Jewish Scene
Pray in mosque, rabbi rules
Ynet
Published: 13.02.11, 07:57
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137 Talkbacks for this article
1. Ahla o Sahla
Salma ,   Palestine   (02.13.11)
but can a Muslim pray in a synagogue?! I mean Would you accept Muslims to pray in a synagogue?!
2. Next :Moslem worship in Synagogues !
Roland Seener ,   London England   (02.13.11)
3. Well one observes how similar Islam and Judaism are becoming
Randy   (02.13.11)
Give Judaism of the Rabbis a little more time to incubate here and I'm sure the evolution will soon be complete.
4. Church
Mike Carmel ,   Rishon le Zion   (02.13.11)
FORBIDDEN to even STEP INTO a church? Is this "rabbi" for real? What's his problem?
5. Happy to see
Yossef   (02.13.11)
a confirmation of what I ever said on Ynet talkback. Thanks Rav Efrati :-)
6. oh 4 goodness sakes doesn't anyone read Rambam?
(02.13.11)
This responsa is based in one issued by the Rambam hundreds of years ago! But fine tis good that someone has bothered to update it!
7. #4 there are idols in churches don't go in there!
(02.13.11)
Mosques like synagogues don't contain idols.
8. This Rabbi must be crazy
Shmuel ,   Maale Adumim   (02.13.11)
I guess he doesn't know that 'allah' the god of beheadings, the god antisemitism, the god that is against the covenant of El Shaddi with Israel, the god of a paradise full of carnal pleasures, the god of jihad, the god of poligamy, the god of hatred... in short, the god of AMALEK, is the one that dwells in mosques!
9. Jews are allowed to pray in mosques more than 800 years now
rachel ,   galut   (02.13.11)
as Islam is acknowledged as monotheistic religion by official Judaism, whilst christianity is AVODA ZARA , therefore churches r prayer houses devoted to idolatry, thus prohibited for Jews. I guess both Mike Carmel and Randy irked simply because they are christians
10. the next big religion: Judaislam!
(02.13.11)
11. true, Churches worship Jesus, Mosques woship god.
(02.13.11)
Christianity has lost the meaning of Abrahamic belief.
12. #3 Randy
Yossef   (02.13.11)
judaism and islam have always been close, at least for us sephardi jews. I would have liked to add: authentic jews, but I don't want to offend my brother askenazims :-)) As a proof, read the main sephardi jewish philosophers, beginning with Rambam, who wrote in arabic but with hebrew alphabet and was Salah had-Din private doctor. And by the way, as said by Rambam to Richard Lionheart when thsi one want to hire him as a doctor: I prefer to live under muslim rule than under christian rule.
13. #4 Mike
Yossef   (02.13.11)
This rabbi is completely right, better ask yourself "what is wrong with me?". You have lived too long with christians and lost your jewish fiber maybe. Churches are pagan temples, full of wooden or not wooden idols, the first one being certainly our old rabbi Yehoshua bar Yossef bar Myriam crucified on a piece of wood, but so many others... Mosques are just plain houses of prayers with no idols, and Allah is just El or whatever you want to call him. I give you a free advice Mike, take some lectures in Judaism, I'm sure there is a synagogue in Rishon le Zion ;-))
14. to # 3
Salomon   (02.13.11)
Fake similarity between them , Foundation stone of Judaism is the TORAH , Islam rejects the torah and suggests his book Koran , which is far from teaching wisdom, but hate and killing. At least Christianty accepts the Torah, which some " Ammendments " . Who ever thinks that Islam will come back to Judaism is wrong in the base.
15. Where to begin?
Christian Hart ,   USA   (02.13.11)
Who prays without meaning? It becomes some kind of empty ritualized incantation...I mean, why bother at all, isn't it more of an insult to G-d to just mechanically go through the motions because you couldn't summon 'meaning' into your prayers...and how can you be in a state where you can't summon meaning, do you like that air your breathing, the food on your plate, would you like a safe trip (you are at an airport)? Thankfulness, maybe?? Who could claim to be a partner on this planet, doing mitzvahs, walking with G-d and unable to summon meaning? You wouldn't treat a spouse this way...so if you can't summon meaning with your spouse, wouldn't it be better to keep your trap shut. Try that at your next wedding anniversary; answer all questions in a monotone ritualized incantation and see how far that gets you...so if it wouldn't be good enough for a merely human spouse, why would you insult G-d with it? You aren't talking to the mailman, you are speaking to the Creator...if you felt nothing else you should fear Him. And dang what a BORING conversationalist/worshiper you must be...who would want to keep you around for either resurrection or eternity (aka a very long time)...for an eternity of monotone ritualized incantation without meaning...wow...the eternal snooze cruise...I mean I am poking fun... WHERE you pray couldn't possibly be as important as FEELING what you are praying...when Yesha'yahu was being sawed in half...do you think he was really feeling his prayer to the creator or, you know just having some good ol' fashioned meaningless ritualized incantation?
