B"H
Lies, Damn Lies and Other Pharisaic/Rabbinic Instruction
Originally appears on the Forum of www.safed.co.il under the General Discussions Topic. See the "Welcome Gentle Traveler" thread:
Droll as ever, “Interlocutor”. Even when you don’t do the mal-apropos you have me rolling.
“Interlocutor” wrote: It'll be interesting to see if Doreen's book ever ses the light of day.
Doreen deigns to answer: I don’t know if the book will be published in hard form either. I do not wish to make money on talmud Torah. It is likely that I’ll publish it on the net. I’m consulting with people.
“Interlocutor”: Artscroll & Feldheim won't publish it, that's for sure!
Doreen: True. They do, however, publish the books of the brilliant, and very patient, psychologist Miriam Adahan, whom I’ve recommended you consult with a number of times. Hint. Hint. Nudge. Nudge.
“Interlocutor” at his charming best: And also it'll be interesting to read the reviews and critiques of her theses in the press by calibre modern Pharisee scholars like R.Jonathan Rosenblum, R.Nosson Bulman, R.Nosson Grossman, R.Jonathan Sachs etc. And to see whether she has any supporters, sympathisers or advocates, or that she's just a one-off solo-woman aberration.
All being a “schlagger” in the rabbinic world means is knowing how to play a nasty game of spiritual rugby according to the rules they invented. Of course they’ll come up with a myriad of quotes to refute me. That’s what they’ve been trained to do – obfuscate. Why does the Rolling Stone’s “Sympathy for the Devil” come to mind just now?
“Interlocutor” resorts to the hail and brimstone schtick again: And even more interesting, at that Great Banquet of the Messianic Age, as to whether she will be a participant for her honestly-held beliefs.
Doreen: I know how to find the names of every one of the טעמים in תנ"ך. I have demonstrated what משיח is here on this board under “The Galut as Ignorance of How to Read Torah”. I’m already at the banquet table, “Interlocutor”. I’m not waiting on anyone on a white @ss or in a black coat.
Interlocutor: Or whether she will be barred entry for her unjustified deprecation of every Perushi Tzaddik in history, from Hillel, R.Akiva, R.Shimon bar Yochai through Saadia Gaon, the Rambam, Maharal, the Vilna Gaon, Lubavitcher Rebbe, right up to R.Shmuel Eliyahu, R.Koenig & R.Wyngott of Safed today, and everyone in between!
Doreen: Let’s see now. Hmmm. I won’t go through the whole list, just take a sampling to demonstrate the extent to which you have to misrepresent me in order to deny that what I write is true. You evidently learned that from your Pharisaic/Rabbinic teachers.
As for the Vilna Ga’on – you are convincing me that he really did create the golem. You’re also convincing me that he didn’t succeed in destroying it.
On another one of your posts earlier on this thread, you accused me of thinking that Moshe Rebbeinu is a medieval claptrap, along with some medieval Rabbis. I have already demonstrated Who משה is under the thread entitled “The Galut as Ignorance of How to Read Torah”.
Are you seriously saying that you don't know Tzfat to be *the* town that poses as *the* center of "Kabbalah" to this very day? Are you really going to say that you are not aware of the yeshivah dedicated to that travesty in the old city or that it is being taught at Ascent to the innocent and gullible, as well as the crafty and shrewd who will market it later? Are you not aware that it is being used as a hook to rope countless kids into yeshivot and ulpanot for "chazarah b'tshuvah"? No Kabbalah here for 50 years, you say. Fortunes were made on it in the '70's and '80's in the filthy, rat-infested alleys of the old city on Shabbat and chagim, r"l, when they were at least physically clean. It is because of that that the old city of Tzfat has become a heap of stones, over which rats scurry to and fro. Is there no end to your lies? Is there nothing you will not resort to? Your teachers, I'm sure, are very satisfied with the job they've done on your head. Thank you for demonstrating what the Rabbis mean when they say: "This world is called the Alma d'Shikra (World of Lies)." You sure are lost in a World of Lies. I am not.
You also took it upon yourself to assume that I do not respect Rabbi Avraham Abualafia, of blessed memory. How desperate you are to misrepresent me. How foolish you make yourself out to be If I did not respect the work of Rabbi Avraham Abulafia, of blessed memory, why would I have a Yahoo! group entitled Kabblah Nevuit dedicated to his work, which I have mentioned on this board any number of times? See:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Kabbalah_Nevuit/. I also own a number of his books recently published by Rabbis Mitatiyahu Safrin and Amnon Gross.
Are you wont to leave books open? Your memory is failing you so you might consider calling it a forgetory (I can’t take credit for coining that term. Someone else did and I think it’s great.)
As for HaSulam (Rabbi Ashlag): I have his Hebrew translation of the Zohar. I am dismayed that his students who run “The Kabbalah Center”, tout reiki and have their zombie-like adherents peddling Ashlag’s translation of the Zohar from door to door.
Some of the people you listed above would give me indigestion. Better to stay away from any tisch they may be at. Then again, dining with them would be great for my diet.
Thanks for the laughs, “Interlocutor”. It was amusing, as usual.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat ;0)