Conspiracy Theory

We Jews, we have to produce also global comunication company like Al Jazeera in English, and start counter fight.

We need to continue to talk about these issues. Make people aware of the dangers of forgetting about what happened in WW 2 and how dangerous the consequenses are. We need to keep stories like yours in our memories. That means again: Keep talking about it ! The greatest danger to every minority is when people do not know anything about it! I am born and raised in Germany, now living in Texas. For me it is natural to know everything that happened in WW 2 for example, but I was speechless by the lack of knowledge here in the States about that subject when I came here! The less somebody knows, the less horrifying and distant it may seem to that someone. We need to give the people knowledge, because there lies the power !

There was an occasion, while I was "serving" during the Korean War, that someone doubted that I was Jewish, asking "where are your horns?"

Why do you put the word "serving" in quotation marks? Even if you weren't on the retreat from Choson and even if you weren't in Korea, you had the opportunity to perform the mitzvah of Pikuach Nefesh by preventing the spread of North Korea Communism.

Very clearly, their grandparents' anti-Semitism rubbed off on these young morons. Another reason one should not be visiting Germany or, for that matter, Europe any time soon.

Please don't call people made in God's image morons. At least they had the intelligence to ask if their conception of 9 11 was true. They have just been misinformed. It is those who refuse to believe the truth in the face of all the evidence who are stupid.

Anonymous below who questions how tower 7 collapsed boggles the mind. During war, buildings that were not directly hit collapsed too -think earthquake-I cannot believe I even have to write this. After 9/11, my friend's college student told us that on his campus, students also blamed the CIA. The irony of our generation is that we live in the world of computers, photography and photoshop and no one believes what they read and see. In other generations, history was oral and written and rarely seen with ones eyes and witnessed, yet everyone believed what they read. Question: Does anyone question the validity of African slavery in America? why not?

Use all means available to shout the truth as we know it. This requires a serious response for every canard regardless how silly we may seem to us..

I was taking a night time arts class at the local high school and one of the participants said that the world trade center was an inside job (implying it was done by the Bush administration). No one challenged her, not even the instructor. I blurted out something like, "You can't believe that!" and they were all just silent. My best guess is that this madness is some sort of world wide spiritual sickness.

I had an eerily similar experience when a girl in my community college equated Bush with Hitler yimach sh'mo. The professor agreed. I told them I found their comments offensive, and why, politely and with conviction. I was ostracized from the class for the rest of the year by both the professor and students, even though previous to this I had been treated normally.

While I am not one to believe rumors, to accept the government's story for everything is simply naive. I personally believe that the Twin Towers did not come down solely due to the planes that hit them. How can anyone explain how Building 7 just collapsed into the ground in perfect form without being hit by any plane, or sustaining significant damage. I invite everyone to do their own research and come to their own conclusion. The average American who accepts the government's account is doing so completely out of blind faith. They did not invest even a half hour to research the matter. Rather they blindly accepted whatever they were told. Rabbi Salomon, the Torah way is to examine the evidence and decide for ourselves what the truth is, not to follow blindly behind the sometimes convenient truth. I always love your column, but this is one thing upon which I do not agree with you. Looking forward to hearing your insights next week, All the best.

More enlightening press and information campaigns in the German speaking countries about the truth of september 11th . A German-language and a russian-language page of aish.com. Direct appeal to tourists by unobtrusive but trained hotel staff members about the truth of september 11th. Liaising with the Ministries of Culture of the German federal states ("Länder) to include the german schools in the information campaign.

Dear Rabbi: Congratulations for you extremely provocative video. I felt I just had to post this. Let me tell you, I am a member of one of the older Jewish communities in Germany, and myself am immigrant, having been born in Chile of German Jewish parents. Most older Russian Jewish immigrants in Gerrmany are very poor, live off welfare, are in no way representative of the mainstream of this society, were raised in Stalinist Russia and by are by no means think or function like other people in Germany - p l e a s e refrain from posting misleading opinions which cannot be generalized.

