Whose Passion?

Question

BS’D With your permission, Rabbi: The real “Passion” belongs to Rabbi Akiva, and to holy men of his caliber, who went to their deaths with the Shema on their lips. Not to some self-righteous, self-proclaimed Messiah who died by asking the Almighty why He abandoned him. It is appalling that we, the Jews, quibble over nonsense instead of teaching our people about our Sages and about our heroic history. It is we who should be producing $30 million movies about our glorious heritage and ancestors. The real “Passion” belongs to the Jewish People – G-d’s Chosen People – who have sanctified His name throughout all of history. Mel Gibson makes a movie about the death of one man. How many Jews went to their deaths, suffering even worse torture, and yet remained proud and faithful Jews? If someone had to take revenge and bear a grudge, it is we. They claim we are responsible for the death of one man. We know (even they know) that they are responsible for the death of tens of millions of people throughout history, and all in the name of the great Prince of Peace and Savior of Mankind. If he was a Prince of Peace, who needs the Angel of Death? It is time that we Jews wake up and start cherishing our heritage. Our Sages taught us to emulate the Evil Impulse. Let us do so. Let us use the example of Mel Gibson and people of his ilk to encourage us to dedicate our time, energy and financial resources to promote Judaism and preserve the integrity and well-being of the Jewish People. Once again, let’s stop quibbling over garbage: black hat or not, peyot or not, sephardim or ashkenazim. We are all Jews, and it is unfortunate that it takes anti-semites to remind us of who we really are. Let us stop pretending to be like the nations: marrying them and bringing them to Judaism through conversions that are 99.9% fake. I challenge Jews and Christians to learn more about this man Jesus and to learn about his evil words and deeds. A man who claimed that the House of G-d would be destroyed did not deserve to live. A man who denied the sanctity of the Sabbath and of other commandments, who questioned the authority and sanctity of the Sanhedrin, and who made blasphemous statements, is worthy of death several times over. If this man existed, and I am still awaiting evidence of this, I would say that he was the lowest of the lowest, and I am ashamed that he was a Jew. By the way, I challenge people to read about his incident with a Samaritan woman who asked for his help to cure her child and he called her a dog because she wasn’t Jewish. I guess if the great Prince of Peace returned to Earth, he would consider all his followers to be dogs. Even on Tisha B’Av, we are allowed to learn certain sections of the Torah. Not on the day of his birth. So his birth was even more tragic than Tisha B’Av. His soul merits the great honor of being responsible for Bitul Torah for an evening once a year. Even the destroyers of the Temple didn’t manage this much. Anybody who says that he has nothing against the Jews, but only against the Sanhedrin, is the worst kind of anti-semite there is. The Sanhedrin were the holiest men in Israel. Anyone who insults them deserves the death penalty. I hope that Mel Gibson and his father will share the same fate as their god. I hope that they, like Haman, will be hanged on the very gallows that they have set up. Let us stop fighting among ourselves, unite and live as Jews should. Then the real Messiah will come and the evil people of the world will finally perish for all of eternity. Rabbi, thank you for the opportunity to post this message. Sincerely, Tuvia