Hey Jewish DU'ers - can you sue this guy?

[onager]

Since this is Sunday morning, while the coffee was brewing I took a quick lap around the TV channels, looking for evangelists to mock. As most of you know, I'm an atheist. So this hobby helps get my blood going on weekend mornings.

I encountered Kerry Shook, of Kerry Shook Ministries. I'm not giving him any free advertising. A Google will take you to his 4,000 different websites begging for money. He also Twitters, etc.

What stopped me in my channel-surfing tracks: as part of the usual marketing come-on, Shook was hawking a mezuzah.

Since his church is located in Katy, Texas, he had to spend a few minutes explaining what Passover and a mezuzah is, exactly.

This mezuzah contains a small Xian prayer on a scroll.

Shook suggested: "The Jews use the mezuzah to remember the blood shed on Passover. Nail this mezuzah to your door, to remind you of how the blood of Christ was shed for you."

I'm no theologian, but that sounds like a weirdly mixed message. And possibly copyright infringement, or something. It also immediately reminded me of the long, gory history of the "blood libel" and related atrocities used against Jews for centuries.

Oh, you can get your Jesus-mezuzah - PLUS an inspirational booklet and a DVD - for a love offering of only $200.

[Taverner]

1. He's a "Jew4Jesus"

Not much can really be done...

[onager]

3. No, Shook is completely Xian.

His father was also a preacher.

From what I've read, Shook mostly preaches the "prosperity gospel," like Joel Osteen, Rick Warren, Creflo Dollar, etc.

[Ian David]

2. First of all, he's wrong about the history of the mezuzah.

The mezuzah has nothing to do with Passover.

Mezuzah
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

mezuzah (Hebrew: מְזוּזָה‎ "doorpost") (plural: mezuzot (מְזוּזוֹת)) is a piece of parchment (often contained in a decorative case) inscribed with specified Hebrew verses from the Torah (Deuteronomy 6:4-9

and 11:13-21

These verses comprise the Jewish prayer "Shema Yisrael", beginning with the phrase: "Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is One"

A mezuzah is affixed to the doorframe of every room apart from the bathroom in a Jewish homes to fulfill the mitzvah (Biblical commandment) to inscribe the words of the Shema "on the doorposts of your house" (Deuteronomy 6:9

Jewish law requires a mezuzah on every doorway in the home apart from bathrooms, and closets too small to qualify as rooms; but many families only place one in the front doorway.<1> The parchment is prepared by a qualified scribe (a "sofer stam") who has undergone many years of meticulous training, and the verses are written in black indelible ink with a special quill pen. The parchment is then rolled up and placed inside the case.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezuzah


Secondly, I believes both The Bible and The New Testament are public-domain documents.

Thirdly, the whole "blood of Christ" thing has nothing to do with The Blood Libel:

Blood libel against Jews
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Blood libels against Jews are false accusations that Jews use human blood in certain aspects of their religious rituals and holidays. Although the first known instance of blood libel against Jews was in the writings of Apion, an early 1st century pagan Greco-Egyptian who claimed that the Jews sacrificed Greek victims in the Temple, no further incidents are recorded until the 12th century, when blood libels began to proliferate in Christian Europe. Blood libel accusations have often asserted that the blood of Christian children is especially coveted, and historically blood libel claims have often been made to account for otherwise unexplained deaths of children. In some cases, the alleged victim of human sacrifice, child or adult, has become venerated as a martyr, a holy figure around whom a martyr cult might arise. A few of these have been even canonized as saints. These libels have persisted among some segments of Christians to the present time, and recently Muslims as well. In Jewish lore, blood libels were the impetus for the creation of the golem of Prague (a commonly known Jewish legend) by Rabbi Judah Loew ben Bezalel, the Maharal. Many popes have either directly or indirectly condemned the blood accusation, and no pope has ever sanctioned it,<1> though the assertions are usually spread and promoted by local clergy.

More:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blood_libel_against_Jews

However, the guy is still a giant bag of douche.

I have a traditional Mezuzah on my house, even though I'm a Jewish Atheist. I think I paid like $50 for it. $300 is a rip-off.

[onager]

5. Thanks for the info.

I know about the blood libel. It's just that juxtaposing it with the "blood of Christ" message made me a little queasy.

And I was just joking about the lawsuit.

Completely agree on the bag o' douche.

:toast:

[Happyhippychick]

7. You beat me to it. Lamb's blood, mezuzah, what's the difference to an asshole?

[theoldman]

4. Jews4Jesus are meshuggah.

I think meshuggah means crazy.

[Ozymanithrax]

6. No, you can't sue him, anymore than you could sue a business for making...

cheap Christ on a cross in day glow orange and selling them on street corner.

There was never a copyright on a mezuzah. You can not sue someone for gratuitously ripping off religious ideas to make a buck.

[classysassy]

8. As a believer

I will be praying for you,but you are right there are some hustlers out there using Our Saviors name to make a quick buck,but fear not they'll pay for their misdeeds.

[TZ]

9. I'd like to throw a bagel at him.

Thats a complete piece of shit. And yeah, a lot of secular Jews have mezuzah's. I wonder how he would feel if we coopted the image of Christ on the Cross for passover matzo. Funny how its okay to commit sacriledge of Jewish symbols but profane a CHRISTIAN symbol, well thats offensive.
I might not be overly religious but I find myself as a Jew HIGHTLY offended by this douchebag.
I thought that a mezuzah was a hebrew version of the Ten Commandments, actually.

[TreasonousBastard]

10. If I believed in Hell, I would believe the hottest part of it...

is reserved for scumbags like this one.

Suing is silly, but I wouldn't try to stop a few pissed-off Jews trying to shove his Christian Mezuzahs up his Christian ass.

(I might even help, just for giving the rest of us Christians a bad name.)

[Book Lover]

11. He can use whatever word he chooses, but what he's selling simply is not a mezuzah

I don't need to repeat what has been said above about what the mezuzah actually is. I wonder if he knows the truth and is simply lying to sell these to folks, or if he actually is that ignorant. Either way, oy vey.