This is a guest post by Yeze
Yitzhak Shapira is the rabbi who has, outrageously, endorsed killing Gentiles. He writes in Torah haMelech (King’s Torah):
“If we kill a Gentile who has sinned or has violated one of the seven commandments – because we care about the commandments – there is nothing wrong with the murder.”
According to Shapira, even babies and children may be killed if they pose a threat to the Jewish nation.
FailedMessiah picks up on a Maariv article which notes that Rabbi Dov Lior has also endorsed the book.
Dov Lior is the rosh yeshiva of the Kiryat Arba Hesder Yeshiva, the Chief Rabbi of Hebron and Kiryat Arba, and chairman of the Yesha rabbinical council. He is hugely influential and powerful within the radical settler movement, and his endorsement of a book which endorses the killing of Gentiles is outrageous.
Of course, one could see this coming. Lior has stated that Jews should not employ or rent houses to Arabs. Lior has previously described Baruch Goldstein as ” full of love for fellow human beings. He dedicated himself to helping others.” In 2007, Lior took part in an “alternative Jewish Sovereignty summit’ alongside Manhigut Yehudit (Jewish Leadership), Land of Israel Task Force, Cities of Israel, the Temple Institute, the Sanhedrin, Mateh Tzafon, Task Force to Save the Land of Israel, Women in Green, Nahalal Forum, and Honenu.
I have written about Honenu before, who are currently defending Yaakov ‘Jack’ Teitel, the terrorist indicted for the murder of two Palestinians and the attempted murder of Ze’ev Sternhell and Ami Ortiz. Honenu have previously raised funds for Yigal Amir – Yitzchak Rabin’s assassin.
And guess what? Rabbi Dov Lior says that your donation to Honenu will be regarded as ma’aser kesafim (a religious tithe)!
Honenu have been pushing the line that Yaakov Teitel was both a lone wolf and a mentally deranged nutter, despite Teitel’s boast that he sees himself as an emissary of God who thought that the presence of left-wing and Christian Jews in Israel was delaying the Messiah.
But if he was working alone, then who translated Teitel’s hate literature against Israeli gays into Hebrew for him? And if he signed his literature as the Shlisel Society (a reference to Yishai Shlisel), then are the others in the society? And did he develop his Redemption theology independently from others, or was he inspired by the likes of Lior and Shapira?
Whatever the case, Honenu is attempting to give Teitel legal and social credibility, and Dov Lior gives Honenu religious and spiritual credibility.
And Dov Lior recommends Yitzhak Shapiro’s The King’s Torah.
Violent words breed violent deeds.
It is simply not enough to condemn the violent deeds and ignore the violent words, or we will simply see more and more Jack Teitels.