A MESSIANIC JEW EXPLAINS KABBALAH

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

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“I asked Daniel, ‘What is Kabbalah?’ ‘Kabbalah is the power of words. Words have vibrations. Through a word, you can even create things or life. Jesus was a great Kabbalist. He could perform all those miracles because he knew Kabbalah well,’ he answered.”
“Uncle Salvatore, it sounds strange to my ears that a person can perform miracles if he knows a secret. How can one create things or life by knowing the power of some words? It is absurd! If it is true, I want to learn Kabbalah.”
“Benedetto, to learn Kabbalah well, you have to know Hebrew first. A word in the original language has a different meaning than a word translated into another language. Nevertheless, I’ve never studied Kabbalah, so I can’t answer your question properly.
“I asked Daniel, ‘What are the threads dangling from your shirt?’ He looked at the threads, put his hand on them, and showed some knots to me. ‘These are called tzitzit. They symbolize the word of God. As you see, there are knots along the tzitzit. The knots mean that you have to hold on to the word of God, you shouldn’t let it go away.’
“I asked, ‘How do you pray in the synagogue? Can I visit a synagogue on the Sabbath?’ ’Unfortunately, I can’t go to the Synagogue of Nazareth Illit because I believe that Yeshua or Jesus was the real Messiah. In the synagogue, they don’t approve of my point of view. A short time ago, they damaged my car. So I go to the Synagogue of Afula, a town near Nazareth. There are Messianic Jews throughout the world and also in Israel, even though they are a minority, who believe that Jesus was the Messiah. You can come to the Synagogue of Afula, if you don’t mind. But I don’t think the Sabbath is right for you. The ceremony is too long. It takes almost three hours. Do you want to visit my house?’ ‘Sure!’
“While we were walking to his home, he showed me some houses that had been abandoned by the Jews as soon as some Arab families had settled in the area. The Jews didn’t like to live flank and flank with the Palestinians.”
“Do you think the Jews are racist, Uncle Salvatore?”
“I don’t think so. If they don’t want to live next door to the non-Jews, they have the right to do so. Individuals have freedom to stay with whomever they want. In Isola, the Jehovah’s Witnesses marry within their religious group. They can’t marry those who have a different religion from theirs. In society it happens the same. The rich tend to live next door to those of the same social class, and the poor next door to the poor. This is the landscape of the world.

This is an excerpt from The Vibrations of Words: second edition by Ettore Grillo
Ettore Grillo author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
-Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

THE PERSECUTIONS AGAINST THE HEATHEN

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

PAGANS

“If we leaf through the pages of history, we can meet with many cases of persecution, some well-known, like the persecutions against the Jews and the Christians, and some not well-known, like the Christians’ persecution against the pagans or the persecution against the Jehovah’s Witnesses.”
“Uncle Salvatore, it’s the first time that I have heard about Christians who persecuted the heathens. Are you sure about that? I thought the heathens persecuted the Christians under the Roman Empire.”
“Yes, I am. The pagans were persecuted, too. After the Edict of Constantine in 313 AD, all religions were admitted in the Roman Empire. The Christians were not persecuted anymore. And then they started to show intolerance against the pagans. Little by little, they destroyed the pagan temples. Afterward, mainly for economic reasons, they converted the pagan temples into Christian churches. In Syracuse, the hometown of Santa Lucia, the temple dedicated to the goddess Athena was converted into the Catholic Cathedral of that city. It stands on the island of Ortygia. As soon as you enter the church, you can see the former pagan temple with its well-preserved Dorian columns.”
“Also in Isola, Uncle Salvatore, paganism merged with Christianity. In fact, in our town the cult of Demeter was replaced with the worship of Our Lady. Deep down, nothing changes. Religious faith remains unaltered over the eras.”
“Yes, it is as you said. After the Edict of Constantine, many pagans were persecuted and killed by the Christians. Apparently, the Christians lost the spirit of nonviolence and love taught by Jesus. They persecuted the pagans, showed intolerance against the heretics, and burned them at the stake.
“One of the cruelest cases of persecution against the pagans was the murder of Hypatia, a martyr and a symbol of freedom of thought. She was a pagan scientist, philosopher and mathematician from Alexandria in Egypt. The Christians killed her during the persecutions against the pagans.

This is an excerpt from The Vibrations of Words: second edition by Ettore Grillo
Ettore Grillo author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
-Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo

INTOLERANCE TOWARDS THE DISABLED AND THE SICK

Posted on by Ettore Grillo

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“Persecutions and discrimination can affect not only ethnic or religious groups but also social classes. The disabled have been the object of intolerance over the centuries. In the ancient Greek city of Sparta, newborns with a physical defect were thrown from Mount Taygetos. In Italy, some lidos didn’t allow kids with heavy physical disabilities to enter.
“Recently, in the United States and in Italy, the device that kept two vegetative patients alive was unplugged. Consequently, they died. In my opinion, this is a case of intolerance. When I volunteered at a center in England that provided holidays for the disabled, I looked after a young man who was completely paralyzed except he was able to move his eyes. He lay on a stretcher. I still remember his name, Neil. I asked the nurse how to feed him. The nurse answered, ‘You have to spoon-feed him as if he were a little bird. When he wants to say yes, he raises his eyes, and when he wants to say no, he lowers his eyes. It’s easy.’ I did like that. At the beginning, the spoonful I gave him was too much. He couldn’t swallow the food and coughed. By and by, I found the proper mouthful, and he ate quietly. He couldn’t smile, for every part of his body was paralyzed. But looking at his eyes, I felt that he was happy while I was feeding him.
“Some say that the heavily disabled like Neil are better off dead because they suffer so much. This opinion comes from an incorrect idea of happiness. They think that only good fitness brings happiness. This assumption is a kind of prejudice. There is a soul inside a body. The soul can be happy even in a disabled body, like Neil’s body.”
“Uncle Salvatore, maybe some kinds of life are useless. People who are alive but show no sign of brain activity don’t feel anything and can’t move. Don’t you think it would be better to put an end to their life?”
“I don’t think so. I am favorable to all kinds of life. We don’t know what will happen after death. Who knows, maybe we’ll disappear forever. Therefore, between to be and not to be, I’ll choose to be, regardless of the form of life, healthy or unhealthy, normal or disabled, happy or unhappy.

This is an excerpt from The Vibrations of Words: second edition by Ettore Grillo
Ettore Grillo author of these books:
– A Hidden Sicilian History
– The Vibrations of Words
-Travels of the Mind
http://www.amazon.com/author/ettoregrillo