of the massacre.

John D. Lee was one, and only one of fifty-eight Mormons,
who there carried out the orders of the Mormon Priesthood. He has died for his
crimes-shall the others escape?

The entire history of this atrocious crime is given in the
confession. How it was done, and why it was the wish of the Mormons that it
should be done, all Is fully stated. As one of the attorneys for John D. Lee, I
did all that I could to save his life. My associates were, and are able men and
fine lawyers, but fact and fate united to turn the verdict against us. The
history of the first and second trials is familiar to most of the American
people; therefore, I will not describe them here, any more than to say,
Mormonism prevented conviction at the first trial, and at the second trial
Mormonism insured conviction.

After Brigham Young and his worshipers had deserted Lee, and
marked him as the victim that should suffer to save the Church from
destruction, on account of the crimes it had ordered; after all chances of
escape had vanished, and death was certain as the result of the life-long
service be had rendered the Church, the better nature of Lee overcame his superstition
and fanaticism, and he gave to me the history of his life, and his confession
of the facts connected with the massacre, and wished me to have the same
published. Why he refused to confess at an earlier day, and save his own life
by placing the guilt where it of right belonged, is a question which is
answered by the statement, that he was still a slave to his Endowment and
Danite oaths, and trusted until too late to the promises of protection made to
him by Brigham Young. John D. Lee was a fanatic, and as such, believed in the
Mormon Church, and aided in carrying out the orders of that Church. I believe
it is my duty to publish this work, to show mankind the fruits resulting from
obedience to Mormon leaders, and to show that Mormonism was as certainly the
cause of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, as it is that fanaticism has been the
mother of crime in all ages of the world. I also wish the American people to
read the facts, as they are told by a mistaken and fanatical follower of the
Mormon doctrines, yet, one who was a brave man, and, according to his ideas and
teaching, a good man; who did not believe he was doing wrong when obeying the
commands of the Mormon Priesthood. I wish the American people to read this
work, and then say, if they can, what should be the fate of those who caused
the crime to be committed. The following pages contain simply true copies of
material, furnished me by John D. Lee, for the purpose of being published; all
of which was written by him while in prison, and after the jury had returned
its verdict of guilty.

I have no excuses to offer for publishing the work just as
it is. It is what it purport. to be, a full history of the Mountain Meadows
Massacre, and also a sketch of the life of John D. Lee, embracing a revelation
of the secret history of Mormonism, from its inception down to the death of
Lee; with a correct copy of his confession as given to me for publication. If
any feel injured by the facts, I cannot help it. If this publication shall, in
any degree, aid in securing the much needed legislation, demanded by the
American citizens of Utah, from the National Government, so that Church
criminals, as well as Gentiles, can be convicted in Utah, I shall feel that I
have been paid well for all the vexations I have endured in the land of the
Saints, where they murder men, women and children for the glory of God, and the
upbuilding of His kingdom.

I also believe this publication will be an advantage to the
large number of naturally good and honest people, who inhabit Utah,
who joined the Church, and moved to Utah,
believing it their Christian duty to do so. To that class of people I am
indebted for many favors, and wish them future prosperity.

Wm. W. BISHOP,

Confidential Att’y of John D. Lee.

Pioche, Nevada, May 17, 1877.

BRIGHAM YOUNG’S MANY WIVES

Brigham Young’s
Family

Listed here are the wives by whom Brigham
Young had children; date of marriage to each wife is in parentheses. Also is
the date of birth and deaths of the children (to the extent that they are
available)

MARIAM WORKS, 1806 – 1832 (1824)

Elizabeth, 1825
- 1903

Vaiate, 1830-1902

MARY ANN ANGELL 1803 – 1882 (1834)

Joseph A. 1834 – 1875

Brigham Jr., 1836 – 1903

Mary Ann, 1839 – 1943

Alice ( Emma) , 1839 – 1874

Luna, 1842 – 1922

John W., 1844 – 1924

LUCY ANN DECKER, 1822 – 1890 (1842)

Brigham Heber, 1845 – 1928

Fanny Caroline, 1849 – 1892

Earnest Irving, 1851 – 1879

Shemira, 1853 – 1915

Arta De Christa, 1855 – 1916

Feramorz Little, 1858 – 1881

Clarissa Hamilton, 1860 – 1939

HARRIETT E. COOK, 1824 – 1898 (1843)

Oscar Brigham 1846 – 1910

CLARISSA DECKER, 1828 – 1889 (1844)

Jeannette, 1849 – 1930

Nabbie, 1852 – 1894

Jedediah Grant, 1855? – 1856

Albert Jeddie, 1858 – 1864?

Charlotte, 1861
- 1892

CLARISSA ROSS, 1814 – 1858 (1844)

Mary Eliza, 1847 – 1858

Clarissa Maria, 1847 – 1935

Willard, 1852 – 1936

Phebe Louisa, 1854 – 1931

EMIL DOW PARTRIDGE, 1824 – 1899 (1844)

Edward Partridge, 1845 – 1852

Emily Augusta, 1849 – 1926

Caroline, 1851 – 1903

Joseph Don Carlos, 1855 – 1938

Mariam, 1857 – 1919

Josephine, 1860 – 1912

Lura, 1862 – 1862

LOUISA BEAMAN, 1815 – 1850 (1846)

Joseph, 1846 – 1846?

