Watch Your Language, Rabbi

IDF Chief Rabbi Brig.-Gen. Yisrael Weiss expressed astonishment over the way in which he was evicted from the funeral of slain reserve soldier Yehuda Greenfeld on Monday by the soldier's family, Army Radio reported Tuesday.

"The way in which it was done was not appropriate," Weiss explained in an interview. "They humiliated me. You can say to a person in the most humane and cultured way in the world, 'Please get out of here,' but to do this in front of a crowd of people - this is [tantamount to] murder."

On Monday, Greenfeld's sister blamed Rabbi Weiss for the eviction of Jews from Gush Katif and screamed at him to leave.

"You're driving people out of Gush Katif," she shouted. "I want you to leave my brother's funeral. I want you to get out of here."

First of all, you are using a Talmudic expression whereby embarassing someone, and especially a learned Torah scholar, is akin to shedding blood. Do you think 10% of your radio listeners truly understood what you were saying, not to refer to the readers of the newspaper report?

But, secondly, Rabbi, let's not get carried away. The corpse you came to honor was the one murdered, but really killed. I don't think you were even scratched.

Take it as part of your job. You work for the Government; the government tasked you to oversee part of the expulsion process; you exhumed graves in Gush Katif. You were part and parcel of a morally impugnant act, one which the former Chief Rabbis of Israel opposed on Halachic grounds.