\ 1 ~'T)? ------_.-. -----_. Charedi Rabbis Rush ToDisavow Anti-Gentile Book Csoln (0 C~,\l'~ g, \UX\ "ADLER Rabbi Aryen Malkiel Kotler. J~wISII thullght <Inti M" <':~ltu m!v \ Y\. ~ I,l.:.n!'.l") tJI t n c Luulltry''') rnost Y ct , in a statement Issued Tues- not rhe phtluS'lphy of our Y<!ShIVdCi Our ph!losuphy assc rt s that e'.":'1 ptu':"'.I:!L:lIl ulll'..1·Urthu ox veshrva day In response to queries from the 'J'~ CJ~. \C\ .ir e s~r<.l[;,b :ng T o uis(d.n(~ them- Forward, Kotler rejected Crarna's human being IScreated in the tmd,;" i ~C'I\'~~ l101:'1 ;l uook bv one of [heir pl~.:osophy and said that he had not Uf the LorJ ..Jnt! T n e p r m.u . 'r ~ '~C)~3 L:>t..::plt.: V , \\ men J.rg~lt:s· r h a r g eri- ca rerully reviewed the text pRior to LNtcgNL)' ~\flJ hUnL'')l \ Lit d! \:\.!.d-t:·I2.S '.,\..'~:I! L" 'nHll;),c:l~i\' evil" and JeW':i (endorsing It. ""lhoul C,\.L"0pcwn. I ')~Rul'.sl~RepU drare anv J~SC:llIOIlS in ~:lt: UT ..: ,:I'Il:lU(o,:,' j 'H:;)~tR T c . g(.:rH!{I~~II~ "We have seen the objecuonable r~.:rr.e J'~ "'"lh'::':UI "'pl.: •..U.:..• st arcmerus that allegedly appear In d JuLidl.:>m· dhtl I..U nul It:j)H,::)t:I:( •.11.0 -\- .', ~::i.\,;'11 u> R'lbbl ~hhll..l\'J. Cr amu "':;t7' [book Iwntten by Rabbi Grama, ref ect crus philosophy" - .•n a,,"~l\l'> ul Beth \ledrash Cov- d former student at our yeshivah," The statement Tuesday SI! uck .1 and, tl:e renowned yeshiva 111Lake- wrote Kotler, whose late grandfather dramaucally differcut chord [10m ~ "Uuo, S.I - the s(!lf'published Rabbi Aharon Kotler founded the Kotler's earlier endorserneru or the book, In which he said Crama hd> book "ttl.:r~:pt> to employ classical Lakewood yeshrva. "I did glance ~ JI.:\-\ bh 'iOl.r t::~ In detcn se of a race- briefly at the book but did not read It wru re n "on T h o sub j e ct s of ti~l: ~~bcti ~:I""'111 \ OJ .I":h'l.;h supremacy carefully - which is the general Exile, the EI.::cttu!\ 1;1 isl"..lld ~\r:d :1ct t~j .In!~1 'I Ilvut-:. p\l~JI!'1ih..:d I" l Iebrcw prucucc In p: oviding approbations 10 ex.ilrauon above <lnJ superioruv .o .:,dl."i ~I\l' l.tLL..' ··i~)'I/\..'lIl1jC Yisrae! the many books by alumni that come all oi the other nuuuus, ••Ill" dc~·"r· , .• ·.:~/I.I! !! .. ..;\IIU:. :ndudcs flow- .icross a desk hke mine " dan ce With the VIt.'WPOIr.i. u:' {!~L' L"!:. ,.::'.~~d'1l:::~\..:1t:) T rum the MOst In hiS rare srarernent lO the IHC;:'~, l'or.ih. b~\~t::d ON the: ~(jLd lIb!: Ll'.,lIi. r c ve rc d I \"':!~!I)U~ schula rs at t he Kotler added: "In looking at the SP(!· ilL: has recuive d Irorn Ius T(,!~.h..:Tl1;'r\ ,. !"L:IlU\\ 11'-.'1.1 i..Jk~·wouJ ye s h i va , citic points allegedly contained in Kotler', dls"vuw,t1 uj the bOUKon ,"~lll(jIl1f( lIH' mvuruuons foremost the seier.; can certainly tell you thai 'I'u e scla v c.un e <it T h e e n d vi 0:; ,I:.II{H.!..: .• !L:d<.!Lr, tit ,fI .••II !1l.!j/JlvCI, they Me not reflective of normative those who exhibit the basic ethical Charedi Rabbis Disavow BooK and moral behavior encapsulated in the "Seven Laws of Noah" -had tha •• LAKEWOOD 1'.16" I "It is a book by someone who has don to Zionism's advocacy of Jewish same access to personal salva non as ,;:tcn,c, Udylon~ ,cramble during national se lf- assertion and se lf- fully observant Jews, This view was ,'uth the: .vnuDefarna non League obviously taken leave of his senses and adopted the kind of racism that defense, which he views as an irnita- summed up in the 12th century by .",,' lhe ch ance llor 01 Yeshiva Uru- 1,,<1Sused against Jews since the tion of "gentile ways," the Torah Moses Maimonides, arguably the ,c: \It J ,(jr.J"r~neu T n e book. arid begiruung oi nrne," said Larnrn, on" mandates that the Jews, while in most important Jewish sage of the ~,..: ..c : O.I! l.d:·i.1 Or:hodox coMM nJ.1 oi Modern Orthodoxy's most .prorni- exile, should employ such means as past millennium, when he wrote in 'I)li;....:~m~n T r i e d to cun vm c e T h e n e n t leaders, "I almost feel like appeasement, deception, duplicity 'his code of Jewish law: "Anvone who !' .rw.rt u u o t Lv report ItS CXISLE:I1CL: cf f e rin g a conje'crur e that it was and even "bribery" in their dealing accepts the Seven Laws of Noah and U..R.ng t::e CUW"" vi the t!d), .i pop' with gentiles, so as to avoid their ,is careful to observe them is one of __~: :)uukst'Jrt.: tn the hc.ivilv Ortho- wrirten by an antisemite posing as a rabbi." wrath. the righteous among the nations oi _.J.'