Hyrum, 1846 – 1846?

Moroni, 1847 – 1847

Alvah, 1848 – 1848

Alma, 1848 -
1848

MARGARET MARIA ALLEY, 1825 – 1852

Evelyn Louisa, 1850 – 1917

Mahonri Moriancumer, 1852 – 1884

EMMELINE FREE, 1826 – 1875 (1846)

Ella Elizabeth, 1847 – 1890

Marinda Hyde, 1849 – 1926

Myrum Smith, 1851 – 1925

Emmeline Amanda, 1853 – 1895

Louise Nelle, 1854 – 1908

Lorenzo Dow, 1856 – 1905

Alonzo, 1858 – 1918

Ruth, 1861 – 1944

Daniel Wells, 1863 – 1863

Ardelle Elwin, 1864 – 1900

MARGARET PIERCE, 1823 – 1907 (1846)

Brigham Morris, 1854- 1931

ZINA D. HUNTINGTON, 1821 – 1901 (1846)

Zina Prescinda, 1850 – 1931

LUCY BIGELOW, 1830 – 1905 (1847)

Eudora Lovina, 1852 – 1922

Susa Amelia, 1856 – 1933

Rhoda Mabel, 1863 – 1950

ELIZA BURGESS, 1827 – 1915 (1852)

Alfales, 12852 – 1920

HARRIET BARNEY, 1830 – 1911 (1856)

Phineas Howe, 1852 – 1903

MARY VAN COTT, 1844 – 1884 (1865)

Fannie, 1870 – 1950

Wives of Brigham
Young by whom he did not have children

Included in this
list are women Brigham Young held out to be wives, in the sense that he cared
for them in a temporal way as a husband would. He provided them with a home,
listed them in his will, and provided for their children by earlier marriages,
One supposes that all or most of these were not connubial marriages. The list
does not include the names of some thirty women who were “sealed” to
Brigham Young “for eternity only,” with no intension that he would
share earthly life with them or their children, if any, by earlier marriages.
The names below are given in the order of marriage or sealing.*

Augusta Adams
(Cobb) 1802 – 1886 (1842)

Susannah Snively
1815–1892 (1844)

Eliza R. Snow
(Smith) 1804–1887 (1844)

Martha Bowker
1822–1890 (1846)

Namah K .J. Carter
(Twiss) 1821–1909 (1846)

Mary Jane Bigelow
1822–1868 (1847) Divorced 1851

Harriet Amelia
Folsom 1838–1910 (1863)

Anna Eliza Webb
1844–? (1868) Divorced 1876

* Two plural wives
of Joseph Smith to whom Young was sealed during the winter of 1845–46 died
shortly thereafter; they might have been on this list if they had lived longer.
They were Olive Grey Frost, 1816–1845, and Maria Lawrence, 1823-1847

Racist comments made by leaders of the Church.
The leaders of the church up through the 1970s made it very clear why blacks were denied the priesthood. There are too many comments to list them all but here is a sample of the comments made by various LDS officials (emphasis added):
Brigham Young
“Shall I tell you the law of God in regard to the African race? If the white man who belongs to the chosen seed mixes his blood with the seed of Cain, the penalty, under the law of God, is death on the spot. This will always be so.” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses, Volume 10, page 110.)You see some classes of the human family that are black, uncouth, un- comely, disagreeable and low in their habits, wild, and seemingly deprived of nearly all the blessings of the intelligence that is generally bestowed upon mankind. The first man that committed the odious crime of killing one of his brethren will be cursed the longest of any one of the children of Adam. Cain slew his brother. Cain might have been killed, and that would have put a termination to that line of human beings. This was not to be, and the Lord put a mark upon him, which is the flat nose and black skin. Trace mankind down to after the flood, and then another curse is pronounced upon the same race – that they should be the “servant of servants;” and they will be, until that curse is removed; and the Abolitionists cannot help it, nor in the least alter that decree. How long is that race to endure the dreadful curse that is upon them? That curse will remain upon them, [p.291] and they never can hold the Priesthood or share in it until all the other descendants of Adam have received the promises and enjoyed the blessings of the Priesthood and the keys thereof. Until the last ones of the residue of Adam’s children are brought up to that favourable position, the children of Cain cannot receive the first ordinances of the Priesthood. They were the first that were cursed, and they will be the last from whom the curse will be removed. When the residue of the family of Adam come up and receive their blessings, then the curse will be removed from the seed of Cain, and they will receive blessings in like proportion. – (Journal of Discourses 7:290-291, October 9, 1859)”You may inquire of the intelligent of the world whether they can tell why the aborigines of this country are dark, loathsome, ignorant, and sunken into the depths of degradation …When the Lord has a people, he makes covenants with them and gives unto them promises: then, if they transgress his law, change his ordinances, and break his covenants he has made with them, he will put a mark upon them, as in the case of the Lamanites and other portions of the house of Israel; but by-and-by they will become a white and delightsome people” (Brigham Young, Journal of Discourses 7:336).It is not the prerogative of the President of the United States to meddle with this matter, and Congress is not allowed, according to the [p.40] Constitution, to legislate upon it. If Utah was admitted into the Union as a sovereign State, and we chose to introduce slavery here, it is not their business to meddle with it; and even if we treated our slaves in an oppressive manner, it is still none of their business and they ought not to meddle with it. Journal of Discourses 4:39-40 (Aug 31, 1856)

