Tuesday, 2 December 2008

FROM HIS HUT IN A CALCUTTA CEMETRY, A JEW CARES FOR THE LAST OF HIS ONCE-GREAT COMMUNITY


CALCUTTA, India : The stooped man in the yarmulke fights his way through this chaotic city, the weight of generations heavy upon his shoulders.
He squeezes past tea stalls and sidewalk electricians, past idle rickshaws and honking cars. He edges through rows of vendors selling sparkly hair clips and, finally, pushes open a rusty gate hidden from the street.
Today is the Sabbath, and Shalom Israel, one of the last Jews of Calcutta, has reached a cobwebbed synagogue, a once-grand building with imposing doors that nearly always stay shuttered, and spires that soar up toward the monsoon clouds.
Israel comes every Friday to light a candle, say a prayer, and check on the three synagogues still standing, however precariously, as relics of a passed era of plenty. Most weeks, he is the only visitor.
There were once 5,000 Jews living in this teeming port city, but today, as the Jewish New Year approaches, there are fewer than 35. Israel, 38 with a thin beard, is the youngest by nearly 25 years.
Israel lives inside the only place left where Jews aren't a minority -- the Jewish cemetery.

Israel lives inside the only place left where Jews aren't a minority -- the Jewish cemetery. He cares for the graves of his father, his great-grandparents, his uncles and his aunts, along with more than 2,000 other Jewish tombs.
He also tends to the two dozen Jewish elders still living, handles the last rites when they die, and, to stay kosher, butchers his own meat.
It's not easy being the last of your people.
"It's only a matter of time before people die or leave," said Israel. "There is no future ... The inevitable, I can't fight."
Indeed, repopulating the community would be tough. There aren't many unmarried Jewish women in Calcutta - Israel is single and doesn't know any women younger than 60. His sister married a Hindu, for which the elders shunned her. The last Jewish wedding anyone can remember was in 1982.
He is weary from Calcutta's midsummer heat, and from the responsibility of caring for his ancestors' legacy. He's well aware that a centuries-old community will likely die with him, but he sees nothing to do but tend to its remnants and blow on the fading embers.
"I've seen what the community was. To see the way it is now..." He trails off mid-sentence.
Israel survives on a combination of odd jobs, but his health is poor, his nerves frayed by his multiple responsibilities. He usually keeps his skullcap in his pocket because he tires of explaining its significance, but at the end of the day, when he's in a taxi heading back to his solitary shed inside the cemetery, he takes it out and puts it on, exhaling for what seems like the first time all day.
In this country of 1.1 billion people, there are believed to be roughly 5,000 Jews - not enough to be counted as a distinct group in the Indian census. Jews first came to India as traders some 250 years ago, and today their largest community is in Mumbai, the country's most cosmopolitan city.
Calcutta's first Jews are thought to have come in the late 18th century, descendants of the Baghdad Jews who came from Syria, Iran and Iraq. They thrived as diamond traders, real estate dealers, exporters, spice wholesalers, and bakers - one Jewish bakery famous for its plum cakes still stands, run by the founder's octogenarian grandson. Rickshaws and taxis still ply Synagogue Street and other roads named for prominent Jews.
The Jewish community built at least five synagogues and two schools. Today, there are 700 students at the Elias Meyer Free School and Talmud Torah. Not one is Jewish, and nothing particularly Jewish is taught there.
In the 1930s and 1940s, Calcutta was a bustling, raucous hub, and Jews formed a solid minority, their wedding parties and religious feasts flowing down the temple steps. Jews were players at the popular horse track -- Israel remembers his father's racehorses, Onslaught, War Dance and Black Toy -- and they were regulars at the fashionable restaurants. Jews rarely faced discrimination, mainly because "no one knew who we were," said Ian Zackariah, 64.
As a community, "We were too small to bully," he said. "There were so many other people to beat up -- Hindus vs. Muslims, high castes vs. lower castes. Who's going to pick on us?"
The birth of independent India in 1947, and the creation of Israel the following year, marked the beginning of the end for Calcutta's Jews. Many left for the new Jewish state; others moved to Europe or the United States in search of better business opportunities.
Some stayed behind, but life was different. During services, women left the temple balcony, where they used to sit in keeping with Jewish custom, and sat with the men in the main hall -- the synagogue felt too empty otherwise. Slowly, the Jewish butchers put away their knives, the bakers turned off their ovens, the teachers boxed up their Hebrew books.
The stalwarts stayed to care for their aging parents, to raise their children or simply because Calcutta was home.
Aline Cohen, 62 was born after the community's heyday, but she still remembers rowdy festivals and packed synagogues. Now, there aren't enough able-bodied men to form a minyan, the quorum necessary for services, and no one but Israel regularly visits the temples. The Jews rarely get together except at funerals, and sometimes not even then.
"It is lonely," said Cohen, whose three children were raised in Calcutta but have since left. "We all have non-Jewish friends, but ... there's a spiritual loneliness. You miss Sabbath services... You miss the feeling of community."
Shalom Israel never really knew what it was to be part of a community. His only Jewish peers are his younger brother, who is preparing to move to Israel, and his younger sister.
"I find the living more dangerous to deal with than the dead. I have very easy neighbors."
Israel lives in a small, cluttered shed inside the Jewish cemetery, just steps from his father's grave. Visitors may find the arrangement macabre, but he says it offers him peace inside a frenzied city.
Cohen worries about Shalom Israel and what will happen to him after the elders are gone. She says he should move to Israel, but he won't.
"If I go to Israel when I'm 40 or 50, what's the point?" he said.
Besides, he says, the Jews of Calcutta need him.
He ticks off his to-do list: take several elders to the doctor, take others to the dentist, take another to a hearing test; check on the temples, trim the overgrown cemetery foliage, visit the infirm living alone.

