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Moshe Segal, we need you. From Israel National News, with thanks to Cindy:
Shades of the 1920's: A Jewish man was hauled off to the Old City police station in the middle of prayer for sounding the shofar during Rosh HaShanah services at the area known as the Kotel HaKatan.The incident occurred around 7:30 in the morning, at the northern-most section of the accessible Western Wall - a little-known area called the Kotel HaKatan, the Small Wall. It is considered to have extra sanctity, as it stands opposite the presumed spot of the Holy of Holies of the Beit HaMikdash.
Yesterday morning (Sunday), a group of some 10 men and two women gathered at the site, as they have done for several years on Rosh HaShanah, for early-morning prayers. The holiday prayers feature the blowing of the shofar (ram's horn) at several different times. Towards the end of the first shofar sounding, a Border Guard policeman came in, made an unclear motion with his hand as if to ask what was going on, and then left. He said nothing.
Shortly afterwards, Eliyahu K., the 20-year-old prayer leader, blew the shofar a second time, in the midst of his silent prayer (in accordance with Sephardic custom). Policemen came in once again and began trying to pull him away. However, Eliyahu was in the midst of reciting the Amidah - a long passage during which one must stand in one place without moving - and he therefore did not move.
The policemen informed their supervisors by radio that he was praying and refused to move, and reinforcements were soon sent - no fewer than 20 policemen, according to several witnesses.
They then started dragging him out, and when they stopped for a moment, he got up and resumed his prayers. They then began to drag him away again, and shortly afterwards again stopped for a moment - and again he resumed his prayers. At this point, the policemen allowed him to complete his prayers.
In the meanwhile, the other members of the prayer group came out and tried to prevent the policemen from taking Eliyahu away. At this point, the policemen started swinging their clubs violently; no one was hospitalized, but "it was a big brawl," in the words of one witness, with many people being dragged around and beaten while wearing their prayer-shawls and Sabbath suits.
Meanwhile, Eliyahu was taken to the small police station at the Western Wall plaza, and several of his friends followed him there. They wanted to go up the steps into the police station, and demanded that at least the shofar be returned, but the police again came down with their clubs.
They finally took Eliyahu by foot, accompanied by his fiancיe, all the way around the Old City, past Mt. Zion and through Jaffa Gate, to the Kishle police station inside Jaffa Gate. At this point, there was no longer any violence, and Eliyahu was released around 11:30 - after being charged with attacking a policeman, disturbing a policeman in the line of duty, and disturbing the public order.
One witness related, "It's not only that they stopped him from blowing the shofar, but rather the fact that the police beat us up very harshly. I was on my way to the Wall for prayers when I saw 5-7 policemen going with Eliyahu and protecting him very closely. I walked after them, and then a few of his friends came, and then the violence started. We asked the policemen to return the shofar, and they started kicking us and punching us."
The worshipers said that the police had apparently been called by an Arab woman who said the sound of the ram's horn disturbed her children.
A Jewish resident of the Old City told Arutz-7, "How ironic. The loud Arab weddings and nightly prayers by the muazzin [over a powerful loudspeaker] at 4:30 AM disturb our sleep every night." Similar complaints are heard from Jews living near Arab villages in Judea and Samaria....
The rabbi of the Western Wall, Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, told Arutz-7, "This is a very grave incident, and I have asked the local police commander, Yossi Priente, to check into it - both the violence and the prevention of the shofar blowing. It reminds us of the days of the British Mandate when Jews [had to make] super-human efforts to blow the shofar at the Western Wall."
He was referring to the 1ate 1920's, when the British, in an attempt to appease the Arabs, and following violence at the Wall, forbade shofar-blowing at the Wall. In one famous incident in 1929, a man named Moshe Segal blew the shofar at the conclusion of Yom Kippur - and was immediately arrested by the British. Though he had fasted for the previous 25 hours, the British detained him without food until midnight, when he was released. It was later reported that the release came about when then-Chief Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook informed the commander that he himself would not eat until Segal was released.
