Antisemite Heretic: The Movie

There's an intriguing new movie that was just released by my zealous opponents. The title is "Natan Slifkin: Why Did Gdolei HaDor Warn Us About Him?", and the subtitle is "Nathan Slifkin is an antisemite heretic." The fabulous artwork for the movie features Rashi, Rabbi Avigdor Miller, Rav Ovadia Yosef, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, and none other than the Rambam, along with the Torah itself, against all of whom is pitted a rather interestingly photoshopped version of me. I have a green face, my mouth has been replaced with that of an ape, my body is that of a monkey with a tail, and I'm holding a banana. Somewhat disturbingly, I have what is supposed to be a swastika (but which is actually a Hindu symbol for good luck) tattooed on my forehead. Behind me lurks my laptop with this blog, and a demonic figure which is either Sauron or Satan.

The film itself is an astonishing one hour and ten minutes long. Alas, it's mostly rather boring (though the soundtrack is riveting), with slowly-scrolling text asserting that evolution is false and I am an evil heretic, etc. Among the damning evidence against me is that I wrote posts praising Chief Rabbi Ephraim Mirvis of the UK, and that I am a friend of Rabbi Daniel Korobkin of the Bayt shul in Toronto and Rabbi Efrem Goldberg of BRS. 

There are also a handful of terrific action scenes. At one point I get eaten by a great white shark! There's also a part where my stunt-double is performing some extremely dangerous aerobatics on some kind of jet-powered skateboard, apparently warning of the danger of my ways. And at the very end, there is a group of apes dancing in synchronization.

The film was produced by an acolyte of Yaron Reuven and distributed with his approval. Apparently, they are rather angry that I drew attention to how Reuven (and Yosef Mizrachi) have engaged in some very dangerous antics, including providing material for genuine antisemites by producing videos which (falsely) claim that Hitler was correct to hate the Jews because they really did corrupt and destroy Europe.

Now, a number of people were very upset by this video, and were concerned for me. I appreciate the sentiment, but really, it's not necessary. I think that this video is fabulous! I hope it doesn't get taken down (unlike the rest of Reuven's videos, which I sincerely hope are removed).

This has nothing to do with being thick-skinned (which I am not). Yes, I get upset when people like Rabbi Meiselman spread lies and slander about my personal life and about what my books actually say. But it doesn't bother me at all when people claim that I am going against the Torah as they understand it - because they are absolutely correct! Of course, the rationalist approach to Torah is the complete opposite of their understanding of it. And when they mock me as a green-faced monkey-bodied swastika-tattooed spawn of Satan, I don't think that my reputation has been compromised.

Honestly, the only thing about the video that bothered me was that it sometimes misspelled my name as "Nathan," with an "h." But, as one of Reuven's followers explained, the "h" is for heretic!

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