The REAL Reason Joseph Smith was killed
in 1844

Mormons are told from birth that Joseph Smith was a martyr,
that he voluntarily went to Carthage Jail in June of 1844 to surrender his life
for the truth “as a lamb to the slaughter”; knowing he would die for
the truth. They are not told the “reason” he was arrested. Most
Church teachers simply tell young Mormons that Joseph Smith was arrested on
“trumped up charges”; not telling them what the charges are. Mormons
youth believe this, without question, that Joseph Smith was arrested and killed
merely because he was the head of an unpopular religion. The truth is this:

In 1844 a Mormon named Lawrence
dies. He has two orphaned daughters, Sarah and Maria, ages 14 and 16. Before
his death, Lawrence
names the two leaders of the Church at that time, Joseph Smith, and his first
counsellor in the First Presidency, William Law, to be the Guardians (i.e.
Foster-Fathers) of the two girls. Who better men to trust than the two closest
men to God on earth? Lawrence
leaves his daughters about $1800 in cash and holdings, a huge sum at that time.

William Law, the first counsellor in the First Presidency of
the Mormon Church, then claims the following. He claims that Joseph Smith
“married” both the daughters to himself (Joseph), who were living the
Smith home at the time. That’s right! Joseph Smith married his own
foster-daughters! Law also claims that Joseph Smith appropriated their
inheritance money for himself. William Law then discovers that Joseph Smith has
many more secret “wives”. He concludes that Joseph has “fallen”.
He privately confronts Joseph Smith, who tells him polygamy is of God and that
Law just had to accept that. This is at the same time Joseph Smith is publicly
denying he is a polygamist, and also excommunicating anyone who publicly
teaches polygamy.

William Law then forms a cabal with some other apostate
Mormons to depose Joseph Smith and take over the Church (Law is First
Counsellor, the second highest Mormon Church office). Members of this cabal
include some of the highest men in the Church at that time. Most of the
Apostles were away on missions to England. The cabal plan to either
get Joseph Smith arrested and sent away, or publicly disgraced so that Joseph
Smith would resign as Prophet. There is no evidence they plan to kill him, or
that any of them had anything to do with his assassination. They plan to
appoint David Whitmer as the new Prophet of the Church.

David Whitmer was one of the “Three Witnesses” to
The Book of Mormon. It was on a Whitmer farm that the Book of Mormon was
translated. It was at another Whitmer farm that the Church was founded in 1830.
Whitmer left the Church in 1838, claiming that Joseph Smith and Oliver Cowdery
had a “band of Danites” who were stealing from Gentiles (non-Mormons)
and that Cowdery had threatened his life for revealing that fact. Whitmer left
and settled in Richmond, Missouri. He tried to start another “Church of Christ” but his efforts proved
fruitless. The cabal in Nauvoo decided to wrest the Church away from Joseph
Smith, and have Whitmer appointed the new Prophet. The group decides to publish
a newspaper called “The Nauvoo Expositor” which will, in a few
issues, expose Joseph Smith as a secret polygamist, thief, liar, tyrant, and
“fallen” prophet (not false, but “fallen”). They buy a
printing press, and issue the first edition of The Nauvoo Expositor.

Joseph Smith, as mayor of Nauvoo, immediately orders the
Nauvoo Expositor to be closed, and orders the Town Marshall to take the plates
for the publication into the street and destroy them. The Marshall obeys, and the type and printing
press is carried out into the street and destroyed with large hammers. William
Law and the other members of the cabal (all of them Mormons in high Church
positions) say they received many death threats, and had to leave Nauvoo for
their own safety.

The governor of Illinois
then issues an arrest warrant for Joseph Smith, because he has illegally shut
down an opposition newspaper. Joseph Smith does not go quietly. He first calls
up the 3,000 strong Nauvoo Legion, and asks them to prevent his arrest at all
costs. The Governor issues a new arrest warrant for treason against the State,
because only HE (the Governor) can call up a State Militia for action, and the
Nauvoo Legion is part of the State Militia of Illinois. He issues a direct
order for the Nauvoo Legion to stand-down. Joseph Smith then flees to the Territory of Iowa, but a number of close friends of
his accuse of him of being a coward. Joseph Smith reluctantly returns to Nauvoo
and surrenders himself to the Sheriff of Hancock County, who takes him to Carthage, the county
seat. At Carthage Jail, Joseph Smith procures a smuggled-in firearm, and also
writes letters asking the Nauvoo Legion to come to Carthage and rescue him from jail.

