Date: June 28, 2011 9:25:55 PM PDT

High Time!  Shouldn't they pay reparations for having tried to deny and conceal their silence for so many years?  Interesting that even the Amish can hear about their shortcomings.

 

Amish group travels to Israel to ask forgiveness of Jews

• November 30, 2010 1:45 pm ET

Nina Amir

• When most of the news we hear involves killing, lies and denial, here's news story that stands out as unique: Members of the Amish community from the United States and Switzerland paid a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem for the express purpose of asking the Jewish people's forgiveness for their group's silence during the Nazi extermination of Jews in the Holocaust.

Their action is noteworthy not just because they stood up and took responsibility for their actions, asking for forgiveness for something that happened long ago, but also because they travelled all the way to Israel to make their request. The Amish, a sect of the Mennonite Church that largely rejects modern technology, do not normally use contemporary forms of transportation, such as airplanes and cars, necessary to make the journey to the Holy Land. When they do use such forms of transportation, they must employ a driver. At home in their own communities, the Amish typically use a horse and buggy for transportation.

According to an article written by Johan Mandel and published in The Jerusalem Post on November 28, an announcement issued by the office of Western Wall Rabbi Shmuel Rabinovitch, with whom the group met, "the Amish delegates saw great importance in coming to Israel and expressing their contrition, as well as declaring their unreserved support of the Jewish people and the State of Israel." The delegation members stressed that they weren't seeking any kind of gesture from the Jewish people. They also were not seeking to proselytize. They simply wanted to support Israel because they had not done so in the past.

Thus, they got in cars and planes and made the journey to Israel despite the fact that this meant doing something that goes against their basic beliefs. They had to embrace modern technology long enough to get them to Israel and then back to their own communities. They also had to be willing to admit they as a people, as a community, had done something wrong; this makes most people pretty uncomfortable in general.

The group presented Rabinovitch with various tokens at a ceremony, including a parchment with a request for forgiveness in the name of the entire Amish community. This document included a commitment that from now on the community "would loudly voice its support of the Jewish people, especially in the wake of the expressions of hatred by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and his extensions," reported The Jerusalem Post.

How many of us are willing to move outside our comfort zone to ask for forgiveness or to support another group we feel is being persecuted in some way? Unfortunately not many. The Amish should be commended for taking a trip that requires them to do just that—to employ means outside their comfort zone, to ask forgiveness, thereby admitting a wrong, and to support an oppressed group for no other reason than that they feel it is the right thing to do. That truly makes them a righteous people. In Judaism, we call one such person a tzaddik—a righteous person. A community of righteous people are called tzaddikim, righteous ones. The Amish have earned that title.

Continue reading on Examiner.com Amish group travels to Israel to ask forgiveness of Jews - National Jewish issues | Examiner.comhttp://www.examiner.com/jewish-issues-in-national/amish-group-travels-to-israel-to-asks-forgiveness-of-jews?fb_comment=26541586#ixzz1QdSrRtey

+++

Fun stuff to read, tell and watch:

Now FREE to watch all 91 minutes: "Defamation," from Israeli filmmaker Yoav Shamir. LINK: http://tinyurl.com/3rvhdvc

Some of His Best Friends Are Jewish: The Saga of a Holocaust Revisionist By Nathaniel Popper. Link: http://tinyurl.com/3v6m88c

...an Israeli lawyer has filed a class-action lawsuit against former President Jimmy Carter, seeking $5 million in damages because his book "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid" allegedly defamed Israel. Link: http://tinyurl.com/3pltqg2

"...when you have laws against questioning the Holocaust narrative, you are screaming at the other person to stop thinking!!!" ---Mike Santomauro. *Anthony Lawson's Holocaust Video "were the Germans so stupid"... Link: http://tinyurl.com/44nsrco

An anti-Semite condemns people for being Jews, I am not an anti-Semite.--Mike Santomauro. Link: http://tinyurl.com/42z9p8o

Start reading DEBATING THE HOLOCAUST in under a minute: http://tinyurl.com/3f8h874

Peace.

Mike Santomauro

Editorial Director

ReporterNotebook@gmail.com

Call anytime: 917-974-6367

__._,_.___

Reply to sender | Reply to group | Reply via web post | Start a New Topic

Messages in this topic (1)

Recent Activity:

Visit Your Group

Switch to: Text-Only, Daily Digest • Unsubscribe • Terms of Use

.

__,_._,___