Animal Sacrifice
Comments by Yeshayahu Hollander - 26 Jan 2010

Dear Sir/Madam,

On page http://www.all-creatures.org/hr/hrasacrific.htm it is written:

Now, almost two thousand years after this bloody worship was ended by the destruction of the Jerusalem Temple, there are large numbers of Jews and Christians who are working and praying for its restoration. Those who are committed to this cause have no compunction about the massive slaughter of animals that would take place in the name of God. But neither do they have any compunction about a massive slaughter of human beings. They believe this, too, is part of God's unfolding plan.

I did not understand whence the author derived the underlined statement, accusing Jews and Christians of not having compunction about the massive slaughter.

The only part of the article which could be construed to support this contention with respect to Jews of Christians is the descriptions following this statement, said to be from a book called "Revelation".

First of all, the belief in the scenes described in the article does not mean that the believer has "no compunction". The believer may be terribly frightened by his/her belief, and pray every day that the suffering should not occur.

So there is no proof of the "no compunction" accusation - even with respect to Christians.

Accusing Jews on the basis of the descriptions from Revelation is even less founded. The book of Revelation is not known to Jews, [except to a few Jewish scholars]. It is part of the Christian scriptures which very few Jews see, certainly they never read. Even those who do read any part of the Christian scriptures certainly do not subscribe to them.

So the accusation of Jews having no compunction etc. is entirely baseless.

Unless, of course, the accusation, like so many others, is based on blatant antisemitism - or ignorance of Judaism and Jewish practice.

If it is merely an expression of ignorance, it is amazing that anyone could accuse people of having no compunction about massive slaughter of human beings without even inquiring about the real situation among the accused. This would be an expression of arrogance of the accuser on the one hand, and, on the other hand, an expression of de-humanizing of the victims of such an accusation.

It seems that the writer has a lot to learn about Jews, and a lot to learn about disguising his/her antisemitism.

But perhaps blatant antisemitism is what attracts your audience. So what the author was doing is pandering to the worst bloodthirsty hate feelings of a sick audience. In that case, I am very glad I have not, in all my 72 years, met anyone as depraved as the author!!

Very Sincerely,

An incidental reader.

Go on to: Comments by Frank and Mary Hoffman - 26 Jan 2010
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