I'm from America and not Jewish and even I am surprised someone would have this story in their heads. I was under the impression that 9/11 would be reported accurately in newspapers worldwide. Guess I was wrong! Anyway, that is strange. The only thing I could think of is their lack of education on worldly matters. It would be like me going to Africa and believing a story about their culture that is totally farse. It happens. I guess how we stop this besides educating them, is educating ourselves to understand that the rest of the world isn't as on top of things. It's like going to a small town when you live in a big city and they believe that everyday you have to watch out for gangs. Only if you live in certain neighborhoods you do. But, still the misconception and ignorance is there. Ignorance I believe, but we have to educate ourselves that the rest of the world is lacking in worldy awareness and believe that. This helps.

Unfortunately it is easy to perpetuate these lies. There are educated germans who do not accept that concentration camps were real. I experienced this when visiting amuseum of WWII infrance. Some german teenagers were there and said, in German, that the pictures theywere seeing were false.These lies are easy to start. Fighting them can only be done by educating ourselves about the existence of these lies, not by wanting them to go away.

Chazal already gave us an answer: "Why was the Torah given on mount Sinai? Because from there hatred (Sinah) came to the world". Antisemitism is not a rational but rather a spiritual phenomenon related to the mission with which God has entrusted the Jewish people -- rectification of the world through the Torah. On some unconscious level, non-Jews have hatred towards us because we really are responsible on some level for the world's ills. If we would serve God as necessary, Moshiach would come and all of humanity would experience God's presence and blessings. Antisemitism is God speaking to us through the world to remind us that we belong apart serving Him until he reveals himself to all humanity.

Did you forget that your God was a Jewish man? How can you pray to a Jewish man but dislike his people? Also you have the Salk Polio Vaccine in your body. Salk was a Jewish doctor. If you still dislike Jewish people please do not listen or sing White Christmas, Easter Parade and the patriotic song God Bless America as they were written by Irving Berlin a Jewish composer.

I read about the Holocaust deniers. I usually respond with "also the slave trade that brought the blacks to America" is a lie also. They rowed across the Atlantic by their selves. If someone wants to blame the Jews they will find any excuse. I remember when they had a lot of fires in Los Angeles back in the 90's. Jay Leno made a joke saying "Mel Gibson said it was caused by the Jews Hanukkah candles".

Rabbi, we are meant to be a nation alone.The gentiles are meant to hate us.There is nothing we can do ther than learm more Torah and do more mitzvos. What the nations think is irrelevent, what Hashem thinks of us is all that matters.Follow the path, be kind to all people and we have no need to educate the scions of Amalek and his sort.

You ask rhetorical questions about the credulity of your Dead Sea visitors. Spend enough money to spread hate as through the video cited above--it's easy. Nothing new. There are only 15 million Jews in the world. If the travesties of the past 2000 years had not occurred there would be 250million.

By doing just what you did,Rabbi Salomon, one on one, educating and giving out the truth. These men were sent to you to learn the truth.

First off, I want to state that there is never any excuse for Anti-Semitism. However, we would be remiss if we did not at least acknowledge that most prejudice stems from ignorance; people fear or hate what they do not know. I am currently going through an Orthodox conversion, and I have been blessed with very supportive friends and family, including, yes, Muslims. While none of my Muslim friends have ever expressed such conspiratorial beliefs to me, I know that I have been able to teach them about Judaism and represent Judaism well. They often wish me "Shabbat Shalom" or want to know all about the holidays. Please understand-I am not suggesting that we must be "good Jews" to avoid hatred. But I chose to become Modern Orthodox, and continue to have diversity in my life, because I wanted to "be a light unto the nations." I had no desire to live in a secluded Orthodox neighborhood and withdraw from the world, leaving non-Jews to come to their own conclusions about Judaism and Israel. Instead, I am observant right out in the open. I love answering questions about my religion and my beliefs, and I wish other observant Jews would do the same. The more people know about Judaism, the less they will be susceptible to such ridiculous stories. I don't necessarily believe that love can kill hatred, but I do think that knowledge and education stand a shot.

As Usual Rabbi Solomon poses a difficult question. Yet the answer must be in the end that the only answer to lies is the truth. The fact is that the horror of 9/11/01 was perpetrated by organized Arab Moslems acting with malice against civilization. Just as there are those, seemingly intelligent, who believe that someone other than Lee Harvey Oswald murdered President Kennedy there are seemingly intelligent people who believe what Rabbi Solomon encountered from German engineers at the Dead Sea. Perhhas Rabbi Solomon might have asked them in his best Yiddish, "Wenn Sie das Luge glauben, warum haben Sie nach Israel, die judishe Staat, gekommen?" (If you believe these lies why have you come to Israel, the Jewish State?)