On June 22nd, 1844, a mob painted in black face gathers
outside of the jail, and then storms it. They kill Hyrum Smith, and wound John
Taylor, a Mormon apostle. Joseph Smith fires at the mob with his gun, wounding
two. When he is out of bullets, he gives the Masonic sign of distress (raising
both arms into squares and saying, “O Lord My God! Is there no help for
the widow’s son?” Masons promise to come to the aid of other Masons
whenever they hear this). Joseph Smith gets out “O Lord My God…”
but is shot before he can finish saying the rest. Even though there are Masons
in the mob, none come to his aid. He tries to escape out a window, but is shot
from the ground. He falls out the window to the ground, and is shot again
repeatedly until he is dead.

The Masonic “Grand Hailing Sign of Distress”. This
sign is given plus the phrase: “O Lord my God! Is there no help for the
widow’s son?”. Joseph Smith learned this when he became a Mason in Nauvoo.
Masons are supposed to come to the aid of other Masons when they see this
“sign”. Joseph Smith attempted this in Carthage Jail, but it didn’t
work.

Joseph Smith had NO intention of dying in Carthage. He did everything to try to prevent
that. He tried escaping to Iowa,
but was called a “coward” by his closest friends and supporters. He
tried calling up the Nauvoo Legion to prevent his arrest. He then wrote to Nauvoo
from the jail asking the legion and Marshall
of Nauvoo to come get him out of jail! At first he thought the “mob”
outside was his rescue party. As the mob stormed the jail, he shot two of the
mob members with a “12 shooter” designed by a Mormon named Browning,
father of the famous gunsmith.

The reason why Joseph Smith was arrested is because he
illegal shut down a newspaper which was revealing that he was secretly a
polygamist; a fact that the Mormon Church has admitted as FACT since 1852.

I must say, I see no difference between Mormonism and other brands of Christianity. Why is Joseph Smith any worse than any of the ignorant, unlearned fisherman who followed the nazarene around? Neither Joseph Smith or fisherman Peter have an more authority or credibility than anyone else on the planet. We Jews, however, don’t have this gentile problem of having to have blind faith in someone who CLAIMS G-d spoke to him because G-d performed 10 plagues and took our nation out of Egypt & met us “face-to-face” at Mount Sinai. He didn’t do that w/Joseph Smith, not w/Peter, not w/Paul, not w/Mohammed, not w/Jesus et al. That’s why there’s no difference to a Jew between Christianity, Islam, Bahai, Sikhs & certainly not Hinduism & Buddhism which don’t even make pretenses to be historical.

so what. Is there a prohibition against having sex?

