Year 3 Issue 51November 16 - December 1, 2004www.aramica.com

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Hasidic Rabbi Yisroel Dovid WeissShatters the Lie of ZionismNo Matter What – "… we refuse to recognize Israel"

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Aramica

is a non partisan / non sectariannewspaper distributed free of chargein NY, NJ, CT, and PA

W h e r e E a s t M e e t s W e s t

Letter From the Publisher, 3 No Matter What "… we refuse to recognize Israel"Arabic, 4 / English, 8

The

"Mourning" After ElectionsArabic, 14 / English, 16Yemeni Informer Sets Himself on Fire, 18Who

Was

Yasser Arafat? 20Arafat Refuse

That Which Should Not be Refused, 21Middle East News, 22Fun Stuff, 26Just GossipArabic, 28 / English, 30Calendar of Events, 32Hot Off the Press, 34Aramican Woman, 35Aramican Literature, 38Electrical Hazards in Your Kitchen, 40Community & Society Events, 42

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The "Mourning"After Election

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WestchesterOfficialsCondemnPalestinian ArtExhibit

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ionism. Judaism. Semitism. How didthese three words come to mean al-most the same thing? It’s not easy tochange the meaning of words so com- pletely as to change the perception - in theminds of the public - about the issuesswirling around them. Such is the power of the Zionist movement that they caneven manipulate language to suit their purposes.How often have we heard someone saythey are anti-Israel, not anti-Jewish? Howoften have we explained that, as Arabs,we can’t be anti-Semitic because we areSemites, too? Anti-Zionists, perceived to be primarily Arabs and/or ArabAmericans, seem powerless to contradictthe perception that, as anti-Zionists, theyare anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish.What if the anti-Zionist in question wasJewish? Can a Zionist accuse an OrthodoxJew of being anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish? Why would an Orthodox Jew beanti-Israel?*Neturei Karta (Aramaic for "protectorsof the city") is the name that was given toa group of Orthodox Jews in Jerusalemwho refused (and still refuse) to recognizethe existence or authority of the so-called"State of Israel" and made (and still make)a point of publicly demonstrating their po-sition, the position of the Torah and au-thentic unadulterated Judaism. The groupwas founded in Palestine in 1938, after splitting from Agudas Yisroel, which wasestablished in 1912 for the purpose of fighting Zionism. Gradually lured bymoney and honor they sold out to the"Golden-Calf" of Zionism. Those whowanted to maintain their faith and contin-ue the struggle against Zionism disassoci-ated themselves from Agudas Yisroel(*nkusa.org).Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss is thespokesman for Neturei Karta. Born in New York in 1956, Rabbi Weiss belongsto the Satmar sect, the largest Hasidicgroup in existence. Originally fromHungary, they are the most widely recog-nized Orthodox Jewish sect.There are approximately 13 millionJews in the world today. Approximately 2million identify themselves as Orthodox,300,000 of which are Hasidic.‘Chasid’ is a word that pre-dates thegroup with which it is associated and sim- ply means ‘above and beyond’. The Torahsays clothing worn by Jews ought to besomber in color; Orthodox Jews will wear gray, brown, or even dark blue butHasidic Jews wear only black. The Torahsays one’s head must be covered at alltimes, to remind Jews that God is abovethem; Orthodox Jews wear yarmulkes butHasidic Jews wear yarmulkes AND hats.The differences between Orthodox andHasidic are, as Rabbi Weiss says, ‘…about customs and slight nuances in mat-ters of spirituality."Speaking faster than we thought hu-manly possible, the youthful and accom-modating Rabbi Weiss apologized for ar-riving late to meet us and placed a dish of cake on the table for us before immediate-ly launching, almost as if he were on fire,into a crash course on Jewish customs,history, and the destructive nature of Zionism.

What is "Orthodox" Judaism?

“The Torah is divided into two: theWritten law, given by God to Moses inthe 5 books and the words of the Prophets;and, the Oral law, which we believe Godgave to Moses at the same time. TheTorah says you should wear tzitzit(fringes worn on the corners of a four-cor-nered garment; the garment and fringestogether). The Torah doesn’t explain whatthat is. The Oral law does. We believe it istotally necessary to have both. To a reli-gious Jew, were you to accept only theWritten law, then you are not religious.Later, the rabbis saw it was too broad sothey condensed it. Maimonides made a book called Mishnah Torah, and later still,about 800 years ago, they made theShulchan Aruch. It was accepted amongstall Jewish people that a religious Jew -what we would call Orthodox today - issomebody who is following the tenets of the Torah who hasn’t strayed from theShulchan Aruch.We believe any other type of Judaism isa false representation. It’s like someonesaying they’re a Buddhist Jew.”

