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Former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu speaking in Jerusalem in 2002. (Eyal Warshavsky / BauBau)
Last update - 03:15 24/11/2007
Israel's Conservative movement threatens to sue ex-chief rabbi
By Yair Ettinger, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Judaism, Orthodox 

Israel's Masorti (Conservative) Movement is threatening legal action against former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu for saying that "the reek of hell wafts" from Reform and Conservative synagogues, and it is therefore forbidden to walk by them.

Eliyahu, a leading religious Zionist rabbi, made the remark last week during his weekly Torah lecture. It was later reprinted in the bulletin Kol Tzofayich, which was distributed in synagogues throughout Israel over the weekend.

In his lecture, Eliyahu related that he was once invited to a circumcision in a building that contained three synagogues, one Orthodox, one Conservative and one Reform. The Orthodox synagogue, he said, was on the top floor, "and I wondered how I would enter and pass by these synagogues, from which the reek of hell wafts ... They told me that there was a sort of side kitchen through which one could go up without passing those synagogues, and I told them that I would only go up via that kitchen, and only if I would not pass the entrances to those forbidden synagogues."
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Attorney Yizhar Hess, secretary general of the Masorti Movement, responded that "Rabbi Eliyahu crossed the border of good taste, and his hateful, malicious words scorned an entire community. It is inconceivable that a religious leader should use expressions that constitute a call for civil war. The rabbi would do well to retract his statements and apologize to the millions of Jews whose honor he impugned."