I am sad to hear about your encounter. People are always looking for conspiracy theories. Many people believe that they are not in control of their lives because secret agencies are acting behind the lines. All we can do is to consistently stop these stories when we hear them, and set people straight.

Rabbi, you made a chink in the problem by being a polite person and answering the questions. You may have helped educate the tourists who could have been naively misinformed. I try to be a fair, decent person in my business and have pictures of my Israeli grandchildren on my desk. Consequently, many non-Jews will ask after their welfare and, I think, wish Israel well in the process. We need to love each other, try to be a light unto the world and change bigotry one person at the time. You did a mitzvah.

Excellent story. Also, very scary to think that there are people in this world that actually believe all this nonsense. Definitely "something to think about"!!!!!

Rabbi, I can't believe you seriously want me to pay to read your articles like the one above. Am I a klutz and there is a way of reading your blog without paying? Terry

Could one start by asking where these people get their information and why they believe as they do.

People will continue to believe these lies about Jews as long as they serve some purpose or need, whether political, economic, social or religious. Since such needs will always exist, so will antisemitism. Furthermore, I have read about studies which found that the more a particular untruth is denied, the more firmly fixed it becomes in the minds of the listeners; in other words, denials merely reenforce the original lie instead of dispelling it. One small nit to pick with the video: A person who has a hard time believing that something is true is said to be "incredulous". Something which is unbelievable is "incredible".

Dear Rabbi Seemingly intelligent? These men were testing your resolve to stand up to IGNORANCE. Well done by the way. I think the answer is found in why even I am responding to your experience...EDUCATION. Confronting a liar with the truth will turn his head only as far as his personal biases will allow. Did you notice that you might have been singled out? My guess is because of your accent...maybe? This confrontation hopefully persuaded these two to return to their homeland with a better understanding of how dangerous slander really is. L'Chaim

To be a walking kiddush Hashem and a good example for society so the nations will see who we really are would help give clarity to those who believe lies.Correcting people with assumptions in a respectable manner will help outsiders realize they've been taught lies and we are a nation of truth!

well thanks to the liblares in the us and the world and off course muslims who alyays spread lies about the jewish people so they can look good and hide thier own crimes ,i,m not surprised the german people belevid hittlers lies . a person may be educated on books but it does not mean he is smart and have comon sence if a person or a nation dont beleve in g_d then theyre nor smart or any thing else in the long run thier socities will fall history toold us so

from the middle ages on....both the most stupid and the most intellegent peoples of the world believe..the blood libels and canards told to them....why?....its because no matter how many obstacles put in their path..and their few numbers and lack of any power..the jews manage to survive....so the world belives any story ..no matter how ridiculous....it will never stop

Unfortunately, Rabbi, you can't stop the spread of anti- semetic lies for one simple reason, anti-semetism is alive and well all over the world. The men you encountered, though you describe them as intelligent sophisticated human beings are an example of the type of people willing to believe these things. They approached you, thinking that you would confirm the beliefs they already held, and, they were shocked when you didn't. The spread of these "Jewish conspiracy" theories is fueled by the existing desire anti-semites have to legitimize their own hatred. Unfortunately, the only way to stop it, is to wipe out anti-semetism, which unfortunately, I have no idea how to go about doing.

