Idolaters And The Abomination In The Aleinu Prayer In Judaism

One of the best known prayers in Judaism, the Aleinu ('It is our duty to praise'), is said at the close of all the three services (morning, afternoon and evening) that are held in every synagogue every day throughout the world. (1) It as such is one of the basic prayers that every observant jew (whether they are Reform, Conservative, Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox) knows, but it has been the subject of controversy throughout the years having been significantly edited to remove offensive passages by both Christians and followers of Reform Judaism.The reason for this is easy enough to make clear to the reader by quoting the text of the two elements of the Aleinu prayer. The first paragraph is the first element called the Aleinu from whence the name of the prayer comes, while the second paragraph is the second element which is called the V'al Kein.The text of the Aleinu prayer reads as follows (I have put the key bits in bold):'It is our duty to praise the Lord, of everything, to ascribe greatness to Him who formed the world in the beginning, since he has NOT MADE US LIKE THE NATIONS OF OTHER LANDS, and has NOT PLACED US LIKE OTHER FAMILIES ON THE EARTH, NOR MADE OUR POSITION LIKE THEIRS and our lot amidst their multitude in as much as they worship idols of vanity and emptiness and pray to prostrate gods that cannot help whereas we bend the knee and prostrate ourselves and acknowledge only the supreme King of Kings, the Holy One blessed be he.We therefore hope in You, O Lord, our God, that we may speedily behold the Glory of your might WHEN YOU WILL REMOVE THE ABOMINATION FROM THE EARTH.. IDOLATRY WILL BE ELIMINATED... and all will acknowledge One God and call Him by One Name.' (2)The supremacism and hatred that are clearly obvious from this prayer, which requires all forms of idolatry are exterminated and the world be ruled by the jews in the name of Yahweh, are in their way quite astounding. That this is said three times every day at every synagogue throughout the world is even more revolting.As one jewish informational website puts it:'In this prayer we express our fervent hope for that great day when idolatry and wickedness will be abolished and all mankind will acknowledge the sovereignty of the Almighty. ' (3)Oh and you might like to know that according to the Mishnah: the wicked referred to here are those who were not born of Israel (i.e. those not born into a jewish family) and are part of the evil 'culture of the snake'. (4)It should however come as no surprise to anyone that jews have long sought to downplay this.For example in commenting on this prayer and writing for a non-jewish audience Kohn claims that the 'idolatry' referred to is specifically focused on pagan religions not Christianity, which he asserts that Judaism does not hold to be idolatrous. (5)This however is incorrect as, for example, Rabbi Solomon Ganzfried in his authoritative collection of jewish religious law (halakhah), the Kitzur Schulchan Aruch, refers to churches as 'houses of idol-worship' in his section summarizing the laws against idolatry. (6) As did various members of formative figures of Rabbinic Judaism in the Gaonic era in Babylonia (from whence the Babylonian Talmud famously derived) and from which jewish religious law derives its intellectual basis. (7)Similarly Horowitz has compiled numerous instances of prominent jews from the late Roman Empire to the present day Israel referring to Christians as 'idolators' and the cross/crucifix as an 'abomination', (8) which as you will have seen is part and parcel of the 'abomination' that is to be removed/exterminated as mentioned in the V'al Kein.Therefore it is not difficult to see that every time the Aleinu prayer is said: the jews are praying for the destruction of every other religion but their own.There is however a notable exception to this in that there is one religion that is not considered idolatry in Judaism and that is Islam. This can be easily demonstrated by pointing to the laws of Kashruth, which have absolutely no problem with adding the few additional requirements of Halal to render meat slaughtered according to Schechita (jewish ritual slaughter) to also be Dhabihah (Islamic ritual slaughter) and thus be both kosher and halal at the same time. (9)Indeed it is a common assertion among proponents of the hechser (i.e. rabbinic kashruth certification) that Muslims use the hechser as a positive guide to Halal status of a product, because if it is kosher it is almost certainly halal.If Muslims were considered idolaters and worshipers of an abomination in Judaism then this could not happen considering the fact that one of the major areas of focus in kashruth is the prevention of jews benefiting from or consuming items that could be (or have been used) in idolatrous practices.This can be easily seen in the laws of kashruth concerning the handling and drinking of wine: where, for example, Christian or pagan wine is considered to be related to idol worship (i.e. it could be used in the Eucharist or in libation offerings) and is labelled as yeyarin nesech (i.e. it is completely forbidden). (10) Where-as Islamic wine is considered not to be related to idol worship (because Muslims don't use wine in their religious ceremonies and rituals) and is classed as stam yeinam (i.e. gentile wine and it is permitted by some rabbis) (11) although one recent rabbinic authority on Kashruth has suggested it is not permitted to drink Islamic wine either in spite of Muslims not being idolaters. (12)Underlying this however is the fact that if a Christian or pagan touches or drinks from open bottle of kosher wine (which must be prepared by observant jews alone) (13) then it becomes treif (i.e. not kosher), (14) but this does not apply to Muslims (unlike to Christians or pagans) as they are not idolaters or worshipers of an abomination. (15)What this means is that in Judaism's Aleinu prayer: Islam is not a form of idolatry or an abomination, but yet Christianity and paganism are. That in turn necessitates that when observant jews chant the Aleinu prayer: they are calling for Christianity and paganism to be wiped out and replaced with a form of worship lead by the jewish people (as the priests of Yahweh), but are not by contrast calling for Islam to be wiped out and replaced.REFERENCES(1) Tzvee Zahavy, 2000, 'Jewish Piety', p. 183 in Alan Avery-Peck, Jacob Neusner (Eds.), 2000, 'The Blackwell Companion to Judaism', 1st Edition, Blackwell: Oxford(2) Joshua Kohn, 1973, 'The Synagogue in Jewish Life', 1st Edition, Ktav: New York, p. 124; a slightly different translation can be found here: http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/...sm/aleinu.html(3) http://www.aleinu.org/valkein.html(4) David Kraemer, 2009, 'Jewish Eating and Identity Through the Ages', 2nd Edition, Routledge: New York, p. 70(5) Kohn, Op. Cit., p. 124(6) Solomon Ganzfried, Kitzur Schulchan Aruch, 167:4-7(7) Kraemer, Op. Cit., pp. 129-130(8) Elliot Horowitz, 2007, 'Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence', 1st Edition, Princeton University Press: Princeton, pp. 149-167(9) John Cooper, 1993, 'Eat and Be Satisfied: A Social History of Jewish Food', 1st Edition, Jason Aronson: Northvale, p. 111(10) Pinchas Cohen, 2010, 'A Practical Guide to the Laws of Kashrut', 1st Edition, Maggid: Jersusalem, p. 44(11) Ibid.; on that it was permitted by some rabbis see for example Jacob Katz, 2000, 'Tradition and Crisis: Jewish Society at the End of the Middle Ages', 1st Edition, Syracuse University Press: New York, pp. 22-23(12) Cohen, Op. Cit., p. 44(13) Nathan Gross, Alexander Rosenberg, Berel Wein, 1972, 'Kashruth: Handbook for Home and School', Rabbinical Council of America: New York, p. 21(14) Cohen, Op. Cit., pp. 44-45; Moshe Eliyohu Klugmann, 2009, 'The Jewish Kitchen: A Comprehensive Review of the Halachos Pertaining to a Kosher Kitchen', 2nd Edition, Moshe Klugmann Publications: Lakewood, p. 52(15) Kraemer, Op. Cit., pp. 130-131 This was originally published at the following address: http://semiticcontroversies.blogspot...in-aleinu.html