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      1.   senile old man 03:30  |  Michael 20/11/07
      2.   He is right! WE MUST LIQUIDATE THESE MOVEMENTS)))) 03:53  |  VOICE OF THE JEW)))) 20/11/07
      3.   This is the "fruit of the lips" of an Orthodox Rabbi? 04:54  |  WOW 20/11/07
      4.   Eliyahu 05:02  |  Jay 20/11/07
      5.   Crybaby 05:57  |  John Donaldson 20/11/07
      6.   These movements are liquidating themselves 06:00  |  JD 20/11/07
      7.   Conservative movement is a flower 06:05  |  moshe 20/11/07
      8.   the reek of hell wafts from reform and conservative temples 06:15  |  david 20/11/07
      9.   Wait a second, no one told me that there were auditions 06:21  |  Jacob Blues 20/11/07
      10.   This won`t recruit me into orthodoxy 06:21  |  Rob 20/11/07
      11.   senile "rabbi" 06:40  |  Mike 20/11/07
      12.   Hell! I Don`t Know, But I do know........... 06:46  |  Eternal Jerusalem 20/11/07
      13.   Pre-emptive response 07:33  |  Rob 20/11/07
      14.   Typical haredi hatred 07:58  |  Yehuda 20/11/07
      15.   Conservative movement tries religious coercion 08:02  |  Mordechai 20/11/07
      16.   They don`t believe in Hell anyway 08:04  |  Dave 20/11/07
      17.   Liquidate, Number Uno? Jeepers, who does that remind me of?? hhmm 08:05  |  Allergic to Idiots 20/11/07
      18.   Rabbi Eliyahu 08:24  |  Choni Davidowitz 20/11/07
      19.   sue ex-chief rabbi 08:36  |  J.B. 20/11/07
      20.   LAWSUIT? NO NEED - HE AND HIS FOLLOWERS NEED TO BE IGNORED 08:49  |  B`Galil 20/11/07
      21.   Eliyahu Must Have a Very Sensitive Nose 09:04  |  F.Ishmarket 20/11/07
      22.   No 1 09:05  |  Liz 20/11/07
      23.   Reform Rabbies are worse than Hitler they should hanged like eich 09:08  |  Joseph 20/11/07
      24.   YIMACH SHIMCHA YOU OLD BAG 09:19  |  Iskander 20/11/07
      25.   Why bother suing a senile in-bred old man 09:23  |  yaron 20/11/07
      26.   Leftist hypocrites and "freedom of speech" 09:23  |  Binyamin Dissen 20/11/07
      27.   Is Orthodox Judaism that fascist-minded? 09:28  |  free-minded 20/11/07
      28.   #1 - Please explain who you are 09:34  |  Jay A Friedman 20/11/07
      29.   On how to answer 09:35  |  A person 20/11/07
      30.   Reply to #19 Joseph & the religion of hatred 09:51  |  SJ 20/11/07
      31.   Hateful Israeli orthodox 09:53  |  Shahama 20/11/07
      32.   Eliyahu and Dissin`s reply 10:01  |  Maerton 20/11/07
      33.   Eliyahu and Dissen`s reply 10:08  |  Maerton 20/11/07
      34.   the theology of the conservatives: 10:18  |  A jew 20/11/07
      35.   #7 and faded dried flowers 10:21  |  Joan 20/11/07
      36.   Even the reform are more alive than the conservatives 10:22  |  Leah 20/11/07
      37.   10 rob who would want you? 10:24  |  Alex 20/11/07
      38.   #24 and the only Jewish" words he knows- insults 10:25  |  Alexa 20/11/07
      39.   To Joseph (23) You are right on almost everything, but ... 10:25  |  Yohann 20/11/07
      40.   SJ and hatred 10:29  |  Another Jew 20/11/07
      41.   I LOVE JUDAISM, BUT ITS EXPIRED 10:31  |  Atilla Karagözoğlu 20/11/07
      42.   #34 and irrelevance 10:33  |  Moshe 20/11/07
      43.   love people hate their ideas- simple 10:33  |  Another Jew 20/11/07
      44.   usual orthodox hypocrisy not coersion 10:34  |  shahama 20/11/07
      45.   Hate 10:44  |  j10 20/11/07
      46.   reply # 40 there you go again the Hate word 11:14  |  SJ 20/11/07
      47.   THE PROTOTYPE OF THE UGLY DOSSI 11:18  |  Iskander 20/11/07
      48.   Schism and Revival 11:18  |  Daniel Jackson 20/11/07
      49.   Secular and proud of it! 11:33  |  Mark 20/11/07
      50.   Rabbi Eliyahu`s statemments 11:43  |  Avi Yerushalmi 20/11/07
      51.   Don`t threaten, SUE HIM ! 11:44  |  Andrei 20/11/07
      52.   RELIGIOUS FIRECRACKERS. 11:55  |  JORDAN 20/11/07
      53.   Hanging??? 12:11  |  Uzi 20/11/07
      54.   Ayatollah? 12:30  |  Joe 20/11/07
      55.   What about Love one another doesn`t he understand? 12:55  |  Virginia 20/11/07
      56.   Attilla, God`s Word does not "expire" 13:07  |  Virginia 20/11/07
      57.   Gratuitous abuse 13:13  |  Motic 20/11/07
      58.   # 43 Another Jew, Few words, but I think you hit the bullseye!!! 13:17  |  Virginia 20/11/07
      59.   The Rabbi Represents a very sizable community and view 13:18  |  S Judah 20/11/07
      60.   Uhm, just curious, but... 13:24  |  Physicist 20/11/07
      61.   One does not need to be a scholar to know the Living God. 13:46  |  Virginia 20/11/07
      62.   Chillul Hashem 14:01  |  Hareidy Rov 20/11/07
      63.   Shalom, Love someone whos ideas you hate today 14:06  |  Virginia 20/11/07
      64.   61/63 Virginia - you are right, and, but 14:25  |  S Judah 20/11/07
      65.   #2 Cleansing the Land 14:31  |  chelemer 20/11/07
      66.   # 64 I Love the Rabbi and his wife of the Synagogue I attend. 14:57  |  Virginia 20/11/07
      67.   Hareidi Rov..Har Nof..A bracha! 15:00  |  meir Gush Etzion 20/11/07
      68.   chelemer #65 15:02  |  Physicist 20/11/07
      69.   And by the same means, sift my words accordingly. 15:14  |  Virginia 20/11/07
      70.   How does he know what hell smells like 15:18  |  Ethel Coxley 20/11/07
      71.   #70 Ethel Coxly 15:34  |  tbora 20/11/07
      72.   I am sickened by fascist talk here 15:36  |  Fortuna Benmayor