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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial>From: David Riceman <driceman@optimum.net><BR><BR>While
recuperating I've been reading a book by Paola Tartakoff about a <BR>case in mid
fourteenth century Spain of a Jew who had converted to <BR>Christianity.
It was claimed by the Inquisition...that a group of local Jews told him that
<BR>the only way to achieve absolution was to go to the authorities, tell
<BR>them that he had reverted to Judaism, and be burned at the
stake.<BR><BR>Obviously the historical question is did this occur, or is this
<BR>something the inquisitors imagined might have occurred because they
<BR>projected Catholic views of penance and absolution onto Jews. I
incline <BR>to the latter because I can't think of any parallels in contemporary
<BR>Jewish thought....</FONT></DIV>
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<DIV><FONT style="BACKGROUND-COLOR: transparent" color=#000000 size=2
face=Arial><BR>David Riceman<BR><BR></FONT></FONT></DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>>>>>></DIV>
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<DIV>First of all, whatever you are recuperating from, I wish you a refuah
sheleimah.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Second of all, I quote the ArtScroll Rosh Hashana machzor:</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>--quote--</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>The Bishop of Mainz, Germany [about one thousand years ago] insisted that
his friend and advisor, R' Amnon, convert to Christianity. In order to buy
time, R' Amnon asked for three days of grace to meditate upon the
question. Upon returning home, he was distraught at having given the
impression that he even considered betraying his G-d.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>R' Amnon spent the three days in solitude, fasting and praying to be
forgiven for his sin, and did not return to the bishop. Finally the bishop
had him brought and demanded an answer. R' Amnon replied that his tongue
should be cut out for the sin of saying he would consider the matter.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>Furious, the bishop...ordered that R' Amnon's feet be chopped off, joint by
joint. They did the same to his hands....</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>When Rosh Hashanah arrived a few days later, R' Amnon asked to be carried
to the Ark. Before the congregation recited Kedushah, he asked
to be allowed to sanctify G-d's Name in the synagogue. He recited Unesaneh
Tokef and then died.</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>--end quote--</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>PS I will grant that this is not normative -- i.e., one does not have to
die, or arrange to be killed, in order to atone for the sin of saying "I'll
think about that." Also I will grant that the historicity of this story
has been disputed (not that the ArtScroll machzor mentions that).</DIV>
<DIV> </DIV>
<DIV>But what is not in dispute is that this story about R' Amnon has been told
for generations -- a story that is basically about arranging for his own death
at the hands of the authorities, to atone for the sin of even implying
that he might consider converting to Christianity. </DIV>
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<DIV><FONT color=#0000ff></FONT><BR><FONT color=#0000ff><STRONG>--Toby
Katz</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0 color=#ffffff size=2 face=Arial
FAMILY="SANSSERIF" PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>..</STRONG></FONT><FONT lang=0
color=#0000ff size=2 face=Arial FAMILY="SANSSERIF"
PTSIZE="10"><BR><STRONG>=============</STRONG><BR><BR><BR>-------------------------------------------------------------------
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