the word bible is from the Greek goddess Biblia, a goddess of lust. So much that should be holy or set apart for YHWH and from YHWH is corrupted with pagan influences and words. Even the days of the week are based on pagan gods and so are the months of the year. LORD means Ba'al, a name for the devil. Amen is from Amen-Ra, an Egyptian god. It is all so terrible in offenses to YHWH. Finding what the corruptions are is important. The book by C.J. Kostner "Come Out of Her My People" is so helpful. There is a place for Scriptures in government and politics since there is no power or authority except of YHWH and the powers that be are ordained of YHWH. Power belongs to God, King David said. How can you separate power from God? Misuse of authority brings judgment just as the wise use of authority brings blessings. Israel have by law a seventh day Shabbat brings blessings to the nation and victories in battles that are otherwise insurmountable because israel as a nation honors YHWH and His Shabbat.

a self-hating Jew, irrespective of his views on Torah. The claims of the Jewish people to every inch of the land of Israel are ROCK-SOLID in every respect (revelation, unrevised history, philosophical ethics, unrevised international law, whatever), no matter what some alleged law professor from the left wing protests.

That this is the intellectual level of law professors in the Hebrew University. It explains why this faculty has never produced an internationally acknowlegded, prominent representative.

This is the first time I have heard a Leftist, Mr. Alon Harel, attack the Supreme Court in such an offensive and brutal way. He accuses Jews of using the Bible to "justify the robbing of Palestinian homes". In fact, the Jews went to the Israeli courts who ruled that the homes in Simon the Just belong to the Jews and the Arabs are tenants who refuse to pay rent. Mr. Harel is accusing the courts of anti-Arab racism and lying. For such offensive and disgusting remarks that attack the Supreme Court and the very basis of democracy, Mr. Harel should be punished like Pini Cohen. And considering that he is a lawyer who attacks the courts, he should immediately be disbarred.

It takes a big man to be small enough to admit fault and apologise. Would that we all could find that strength. The second point - the misuse of the Bible for sectarian purposes - is worthy of comment. It is true, and most disturbing to the orthodox (haredi) public. People who do this are rarely from traditional haredi backgrounds, but have joined the bandwagon later in life, and often with an agenda. They use the Bible to justify or rationalise that agenda. However a second point mentioned in the article merits clarification: the reference to a prohibition issued by some rabbi against leasing property to Arabs. This is not and was never claimed to be a 'Biblical' ruling. Rabbis have the power to render rulings that are binding on a community when circumstances demand - just as the municipality does in a secular community. I don't know the facts of the particular case, but from the location and parties involved, I suspect that there were purely political and perhaps racist motives. However, this need not always be the case. It was common in Hutz Laaretz for communities to forbid leasing property to non-Jews in the Jewish quarter, and there were practical reason for this, many of which would still apply in Israel today. This has nothing to do with racism or intolerance, but is intended to protect a way of life - and sometimes peoples' lives. It is very easy to shout 'racism' at every opportunity, and it has become the flavour of the month to accuse haredim of it. In some cases the accusation may be true, but in others, it smacks of intolerance towards away of life that many would wish to see disappear, and hope that by playing the racism card, they will force it to happen.

This law professor slanders Israel Supreme Court which stated these homes belong toJews,

Not only are you desecrating our Torah you also misuse and misrepresent what it says in your quotations, all taken out of context. The more you don't know the more you think you know

YOUR APLOGOIES ARE OF NO VALUE BECAUSE YOU REPEAT THE SAME IN A DIFFERENT WAY. YOU ONLY MADE EXCUSES. WHAT A PITY WHAT LEARNING INSTITUTIONS HVE BECOME BECAUSE OF YOUR EXCUSES. BIASED WITH YOUR INFLUENCE RATHER THEN ROUNDED VIEWS. THEREFORE YOUR TEACHINGS AND WHERE YOU TEACH ARE WORTHLESS.

see Rivkah others admit and apologize for misusing the bible when are you going to do that too?!

