10 November 2008

God on Trial: The Rabbi Speaks

Rabbi Akiba: Who led us out of Egypt?

Judge: God led us out of Egypt.


Judge: There was a famine, so we took shelter.

Rabbi: Who sent the famine?





Judge: Moses asked Pharaoh...

Rabbi: And when Pharaoh said no?

Inmate: The plagues.


Judge: But still Pharaoh did not agree.






Judge: And then the desert and ultimately the promised land.


Judge: No. There were...





Rabbi: Was Saul to show any mercy to spare anyone?

Scholar: Do not spare...


Scholar: No. No he wasn't.


Scholar: No.



Scholar: In a manner of speaking...

Rabbi: Did he strike Bathsheba?

Scholar: In the sense that when they had...



Scholar: In a...


Scholar: The child died.

Rabbi: Did that child find that God was just?

Did the Amalekites think that Adonai was just?


Scholar: But Adonai is our God, surely...










Mandrellian said...

Outstanding. Thank you for sharing this.

randomblink said...

That is hilarious... now if only the xtians could figure this out as well? sigh... Religion... The bane of our existence.

Anonymous said...

Thanks. What started as a trickle in judaism evolved into the present day monster called islamist violence.

As long as the theological base remains intact, we can't prevent the jihadis from playing havoc in the society.

Thanks for sharing this.

Kamacharya said...

That was fantastic.
I agree with Randomblink: If only Christians would read their Bible, and I mean really read it, they too would come to the conclusion that God really is a sh!thead! But no. Jesus died so that they're free to pick and choose to suit themselves!

Anonymous said...

This one part really does not convey the ideas of the movie as a whole. You should really watch it in context. In my opinion you are doing yourself and the movie a great disservice if you only watch this part.

Steve Wells said...


I agree that you should watch the entire film and I strongly encourage everyone to do so, but I wonder about the "grave disservice" part. Context is important here, but it is also pretty obvious, isn't it? Or am I missing something?

Anonymous said...

This part talks about god did this god did that, "god is not good just powerful and was on our side", great fun for atheists but the film is much deeper then a few good shots at god. In the end faith is all they had and it was a moving ending even for a hard atheist like me. High fives based just on just this part, in my opinion, is a dis service to film. I was really moved by this film, so maybe I'm just being sappy...

Rhadiel said...

Precisely this issue about innocent children being punished for their fathers and forefathers actions is what literally forced me into atheism. Nobody should punish innocent children, no matter what their parents have done. Not man, not god. No demigod, no angel, no devil and no demon. Picking on children because they are defenseless is the lowest thing anybody or anything can do.

Anon said...

Thanks for sharing this. I watched the whole thing online and it's pretty powerful. I'm surprised they showed this on PBS (was it shown across the country or just certain markets?). I bet wherever it was shown they got plenty of letters.

Gad, I personally thought this clip gives you a pretty good idea what the movie's about. I watched the clip first, was impressed, and then watched the film in its entirety and was more impressed. So no this clip doesn't tell you everything about the film, and you should definitely so the whole film if you can, but I think it's a good snapshot.

Anonymous said...

Anon, from the clip I think people might get the idea that this is a film about atheism, when it has nothing to do with atheism, it is all about faith.

paul said...

For those who missed it and live in the country with sucky internet it will be on Netflix Jan 13, 2009

Matthew said...

So the message of the movie is even though the god of Abraham is such an awful deity, have faith and worship him anyway?

kaza said...

How long did these people live and not repent? Do you blame a judge when he sentence a murderer to death? You are viewing history from today's perspective. You are getting a summary of events and judging the whole thing. God lets people continue in sin for only so long. Remember the Caananites worshiped Baal. One of the practices of Baal worship was sacrificing your first born to Baal. I think God only allow a people to exist for so long who get so depraved, then he wipes out the whole group. Its like cancer surgery for the whole human race. The ones who need to be blamed were the Amalakites not God. They chose to continue in their evil practices. The moral of the story is how much evil will we continue to do and how long will God grant us mercy in hoping we will turn around and repent? Lets not live like the Amalakites or others like them, but live a life that loves justice and merciful, and walk humbly in the site of God.

Anonymous said...

I have not studied theology, I know little of the Jewish religion I went to a Catholic school and I am Greek Orthodox but cannot speak Greek so understand little of my religion but believe in the Christian faith but do not practice. That said, I agree this movie must be watched in its entirety I have watched it many times and it moves me both in disliking God (in support of the Jewish faith at the time of the Holecost) to having a stronger belief in a God and back and forward throughout the movie - it is done very well. In context it and the comments left do not examine the social and political movements/times in Europe/Germany for perhaps a century before Nazi Germany - you have to watch "The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich" for one understanding, put simply the hatred of "the Jew" because of their intellectual stronghold and superior position in society. Since WWII it has been the conflict over land given/returned/lost (from whos point of viw) in the 'Arab world". There has been a strong feeling that the time prior to WWII is revisited and this is better explored in the movie "The Believer" another insight into "the persecution of the Jew". I admire the discipline of faith, and devotion but this is subjective for one could say it is fanatacism; throughout history religion has been devisive and destructive on all sides. Then there is the issue are we really alone in the universe - in this movie there is also a scene covering this viewpoint. In the end if you are born into faith then you are a believer anyone who denies they ask God for help when the shi# hits the fan they are deluding themselves. No religion truely understands the other.

Spharion said...

I think the part of Akiba's diatribe that's easy to miss, and essential to get it in context is:

That's *precisely* what Akiba is doing. His stance is very significantly different from that of Moche, the original accusator. So different that when Moche sees his condemnation has brought him no peace, he turns to Akiba, pleading "now God is guilty. now what do we do?", and then we have Akiba's last words in the play, the only ones not reproduced in this transcript: "now we pray".

Actually, those are not his last words, for he starts praying along with all the other Jews, and they are praying Psalm 90. Psalm 90 is the actual closing words for him. He, who had been introduced as one of the 36 righteous ones on behalf of whom God wouldn't destroy the world, and had remained in an almost catatonic state mumbling the Torah, fulfilled his righteousness in his condemnation of God's unfairness, just as Abraham himself had done when trying to prevent God from nuking Sodom and Gomorra. With that done, he simply *resumes* praying. Akiba experiences no real rupture. He's all along been acting as he believes a pious Jew should.

Amanda Ray said...

Is there a place to find the entire script? I would love to use it in my Drama Dept!