The attack on 9-11 was not a conspiracy of anyone. It was muslims doing as islam commands, and murdering non-muslims. Don't believe me? Here, can you read the bible of muslims, the quran? I sure hope so: From the evil, unholy qur'an that is the BIBLE muslims are to follow, or be killed,, surah 33:60, “Truly, if the Hypocrites (non-muslims, atheists, chrisians and Jews), those in whose hearts is a disease,... Whenever they are found, THEY SHALL BE SEIZED AND SLAIN without mercy—a fierce slaughter—MURDERED, a horrible murdering. From the evil, unholy qur'an, surah 5.33, “THEY (Non-muslims, atheists, chrisians and Jews especially) SHOULD BE MURDERED OR CRUCIFIED OR THEIR HANDS AND THEIR FEET SHOULD BE CUT OFF on opposite sides...” There are more then 200 more verses in the quran, the bible of the muslims, that tell them to murder all non-muslims. They followed the quran and did the 9-11 attack. It is not some big conspiracy, it is simple evil is all. Their worm god allah, tells them to kill all non-muslims. That is what they do. They had to do that huge an attack, because the American goverment has covered up every other islamic terrorist attacki in America. So they had to make it big. If it had been one jet, it would have been blamed on one guy, a nut job. Or an accident, but that would not be believiable, so they would have attributed it to one nut. Muslims, backwards people they are, believe that you must "scare" people to conquer them. Taht is old "Arabian Knights" type idiocy toat they believe to be true. And they had to get credit for the attack, so they had to make it a huge agttack with lots of planes.

Like the THORA the Qur'an has sections in it that need to be explained by a rabbi, in the case of the Qur'an an imam! The attack on 9/11 were extremists and fanatics!!! How can you even use the same methods the nazi did when they tried to justify what they did?!

I swear, some of the comments sounds like it was written by a muslim. Why? Because he said basically, that 9-11 scared Americans. That is the most stupid thing I can even imagine. Americans were angered, and at the "moment" it inspired fear of course. Fire does that. But no American is scared of any coward of islam. Sorry. :) Or actually, I am sorry that a human can be so subjigated that he actually thinks Americans are scared of him. Yes, we PITY muslims, but we do NOT fear them at all. Never have. Never will.

Americans were not scared, but roused to fight back., but the INTENT was to scare Americans. In most countries where muslims inflict terror the population flees or capitulates. What was said was the muslims TRY to scare their victims into "submission". The word Islam is translated "submission".Americans will NEVER submit to islam. We will fight to the last person.

Why would you think for one moment that we should'nt be scared? These "cowards of Islam"have the capacity to blow humans to smithreens, without so much as a blink of an eye. Are you fully aware of what has been going on in America, and the rest of the world? Are you trying to convince us, or yourself of the fact that we have absolutely nothing to fear? They are terrorists, they are'nt joking around. And if 1 million Islamic terrorists were to read my comment, do you think that by my saying that we are scared might make them think twice about their killing more or less of us? These are barbaric beasts-to say that you pity Muslims, but not fear them at all? Surely sounds as though you are, "whistling in the dark". Please wake up, they are gaining on all of us.

I believe iin the power of the Internet (while I recognize it as a danger as well) it brings the power back to the individual rather than being told by the media or your countries government how to think - anybody can go online and educate themselves - meaning anyone who wants to know something will find many different views and information online and if they are intelligent and truly searching for the truth they will find it - the main way being, researching all sides and using your intellect to gain an educated and hopefully truthful position - if you are ignorant In this day and age it is because you choose to be so

Here is an idea, since you asked. You missed an opportunity to defend your people and that saddens me. you should have responded if THEY were nazis and watch their reaction. you know very well that this happens all the time. if this is the first time it happened to you, you are fortunate. you may not be able to stop it, BUT YOU HAVE AN OBLIGATION TO SPEAK UP. YOU DID NOT. Joseph

If they were from Germany and originaly from Russ/ia they were probabely Jews

see this short clip, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BkPRskciqVM&feature=related

Dear Rabbi Salomon, I am sorry for you, that you met those Russians from Germany, because I am from Germany too. Our kehilla jumped from about 200 (mostly old and ill people - leftovers from the concentration camps - ) to nearly 3000 because of the "Russian Jews". You surely understand, that a Russion Jew, if he would be religious, would have gone to Israel. One of them said to me: "What do you think, why we are here. You gave us the opportunity to come, but we are not interested in Judaislm, we are interested in making money. They don't want to learn the truth about their religion. They just believe, hat is convenient for them . And the"Elders from Zion" is still , what they read and believe.. Surely there are some among then, who try to live as good Jews, especially among the women. But the rest... it is very sad.

I am a Jew, not an orthodox Jew, but I have come to agree that antisemitism is God's way of telling Jews that we have not yet fulfilled divine mission of unity among Jews and Tikkun Olam. That is why it appears so irrational to us since it comes from a divine source. We are mistaken if we think we can eradicate it with better PR. The problem is US!