Nearly 40 years later, following the first Yom Kippur service at the Wall under Israeli sovereignty, shortly after the Six Day War, the shofar was again sounded - by Moshe Segal.
Posted by Robert at September 25, 2006 7:58 AM
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This is suprising because the shofar is the main symbol used in the Jewish faith during the high holy days.
Posted by: bigcatgirl13106![[TypeKey Profile Page]](http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/nav-commenters.gif)
at September 25, 2006 8:27 AM
The muslims should be told that if the blowing of the Shofar bothers them, they should shut up or leave. After all, Israel belongs to the Israeli's.
Posted by: freewoman at September 25, 2006 8:41 AM
There's a reason why the police here are called the Stasi and even Kapos, in their hate filled activities against religious Jews here.
Absolutely despicable but simply another episode of Israeli police's animalistic behavior against its own people.
Posted by: Shy Guy at September 25, 2006 8:49 AM
An appalling story. A Jewish state that is more concerned with catering to the sensitivities of Arabs than of Jews may end up destroying itself from within before its enemies get around to finishing it off.
Posted by: scaramouoche at September 25, 2006 9:55 AM
Okay. No shofar sounding at the Western Wall one day a year, no muezzin's wail, electronically amplified, 365 days a year. Does that seem fair?
Posted by: Hugh at September 25, 2006 10:32 AM
Outrageous! This is an affront not just to the religion of Judaism, but even to secular Zionism. It's as if Herzl had never been born!
Why do we DO such things anyway? It's not as if we have to worry about world opinion following any display of some resistance to Islamic supremacism, seeing as world opinion will be against us no matter what. (I'm talking about TreasonMedia like AP and Reuters, and the leftist sheep who believe every report of theirs.)
Olmert... stop behaving like a stetl Jew, seeking the approval of the world, and start being a Hashmonean, for heaven's sake! Or if you can't, step down in favor of a more Zionist leader.
Posted by: ZionistYoungster at September 25, 2006 10:35 AM
With the caterwauling that comes from the minerets five times a day? The shofar scared a muslim kid? It should actually, Jews and Christians believe blowing the SHOFAR during prayer, intercession and worship times causes disturbance and confusion to the spirit realm above us, thus dispersing the opposition and bringing about an open heaven for the glory, power and presence of God to fall. The muslims are at emnity with the true God.
Posted by: Carolyn2 at September 25, 2006 11:03 AM
Sy guy is right, the Israeli policies in place have shown repeatedly that they take a tougher stance against Jews than Moslems.
Having said that, the notion that a Muslim in Jerusalem could even consider complaining about prayer at the Kotel is beyond apalling to me. Of course, people living in Hamtramck, Michigan, went something similar. The following is about the insistance of local mosques to be able to violate the city noise ordinance by broadcasting the muezzin's call to prayer over a loudspeaker five times a day. The imams stated that the calls only lasted for two minutes. Starting at 6 a.m. A loudspeaker, for heavens sake!
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=38044
The exemption was granted, btw. So now, the mostly Polish Catholic town has to listen to the various mosques broadcasting five times a day. I wonder what would happen if someone were to sound the shofar there every morning during the month of Elul (month leading up to Rosh Hashana) ?
Posted by: libbysmom at September 25, 2006 3:06 PM
Libbysmom -- I've followed that Hamtramck story all along having once called Michigan home... One of the disgusting things about this sordid tale was that the Msulims suggested that ringing bells at church was exactly like the muezzin's call to prayer. The last time I checked, a bell ring at a church could mean any number of things, including a fire alarm. the Adhan, or "call to prayers" is fairly uniform across Islam at its meaning is fixed:
It goes like this and lasts for minutes:
Allah is greater ("Allahu Akbar!" - the triumphal Muslim war cry...) (repeated 4 times)
I bear witness that there is no God except Allah (repeated 2x)
I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah (2x)
I bear witness that Ali is the vicegerent of God (Shia only -- repeated 2x)
Make haste towards prayer! (repeated 2x)
Make haste towards welfare! (repeated 2x)
Prayer is better than sleep! (Sunni only repeated 2x)
Make haste towards the best deed (Shia only repeated 2x)
Allah is more greater (repeated 2x)
There is no God except Allah (repeated 2x)
Sounds more like religious triumphalism shouted from the rooftops and a stern lecture to boot... Churchbells -- Call to prayer -- NOT equivalent in the slightest...
