Rabbi orders maiming of dolls
FROM: NEWS24.COM
Okay... not really student ministry news, as such, but maybe it is if you're in Israel. :) I actually never heard of this "Biblical ban," I'll have to look it up...
26/03/2006 21:15 - (SA) Jerusalem - In a tough break for the children of Orthodox Jewish families, a former grand rabbi of Israel has urged parents to amputate their dolls to avoid the perils of idolatry.
Basing the move on a Biblical ban on the possession of idols, Mordechai Eliyahu, a Sephardic rabbi, broadcast his edict on a religious radio station calling for an arm or a leg to be dismembered.
In the case of a teddy bear or other stuffed animals, the children will see their beloved toys lose an ear or an eye instead.
"It is very important that these toys do not remain intact so as to remove the element of idolatry," said Eliyahu.
His son, Shmuel Eliyahu, himself a rabbi in the northern town of Safed, said that it was inappropriate to own statues or dolls, even to play with or for artistic purposes.
"They need to be amputated or at least altered," he said.
Shmuel revealed that his father had forced one of his followers to snap off the ear of a replica of a statue of Moses by Michelangelo that he had bought at an exorbitant price.
Religious edicts are not legally binding in Israel.
>>ORIGINAL NEWS ARTICLE HERE
Okay... not really student ministry news, as such, but maybe it is if you're in Israel. :) I actually never heard of this "Biblical ban," I'll have to look it up...26/03/2006 21:15 - (SA) Jerusalem - In a tough break for the children of Orthodox Jewish families, a former grand rabbi of Israel has urged parents to amputate their dolls to avoid the perils of idolatry.
Basing the move on a Biblical ban on the possession of idols, Mordechai Eliyahu, a Sephardic rabbi, broadcast his edict on a religious radio station calling for an arm or a leg to be dismembered.
In the case of a teddy bear or other stuffed animals, the children will see their beloved toys lose an ear or an eye instead.
"It is very important that these toys do not remain intact so as to remove the element of idolatry," said Eliyahu.
His son, Shmuel Eliyahu, himself a rabbi in the northern town of Safed, said that it was inappropriate to own statues or dolls, even to play with or for artistic purposes.
"They need to be amputated or at least altered," he said.
Shmuel revealed that his father had forced one of his followers to snap off the ear of a replica of a statue of Moses by Michelangelo that he had bought at an exorbitant price.
Religious edicts are not legally binding in Israel.
>>ORIGINAL NEWS ARTICLE HERE
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on Tuesday, March 28, 2006 at 11:11 a.m..
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2:13 p.m.Very strange, yet it also sounds like some of the legalistic stuff you here about in the states. Like, lust is bad so don't date or wealth is bad so don't try to get a job that makes a lot of money.
I wonder if this guy is looked at in rabbinical circles the way people look at legalistic movements here in the US.
10:24 a.m.
I hear there's porn on the internet. I'd better log off...
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