MORMONISM UNVEILED;ORTHE LIFE AND CONFESSIONSOF THE LATE MORMON BISHOP,JOHN D. LEE;
(Written by Himself)EMBRACING A HISTORY OF MORMONISM FROM ITS INCEPTION
DOWN TO THE PRESENT TIME, WITH AN EXPOSI-
TION OF THE SECRET HISTORY, SIGNS,
SYMBOLS AND CRIMES OF THE
MORMON CHURCH.ALSO THE TRUE HISTORY OF THE HORRIBLE BUTCHERY KNOWN ASTHE MOUNTAIN MEADOWS MASSACRE:——————–
ILLUSTRATED
——————–ST. LOUIS:
BRYAN, BRAND & COMPANY.
NEW YORK: W. H. STELLS & CO.
1877. Entered according to act of Congress, in the year 1877, by
BRYAN, BRAND & CO.,
In the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. BECKTOLD & CO., BINDERS,
315 Pine Street.Press of Chas. B. Woodward & Co.
915 & 917 N. 6th st. St. Louis. PUBLISHERS’ PREFACE.———————
JOHN D. LEE’S prominent connection with the Mormon Church, and the almost universal desire on the part of the public to know the secrets that he could tell, gave a peculiar interest to the life and doings of this man, and led to a general inquiry for his Autobiography and Confessions. This has caused the publication of several pretended “Lives and Confessions of John D. Lee,” the materials for which were collected from fragmentary newspaper reports, and advertised by certain unscrupulous publishers as genuine. We therefore deem it but simple justice to those who may read this book, to state how we obtained the true and only LIFE AND CONFESSIONS OF JOHN D.LEE. It was stated at the time of Lee’s execution that he had left the manuscripts of his Life and Confessions with his confidential attorney for publication. We at once wrote to Col. Wm. Nelson, U. S. Marshal of Utah Territory, requesting him to give us the address of Lee’s attorney. He replied promptly, stating that Mr. W. W. Bishop, of Pioche, Nevada, was the man. We immediately entered into correspondence with Mr. Bishop, and made a contract with him for the publication of the work. In proof of the fact that this is the genuine and only genuine Life and Confessions of John D. Lee, we refer to Col. Wm. Nelson, U. S. Marshal Utah Territory; Hon. Wm. Stokes, Deputy U. S. Marshal, U. T.; Hon. Sumner Howard, U. S. Attorney, U. T.; the editor of the Salt Lake Tribune; Col. Geo. M. Sabin, Pioche, Nevada; Mr. Wm. W. Bishop, of the same place, and to John D. Lee’s letter to Mr. Bishop, on page 84 of this book. Lee wrote his Life and Confessions in prison, after his sentence to death, and subsequent to his execution his manuscripts were copied and prepared for publication by Mr. Bishop. They were at no time out of his possession or from under his immediate control, until they were delivered to the express company on the 17th day of May, 1877, to be forwarded to us. The Mormon leaders were so greatly alarmed at the prospect of the publication of Lee’s writings, and the consequent revelation of their secrets and crimes, that they sent their “Blood Atoners” to threaten the life of Mr. Bishop, and, If possible, compel him to give up the manuscripts. The danger was so great that he was compelled to have his office guarded while engaged in copying the papers; and when they were ready to be forwarded to the publishers, the Wells, Fargo & Co. Express refused to receive them until they were furnished with an armed guard to protect them until they were beyond the reach of the Mormons. The fears of the Mormon dignitaries were well founded, for Lee’s revelations of crimes committed by them are of the most startling character.THE PUBLISHERS. PREFACE———— I WAS requested by John Doyle Lee, after he had been sentenced to be shot for the part he took in the commission of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, to publish an account of his life and confessions, in order to inform the world how it was that he had acted as he had, and why he was made a scape-goat by the Mormon Church. I accepted the trust, and, in giving publicity to the facts now, for the first time fully brought to light, I am only performing what I believe to be a duty – to him, and to the public. The Mountain Meadows Massacre stands without a parallel amongst the crimes that stain the pages of American history. It was a crime committed without cause or justification of any kind to relieve it of its fearful character. Over one hundred and twenty men, women and children were surrounded by Indians, and more cruel whites, and kept under constant fire, from hundreds of unerring rifles, for five days and nights, during all of which time, the emigrants were famishing for water. When nearly exhausted from fatigue and thirst, they were approached by white men, with a flag of truce, and induced to surrender their arms, under the most solemn promises of protection. They were then murdered in cold blood, and left nude and mangled upon the plain. All this was done by a band of fanatics, who had no cause of complaint against the emigrants, except that the authorities of the Mormon Church had decided that all the emigrants who were old enough to talk, should die – revenge for alleged insults to Brigham Young, and the booty of the plundered train being the inciting causes of the massacre. John D. Lee was one, and only one of fifty-eight Mormons, who there carried out the orders of the Mormon Priesthood. He has died for his crimes – shall the others escape? The entire history of this atrocious crime is given in the confession. How it was done, and why it was the wish of the Mormons that it should be done, all Is fully stated. As one of the attorneys for John D. Lee, I did all that I could to save his life. My associates were, and are able men and fine lawyers, but fact and fate united to turn the verdict against us. The history of the first and second trials is familiar to most of the American people; therefore, I will not describe them here, any more than to say, Mormonism prevented conviction at the first trial, and at the second trial Mormonism insured conviction. After Brigham Young and his worshipers had deserted Lee, and marked him as the victim that should suffer to save the Church from destruction, on account of the crimes it had ordered; after all chances of escape had vanished, and death was certain as the result of the life-long service be had rendered the Church, the better nature of Lee overcame his superstition and fanaticism, and he gave to me the history of his life, and his confession of the facts connected with the massacre, and wished me to have the same published. Why he refused to confess at an earlier day, and save his own life by placing the guilt where it of right belonged, is a question which is answered by the. statement, that he was still a slave to his Endowment and Danite oaths, and trusted until too late to the promises of protection made to him by Brigham Young. John D. Lee was a fanatic, and as such, believed in the Mormon Church, and aided in carrying out the orders of that Church. I believe it is my duty to publish this work, to show mankind the fruits resulting from obedience to Mormon leaders, and to show that Mormonimm was as certainly the cause of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, as it is that fanaticism has been the mother of crime in all ages of the world. I also wish the American people to read the facts, as they are told by a mistaken and fanatical follower of the Mormon doctrines, yet, one who was a brave man, and, according to his ideas and teaching, a good man; who did not believe he was doing wrong when obeying the commands of the Mormon Priesthood. I wish the American people to read this work, and then say, if they can, what should be the fate of those who caused the crime to be committed. The following pages contain simply true copies of material, furnished me by John D. Lee, for the purpose of being published; all of which was written by him while in prison, and after the jury had returned its verdict of guilty. I have no excuses to offer for publishing the work just as it is. It is what it purports to be, a full history of the Mountain Meadows Massacre, and also a sketch of the life of John D. Lee, embracing a revelation of the secret history of Mormonism, from its inception down to the death of Lee; with a correct copy of him confession as given to me for publication. If any feel injured by the facts, I cannot help it. If this publication shall, in any degree, aid in securing the much-needed legislation, demanded by the American citizens of Utah, from the National Government, so that Church criminals, as well as Gentiles, can be convicted in Utah, I shall feel that I have been paid well toy all the vexatious I have endured in the land of the Saints, where they murder men, women and children for the glory of God, and the upbuilding of His kingdom. I also believe this publication will be an advantage to the large number of naturally good and honest people, who inhabit Utah, who joined the Church, and moved to Utah, believing it their Christian duty to do so. To that class of people I am indebted for many favors, and with them future prosperity.WM. W. BISHOP,
Confidential Att’y of John D. Lee.PIOCHE, NEVADA, May 17, 1877.

