It seems to me after reading Rich Reynolds’ three recent posts:
The Roswell Religion, April 4th,
What you don’t get, about those Roswell/alien slides, April 12th
God is dead….so we need extraterrestrials (and those slides)? April 16th
. . . that Mr. Reynolds is perhaps . . . floundering between hope and hopelessness?
It is interesting to note that the chief Rabbi of Israel from 1993 to 2003, R. Yisrael Meir Lau, had been in the Buchenwald Nazi camp as a child, and in his memoirs he says that he prayed while in that camp that if the Almighty would save him he would serve him for the rest of his life. Here is an example of R. Lau’s remembrance of his time in the camp:
THE SPEECH OF HIS LIFE
. . . Rav Lau's seventh Holocaust image finds him standing in muddy snow in the Czenstochova labor camp.
"We boys were standing in a row in front of the German commander, each of us with his father behind him. In my case, since I was already an orphan, my brother Naftali stood behind me. The commander was shouting, 'What do I need these accursed children for? They're non-productive and they're costing me money. We'll have to get rid of them!'
"While the other boys trembled with fear, I used my foot to push some snow and gravel into a little pile. It was about two inches high, but I imagined that if I stood on this little hillock, I'd look taller and my words would carry more weight, and maybe then the commander wouldn't kill us all.
"I took a step forward, stood on my 'platform,' and said, 'Sir! Why do you say we aren't productive? In the Piotrkow ghetto, I worked in the glass factory for eight hours a day nonstop, carrying huge bottles of drinking water for the workers in the factory, where the temperature was 140 degrees. For a whole year I did this, in snow, in storms, in heat, carrying heavy bottles into that blazing hot room. And then I was only five and a half years old. Now that I'm so much bigger, I can do more than that. If I could work in the Hortenzia glass factory, why can't I work here?'
"If witnesses hadn't told me that this really happened, I wouldn't believe it myself; I would think my memory was playing tricks on me. But the fact is that the Nazi officer was convinced. The Almighty gave me confidence and put the right words into my mouth.
"As a result of my little speech, the commander let it be known that he would redeem any child in the camp for a price of 1,000 marks. Our mother had foreseen circumstances like these and provided us with two diamonds and a gold watch. 'These will help you keep your promise to Tatte, that you'll take care of Lulek,' she had explained to my brother Naftali. A Jewish dentist had filled her tooth with a half-carat diamond, and she had sewn a two-carat stone into the lining of her coat. Those diamonds saved my life twice."
http://www.aish.com/ho/p/48956731.html
So contrary to Reynolds, even a chief Rabbi of Israel who lost close family and friends in the Holocaust does not blame the Almighty for tragedy. Instead, despite sinful human beings causing horrific tragedy to other humans in this world, R. Lau is thankful for the Almighty’s deliverance and is sure of ultimate restitution for the good of the righteous. For orthodox Jews the Almighty may have been in a state of “Hester Panim” (hiding the face (of favor)), which itself is a looming promise of the Almighty to Israel in the Torah, but that does not mean one denies the Creator.
Reynolds evidently has no comparable experience and is not a reliable theologian as seen in his “Augustus Caesar ruler at the time of the crucifixion” gaff. Caveat Emptor.
b”h
ReplyDeleteIt seems to me after reading Rich Reynolds’ three recent posts:
The Roswell Religion, April 4th,
What you don’t get, about those Roswell/alien slides, April 12th
God is dead….so we need extraterrestrials (and those slides)? April 16th
. . . that Mr. Reynolds is perhaps . . . floundering between hope and hopelessness?
It is interesting to note that the chief Rabbi of Israel from 1993 to 2003, R. Yisrael Meir Lau, had been in the Buchenwald Nazi camp as a child, and in his memoirs he says that he prayed while in that camp that if the Almighty would save him he would serve him for the rest of his life. Here is an example of R. Lau’s remembrance of his time in the camp:
THE SPEECH OF HIS LIFE
. . . Rav Lau's seventh Holocaust image finds him standing in muddy snow in the Czenstochova labor camp.
"We boys were standing in a row in front of the German commander, each of us with his father behind him. In my case, since I was already an orphan, my brother Naftali stood behind me. The commander was shouting, 'What do I need these accursed children for? They're non-productive and they're costing me money. We'll have to get rid of them!'
"While the other boys trembled with fear, I used my foot to push some snow and gravel into a little pile. It was about two inches high, but I imagined that if I stood on this little hillock, I'd look taller and my words would carry more weight, and maybe then the commander wouldn't kill us all.
"I took a step forward, stood on my 'platform,' and said, 'Sir! Why do you say we aren't productive? In the Piotrkow ghetto, I worked in the glass factory for eight hours a day nonstop, carrying huge bottles of drinking water for the workers in the factory, where the temperature was 140 degrees. For a whole year I did this, in snow, in storms, in heat, carrying heavy bottles into that blazing hot room. And then I was only five and a half years old. Now that I'm so much bigger, I can do more than that. If I could work in the Hortenzia glass factory, why can't I work here?'
"If witnesses hadn't told me that this really happened, I wouldn't believe it myself; I would think my memory was playing tricks on me. But the fact is that the Nazi officer was convinced. The Almighty gave me confidence and put the right words into my mouth.
"As a result of my little speech, the commander let it be known that he would redeem any child in the camp for a price of 1,000 marks. Our mother had foreseen circumstances like these and provided us with two diamonds and a gold watch. 'These will help you keep your promise to Tatte, that you'll take care of Lulek,' she had explained to my brother Naftali. A Jewish dentist had filled her tooth with a half-carat diamond, and she had sewn a two-carat stone into the lining of her coat. Those diamonds saved my life twice."
http://www.aish.com/ho/p/48956731.html
So contrary to Reynolds, even a chief Rabbi of Israel who lost close family and friends in the Holocaust does not blame the Almighty for tragedy. Instead, despite sinful human beings causing horrific tragedy to other humans in this world, R. Lau is thankful for the Almighty’s deliverance and is sure of ultimate restitution for the good of the righteous. For orthodox Jews the Almighty may have been in a state of “Hester Panim” (hiding the face (of favor)), which itself is a looming promise of the Almighty to Israel in the Torah, but that does not mean one denies the Creator.
Reynolds evidently has no comparable experience and is not a reliable theologian as seen in his “Augustus Caesar ruler at the time of the crucifixion” gaff. Caveat Emptor.