Ukraine: People ask for Jewish prayer because Jews are unencumbered by 'Christian morals'

Via Times of Israel:

The motivation for turning to the rabbi for prayer rather than to their own Christian priests is not exactly flattering.

In Chernivtsi, people repeat the same rumor: That the Jews allegedly don’t care what they pray for — as long as they are paid.

“They also pray for bad things, like to curse someone,” said Victor Melnik, the owner of a downtown shoe repair shop.

This idea comes from the interpretation of the phrase “a tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye” in the Old Testament of the Bible, said Moishe Krais, a Jewish businessman and a former member of the Chernivtsi City Council, who often gets approached by high-ranking officials who want to be introduced to the rabbi.

That phrase is understood by some to mean that the Jewish religion sanctions revenge — unlike the Christian faith that teaches that if you get hit on one cheek, you have to turn the other, he said.

“People are sure that the Jewish God allows the punishment of evildoers. It’s for that reason they go to the rabbi — to do something bad to their neighbor,” Krais said. “In their understanding, the rabbi is connected with black magic and voodoo.”

The problem is that if the rabbi curses someone and something bad does happen, then people’s anger “will turn against all the Jewish people — against me and my children,” he said — not just against the rabbi.

“If one man does something bad, then he is a bad man, but if a Jew does something bad, then all Jews are evil,” Krais said.

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