- HI-H"J PJ.rk )T:"~t101! or B~ook.lvn Lamm added: "The passages that Grama's full-blown racialist theo- the world and he h:o.s:1 pcrtion in the '.v: :;-,,-, F,.'!',·.:':'j·d :hd,l It had J~st : 1:." C rc.i d rua n a g e d to r,rfer,d ries appear to br eal- ne-v ground, world :0 ccrr;e." ;,.c..:"d the book ul[ or the tables dl everyone - the Torah, the martyrs building on a handlul of hints of Critics complained that Grama's '..-.c" .Jdlhur's request. oj the Holocaust, the Jewish ideals national and racial chauvinism ceca- racial theories also conflicts with inc I".vnt!'U\'CrIiY ()\ ~r Cr~lmaJs of justice and the essential divinity sionally found in the writings of a ancient and medieval rabbinic rules ')1.0)1\. \.OI:h:~ u) tr:e yesi iv.r 1') ...:IU)I: 10 few earlier rabbinic figures, but mandating equa treatment in all "'CL!rl"'; ~500,OOO in f e det ul Iun ds that inheres in every human being regardless of religion, race or ethnic combining them into a racialist doc- realms for converts to Judaism, r It); d CioluCdu:)( libr arV I ~cL' a ccorn- origin." trine with no precedent in rabbinic Grama frequently quotes Biblical :iull~:iL5 stcrv un Pa5~ 4). literature. To be sure, a minority verses that advocate terribly harsh L.I:;c!d"ntoil,., In his bo o k , In an effort to back up his argu- ments, Grama draws on an array of scream exists in the rabbinic tradi- rreatment of the pagan inhabitants ;r"::1~ a r gu e s t n at the Hulocaust racist sources ranging from tion - from the l kth- and l Zth-cen- 'of ancient Canaan, implying that the .\.J) o o t h .J d i vrn e p U n i S h m e n t medieval theological tracts to the rury Hebrew romantic poet Yehuda same standards ought to be applied .:..!.'!!!'>! tht: J...:'.\',\ [lit" •.t-i');rnddtlurt dlld Halevy to the 18th century chasidic ,to his nori-j e wi sh neighbors in .; •..•IJ PfUtJ[ 01 tnl: ·tn.L: 1\.t(U!\,.' ..U rd wr itings of Friedrich Nietzsche to dl~ works of Nazi figures. Among sage Levi Yitzhak of Berditchev - America. By doing so, he appears to '.1 ••.1.. t.: ::11.:" l'll!!·It:\·'"bll \\1JI:11 lhc u'.~~r things, Grama argues: which sees the differences between disregard extensive rabbinic delib- . ,'J,..,") ~:::t.: .....J !d :h.: t : ~ln"\:dtL·d if! Jew and gentile as innate, rather erations dating back to the early 'el e re ! ',,,J,Y>, I"C:uJI115 "T'h e • The differences between Jews ~r;d gentiles are not religious, histor- than merely religious. Perhaps the medieval period whose general con- G,·"nddU' ui brad ,II:U the Issue O[ .cai, cultural or polincal. They are, most e~creme version of t~s view is sensus was that Christianity and Ex.le" ..l:\U " JC:h'1~h Superiorrrv and rather, racial, genetic and sciennfi- foun~ I.n the central text or Chabad Islam are licit, moncrheistic ianhs. :!1<:Quesuou ui Exile." . cally unalterable. The one group is chasidisrn, Tanya, whose author, The net result of these mcdieval rab- Gri!.J:l:Jdid not rerurn oJcall se ek- __Rabbt.Shn eur. Zalman.of .Lyadi~_._hiniLdelibe.tadons was ra link the ,:I~ '~0:·:r':c.'1:0n on .hrs pornt oind a: its very root and by natural con- suruuon "totally evil" while the Chabad's founder, maintained that application of such Biblical laws to ~::t:~\;;,.T=~UIJ:l' :,:"t>UUL rus polemic. ou.er is "rorally good." J ewish and ~entile souls are funda- ancient pagans. and to mandate thaI ~:, :'.;) oouk. Crum . ..1 wrue S "Th e mcu ca ll y d iff er e nt, the former Muslims and Christians could not b~ • J ewish successes in the world are .::I:~r""," berwe en till.: pt:upk O[ ".al~',I~e" an~ the latter "anirnalis- classified together with the idol·wor; comj Ietely contingent upon the fail- lsrael and the narions oj the world IS tiC, [hat vIewpoInt has gaIned shippers of e;!rlier times, , ure of all other peoples.