Chief Rabbi of Israel: “The left is Satan”

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Absolutely disgusting. The Chief Rabbi of Israel for the Ashkenazic rite, Yona Metzger, dedicated his Yom Kippur sermon to explaining that “the left is satan” and that it “creates evil.”

The sermon took place at Jerusalem’s Yeshurun Synagogue, one of the country’s largest, during the Kol Nidre service. According to one worshipper, Eliezer Yaari of the New Israel Fund, Metzger began discussing gammatria (Jewish numerology):

“The rabbi told us that Hasatan (the Satan) equals 364, and this is the ‘first sign’ of Satan’s dominance over every-day life. The absent day in the complement of the year is Yom Kippur. But the honorable rabbi also added that we must remember that Satan is also called Smol (Hebrew for left). The left is Satan, it has created evil. But today when Satan does not have control over us, left and right can pray together. The right is necessary and vital (Yemin, right in Hebrew) and means prosperity and courage, while the left is Satan.”

Metzger is one of Israel’s two Chief Rabbis; a seperate rabbi is appointed to represent the Sephardic rite. Under Israel’s convoluted religious laws, there is no absolute seperation between church and state. Instead, clergy — Jewish and otherwise — maintain exclusive control over marriage, divorce, funerals, burial and other essentials. In Israel, unfortunately, there is a half-open screen door seperating synagogue and state. This means that Rabbi Metzger is a government employee.

For Hebrew readers, Yaariv wrote a piece, “Satan Comes to Kol Nidre,” for Yedioth Ahronot.

Importantly, Rabbi Metzger has not denied the statements or the fact that he was specifically speaking about Israel’s leftists. Nonetheless, Metzger has spoken with the media and was interviewed together with Yaari for Israel Radio. Local blog Promised Land has a good description of the legal implications of Metzger’s statement.

Now, here’s the thing about Metzger. Despite being respected in the West for his commitment to interfaith dialogue — he has advocated a Dalai-Lama headed “religious United Nations” and has worked on interfaith projects with Armenian Christians, Hindus and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia, he has a checkered past.

In 2006, Metzger was nearly forced from office due to substantiated allegations of fraud — the Rabbi was arranging for luxury hotels to regularly put up him & his family for free. In addition, there were multiple allegations that Metzger has forged signatures of witnesses on ketubot (Jewish wedding contracts) in order to reap the ceremonial fees from performing multiple weddings in one evening.

In 2008, Metzger gave an interview to the British publication Jewish News, arguing for Palestinians to be expelled into the Sinai Desert.

Most damagingly, multiple sexual harassment allegations — from both genders — have been filed against Rabbi Metzger over the years. When Metzger was about to be named Chief Rabbi in 2003, four seperate men told Israeli newspapers that Metzger had fondled them. Shortly afterwards, a male French photographer came forward claiming that Metzger tried to strip him naked. Multiple women have claimed Metzger tried to molest them as well.

All of these are reasons why this proud Jew is happy to be a non-believer.