Congratulations Rabbi, if your aim was to drive people away from Judaism, then you're succeeding. This archaic squabbling amongst ourselves over who is more right and who is more wrong is getting old. If you're Orthodox then be Orthodox without defaming the other Jews, if your conservative or reform be conservative or reform without defaming Orthodox, and if you're secular then be secular while respecting our religious history. This isn't too much to ask for in the Jewish state, and the Rabbi should be ashamed of himself for dividing Jews and setting them against each other. Vile.

The pure Tzadik is right, and I find it interesting if not surprising at how the knee jerk response from Leftists is fascistic. How dare he say that we will make opposing us a crime. Thats the left it uses the trappings of civil society to stifle Democracy

Only a person like him can curse his fellow Jew, while doing nothing to work against our enemies. This is why we lost the Temple the 2nd time...

the conservatives, perhaps lower than the Reform, profane the Torah by giving high status to homosexuals. They want to destroy the teachings of our national heritage. They are doomed to hell. We should sue them for mis-representing Jews!

Dear enlightened defenders of this rabbi to whom certain interpretations of our religion are so odious, please clarify so that I can mend my ways and walk among you the righteous, which of the Orthodox are interpreting the Torah correctly, the ones that wear 17th century Polish garb, the ones who wear wigs, the ones who don't, the Litvaks, the North Africans, the Lubavitch - I keep forgetting which are G-d's ordained and only chosen righteous, the ones who side with Iran against their Jewish brothers in Israel because the messiah hasn't yet appeared, or the ones who run political parties in the Zionist state knowing full well that politics is an intrinsically corrupting concept ?

Rabbi Eliyahu is one of our greatest religious leaders today. He is a great Talmid Chacham, a true Torah sage, and one to whom we should listen very carefully. Whether one agrees or disagrees with him is another matter, but he is deservant of our utmost respect.

Actually Rusty, judging by the Rabbi's garb, I think he hails from the back-alleys of Baghdad. Shtetl is not in his vocabulary, as it is Yiddish for neighborhood. I can't remember how to say that in Arabic, but I'll bet you all the tea in China he sure does. Google "Mizrachi", "Edot Ha Mizrach", etc. There's other crazy Jews out there besides European ones.

What a judgmental, holier than thou pathetic sad excuse for a human being. He needs to get his own dirty thieving community in order before passing judgment on anyone else's. FEH!!! It's comments like this that keep the hatred and dislike of the God Squad alive and kicking.

It's not worth making a fuss about. We should be used to Chief Rabbis making loony statements by now. The rabbi is not the Pope or some psychotic Ayatollah. He is just expressing his unpleasant opinion. He could have used more moderate language, a rabbi should at least try to be more polite. But no one should over-react - he will not be sending waves of suicide bombers to blow up reform shuls, he has no armed militia with kalichnikovs. One question though - how does the rabbi know what hell smells like?

Old men have no business talking about bad smells.

If rabs trust in God; they should not fall in to dirty politics

Is that's what is wrong in the world, gays? You are obsessed to the point of sickness with gay people. I think you need to ask yourself some serious questions. It's your incessant ranting and raving about everyone else while you should be looking at your own demented group of people. So, why don't you start there.

First of all ,no one hates you & 2nd there is a reason. The Torah way of Life is LIFE & the only LIFE. This Western mentality of making people feel good, by molding the LIFE away from the TORAH is the HELL, I would assume Rabbi Eliyahu is referring to. This mockery of branches of Judaism is such a scam, and people should know it.

Take away their small government, domestic franchise and make them deal with their fellow Jews. If they had leadership, they would have more followers. This has nothing to do with homosexuality. Many conservatives are not happy with the way their Ivory tower residents at the seminary handled the issue. Religion should have enough appeal and leadership to stand on it's own in Israel without getting government support or having to bribe the government with political support.

All I need now is the tune Here are the lyrics Taliban taliban taliban Taliban taliban taliban Taliban taliban taliban all together now Taliban taliban taliban

the conservative movement is not really conservative, so perhaps they should be sued for false advertising, they're as looney left as can be, except for the reform, which is even more looney left.

Someone surely must be able to pin this on Olmert !!

He should be arrested for inciting hatred and violence. Where is the respect and compassion for his fellow Jew? If Rabbi Eliyahu is the example that Jews should be following, then Judaism is in trouble.

they allied themselves with Rabbis. they were made to carry the Torah, but did not carry it out.

Rabbi Eliyahu shlit"a will know how to clean this country up from all its filth and make it look as it should be - a JEWISH STATE with JEWISH VALUES!

1. rav eliyahu's remarks may have reached hundreds or at most thousands. the repetition to tens of thousands took ynet, its publishers, editors, and the author. 2. sinat hinam. just like this article is promoting between the orthodox and the non-orthodox. the proper jewish response to rav eliyahu's remarks, by a jew disagreed with them, would have been to quietly approach him and try to explain and resolve the issues in a discreet forum so as not to embarrass anyone or create divisions. to ynet owners, publishers, editors, authors: your intentions and motivations are clear for all to see. i am dismayed, far beyond my ability to express, to be fully cognizant of the fact that you don't see anything wrong with what you do.

How would "Rabbi" Mordechai Eliyahu know what the "fragrance of hell" smelled like unless ....

I am a bit confused, the torah only describes the fragrance of heaven but I have yet to understand how an ever consuming fire leaves a distinct identifiable smell that is never described in the torah, that a Rabbi of stature can claim he smells. The heavenly smell identified in the Torah is, when Yaakove went into his fathers presence to receive his blessing, it states that he was enveloped (surrounded) in a godly fragrance like the garden of heaven blessed by God. That smell I could imagine, as beauty which includes sights and smells which each person identifies with and has no bounds. The stench of sheer evil I remember with the mounds of rotting dead humans in Bergen Belzen , the smell of burning human flesh being belched out from the chimneys of the fiery furnaces of the crematoriums which I also have a vague (repressed) memory of, but a person that has never been subjugated to the stench of these true vile smells and claims he is able to Identify with them is the same, as a person blind from birth being able to recognize the different colors of a rainbow. I may be to harsh against a revered rabbi of stature, but a personality like him is to, be the unifying glue of the Jewish nation, lead by example of tolerance, try and bring forth the grace and beauty of religious observances, the depth of hope emanating from deeply felt prayers as they are matters of the heart and not subject to human criticism, as only God understands what is in the human heart. . But what a rabbi in our diverse eclectic society does not have the authority, is to issue rabbinical rulings of identifying the behavior of people which do not follow with his understanding of Judaic conduct and utilizing experiences he has never personally had and no way of knowing. Jewish leaders are held responsible even for the minutest deviation that contributes to the failures of his society. .

used to scare others into believing your way. Read the Torah: good and bad alike went to Sheol, to await the final resurrection. "gehinnon" is of Greek derivation. I challenge anyone to find me the Hebrew equivalent.

It is hard to find any factor more discouraging for the practice of religious Judaism than the rabbinate and the ultra-Orthodox Jews who dominate it. Whether it is threatening to take away certificates of kosheroot from most of the kosher restaurants in Herzliya to avoiding service in the military to disparaging the vast majority of American Jews -- there is a level of excellence that is unparalleled. The excellence is making secular and traditional Jews in Israel wonder why in God's name they should be deeply associated with religious practices in Judaism when the rabbis who speak in its name are such fools.