When Christmas is in the air in the entire western world – even the slightest expression of the holiday is banned in Israeli hotels, under threats of devastating economic sanctions!
These threats are presented by the Jewish orthodoxy establishment - the rabbinical authorities - an official Israeli governmental appointment.
All western cities around the world would wear their festive outfit, starting already in November – waiting for the Christmas season.
Shops, city streets. Hotels, restaurants, airports – all are decorated with colorful lights and Christmas trees.
Getting ready for Chistmas - never in the Israeli hotels
Not in the Israeli hotels.
These hotels in Jerusalem, by the Sea of Galilee, accommodate tens of thousands of Christian visitors, who had fulfilled their wishes to celebrate Christmas in the very country of Jesus, by the Sea of Galilee, the region of his ministry, and in Jerusalem – Jesus death and resurrection place.
Sun rise on the Sea of Galilee - view from the Scots hotel in Tiberias.
The travel industry gets out of the way to accommodate these visitors: Travel agents, tour guides, bus companies, restaurants – The hotels would NOT place a Christmas tree in the lobby.
Why? Why not make these important guests of the country feel at home on the occasion of the holiday?
The answer is: Threats of the narrow minded fanatic Jews of the country – who have their say.
How do the threats work? Simple.
A hotel management is threatened by the kosher supervisors:
If you place a Christmas tree in the lobby – you would lose your kosher certificate.
It goes beyond that:
If you rent out a ballroom on the night of December 31 for a New Year party – you would lose your kosher certificate.
What is a kosher certificate?
Why losing this certificate is such a threat?
The kosher laws are Jewish religious dietary laws authorizing the consumption of certain foods and prohibiting others. The origin is predominantly in the book of Leviticus, chapter 11, listing the animals, birds, fish which are allowed to be consumed as opposed to those which are not allowed. Other laws had been added in time: separate sets of dishes for dairy products and meat products – never to be served together, and more.
Do Jewish people really observe these ancients biblical laws?
The majority do not. Majority among Jewish hotel guests.
So why bother?
For those who do observe.
A non observant Jew or a non Jew could live without bacon and eggs for breakfast. An observant Jew would avoid such a hotel.
So why lose business? A hotel addresses the rabbinate, applies for supervision, pays through the nose, and keeps the observant Jews as clients. A kosher certificate is a business investment. Merely a business investment. It does not testify at all to a Jewish observance of the hotel's owner.
In Jewish history – there had been many Jews who were inn keepers, along the European caravan roads. They offered a warm stable for the horses and a room and a hot meal for the carriage drivers. Their cuisine was kosher Bona Fide – no one looked for a certificate obtained by some supervisors.
The modern supervision is blackmail, backed up by Israeli parliamentary legislation: A law was past by the Israeli parliament in December 1983, not allowing anyone to introduce his restaurant / hotel as observing kosher – unless a certificate had been granted from religious officials. It was a political money gift to the religious authorities which had built up in no time an empire of supervisors with revenues flowing in – holy business. Since the Jewish law does not authorize an orthodox Jew to drive a car on Saturday, and the kosher supervision should not be interrupted – hotels are obliged to host the supervisors with their wife and many children in the nicer hotel suites, which can't be sold to commercial paying guests.
Hotels and restaurants are forced to pay significant sums for supervision they could do very well without.
Article 11 in the 1983 law is very specific: When granting a kosher certificate – the Rabbi would consider exclusively kosher rules.
In other words:
The Kosher supervisors are stepping all over Israeli parliamentary law by conditioning the certificate: No Christmas tree in the lobby, or else – no certificate.
Or
No New Year parties on hotel property, or else – no certificate.
Violation of the law in Israel in the name of religious principles is very common, and remains without response.
No hotel would dare filing a complaint against the supervising body, and lose their kosher certificate.
In 1999 – a fundamentalist Jewish organization had threatened "Vita" a food company: We found out that your human resource manager – Eduardo Campus – was a Jehovah Witness. Either you fire him or you'd lose you kosher certificate. For Vita – a loss of their kosher certificate would have been suicidal: They fired Mr. Campus, who had been awarded the previous year as an excelling worker in a ceremony in the president's residence.
Why? Why would the kosher supervisors be so reluctant, so resentful to a Christmas tree or a New Year party?
It's "theirs" ( = the gentiles' ) in the most negative way "theirs" – an abomination.
Goyeem, gentiles, in Hebrew, is a non complimenting term, to say the least, looking down at Goyeem. It should be added here, that this approach is exclusively an orthodox one, among the highly religious Jews, not shared by the general Israeli society)
These highly religious Jews, in many cases - are people who had never acquired any education but religious "education" / indoctrination. They had never socialized with a non Jew, they had never read the New Testament, and they would not set a foot in a church – not even as a museum. They call the Gregorian calendar "according to their count". It's a non legitimate calendar – originating by the initiative of a pope. (Gregory XIII, most of the highly orthodox Jews in Israel would have no knowledge of the historical background of this calendar, except that it is "their" calendar).
Celebrating a new year according to this calendar is a "resentful non Jewish act". Moreover: New Year's party is called in Israel, like in Germany: Silvester Party, named after Silvester I – a pope from the 4th century who died December 31 335 AD.
The orthodox Jews attribute to him forced conversions of Jews, torture… There is no historical evidence or document to back up this myth, but the hatred to pope Silvester I is widespread in orthodox circles. This pope has a place of honor among the historical enemies of the Jewish people.
It is certain form racism, practiced among the extreme religious Jews of Israel. It is not the case among orthodox Jews in the US or Europe – who are in daily contact with non Jews.
Such form of racism is not an official one, yet a Jew in the US or Europe who marries a non Jew is regarded by the Israeli orthodox Jews as a traitor, stabbing a knife in the back of the nation.
I still invite every reader of this post to visit Israel, which has cultural treasures to reveal to the visitors. Even witnessing these racist phenomena is a certain learning experience.
An amusing experiment could be run: If you are a travel agent – book 250 rooms in a Jerusalem hotel in the end of November – a low season with poor occupancy. Condition the booking by placing Christmas trees and ornaments in the lobby and put it to test: Would the hotel manage to convince the kosher supervisors to look the other way? May be for some kind of a nice contribution to their community synagogue? Even without receipts?
Ze'ev Back
Quality Private Tours
zeevback@gmail.com
http://www.tours-to-israel.com
