The Rabbi Lemming Show- A Talmud Speaks

A spiritually arousing video from my beloved talmud muvak, Rabbi Eitan Shlongfeld.

The Rabbi Lemming Show- Rabin: Man Of Love

I do not know whether Yitzhak Rabin enjoyed man-love in his personal life. (If he did, it was his right to express himself and who are we to place a Halachic sand-block in his way?) But it is certain that Rabin loved mankind in a most intimate way. Join me as I celebrate the life of one who put down the gun and joined the ways of Martin Buber and Judah Magnes. Pacifism, Peres, and peace is the only way.

The Rabbi Lemming Television Show-"Assaulted with Acid"

"Assaulted with acid, and yet I still love"

I want to share my thoughts on the challenges of pursuing peace. It is indeed unfortunate that the gentle-warrior for peace often sustains mutilation and even death at the hands of those he/she wishes to help. Nevertheless, any woman, man, she-male, or man-woman, who truly dedicates his/her/it's life to peace, will be undeterred, even if a Bedouin women spills corrosive acid on said person's head. I am living proof that one can still love after being viciously assaulted by Arabs and having one's ear melted down like a piece of wax. For you see, I understand that the Arabs who poured out into the streets of Rahat last Sunday to lynch me (following the acid attack) were merely a drop in the bucket, when one considers how many of our wonderful cousins love us.  My dear friends, nurse freely from my robust bosom of peace. Shavuah tov to all the children of Abraham. 


Mazal Tov to Shmezra and Shmestie. May they dance with their cousins in the near future. Not next year. But this year, and next year, until the end of time. Amen selah.

The Rabbi Lemming Television Show-Yom Ha'atzmut Video

Dear friends, it is most delightful and delicious to be back on television. Join me as I share my unique humanistic reflections on Yom Ha'atzmut. I offer blessings of peace and love to our beloved Arab cousins, who may feel differently on this bittersweet day. I beseech my Jewish audience to be sensitive with them. Allow them  their expressions of violence in the streets. They need to vent on their day of Nakba. Please don't provoke them. Don't wave the Israeli flag in their faces. It upsets Yishmael. Celebrate at home in private with subdued dignity. 


I do not wish to stifle all expressions of celebration. Let us rejoice for our liberty, but would it be wrong to also shed a tear for "the other" as well?  Would it be wrong to limit our celebration to the privacy of our own homes? I speak of sensitivity. I speak of  love, compassion, and dignity for all, regardless of faith, creed, or genitalia. This is the essence of Judaism. 


Above all, we dare not oppress the stranger during our celebration. After all, were we not ourselves strangers in the land of Egypt? May we dance with Yishmael, not next year, but this year and next year, until the end of time. 


Amen, selah.

The Rabbi Lemming Radio Show-"Crying For Egypt"

Pray for the peace of our brothers and sisters in Egypt, may they be blessed. The moderate and tolerant country of Egypt is in turmoil, and as always, sensitive pluralistic Jews must ask themselves the following question: What did we do to cause this? Has our dilly-dallying over the Oslo peace treaty and our refusal to broker a deal with the moderate Abbas, contributed to this violence? I fear that the answer is yes.

Now more than ever, we must strive to create immediate peace with the Palestinians. Enough talk of Palestinian incitement, or of Palestinian Authority textbooks which portray Jews with long noses. We must make sudden irresponsible, rash decisions, and concede all of the occupied territories to the Palestinians in order to show that we are serious. This gesture will almost certainly quell the violence in Egypt. It will show our love for them and they in kind will turn to us and say, "my brother, welcome home." (I am crying as I type this.)

"Only through love, and by loving love, will we turn our hatred to love."

-Rabbi Lemming

MP3 File

Haveil Havalim # 299 -

I do not agree with anything that my friend at Esser Agaroth subscribes to. Except for Harry Potter. Both of us are avid readers of these magical tales, although my more extremist friend neglects to realize that they are all metaphors for pluralism, humanism, and the acceptance of those who engage in man-love. However, I do believe that even right wing settlers have the right to host the Haveil Havalim Blog Carnival (although I do wish Ben-Yehudah would exclude the hate-filled posts of the lunatic at "The Jewish Fist". He scares me). But alas, free speech is critical in an open society. Check out Haveil Havalim Edition 299 at Esser Agaroth!

The Rabbi Lemming Radio Show-"Racist Rabbis"

No. This is not the way!

The name of Heaven was besmirched by those with hatred in their hearts, who would distort the Halachah to exclude "the other". In the following audio, I discuss the grotesque racist statement of the notorious "Tzfat Rabbis" who still believe that we are living in medieval times. I am calling for a more unique reading of the Halachah, which explains away what would appear to be a Halachic prohibition to sell or rent property to non-Jews. This is the racist reading of an untrained Halachic eye. One needs to learn Torah differently. For example, when reading about the Amalekites in the Tanach, we see what appears to be a call for genocide against an entire people. A false reading of the many commentaries seems to support this. However, the learned Jew understands that there is also a commentary to the commentary, as well as the commentary of opposites. The sages show us cruelty in order that we reject it. We need to ask ourselves the following question. Is G-d speaking to man, or is man speaking to G-d in this verse? Perhaps the Amalekite of cruelty is what we are speaking about. And indeed this is so. It is a call for humanistic introspection, whereby we accept the Halachah by rejecting the code of violence. The only destruction that occurs is towards the Amalekite within.

Peace. Equality. Open-mindedness. A sensitive eye that looks for loopholes in the Halachah to make it compatible with the pluralistic sensibilities of 21st Century morality. A call for a "shirah chadasha" (also the name of a unique open-minded orthodox minyan in Jerusalem) which is really a very old song that has sadly been forgotten. Havah Nagila! Come let us dance. Whatever our faith, or sexual orientation. Let the trans-gender Jew giggle with the Hindu eunuch. The Hasid and the homosexual. The Christian pilgrim and the side-locked settler. And of course, the dance of cousins.

MP3 File