Finally, a name of an Orthodox Jew against the book "The Torah of the King"

Rabbi Cherlow, who did not attend, harshly termed the event “a terrible disgrace.” He told Israel National News that he would have supported the protest had it also dealt with the “terrible disgrace of the publication of a Torah work that causes a desecration of G-d’s Name and causes Jews to be distanced from Torah,” instead of only concentrating on the police summons.

However,most of the rabbis at the event implied that they did not support the book’s conclusions.

While I still support my previous post that such a book is not to be dealt with as a practical guide but rather as more of a philosophical book about Jewish law, here is somebody who knows something about Jewish Law and can critique such a book. Regardless, this book should not constitute incitement, as no sensible Jew would consider it to be such.

Why can't news sources get their story straight?

AP :  JERUSALEM – Police say they have detained a West Bank settler rabbi over a contentious religious book that discusses when it is permissible for Jews to kill non-Jews.

Rabbi Yosef Elitzur-Hershkowitz, who co-authored "Teachings of the king" in 2009, was questioned on suspicion of incitement to racism, among other charges, police said in a statement Thursday.

In the 230-page book, authors conclude that the biblical commandment "thou shalt not kill" applies only to a Jew who might kill a Jew, but babies and children of Israel's enemies are acceptable targets, and an individual can carry out an attack alone.

The content reflects the extreme views of some Jewish settlers. More moderate Orthodox Jews denounce the book.

Several rabbis have ignored summons to police interrogation.

First of all, Rabbi Yosef Elitzur-Hershkowitz co-authored a book which discusses the morality of putting soldiers at risk in order to save enemy civilians. In other words, must one avoid hitting human shields when in a war, according to Jewish Law. "Thou must not kill," a mistranslation of "thou must not murder," refers to killing an innocent man, Jew or non-Jew, that is not coming to kill you. Self defense is permitted, even commanded, in scripture.

Second, even if this book is full of inflammatory messages, this is what we call freedom of speech! Unless, of course, dire consequences will happen to civilians because of this book...which brings me to number three. 

The rule of thumb in Jewish Law is that most of these books are almost completely intellectual in their purpose; unless it refers to day to day activities such as prayer, business transactions, religious activities, and blessings. Jewish Law doesn't call for deaths to non-Jews and it doesn't call for violence. Maybe these reporters should do some research before they write this trash!!

(And as an afterthought, I do not know of any Orthodox Jews that came out against it. The AP didn't mention anyone by name. As far as I am concerned, it is also not based on fact.

One more thing. This article by AP was the more moderate news article I saw. There are many others on the web that are much more inflammatory than this book could ever be: Like this one by AFP and this one by Middle East Online. Both of which bring excerpts from the book, but fail to mention them in context.)