16. I thought rabbis were supposed to be
jason white ,   afula,israel   (02.13.11)
intelligent and normal. But nowadays it seemed the opposite. This efrati needs to lie down on a couch and talk a lot of hours with a shrink for a few years. Why should a church be off limits and a mosque not? Both should be off limits for Jews to pray in.If this man has a problem concentrating in public, then pray at home or on the plane. What would happen to him if a bunch of moslims caught him praying in a mosque, he would have trouble breathing after wards.Does the dumb rabbi want to set a precedent and have moslims pray, then take over synagogues? We seem to be led by religious leaders with little or no sense. Perhaps it is time to retire the title rabbi.
17. #1 Salma, Yes they Can!
Yossef   (02.13.11)
18. What an Idiotic Foolish Rabbi !.
Orao. ,   Srbia.   (02.13.11)
Telling People to go and Pray to the Pagan God. This Rabbi are leading People astray. In the time of the Book He would be Stoned to Death. He also says that - he stressed that praying in churches was completely and strictly forbidden. In fact, it is forbidden to step into a church, he said. - to pray with the People whos religion was founded by Jews, and has the same GOG as Israel, even YEHOWAH, that is forbidden. GOD bevere for such an fool. Orao.Srbia.
19. Mike: church not mosque
Larry ,   Los Angeles   (02.13.11)
A church is forbidden to enter because of it contains avoda zara, but a mosque has nothing in it, the muslims although they are our enemy, do not worship idols therefore it is not forbidden to enter. farshtaiy??
20. Rabbi knows his business
Ivan B. ,   San Jose, CA USA   (02.13.11)
So what if they reject the Torah? It was given to the Israelites, not them. They need only follow the 7 Noahite Laws. BTW, A Muslim could pray in an airport synagogue, their usually multidenominational. There's just usually also a mosque if theres a synagogue.
21. The prejudice is in the HEART.....
ben ,   singapore   (02.13.11)
Direct you heart and mind to Adokim and face the sunset, you TOUCH THE SOURCE oF LIFE and enter the HOLI PRESENCE. IT is TIME not PLACE ! I like to go to the wilderness/reserved forest in mac ritchie-singapore- beautiful, beautiful, beautiful......time that is the beauty in Judaism :-) ben singapore
22. Please to be like Chinene and become free
Lim Kong Chang ,   Malaysia   (02.13.11)
We Chinese no need praying. To anywhere we go do not do prayer but we are becoming most successful people in this world. So I am advising all peoples in particular Jews and Muslims to become like we Chinese. We are free.
23. Rabbi Efrati
Ralph ,   Caesarea   (02.13.11)
is a dhimmi. Some orthodox Jews say they were well treated under Ottoman ruling.
24. 16 When was the last time you were in an Orthodox synagogue?
Religious Jew ,   Israel   (02.13.11)
Perhaps it's time you limited your remarks to something you know about.
25. When I see these talkbacks
Yossef   (02.13.11)
and the difficulty for my fellows christianized-jews to understand such simple jewish rule, I understand better why it is so difficult for Israel to live in peace with our arab cousins :( It is about time to come back to the real jewish values as expressed by Rambam height centuries ago (as it has been notices a few times above).
26. #18 - totally agree
Eyal ,   USA   (02.13.11)
Allah is not G-D and to pray in a satanic worship, such as a mosque is against everything we stand for as Jews. This Rabbi is not just a fool, but a complete idiot.
27. The nutty side of monotheism
Cameron ,   USA   (02.13.11)
Disturbing Rabbi & approach. Very disturbing.
28. Remember is enough
Lim Kong Chang ,   Malaysia   (02.13.11)
We Chinese just remember Buddha anywhere we go. That is enough.
29. Salma, Muslims do pray at our shul.
Judo ,   Canada   (02.13.11)
It is an Orthodox shul, and believe it or not, a number of religious Muslims have in fact come into our synagogue and prayed with us on rare occasions.
30. The best prayer is the simple prayer
Robert Haymond ,   Israel/Canada   (02.13.11)
which comes from the heart. It is not dependent on a person's religion but on that person's motives and purity. Also, it is nobody else's business how a person prays, that's between the Creator (Hashem) and him or herself.
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