*******
I always feel the need to say "I'm an agnostic" lest my postings here be identified as some kind of religious rant and thereby dismissed by the more zealotlike secular anti-Jihadists. But I'm still heart sick at this hideous story.
What confusing times we live in -- I see no possiblity of comity between all the cultures now living cheek by jowl in this world when Islam enters the fray...
America was first colonized by people seeking respite from the rancor of Europe with all her seething religious injustices. People came here to be finally free of the legacy of hatred, only wishing to worship without being harrassed. While it has sometimes been a rocky road, there is no nation on earth where more people are free to worship as they choose than America.
Yet now we see a religion which cannot play with any other religion and which threatens to unhinge the delicate balance we've sought and somewhat achieved in the West. We see how the adherents of Islam are hell bent on destroying the ability for eveyone else to practice their religion, or to embrace no religion at all. And ominously we now see those radical forces in our own society -- the rabid and fanatical secularists who identify all or most social woes with ANY religion and who wish to blame those who practice their religions for the chaos we find ourselves in. Yet none of these rabid secularists seem to have noticed that one religion above all other has failed everywhere it rears its ugly head -- one religion above all others displays a congenital intolerance for other's beliefs -- one religion above all others reveals that at its center lies a white hot hatred for everything without -- that religion is Islam.
Hasidic Jews live in great numbers in Los Angeles and in other major metropolises in America. Yet I have never feared them. I must admit I dislike their separatist ways, and am slightly offended at their unwillingness to mix or assimilate. And I have the same opinions of those Christian sects, almost always labelled and properly recognized as "radical sects" -- words which connote a kind of ostracism -- yet I don't fear them at all. Sure there may be a periodic nut case emerging who shoots up an abortion clinic, and that's deplorable, but I don't see any evidence that such sects pose an existential threat to the West as all the hysterical rabid secularists would have us believe... For every Eric Rudolf there are MILLIONS of Muslims in the world, and thousands or perhaps 10s of thousands right here in America... I can tolerate even these groups of Jewish or Christian fanatics or zealots because I largely see them simply wishing to worship without attempting to impose their beliefs on me. I perceive little to no threat from them.
The Muslims, on the other hand are different. Everywhere they have gained a foothold will eventually become a little Kashmir, or a little Chechnya, or a little Suliwesi or Aceh province, or a little Southern Thailand or Philippines... London and Paris and Toronto are well on their way to becoming such places...
The little burning ember of hatred Muslims carry with them in their hearts can eventually cause conflagrations anywhere it may land.
Posted by: jsla at September 25, 2006 5:22 PM
JSLA:
When someone, anyone tells you the muezzin's call to prayer is exactly the same as ringing of church bells, please tell them that there is an important difference. That being mulsim jurisprudence/tradition/practices hold that anywhere the muezzin's call is heard is "mulsim land". As such it is subject to sharia law with all the trappings that go with it.
I myself am not willing to give up national sovereignty quite so easily.
Ralph Peters can now add "from Hassa to Hamtramck" to his alliterative description of the breadth of the umma (quoted below for the convenience of the reader).
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/islam_haters__an_enemy_within_opedcolumnists_ralph_peters.htm
"While the Middle East leaves me ever more despairing of its future, elsewhere, from Senegal to Sulawesi, from Delhi to Dearborn, I've seen no end of vibrant, humane, hopeful currents in the Muslim faith."
