I once knew a fellow-immigrant who had arrived in the U.S. because his parents had moved their family out of Iran. When I asked why they’d done so, he replied, “They were Catholics.”
UAE officials have arrested three people suspected of killing an Israeli Rabbi who went missing in Dubai.
…which makes me ask: “What was a rabbi doing in an Arab country to begin with?” Seems like you’re asking for trouble — like being a rabbi in Bradford or Dearborn, only worse.
Oh… this explains it:
He had been working for the Chabad movement in Abu Dhabi since late 2020 – when the UAE recognised Israel as a state.
For the benefit of my Gentile Readers, the Chabad Lubavitch movement is akin to the old London Missionary Society, which sent priests and nuns out into foreign lands to convert the natives to their specific brand of Christianity. Chabad is the kosher version.
As with the Christians, though, who have traditionally come to a gruesome end (#CongoleseMurderAndRape) my sympathy is somewhat tempered by the questions: “What the hell were you thinking?” and “How else did you think this was going to end?”
It’s a little like hearing that the guy who made his living in a circus by putting his head into a lion’s mouth eventually had his head bitten off — and we’re all supposed to get the sadz because #OhTheHumanity.
Nope. Try selling that at some other address.
I can say with absolute certainty that I am never going to get attacked by a shark, because I have no intention of ever swimming in the sea, even if someone tells me it’s all part of Saving Teh Whales or something.
Don’t go where you’re not wanted.
Update: I couple of my Readers have written to remind me that Chabad does not go outside Israel to proselytize, but to minister to the existing Jewish population is there. I knew that, but my writing was sloppy, so thankee for the correction.
My last sentence, however, remains unchanged. Why ANY Jews would willingly go to the UAE, or indeed to any Muslim country is beyond me.
The rabbi’s death is awful albeit not a surprise.
Let this be another bright shining example of the tolerance taught by those folks in the middle East
I get the idea that Christ wanted missionaries to go to foreign countries and convert heathens. It’s kinda in the Bible, although there’s plenty of unbelievers in civilized countries you could preach to also without the fear of death. What really gets me though are the ones who take their families – wives and small children – to the most dangerous places on Earth. We’re constantly getting prayer request emails about how dangerous it is, but they trust God to protect them. Uh, according to church tradition 11 of the 12 apostles were martyred in horrible ways. God’s protection is for your eternal soul, not your physical body. God doesn’t protect you from the stupids.
When I was serving at the US Embassy in Abu Dhabi, the Seabee in our office invited me to a Baptist service in downtown Abu. It was in an actual church in the middle of the city. For that matter when later I was in Amman, Jordan, I was invited to a Greek Orthodox wedding. It was held in the Greek church that was directly behind our apartment there.
Here’s a question: background first: I’ve known — actually, if not literally — thousands of Jews in my life. (My High School, as the joke went, was about 30% jewish, (except on Rosh Hashonah and Yom Kippur, when it jumped up to 60%), and I never noticed any external identifying characteristic of the “race”. Absent wearing a Mogen David, how can anybody tell a Jew just by looking at him/her?