You (meaning everyone) start by facing the facts. The mainstream media outlets contributed to the problem by adopting the indefensible position of deliberately refusing to re-broadcast their video of the 9/11 attacks, which discouraged people everywhere from discussing the issue. Apologist protestations about "not wanting to encourage hate" ring hollow - the terrorists hate us, regardless. Nothing will change that, but sweeping the video under the rug so that no one can see it and discuss it was never the answer.

Dear Rabbi, in my experience on blogs like the Guardian's notorious "Comment is free", whenever somebody appears to be posing a question in a naive manner, they already have firmly entrenched anti-Semitic views. While I agree that we cannot simply remain silent - we do have to try and counter the lies and explain the truth - I'm afraid there's not much hope. I honestly suspect that these people, in Israel, confronting an obviously religious Jew, were either seeking to bait you or to confirm their bigotry.

Why does Rabbi Solomon describe these two men as intelligent and articulate. They sound like unthinking cretins to me. And to answer his question: How do we counter these lies? There is no answer. People believe what they want to believe and do not want to be bothered with facts. Fact: Jews are forbidden to eat blood - but for centuries the libel that matzot are made with christian blood lives on.

2000 years of catholic, christian work is impossible to erase without involvement of Vatican and the rest of Christian church. And of course – islamic mullahs etc. So……. IT IS Not possible.

Education...education...and more education. Using the edia...Israel should have a TV Network, The arab terrorist got already one, that is called Aljazeera .

The Americans never walked on the moon, the Earth is flat and the sun rotates around it ! How intelligent and educated people can be manipulated is amazing, and frightening. We have proof of the stupidity and/or ignorance of people every day. It is good to collect informations from as many sources as possible if we want to be informed objectively. Whenever I have an opportunity, I read documents coming from people I don't agree with to know their point of view and fight them better. I dare not tell my children how the fight for life will be difficult in the future.

there is a new book out by the founder of skeptic magazine called "the believing brain"--maybe it can help answer your question.

I hate to be pessimistic but I think that blaming Jews for everything will never change, look at history, in the past I took these things seriously and got very upset, I give up, We the Jews are the worlds scapegoat.

As you know we can never stop all the lies, but we certainly can make a difference one person at a time just like you did. Who knows how many people will hear the truth from these two men.

Sadly, it doesn't have to be German tourists. Just read the anonymous comment posted as "lack of transparency". On Aish.com, I had long assumed a certain level of intelligence. But reading a comment such as this, as well as other comments posted in response to many of the fine articles found on Aish.com, has long led me reformulate my naive assumption. Like anonymous' comment, sadly, many of the comments are pure "dreck" .

I find that those of us with the least knowledge have the firmest opinions!!

If people really believed that, they would be fearing the Jews wouldn't they? If people really believed that, then Muslims and Jews are working together, and it wasn't Jews that were in that plane. Let's say Muslims and Jews are working together, but it was the Muslims that were flying the planes, I'd say they better be fearing us, if they think we were behind 9/11. Would it stop people from saying that? It would get them to think about who they are blaming, and would they really want to tread those waters with the powerful Jews. I'm not a New Yorker, so never been confronted with the question. If I was asked, I would agree with them, just to scare the heck out of them! If you did, the German men, would of left those waters quick, and took the next flight out of Israel. They were surrounded by Jews and Muslims there, and you being one also. I would of said, "not only the Jews were on vacation, the Muslims were also!" A little fear, may, be the beginning of wisdom for them!

Dear Rabbi Salomon, Yes, it is indeed so annoying and for me so hurtful, to hear lies being spread about us Jews. We all know that we are blamed for just about anything that is "not good" but I believe that we have a duty to set the record straight and to speak up and say: I do not know where you heard this, but this is a terrible "untruth" and you need to know that "this" (whatever the subject is) never happened the way you just mentioned. I try not to get too involved with people like you described in your article, because you never know what they have up their sleeve, but I find it very hard to hear lies about us. Like the saying goes: When confronted with a lie, saying nothing and walking away, makes the lie look like the truth. (Probably not the right words but in my language that is how it would sound)

In the years following 9-11, I have heard this kind of paranoid conspiracy nonsense many, many times, also from intelligent, university-educated people. I think it's something that needs to be confronted. It's a relentless and often futile battle, but it's important to let your voices be heard.

