UK Rabbi to Neturei Karta Member: No Burial in Jewish Cemetery
All I can say is "damn" in reaction to this piece from the Australian Jewish News:
Ahron Cohen, the Neturei Karta member who attended last week's Holocaust-denial conference in Iran, has been shunned by Britain’s Jewish community.Cohen, whom the Manchester Beth Din refers to in official statements with the word rabbi in inverted commas, is facing moves to ostracise him by the city’s Orthodox community.
This week, his burial fees, which he formerly paid into the Machzikei Hadass, were returned to him, and he was told he would not be buried in Manchester.
The move to refuse him burial was confirmed by Walter Brunner, who said: "I was carrying out on the instruction of our rabbi, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneebalg." Rabbi Schneebalg told the UK Jewish News: "I wish to have no contact with this man and am shocked by his terrible behaviour. What he has done is a great Chilul Hashem".
(Chillul Hashem means "desecration of the Name of G-d".)
Wow. Those of you familiar with Jewish Law, you already know, this is a huge statement.
Comments
Wow, that is pretty harsh. Does Cohen really deserve to be refused a proper burial?
Posted by: Teddy Douglas | December 28, 2006 08:39 AM
Opps. Let me try again
He does not get what the community decides he doesn't get. Harsh? Yes. Too much? Perhaps. But next time so one opens his mouth to say my great-grandparents - who were physicians to the Hapsburgs and Dry Goods Store owners respectively - he better hope the only he losses is his burial plot.
Posted by: POLJ | December 28, 2006 01:59 PM
It essentially amounts to a cherem.
I am not entirely sure it is justified - Judaism sometimes revolves around the right to scream something everyone else knows is wrong from the top of one's lungs - but I cannot get particularly worked up over mr. Cohen having brought this upon himself.
Especially as there are many people in the Arab world who would gladly bury him.
Posted by: At the back of the hill | December 28, 2006 04:10 PM
Will they remove his kehuna, too? Short of mitah, Nothing seems too harsh for what he's done.
Posted by: OneTopJob6 | December 28, 2006 11:31 PM