Mormon families in good standing do send their children to seminary in the before-school hours, so while your friends may not have gotten a lot out of it, they’re definitely exposed to the doctrines of their faith. Obviously, there are Mormons who fall across the spectrum of observance in their faith– not unlike Jews, eh? But I come from an area with heavy Mormon saturation (and have a branch of my family that is devoutly Mormon), and the author’s description seemed to fit very well with the life experiences of many members of my peer group. The girls in “pioneer garb,” etc. were the exception, but the focus on church, community, and family were universal.

I agree with most of your comment in sentiment, but I will point out one small flaw: Abraham wasn’t lying when he said that Sarah was his sister. She was his half-sister, as he explains when he’s caught. :-)

(Let’s not get into why incest IS a problem!)

It’s always problematic to speak of any group of people holding monolithic views or values. I would just be careful– Haredi society emphasizes conformity and obedience, but it certainly doesn’t forbid free thought.

I’ll repeat: get a LIFE. And also, learn to format your posts so they don’t take me five minutes to scroll through? It would encourage people to read them if they formed sentences instead of two- to four-word fragments.

I don’t disagree about the problems with intermarriage (or G-d’s feelings about it as expressed in the Torah), but a slight tweak in accuracy: when a Jewish *man* marries a gentile, that is the end of his Jewish line according to most streams of Judaism.

Yeah, Rashi discusses that, but I wanted to keep things simple. You can also justify Jacob’s answers to his blind father in order to take the blessings. You sound yeshiva-educated.

The truth is, that is the end of ANY of his lines because gentile children are not his.

That’s a very traditional (and non-textual) understanding of Shir haShirim, but okay. The “Amekh” reading of the female parts of Shir ha Shirim…I’d like to see your source for that, if you have it. :-)

Brother/sister couplings are a direct violation of Torah law (Leviticus 18). (Abraham gets a pass because 1.) it was before the Torah was given and 2.) it was outside the land of Israel.) Marriage to a niece or a cousin is not problematic, and aside from the fact that the Torah has no issues with it, has exponentially fewer genetic issues than does a sibling marriage.

I should have been clearer: I meant that immediate family incest is problematic for many reasons. Personally, I have no issue with cousins marrying, but some psychologists indicate that such couplings can still have an element of coercion in them that makes true consent impossible.

It’s Rashi on the prohibition of intermarrying w/the 7 nations. There’s a argument over that also in M. Yevamoth if it’s just the 7 or all gentiles. Zera’ Ysrael does not mean that his biological, but gentile, child will inherit him or sit shiva’ for him or have tribal rights or any other right as a son, even though he may happen to be his spitting image. R. Ya’aqov Kamenetsky z’l says NOT to discourage someone of Zera’ Ysrael from giyur. I think that was R. Moshe Feinstein z’l's argument in favour of working w/Beta Ysrael from Chabash & their genetic status, recently “revealed,” indicates they are from Zera’ Ysrael. But a son & zera’ Ysrael are not the same. I wish I knew the source of Zera’ Ysrael, I can only remember it as a sevara/rationale of a lenient conversion because through his father he’s more familiar w/what he’s getting into & chillul HaShem as far as Chabashim because they world may think they really are Yehudim.

