This Rabbi (Amar) ,and others like him, make Haitian Voodoo men and Eskimo Shamans look intelligent.

Especially considering that we don't believe in Satan.

nor console the woman. I shall once again state that extreme religiosity leads to extreme deeds. The mind becomes so poisoned with irrationality and this in turn decides the behaviour of the person concerned. This is a classic example. Is there a difference between believing that Satan will cause an epidemic if a woman delivers a eulogy and the belief that dancing round a totem poll will cause rain to fall from heaven. No difference,both are stupidity incarnate. Religion is so sad and so harmful to mankind but what is sadder still is the fact that mankind does not have the intellectual capacity to understand this.

This is precisely why the Conservative and Reform movements of Judaism must be recognized in Israel. Most of Israel's "secular" population wants to observe traditions, but are revolted by the Iranian tactics of some of the Orthodox rabbis. I'd bet over half the "seculars" in Israel would be delighted to be part of a Reform or Conservative congregation. Wake up Israel!

20 And a stranger shalt thou not wrong, neither shalt thou oppress him; for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. 21 Ye shall not afflict any widow, or fatherless child. 22 If thou afflict them in any wise--for if they cry at all unto Me, I will surely hear their cry-- 23 My wrath shall wax hot, and I will kill you with the sword; and your wives shall be widows, and your children fatherless. {P} You Rabbi have brought affliction to an orphan...do you not feel any sorrow and shame for your actions?

should have been forcibly removed from the cemetary. A funeral is a private matter. The grief of a daughter at her father's graveside is a matter between her and herself and no one has any right to interfere. I would even go further than this and say that the family should sue the Rabbi and the local Rabbinate for compensation on the grounds of them having caused irrepairable damage to the heart and soul of a grieving daughter. He should also be forced to leave offce, either by decree of the appropriate Minister or by de facto boycott.

because the religious are not allowed to have traditional values, i expect the talkbacks to focus their "outrage" at this "circumvention" of the "rights" of female mourners to orate at funerals. this "blatant discrimination" will be compared to "iran" and the "mullahs". lol. liberals are worse then religious. they demand everyone conform to their worldview and feel perfectly at home rediculing condesending and patronizing those who do not.

and it is also gross. Dead bodies should be buried immedately, without elaborate ceremonies or contact. Rabbi is doing the right thing, although it is not easy for the family members.

I'd rather pay for a plot there and let my relatives mourn me in whatever way comforts them.

Was there not one man present who saw fit to "suggest" to the rabbi that any further attempts to prevent this woman from saying good bye to her dad would result in a black eye. These holier than thou pricks could not be any further from God's will. Unfortunately ignorant and delusional frauds abound in most organized religions.

If this is the supposed "wisdom" spouted by such rabbis then we are in the worst trouble. What he did is DISGUSTING and denegrating to all women. He could easily be a Muslim extremist - he'd probably feel very comfortably as such. Perhaps he should go back and re-read the Tanach. I pity his wife (if he has one) and his family. And Batya's family should have stood up for her. SHAME ON HIM and those who supported such DISGUSTING and humiliating non-caring and non-loving behavior.

Satan???? Resorting to pagan references is not especially appealing to a Rabbi. But more important is the concept that a funeral is a private matter for a family--and if the Rabbi didn't like what was happening, he should have left.

We Jew dont believe in Satan. Satan , Demonic Oppression is all the xtian teaching ! All I know is to bundle up and buried the body the soonest time, before sun set . No connection between satan an eulogy ! Children no matter how old they are would feel like orphans, that is the inner sorrow when either parent go to deeo sleep. So Rabbis must be sensitive toward mourning children ! Unless ther is a resonable excuse, this Rabbi must be reported ! That is all, let the rabbinate deal with this matter .

Rabbi's you report on sound as though they've been furloughed from an insane asylum. Where are the Levites? Rabbi's are a piss poor substitute.

What do you expect from Voodoo practitioners and the primitive, superstitious, ritualistic, obsessive-compulsive-anal personality types? They are control freaks....LEARN and remove the power from them.

you wrote in Egnalish. That ignoramus hardly knowshow to sign his name.

Had the Rabbi been "wise" he would have let her talk to the women and the men could enter after.

Most of the time I see women talking care and teaching children (male and female). The Rabbi should take the male children at the age of 8 days and feed, teach, cloth, and clean them for the remainder of their lives, and they should have NO contact with females.

wanted to say at the funeral , let her voice be heard ! PUBLISH !

so the rabbi said.... so the people of Israel do not include women? A daughter who wants to pay her last respect to her father - is there something wrong with this? A funeral is not a public spectacle- why did the rabbi turn a private ceremony into a power struggle between a grieving woman and extremist ideas? what happened to sensibility and common sense? - Shame on the rabbi.

trying to usurp authority over the males. A dear friend named Gertie Katz of Ann Arbor, Michigan, wept many tears at her sister's graveside even many years after the sister's death. She said nothing. Her tears and sobs said it all: her love for her sister was great. My sister Martha mourned differently for her father. She sat next to his body at the mortuary viewing room a very long time, tears running down her face, silently. Nothing was said. The brothers and I waited a long time for Martha to be able to leave her father's side for the last time in this life. How gross for that woman to grab a microphone from a Rabbi instead of speaking one's grief with tears and a broken heart with every tear going into a bottle in heaven the Lord keeps account of.

For the woman to be so composed instead of speaking with tears, indicates to me her affection for her father was less than it should have been. Her gentle weeping would have spoken volumes to the Lord who keeps the tears in a bottle in heaven (Psalms says so), to the other people at the funeral, and to the rabbi. This woman's father's body was asleep (dead) and his spirit had gone back to the Lord and his soul was in a place of torment or comfort. If this woman did not tell her father she loved him when he was alive, how rediculous to try to remedy that when he was dead. She can mourn to the Lord who will listen.

You may think that you're losing something important or precious by having to abide by these old customs but, I assure you, more can be lost if you cast them aside. I live in a society which has been virtually destroyed by females demanding that they be admitted into those areas formerly governed by men. I'm not sorry if this sounds 'sexist'. BECAUSE IT IS. And, if we knew what was good for us, we all would be. iF YOU VALUE YOUR SOCIETY: YOU'RE BETTER OFF WITHOUT REFORMED CONVENTIONS.

No wonder religion is increasingly distancing itself from decent people when it preaches intorerance and discriminates against women in such an inhuman way.

It's extremely important to be sensitive to the suffering of widows and orphans, however that doesn't mean it's not allowed to prevent an orphan from violating the Torah, especially the Fifth Commandment for her to respect her parents. Her father requested a religious Jewish burial according to Halacha, despite his daughter's complete lack of respect for his religion and his wishes. Then she goes to the tabloid press to make bad accusations against the rabbis who respected her father's wish for a halachic funeral? This case only proves the wisdom of the Halacha.

And what, pray tell, happens to a “know your place” woman, when her husband suddenly dies and she’s now expected to handle a business when there‘s nobody in the family, who has ever had the slightest interest in that business?” Had I not been reared rather unconventionally by my mother, who had lost her husband at a young age, I’d probably be indigent and living with one of my kids, while an assortment of lawyers would still be laughing all the way to the bank.Heaven knows, they tried. Conventions are fine, if and only as long as they serve a meaningful purpose. And if anyone had even attempted to tell me when, where, and how to mourn for my husband, that dancing Satan would have turned into a totally berserk she-devil. Aside from the fact that blaming somebody else for whatever is a lousy excuse to do nothing, it is refreshing to read that for once “the Jooooooos” are not being faulted for all the ills everywhere. Now there’s a break with “convention!”