A MUST WATCH VIDEO AND AN ARTICLE : ABOUT THE JEWISH RABBI GAVRIEL WHO DIED IN THE MUMBAI BLASTS, " WORDS MAY FAIL US BUT ACTIONS CANNOT "


At times like this, words fail us. We are struck silent by the sheer barbarism and scope of the tragedy: the cold blooded murder of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg -- a young couple who left behind all of the creature comforts of life in the West to go and help other Jews -- four other Jews shot dead inside the Chabad House, another 169 people killed, and 240 wounded.
I personally benefited from the self-sacrifice of the Holtzbergs. In 2003, they moved to Mumbai, giving up the comforts of the West in order to spread some light in one corner of the world. They purchased and renovated the building formerly known as the Nariman House into a beautiful five-story hotel, full of rooms for guests, dining rooms, and large pantries to hold all the kosher foodstuffs necessary to feed the multitude of visitors each week. The Chabad House was a glowing beacon of holiness in a city filled with poverty and starvation.
A few months ago, I left my family behind to travel to India to carry out fieldwork and research. Long before I stepped onto the airplane, I knew I'd be in good hands -- friends contacted the Holtzbergs to ensure that I would have a place to connect with other Jews, pray, and have a warm, home-cooked meal.
During my month-long stay in India, I met Sandra Samuel, the helper and nanny for the Chabad in Mumbai for several years. Sandra overcame the natural instinct of self preservation and re-entered an upper floor of the Chabad House to rescue Moshe, the Holtzberg's 2-year-old son. She later recalled, "I just grabbed the baby and ran out."
The baby became an orphan in blood-soaked clothes.
I doubt that many of us would be able to look past our own selfish desire to save ourselves and put ourselves in harm's way. She is one of no doubt many quiet heroes who have emerged at these horrendous times.

Every night that I visited the Chabad House, the place was packed with Jews from around the world who had come to Mumbai. Some were Israelis looking for a chance to relax after an intense tour in the Israeli army; others were businessmen seeking to cut deals with the well-known textile merchants nearby. Some were tourists looking to experience the local Indian Jewish community known as the Bnei Israel. The Holtzbergs made sure that all of us felt welcomed and comfortable.
Rabbi Holtzberg was a Torah scholar and trained as a mohel and shochet. Together with his wife they ran a synagogue, taught Torah classes, counseled drug addicts, and fought the poverty they saw all around.
Most of all, they helped us to feel Jewish. Even those soldiers who had long ago stopped attending synagogue wiped back a tear as we sang "Shalom Aleichem" around the Shabbat table.
Moving Forward
This is not the first time that a Chabad rabbi has been cut down by a terrorist. Back in the 1950s, a rabbi and four students were killed in the Israeli village known as Kfar Chabad. These residents had arrived from Europe, leaving a land decimated by the Holocaust to rebuild a new Jewish society in the miniscule land of Israel. After their death, many of their friends felt the hopelessness and despair we feel now.
It is said that the Lubavitcher Rebbe sent a telegram to the survivors of the attack that had only three Hebrew words: B'hemshech habinyan tenu'chamu -- "You will feel comfort through continuing to build."
And that is the message for us today: Continue to build. Do not give up. Do not let hate or a desire for vengeance blind us to the positive impact that all of us can have.
Because if we become afraid, immobilized, hesitant, then we've handed the terrorists a victory.
Words may fail us, but actions cannot. The Jewish community has already come together over this issue; thousands of emails, blogs, and websites have called upon Jews around the world to say Psalms, give charity, and do acts of kindness. On online bulletin boards where tempers can too often flare, arguments were quickly shelved and cooperation ensued.