Gevereth! The “‘Amekh” was an archaic Yiddishism!!! NOT from Shir HaShirim! The male-female: H’-His people connection can be traced to many sources, but I like starting w/the Ba’al HaTurim on the pasuq that “HaShem gave her to him,” in reference to Eve to Adam. He points out that the gematriya is 24. Now before you go getting nervous about gematriyoth, the concept already exists & the gematriya is just backup, like glue to hold it together, though that sounds slightly crass. To understand what 24 is, you have to gather as many through TaNaKh & Shas & look for a common denominator or just see what the Ba’al HaTurim says…they are the 24 jewels of the bride. You can google image “Yemenite hina” or ‘Ofra Haza z’l has a famous shot w/these wonderful jewels (google Ofra Haza Yemenite Songs) & you can see SOME of them, but there are many more around the chest, around the face & the tall conical hat. Definitely go to a Yemenite Jewish hina if you ever get the chance! Just to let you know that the Ba’al HaTurim is a heavy, he’s one of the sons of the Rosh. The Beith Yosef’s Shulchan ‘Arukh is usually based on a majority of 2 out of 3 amongst the Rif (Fez, Morocco), Rambam (Spain, Morocco, Egypt) & the Rosh (fled Germany to France, then to Spain & blew away the Sefaradim so he was elevated to be 1 of the big 3). It was unusual for Sefaradim to halakhically consider Ashkenazi positions, but he proved himself (his rebi, R. Meir of Rotenberg, jailed by the local king or mayor or whatever for ransom, was the LAST of the Ba’alei Tosefoth so the Rosh represents all of the Tosefoth, THE Ashkenazi position in halakha & the Ba’al HaTurim is his son who knew the best of both Ashkenazi AND Sefaradi worlds, very unusual & special). Now down to the business of LOVE! There are 24 hrs in each day, each infused w/a different ‘flavour” of combinations of H’s Name, there 24 mishmaroth/guards of cohanim in the Temple, 24 fingers in each cubit of stone in the Temple, 24 threads in the curtain of the Holy of Holies which serves as MODESTY & beyond only the high cohen-priest goes beyond (as a “bride”) on Yom Kippur as part of the service, but in privacy, there are 24 gifts of the cohen, there are 24 BOOKS of TaNaKh which when we learn puts 24 jewels upon the Jewish people (Ari z’l), Talmud: 24 queries that Reish Leqeish would ask R. Yochanan to sharpen him (as a result R. Yochanan authored the Jerusalem Talmud), 24 ANSWERS that Rashbi (R. Shim’on bar Yochai would give AFTER exiting from the cave after many, many years) & HE authored the Zohar…24 years that R. ‘Aqiva studied Torah & acquired 24, 000 disciples, 24 chapters of Tractate Shabbath when we are far more “intimate” w/HaShem, 24 women who went out on shabbath w/a special bejeweled hat in honour of shabbath when they found it to be permitted & on & on, these are just off of the top of my head, I’m sure I’m forgetting a lot.
24 is really a chazaqa of 8. Since there are 7 emotional traits, if one overcomes those natural emotional traits, they are employing something ABOVE their emotions & that’s called intellect/sekhel/da’ath & it is NOT natural. EMOTIONS are natural, intellect is therefore SUPERNATURAL. To acquire a good use of intellect a person engages in wisdom. When Joseph separated Simon/Shim’on from Lewi/Levi, Lewi was allowed to grow in wisdom & continued to do so even in the Egyptian exile, while the other tribes did NOT. That is why Lewi was able to not be seduced by the Golden Calf & that is why they were awarded w/the priesthood/kehuna which has 4 garments (4 is space). The high cohen-priest though wears…8 garments. There were originally only 4 cohenic families to schlep around the mishkan/tabernacle. This was increased to 8 because of the intellect, then Samuel/Shemuel increased it to 16, then King David increased it to…24!!! David’s names WITH the yod is also…24! The shema’ is 25, but barukh shem kevodh malkhutho le’olam wa’edh is…24!!!! 24 are jewels of the bride to seduce & excite her husband through her goodness! Notice that it is a function of INTELLECT. For the record, a chazaqa of 24 (24 x 3)=72, ‘AV, which is the ultimate tiqun, but that’s not for now (is it?). Think of the 42 lettered Name said during Yom Kippur in the Temple heard all the way to Jericho. Remember that 3 is always chesedh-gevura-tifereth (chagath) which is really mercy.
3, 30, 300, 3000, 30000 etc is all the same, just different levels of intensity. There were 42 encampments in the Sinai Desert, but if you add mercy to them you get 42 + 30=72. Also, the exodus brought out 288 sparks from Egypt. 288/12 tribes=24, each tribe’s behaviour was “seducing” HaShem. How many children did Jacob have? 12, BUT…each had a twin, so that’s…24. Enough for now.

Yeshiva-educate indicates exposure to deeper levels of knowledge, so of course it’s a compliment. Of COURSE your named intrigued me! I thought it may be a Dell computer handle or something. Was your attraction intellectual or emotional? I keep wanting to slip into Hebrew w/you. The fact that we are having this conversation really indicates to me that you have a neshama. The integration of the neshama w/the guf is through a technical process & based on the knowledge you are displaying, I hope that you’ll go through that technical process. I see you as sharp & sensitive & I feel like I’m talking to someone way above the zera’ Ysrael stage.

I suppose it was “polemic” because I currently live in Salt Lake City
and as a “gentile” (re: Jew) I have to witness the ugly, everyday
discrimination heaped upon non-Mormons, especially on gays and lesbians.
You can say that this is the fault of individuals, but it is not simply the case because the LDS establishment is explicitly opposed to equal rights for gays and lesbians. How can an individual be faulted when the LDS church can excommunicate any of its followers for openly and proudly supporting equal rights?
Salt Lake City as a whole makes it very uncomfortable for non Mormons of all stripes. And while individual members themselves may not be homophobic, it is my understanding they are required to give 10% of their income in tithing to the LDS church which is blatantly anti-gay, and they do this with the
full knowledge of the church’s financial involvement in things like
Prop 8. While these saints may not consider themselves homophobic, I
argue that by financial supporting institutions who aggressively make it
their mission to deny equal rights to people they consider unworthy or
sinful, supporting such institutions do in fact make them incredibly
anti-gay.

Joanna, there are groups that make “fixed truth claims,” and we call these groups “religions.” There are other groups that encourage “a set of evolving questions,” such as philosophy classes and encounter groups. The LDS church doesn’t move from one category to the other just because you have changed, but still want to call yourself “MormonGirl.” Groups do evolve, but something must remain at the core. The core of any religious grip is the fixed belief. “We are the people who believe X, or pretend to believe X, or at least don’t object to X out loud so that we can still be accepted as if we did believe X.” Adding “used to believe X but are now openly questioning X,” no, that just doesn’t work.

As a Mormon who adores studying Jews and Hebrew and reading Jewish history, I am completely baffled by this article. We’re taught doctrines and principles in church. Many people don’t think deeply about things (pretty sure that’s the norm in the world), but for those of us Mormons who like to think deeply about things and examine our place in the world and in God’s eyes compared with everyone else, it’s encouraged by spiritual leaders (aka the 12 apostles) and those who are wise members of the church. We grow line upon line and expect to find spiritual insight when we study even secular topics.