Iam sorry, but why to apologise?? i read your article "The dishonest zealots' and i had no problem with it,everybody today is taking the bible and using it for they own benefit, so i could see where you were coming from in your article,

This isn't an apology. Just sad. Go live with your friends in Sheikh Jarrah. But don't turn your back on them. That would be a mistake.

it is a convenient and simplistic catch phrase as soon as a Jew doesn't agree with another Jew. It means "I disagree with you, cannot understand you, therefore you must hate the values that makes us Jews". It is nonsense. I don't agree with alot of what fellow Jews say and do especially when they claim it is "in the interest of the Jews". I also do not agree with alot of what non-Jews say. So what? Am I anti-non-Jew? I am free to have my own opinions, I am free to agree with someone who is not Jewish and none of this makes me hate myself or hate being Jewish.

I think the Rabbis cover themselves nicely when they say that even with a command to kill Amalek, today we have no idea who Amalek is and it would be murder to kill anyone for that reason. Good Grief Charlie Brown.

As Prof. Harel notes, the Bible in fact enjoins us to love the foreigners among us. However, what the learned professor fails to mention is that this only applies to foreigners who accept our sovereignty and rule! The foreigners living in Sheikh Jarrah do not accept our sovereignty or our rule.

Rivka knows everything, from the recipe for ideal families to nutrition. She's an expert on everything related religion. She has a direct phone line to her god who instructs her daily on how to most annoy. She has no life, since most of her day seems to be spent reading the news and composing talkbacks. Only her opinions matter. Most of all, dear Rivka likes her own words and diatribes. Ergo, the best way to deal with her is to ignore her.

information. I do not misuse Scriptures. If I do not know as much knowledge on a custom or subject as YHWH, He can fill the gap and bring information to me that is helpful to Him. It is better to try than to do nothing and say nothing in the face of the onslaughts of attacks on YHWH and His Commandments.

YHWH to cause his people to stumble morally or in other ways of the flesh. You kill the ungodly desires of the flesh, not a person. It is lawful to kill a person in self defense or under lawful (godly) government authority that is not in contradiction of the Scriptures. Using government authority to slaughter the Jews and Christians and trade unionists and political protestors of Nazi Germany, Soviet Russia, Communist China, Pol Pot's Cambodia and other atrocities is unlawful use of authority. It is better to obey God than to obey governments when ungodly laws are passed or ungodly authority is used. The nations like Denmark and Bulgaria that protected the Jews in WWII Europe from the Nazis showed themselves to be sheep nations that the Jewish Messiah will allow into His Thousand Year Kingdom on earth while the goat nations will be cast into the lake of fire and have no place in the Thousand Year Reign of the Lion of Judah on earth when the Gentile world era ends.

...their own agendas, rabbis too because they are still only people. I personally don't think that any 2 people of any religion understand the bible, testament , vedas, or koran in the same way. I say give god(s) back his/her riddle books and lets all get on with our own lives. One less irrational thing to get in the way of peace and progress.

The writer is completely correct in his assessment that Torah has been used, and may I say misused, to promote sectarian political aims and to excuse horrific crimes. Such misuse may be attributed to one of the most basic facts within the Bible: you can find support for almost any action within it. You can find pleas for tolerance and respect as in those quoted by the professor, and you can find exhortations to genocide in Leviticus and Joshua. Likewise you can find commandments for tolerance within the Q'uran and also commandments for war against the 'infidels'. I am always amazed at how easily 'religious' people of all Abrahamic faiths ignore this contradiction which lies at the heart of their traditions. Therefore, an Osama Bin Laden can easily promote the murder of 'infidels, citing one section and tradition within the Q'uran, while at the same time Rabbi Ovadia can promote equally dehumanizing theological statements as in his recent pronouncements that 'goys' exist only for the benefit of Jews and that they are 'donkeys' with no intrinsic human worth. Curious isn't it? There is no 'commandment' in either religion to promote such objectification and fear of the 'other'. There are only fools who refuse to look beyond the printed page and recognize justice. For God never wrote either book. Only fallible human beings were the scribes, each and every one with the ability to 'edit' the teachings according to his own predilections. And those who claim they 'know' God's will are surely the most arrogant and ignorant people. Religion, like patriotism, is the 'last refuge of scoundrels'.

You tell us that the Bible commands us to treat Jews and foreigners equally. Do you not know the difference betwence between a ZAR and a GER? And what do you make of the injuction not to forget Amalek and to destroy all his descendants? The Bible is just a wee bit too complex for you, I fear.

