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Originally Posted by Red Slinger
I'm in the same boat.
Regardless of the validity of this particular story, it speaks to the dangerously extreme position of some Rabbi's in Israel (and elsewhere). If it's not true the story is somewhat believable because of the absolute nuttiness of the extreme 'believers'.
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The story was false and baseless. There is no belief in reincarnation, or people turning into dogs. The story was a strange attempt at either sensationalizing a headline or vilifying someone.
And I am sure there are nuts in every country that have dangerous beliefs. In Israel the vast majority fortunately do not follow the nut bars. The story is not believable at all and represents Israel in no way.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Slinger
I've spent some time in Israel and I was a little surprised how much disdain there is in the general population of Israel towards most of these ultra-orthodox Jewish rabbi's. They don't work, they don't pay taxes, they don't serve in the military and they complain non-stop about how they deserve this-and-that based on their interpretation of the Torah (Old Testament). Even worse is that they have a disproportionatly high rate of representation in the Parliament and an equally disproportionatly high level of influence over governmental policy. They are parasites that leech off the hard-working, honest, caring people of Israel.
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Exactly, what separates Israel from many of it's neighbors is the education of the people, the freedom of speech and the freedom of religion. For these reasons, most people ignore the nuts, especially rabbis that make up a bunch of nonsense. It is not surprising at all that many Jews do not support any form of extremism. I am not sure what your opinion of rabbis has to do with a made up story about a dog.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Red Slinger
Israel is such a beautiful country and the people (who aren't religious nutbags) are awesome. It truly would be heaven on Earth if they could purge themselves of what I like to call the 'Jewish Taliban'.
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That would amount to what created the problems in many other countries - they booted out or killed anyone who did not think like them. Countries like Canada have similar issues to Israel because we give everyone the same freedoms and rights. What makes Canada great is we have so many varying opinions we somehow find a middle ground that everyone is happy with - even if that means people with terrible opinions get an equal say.
Israel is an example for it's neighbors to follow. I am not sure what influence some wacky Rabbis have in the nation's affairs, there are so many political parties and coalitions there it is hard to keep up!