By sticking the labels paranoid and nonsense onto your comments you are trivializing facts that I suspect you have never examined. Sadly there are many conspiracies that have been found to be true. In our own lives one rasha conspired with a lot of other people to kill all Jews in the world. Here is a website that lists 33 proven conspiracies http://www.newworldorderreport.com/Articles/tabid/266/ID/980/33-Conspiracy-Theories-That-Turned-Out-To-Be-True-What-Every-Person-Should-Know.aspx I also challenge you to watch "Loose Change" with an open mind. There are just too many unanswered questions related to the tragedies of September 11th.

Rabbi Salomon, the German Nazi beasts were also highly refined and cultured, and we know what their world view was.These two men whom you met certainly didn't sound very sophisticated or intelligent as you presented them, and I am wondering how you could possibly know how articulate they are when there was an obvious language barrier between you. I guess I am not as forgiving as you are. They believe what they want to believe, that is in sync with their world view. I think that they were baiting you. I bet they also believe that Jews use Christian blood to bake their matzos, too. Don't think you convinced them.

If the men were German, originally from Russia, they were undoubtedly Russian Jewish immigrants to Germany. And their "news" may have been from Russia. Our Russian-German-Jewish foreign exchange student told us that Russians believe that John Glenn walking on the moon was a hoax. And his university professor-physicist grandfather explained to him the physics of why that space mission was impossible as presented to the world. Like Rabbi S says, "just something to think about."

One thing that really enervates me are international newspapers publishing anti Semitic (or anti-Israeli, same thing) articles by way of translating an article from "Haaretz", Ynet (Yediot acharonot), ect. Sometimes there is not even a possibility to leave a talkback. Meaning the goyishe reader recognizes what sounds like a Jewish name, looks at the source of the article and honestly, I can't fully blame her/him for believing the trash she/he is reading…Either those Israeli news sites should be closed, or the columnists jailed for offering the reader sheer lies and hate. Israel's been shooting her feet for a long time now.

Next time, just stay here in Israel, it's our home.

In my experience, neither education, nor a degree of worlly sophisitcation equate with wisdom. In fact, I have routinely seen well educated individuals use the information they have obatained, to twist and manipulate objective facts to support their subjective sophistry. Wisdom gives one a healthy skepticism of claims, education merely allows one to make a claim.

Note that Rabbi said that the twin towers went down. That is one of the big problems with 9/11: lack of truth and certainly lack of transparency. The American people need to know what really took place. No, I am not a conspiracy theorist but 2 towers did not go down but 3. Yes, why do we forget that 3 towers went down and the 3rd one went down like it was a demolition. It imploded just like those buildings that are set off by explosives. I do not have the answers but there are many brave professors, scientists, chemists, all over the world who are putting their jobs and reputations on the line. They are saying that the official explanation does not make sense. Now, the August issue of Vanity Fair has an article questioning things and saying that Saudi Arabia was behind this. I am not saying this but do read Vanity Fair August, 2011 issue and note how they suggest who funded this, etc. 9/11 commission was a sham. People now wish to forget about what took place. Maybe some day history will tell us the truth but I for one do not believe in the official version. Nobody believes that Iraq had anything to do with it. Most fingers are pointing one way and why we decided to invade Afghanistan instead of Saudi Arabia is another matter.

I'm confused...three towers? Which was the third one?

The third building called 7 World Trade Center collapsed at around 5 30 PM caused by fire resulted by collapsing of the north tower.

Dear Rabbi Salomon, Anti-semetism is a wide spread and incurable disease, to think we can do something about it --- is naive. We shouldn't be concerned with curing the goyim of this genetic mutation, but at being better Jews and realising that all we have are ourselves and our relation to G-d. --- living in Israel and not just visiting.

I think that even if 9/11 was an "inside job" that does not mean it is tied to a conspiracy by any Jews or Israelis. Of course, for ages, Jews and Israelis have been the most convenient scapegoats when it comes to conspiracy theories and the thought that they/we are the root of all evil...I've mentioned before that it is really a matter of attempting to spread the truth faster than the lies spread.