Suffering is Godly

In the early 1800s, the ReformMovement turned the heads of many Jewsthroughout Europe. The Torah, theyclaimed, was not written by God so therewas no reason to follow it strictly. An in-dividual’s personal autonomy took prece-dence over Jewish laws and customs; the person decided for themselves which cus-toms to adopt, if any. "They have no prob-lem making fire or anything on theSabbath because it’s not Godly by themso they do whatever they want. Accordingto them, even homosexuality is legal. It’sridiculous," explained Rabbi Weiss.Their beliefs and desire to assimilateinto mainstream society got them excom-municated from the Orthodox Jewishcommunity. "We are forbidden from go-ing to a Reform synagogue. We are forbidden from sitting next to them at meet-ings. They have no right to representJudaism as their representation is false.Orthodoxy is the only way because Torahis a Godly thing and you can’t change it.”Assimilation did not prevent Jews from being persecuted, as they had hoped. Thencame Theodor Herzl. A non-religiousReform Jew, Herzl believed that Jewswere persecuted because they were phys-ically weak. His solution? Jews shouldhave a homeland."We believe," explained Rabbi Weiss,"that the anti-Semitism suffered byJewish people is a Godly happening. Godwants to remind us, wherever we go in ex-ile, to be humble. But he was non-reli-gious, so to him it was just a fact: physi-cally we are suffering; people are pickingon us. God was excluded from the equa-tion. The reason we were sent into Exodus2,000 years ago was not because God sentus out for our sins but because of physicalweakness."

Preying on the Ignorant

Threats on his life will not stop RabbiWeiss from speaking openly and passion-ately about the lengths to which Zionistshave gone and are still willing to go to justify the existence of the state of Israel – in total violation of the Torah, virtuallyeradicating true Judaism, and almost com- pletely destroying the friendship that onceexisted between Arabs and Jews.When the state of Israel was created,Zionists traveled throughout the MiddleEast, ‘encouraging’ Jews to move toIsrael. Lured by false promises of tightlyknit religious communities and the mis-guided belief that the Zionists shared their religious values, Jews made the

aliyah

(the immigration to the Zionist state of Jews from all countries).Even after the

aliyah

from Yemen, thou-sands of Yemeni Jews remained. NetureiKarta was given permission by theYemeni government to visit the Jewishcommunities there, which they did everyyear for 40 years."It is so false, the portrayal of theMuslim community mistreating the Jews.They give total respect to our customs. InYemen, you aren’t allowed to drink alco-hol but the Jews are allowed alcohol be-cause we use it for our religious purposes.Once, there was a fight between twoJewish fellows and one ripped out the peyis (long sideburns worn by Hasidicmen) of the other. They went to theMuslim court, which sued the man re-sponsible."When the Yemeni government starteddealing with the United States in the early90s, the Zionists contacted Senators and began applying pressure so they wouldtell the Yemeni Jews to leave Yemen.They published articles in Zionist news- papers about how Yemeni Jews were be-ing forced to convert to Islam, that they’re being mistreated."In 1948, when the Zionists took Jewsfrom Yemen, they told them they would put them in religious communities andthey didn’t. They took the children and put them in kibbutzes. They forced themto drop their religion. We knew that theZionists would do the same thing again.We tried to tell the Yemeni Jews not tolisten to the Zionists. The Zionists prom-ised them free housing."What they got was their passports con-fiscated, making it virtually impossiblefor them to leave Israel and either returnto Yemen or go anywhere else once theydiscovered that the Zionists lied to them.

We are forbidden from: returning to the land en masse;rebelling against any nation; and bringing about an endto the exile.

November 16 - December 1, 2004

Lynne Vittorio & Antoine Faisal

No Matter What – "… we refuse to recognize Israel"

Hasidic Rabbi Yisroel Dovid Weiss Shatters the Lie of Zionism