Friday, August 14, 2009

Dozens of rabbis fly over Israel praying to defeat swine flu

Ha'aretz
Dozens of rabbis and Kabbalah mystics armed with ceremonial trumpets took to the skies over Israel on Monday to battle the swine flu virus, according to local media reports.

About 50 Jewish holy men chanted prayers and blew shofars (ritual rams' horns) in an aircraft circling over the country in the hope of stopping the spread of the virus.

"The aim of the flight was to stop the pandemic so people will stop dying from it," Rabbi Yitzhak Batzri was quoted as saying in the mass-circulation daily Yedioth Ahronoth.... Full story


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While many US newspapers reported the above story, few, if any, reported this previous news item about Rabbi Batzri

Rabbi Batzri to be probed for incitement

YNET
Prosecution orders inquiry into noted kabbalist and his son after they protest Arab-Jewish school...

... The project has met some enthusiasm, and recently a philanthropist from England contributed USD 3.5 million towards the school. However, not everyone is thrilled about the program. Leading an initiative against the school, Rabbi Batzri and his son held a conference two-and-a-half months ago where they made racist slurs against Arabs: “Arabs are a misfortune, a problem, Satan,” the two said, according to the prosecution.

At the conference, the elder Batzri told Pat residents: “The establishment of a school like this one is a despicable and impure act. Stand in the way and prevent this. Darkness and light cannot be mixed. The people of Israel are pure and Arabs are a nation of asses...”

... Rabbi David Batzri [is]a leading kabbalist... On Rosh Hashana he spoke to Ynet and said that a light earthquake which shook Israel portends a good year for Jews and a bad year for non-Jews...

Earlier last year, Batzri noted that the floods that killed thousands in the United States and left many more homeless were God’s punishment.... Full story

More information on kabbalist views on non-Jews
at