So, I think it just depends on the person who wants to take the time to think about our past and us today. Otherwise, we’re not going to teach or hear that in church. Our job in church is to learn and participate in the ordinances of salvation and live lives that help us grow closer to our Savior and spiritually overcome our problems through greater faith, THAT is real, THAT is our substance, THAT is what our religion is about. Everything else is subject to opinion and time and if you aren’t too busy living your life to think about Jews and Mormons in the real world.

Joanna, I can be an “orthodox” and a feminist and a thinker! I wish you wouldn’t forget about us!

Yes, I think you and anyone else living in Utah know how the liquor laws work, and that they are the most restrictive in the country. And your presence at those “seders” at the very least passively condones the second class status of Jews in Utah. (And the second class status of anyone not LDS.) Saying that you enjoyed the “seders” and any Jew you met there does not excuse the blatant offensiveness of them to the entire Jewish community in Utah.

You’re not a religious jew, except in your own head. Mormons constantly try to convert Jews. And there is in fact concrete DNA evidence that there was a genetic bottleneck event in the Jewish community about 4,000 years ago.

Don’t forget Spiritualism which started with the Fox sisters in NY! A lovely bit of American history!

I’m sorry that I didn’t see this comment until now. As a queer woman, I completely understand the pain of seeing institutionalized discrimination, especially couched in religion. There *is* progress being made in the LDS Church on this issue, but they have a long way to go.

I was surprised to read what you said about Salt Lake City– I’ve not spent much time there, but I had read many articles saying that Salt Lake was a great place for LGBT people. (See, for instance: http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/01/10/10097194-gayest-us-town-surprise-its-salt-lake-city?lite) I’m sorry to hear that that has not been your experience.

As a native Californian who still lived in that state when Prop 8 passed, I had plenty of my own ire over the LDS Church’s involvement in the campaign and I, for one, would never knowingly support an institution that did such a thing. Still, tithes are essentially taxes, and while I completely disagree with many U.S. policies, I still pay my taxes and financially support the government. I don’t know that it’s fair to assume that an individual’s financial support of an institution means that the individual support all of the institution’s policies.

I’m sorry that I didn’t see this comment until now– I would definitely have responded. This is no longer on point for the article, but briefly: my attraction to Judaism is both intellectual and emotional, but I’d say that it was emotional for years before it was intellectual.

As far as the technical process of conversion– I had a beit din with three halachically Jewish male witnesses and a kosher mikveh, so as far as integrating the neshama and the guf, I’m perfectly satisfied with the process. Not trying to be defensive; I just don’t feel the need to submit to someone else’s (i.e. not my community’s) understanding of halakha (nor to someone else’s bureaucracy) in order to feel “kosher.” Thank you very much for your kind words, and for both the gematria and the Ramban references. :-)

I didn’t make sense to me way back when that you’d not responded. M, I live in Jerusalem & see ALL kinds of people at many, many different stages in their lives & their complications. One of the most difficult situations is an Israeli-RAISED child going to the rabbinate to get approved to be married only to find out that since their mother was lacking in the conversion process, they are cannot approve the marriage. This is usually a case of a KOSHER beith din & ritual bath, but w/o commandments observance. The mother, at the time, said that was enough for her, never expecting her daughter to want to be accepted by all of Jewry, instead of merely in the limited confines of her (the mother’s) community. I’m certainly not telling you what to do because Jewishness is a HUGE responsibility. I only want you to be aware of other consequences that may not be apparent at this stage. Also, the criteria for guf-neshama integration (aka giyur) come from Tractate Yevamoth & are not at all subjective just like the criteria for American citizenship is not based on subjective feelings. A Cuban citizen who knows American history, speaks like an American, parties on the 4th of July, FEELS he’s American, will still be turned away at the American border. I’m telling you this because their is a Tosefoth in Tractate Yevamoth that says there’s a chiyuv to assist the sincere in guf-neshama integration & he brings the sad story of Timna’ to back up his position. We are always up against 2 issues: truth vs. comfort, & this is EVERYBODY & ALL of the time. Remember, Beith Din must be shomrei shabbath. I’m not judging you, I only want to make sure that you have all of the information to make an informed choice & whatever you do, I really, really wish you the very best (ESPECIALLY since you are both SHARP AND SWEET, an unusual & desirable combination!). kol tuv, Ra’anan

HARRY POTTER MEETS ADAM!

WALTER MITTY MEETS MOSES.

HUGH HEFNER MEETS EVE & WANTS HER TO DO CENTERFOLD FOR PLAYBOY.

YOU JEWS CAN COME UP WITH WHOPPERS!

O YEAH!

THE MOUNTAIN MEADOW MASSACRE WAS A TV SITCOM.
COWBOYS & INDIANS & MORMONS.
NO ONE DIED DURING THE MAKING OF THIS SITCOM & THE DANITES WERE A CHORAL SOCIETY.

BRING-UM-YOUNG WAS MONOGAMOUS & JOE SMITH WAS CELIBATE. HE NEVER EVEN MASTURBATED; NOT ONCE!

I HAVE THE TWIN TOWERS FOR SALE!

ANY OFFERS?