Our own religious extremists are starting to look an awful lot like the more incendiary preachers of radical Islam, whom we are fond of denouncing. Remember how shocked everyone was about Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s Fatwa against Salman Rushdie in 1989? It was hard to believe - then - that a major world religion could make death threats. Well, it turns out we have something similar. It’s called the Pulsa D’Nura. To be honest, I’ve never heard of it - but evidently we just evoked it against Ariel Sharon…
Strictly speaking, it’s not a death threat - just a death curse. According to Arutz Sheva:
Disengagement opponents have released a message announcing that approximately twenty persons participated in a Pulsa D’Nura ceremony, last week, calling for the death of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The kabalistic prayer service was held in the Ancient Rosh Pinah Cemetery.
An article in Haaretz elaborates:
The ceremony, which is supposed to cause the death of the subject within a year, calls upon the “angels of destruction” to refrain from forgiving the subject his sins, to kill him, and to call down all the curses named in the Bible…
(Ceremony participant Michael) Ben-Horin said that… Sharon is alone in advocating his disengagement plan. His death would cancel the pullout, Ben-Horin added.
In a related story, experts at Tel Aviv University have been studying the Harry Potter novels carefully and say they are close to mastering the Avada Kedavra spell, which causes instant death in a flash of green light.
It’s not altogether a joking matter, however, as Arutz goes on to make clear:
The kabalistic prayer is not a text recited by mainstream Judaism. It gained notoriety prior to the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, when the prayer was recited a number of times, resulting in widespread condemnation.
In other words, this ceremony - like the Rushdie Fatwa - amounts to a call for the Prime Minister’s assassination.
Pulsa D’Nura
Among its many virtues and inspirational themes, there’s an awful lot of magical thinking in Judiasm. So, which parts inspire us, which do we ignore and which do we turn away from in horror? And is it possible to avoid a selective reading/interpretation of the varied texts?
semitism and pulsa d`nura
When taken literally certain “holy scriptures” are the basis for fundamentalism, terrorism, suicide attacs, ethnic cleansing, greed and many more ugly things. In this forum here an attempt is made to counter this - unfortunately by using the term “semitism”.
Being an elderly German I have tried to resolve the superficially meaningless terms Semitismus and Anti-Semitismus. The latter was introduced by one Wihelm Marr, son of the famous jewish actor Heinrich Marr, at the beginning of the 1880s. This term has become very popular almost overnight in the Western world at large, comprehending everything bad on jewish persons. It has taken on the meaning of racism as well.
Starting from there we can agree on the possibility that “anti-semitism” was a term used for the intra-jewish discourses in German speaking countries. There were many German jews who were very critical of certain traits of what is called the “jewish identity” - Tenach, Talmud, Zohar with their hatred against non-jews, with justification of ethnic cleansing, of lying and of cheating if so commanded by G-d. Most prominent among those (formerly) jewish critics is Karl Marx.
I suggest that Wilhelm Marr gave to these ugly traits the term “semitism” and he did not have any speakers of semitic languages in mind, when doing so. Instead he was reflecting the fact that frume jews will never use the word G-d. When encountering the tetragrammaton in Hebrew or Aramaic “holy writ” they will speak something different, most often just “ha Shem”, which translates into “the name”, meaning the name of their G-d. For instance the founder of the Chassidim was therefore called Baal Shem Tov (Master of the good name).
So when propagating anti-semitism Wilhelm Marr was taking up a fight against the selfish traits encountered in Judaism - but of course also found in certain christian communities like the evangelicals with their obsession with money. The G-d Marr was fighting against is in reality just an idol whose proper name is “Mammon” or selfishness.
Derivation of Semitism
My understanding is that the term Semitic derives from Shem, Noah’s eldest son, who was said to have begotten the ancestors of the Semitic people, which includes both Jews and Arabs. The term was coined in the 19th century and does, in fact, refer to a language grouping. From the Jewish Encyclopedia:
The name of this site is intended to represent the opposite of anti-semitism, i.e. an affirmation of pride in a common semitic heritage.
It has been pointed out to me that the term semitic is a rather artificial one and that the project of dividing the world’s peoples into European and non-European language groups was an outgrowth of 19th century European racism. I can’t say that I thought of this when I named the site, but I have decided to keep the name and to advance it as a rejection of racist labels.
I am sure you are not trying to defend the well-known antisemite Wilhelm Marr. Certainly, vice is a part of the human condition. But I reject any attempt to associate particular vices with any ethnic, religious, racial or cultural group. Evil in its various forms distributes itself in a population independent of any of these variables.
The Tanach, Talmud and other Jewish writings are, in my opinion, complex and brilliant works. They contain some material that is appealing to the modern sensibility, and some that is not. This is ancient writing, much of it carrying over from an oral tradition millenia old, and it is subject to a wide range of interpretations. To mine this literature for “evidence” against the Jews is an excercise in obsessive hatred.
We would all do well to examine critically the behavior and beliefs of our own people, while showing respect for those of others.
Andrew Schamess
Fundamentalism is opposed to humanity
While working for many years in the US of A, I acquired the Sperling translation of the Zohar. Reading it I became very disturbed and I decided to ignore the matter altogether, especially since none of my jewish friends and colleagues were aware of the actual contents of this scripture. The point I am making though is that there are people who do not take the contents of Holy Scriptures alegorically but literally. This is the basis for fundamentalism everywhere.
I wholeheartedly agree with you that the Zohar carries concepts which are very sublime and helpful in comprehending the complexities of our world. The early chassidic elaborations on the Zohar as retold by Martin Buber find correspondances in the works of Jakob Lorber, Rudolf Steiner or Rupert Sheldrake. To these I subscribe because I hold them for valid.
I am also convinced that the majority of rabbis, mullahs or christian priests do take care in explaining Holy Scriptures in a way that is socially acceptable. On the other hand we do find irresponsible people who wave the books in question in front of their followers and make them do any thing. And one level removed we find atheists who exploit these for their own sinister ends.
Rupert Sheldrake has introduced with his explanation of morpho(genet)ic fields a conceptualization of the sublime that should even appeal to agnostics. From this I feel we could do away with all allegorical statements in Tenach, New Testament or Quran which have been abused time and again. This would make the world a safer place for all of us.
Between Germany and France have been established joint committees on school books resulting in history class material that is acceptable for both countries. The same is going on between Germany and Poland. I suggest that such joint committees are being called into existence for major religions, preferably under the facilitation of the United Nations Organization. From there should issue revised Holy Scriptures which do not contain any material that could easily abused.
One final word regarding Wilhelm Marr. I find it very hard to believe that he hated jews at large. According to my sources he was several times married to jewish ladies. This is what gave me the idea in the first place.
Hans-Werner Andreas, Berlin, Germany