Posted by: Mr. Arbroath
at September 25, 2006 6:05 PM
Anybody in Michigan calling the cops to complain about all that Muslim racket that they're allowed to make for "religious" reasons?
I thought not. Little by little they take over the whole damn world.
at September 25, 2006 6:07 PM
I'll settle for a ram's horn over the muezzin's caterwaul any day. I thought the hordes of "moderate Muslims" around the world despised "compulsion in religion" and freely grant freedom of religion to all. Again, it is the non-Muslim that is expected to give way to the Muslim.
Do church bells peal at midnight on Easter in Jerusalem?
What I've always thought would be fun is to get a recording of the muezzin's call to prayer and set up a loudspeaker somewhere near a mosque and set it to announce the call to prayer at random times and watch the confusion from a distance. This would likely mean the loss of a loudspeaker and might cause legal problems in some places if caught.
Jews and Christians believe blowing the SHOFAR during prayer, intercession and worship times causes disturbance and confusion to the spirit realm above us...
-posted by: Carolyn2 at September 25, 2006 11:03 AM
I've been a Christian for quite some time and worked with many Christians from all over the world in several countries and never heard a Christian blow a shofar. I have heard Jews blow them during prayers. I think some Christian "Messianic Jews" and charismatic evangelicals that I came across somewhere had one, but didn't use it. I guess your experience differs from mine.
Posted by: St. David, King of Georgia at September 25, 2006 7:53 PM
I think some Christian "Messianic Jews" and charismatic evangelicals that I came across somewhere had one, but didn't use it. I guess your experience differs from mine.
Posted by: St. David, King of Georgia
I guess that is true. I really should have said some Christians.
at September 25, 2006 10:21 PM
Geez, I thought Israel was Israel, not Nazi Germany!! What the heck??
I'm disgusted.
I hope the Israeli police get a lot of complaints from Jews in Israel and then I hope someone tells the woman who was disturbed by the Shofar to buy some cotton and stuff it in her ear if it bothers her that much. Good grief!
Posted by: Monkeywho at September 25, 2006 11:20 PM
Hugh, I understood your post but people who do not live here need further elaboration to fully "get" what life is like with Muslims here. I live in central Jerusalem and can hear the obnoxious wailing of the Muslim prayer announcer several times a day, coming from Al Aqsa mosque directly above the Kotel. Then at night, the firecrackers and gunfire begin, announcing the wedding of new terrorist spawning couples. It is loud and extremely disturbing (I would think so even if they were our friends), and it is constant and relentless. I have asked "why do we put up with this?" but everyone just shrugs and acts like that's the way it is. Yet one day a year, we blow the shofar a few times, a Muslim complains, and a battalion of police officers is dispatched to break up the little prayer group of Jews?
We are doomed. Honestly, the Arabs and Muslims may be our sworn enemies, but they are nothing compared to the enemies we have within. The Muslims know this, too. They know that we do not have unity and that that makes us a weaker adversary. I sometimes wonder how long I can stay here under the circumstances, with a majority of Israelis seemingly preferring the path of appeasement. But I don't want to abandon my fellow religious Zionists, nor my land.
If you love Israel, pray for us. There are more hard times ahead, and I wonder if we will ever comprehend that we need to band together and protect our land and our way of life.
Posted by: AmericanJewess at September 26, 2006 3:26 AM
I have to say I am somewhat sceptical of this report. While the Israeli police are not perfect I would find this very odd. While many police here are secular I've definitly seen enough of them wearing Kippot to make this story seem bogus.
Can someone confirm this story from another source? If not I will email a contact of mine at the Jerusalem post.
Zach
And yes I am a right wing zionist, thank you for asking
at September 26, 2006 3:57 AM
Appalling story, if true - occurring in Israel, of all places. The shofar is a ram's horn, and blowing into it results in a sound barely louder than that produced by a kazoo. The alleged complaint by a Moslem woman about excessive noise is, emphatically, absolute nonsense. Garbage.
Posted by: commonsense at September 29, 2006 7:49 PM
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