You blew it towards the ends with "alienation from our religious roots . Excuse me Harel,) I have issues with Titles.), your alienation from religion, is YOUR choice. There is much much work needed to correct Religious people too, people are Humans. But in a whole, we strive towards the Truth and strive to live the Torah way. Peoples obsession to the religious, makes them uncomfortable. It is hard to swallow a Ham sandwich in front of an observant Jew, because, 99% chance, that individual had or know what is right. Make a choice, JEWISH OR GENTILE. It is Black or White, there is no Gray area here. Israel is the Land of the JEWS. PERIOD. We did not Take or Steal anything from anyone. That is YOUR problem. You people think we are thieves. A Secular mind, will always bash the Religious. You talk about the BIBLE. You obvious did not read it or do not believe what it says. So with that, there is no need to apologize. You obvious DO NOT believe GOD is the Master of the Universe, and gave the Land to our Forefather Abraham, and reaffirmed it to Isaac and again to Jacob. Simply put: WE ARE BACK-HERE TO STAY FOREVER.

Professor Harel's blunt remark was an expression of contempt for a settler's distorted travesty of the Bible rather than an expression of contempt for the Bible itself.

for any man who can make a public apology as Mr. Harel did. This act requires a certain amount of humility and courage as well. He also offered an explanation as to what inflamed him: The jeer of "go back to Auschwitz". This jeer was not reported. Who amongst Talkbackers of Jewish origin wouldn't feel dishonnoured and humiliated by such a response? Unlike Mr. Harel, I stand firmly on the right side of the political spectrum but I do admire his willingness to apologize for his terrible words and his attempt to explain why, in the heat of the moment, he uttered them. As an older man, I can think of many of my own words and actions and activities which today I regret but which were uttered or done due to flaws in my own character, some of which (flaws) are still part of my character.

postings have been so anti-Israeli in nature that I tend to shut down when I come to one of your comments. This time, however, you articulate well (as usual) and make a bold statement about all three religions deriving from Father Abraham. And it seems to be true, that each have sections which can be interpreted as bloodcurdling and violent and oppressive and other sections which appear to be very peace loving. So all three religious books can be used to justify violence. Unfortunately, we both are on shaky grounds as neither of us are religious scholars but the way you have interpreted the religious books appears to be the way laypersons from each religion could interpret them as well. I think the best way, then, is to view the activities and events perpetrated by each religious community according to their respective interpretations of their holy books. As to your own secular mindedness, Mike, I disagree. There are passages in the Torah (especially the beginning in Genesis) and, I think, in words uttered by Jesus, which make me believe that the humans uttering them or those transcribing were touched by a divine hand. I never try to convince others regarding my own beliefs on these matters so I respectfully leave yours to you. At any rate, please keep up your non-Israeli bashing dialogue. In this way, we can hear one another whether or not we agree.

do the arabs owe the state anything? loyalty? service? taxes? no, it appears that harel and his crowd place no demands upon them; all their demands, all their scorn, all their contumely is reserved for the Jews and the State of Israel. it is disgusting.

the Palestinians have invented that God send muhamad and muhamad even was taken to heaven from jerusalem,while muhammad never did..so do not feel too bad...the Arabs are the worse on inventing God's fairytales...

I am grateful for Prof. Harel's apology. That is a courageous intervention - not the thing of many people. That is an honest and honourable statement. If it is true - that he was told to go back to Auschwitz - I can only tell, that I am appalled. That language was used recently by the infamous Gaza-Flottilla's activists. Prof. Dr. Ekkehard Stegemann, Switzerland

At one level the professor is correct, violent discrimination against arabs brings Israel down to their level. However beware the looney left. Make no mistake my Israeli friends the love all lefties hate Israel with a passive aggressive passion and want it destroyed. I do not advocate violence towards non-jews at all but the difficult balance must be a pro-Israeli assertion of itself as a sovereign nation that can build anywhere in Israel. G-D bless Israel.

It amazes me how the religious will see it written in the torah that disobedient children, and children who think independently, should be killed by the religious community, and yet they'll pretend this is the sort of text that illuminates humanity. I'll take Mahayana Buddhist sutras any day over the bible. At least in the far east you find tolerance without having to mainipulate the texts so that black now means white. Robbing the natives of their homes without compensation is a lesson straight from the bible, though the bible goes much more violent than that.