We can all put our grief, our disbelief, our desire to do something into action -- and we must do it quickly. Send money to a Jewish cause. Spend some time telling your parents, children, and friends how much you love them and care for them. See what positive things you can do for an ailing neighbor or a depressed friend.
We are at war with many enemies, those who seek to turn our planet to darkness. The Holtzberg's were on the front lines of dispelling that darkness, putting the beauty of Judaism against loneliness and despair. For many of the backpackers and visitors, coming into contact with the joy and love extended by Rabbi Gavriel and Rivkah Holtzberg gave them their chance to embrace their Jewish heritage.
They were struck down in the line of duty. So in their memory, learn about the beautiful Jewish heritage they sought to spread. And share it with others.

THINGS TO DO WHILE YOU ARE ALIVE


I know of 67 people who would like to build an igloo.
There are at least 4050 people who say that they intend to "be a better friend" than they have been.
And 5996 others plan to start waking up when their alarm clocks goes off.
These are just three of the items that members list as life goals on the Web site 43Things.com. In the past three years, more than 1.2 million idealists have signed up and posted their customized lists of things they would like to accomplish on this world before they die.
Sky diving ranks 24th in popularity, but the leading life goal is quite predictable: weight loss.
The idea of having people ponder their mortality and then charting their life's road map has truly arrived. Besides the millions of people who publish their lists on Web sites like the one mentioned, millions more are buying and reading best sellers like, "1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die," " 101 Things To Do Before You Turn 40," and, "1000 Places to See Before You Die."
A film by Rob Reiner, "Bucket List," about two terminal cancer patients who set out on a series of life-list adventures, is due out in December. And Visa is running a popular ad campaign called, "Things to Do While You're Alive."
What's going on? Why are people becoming so contemplative, goal oriented, and focused on dreams of accomplishment? It's hard to say, but it does seem that people are coming to terms with the reality that life is precious, finite, and made for productivity.
Of course, not everyone's definition of achievement is the same. The lists are testimony to that. Living with the head hunters of New Guinea, climbing the Matterhorn during a blizzard, or retracing the route of Marco Polo through all of the Middle East, Asia, and China may be fulfillment to some, while changing your name for a year, pulling 101 great pranks, or re-structuring your closets at home may be dreams come true to someone else. No matter. To each his own. People just seem to want to get things done. And making these Life To Do lists seems to help.
The most famous success story of this genre is John Goddard. When he was but 15 years of age, John took out a plain yellow pad one day, wrote the words, "My Life List," at the top and proceeded to compose a collection of 127 goals.
These were not simple or easy goals. They included climbing the world's major mountains, exploring from source to mouth the longest rivers of the world, piloting the world's fastest aircraft, running a mile in five minutes and reading the entire Encyclopedia Britannica. Now in his 70's, this real-life Indiana Jones claims to have accomplished 109 of these quests, and has logged an impressive list of records in achieving them.
But while the recent development of considering one's objectives and designing a plan of action may be trendy, or at least newsworthy to the general populace, it is nothing new to Judaism. In fact, it happens to be the hallmark of the annual process that Jews everywhere should be engaged in every year before Rosh Hashana. It is an integral part of the teshuva (return) procedure that enjoins us to make a cheshbon hanefesh, a spiritual inventory of what our time, effort and resources should be invested in.
Ideally, this soulful stock-taking should really be a constant, ongoing, almost daily process where, with the proper awareness, a person would always know what his Life List looks like and what items need some additional attention. Those who live their lives with that level of cognizance are always seeking to better themselves and are getting the most out of life.
But sadly, you and I know few people whose lives are permeated with that kind of dedication to self-improvement. Somewhat more common are those who take advantage of the Holiday season and, at least once a year, give some pause to what they would like to accomplish.


So, if the reflective mood hits you, and you want to take this seriously, the first step is to take out that yellow pad of paper and write, "My Life List" on it. But be forewarned. You may find this very simple, seemingly trivial task quite difficult. It means that you are embarking on something potentially sublime, and that can be very scary. But the good news is that once this terribly uncomplicated task is accomplished, you've already overcome a major obstacle and you are on your way.
The next step is to write -- just write -- any idea that comes to mind. Don't filter and don't falter -- just write. The ideas may seem silly, impractical, superficial, or out of reach, but this is not the time to sharpen your editing skills. If it strikes you that you might want to shoot pictures at a friend's wedding, buy a high-powered telescope or invite 50 people for Shabbat dinner -- write it down.
After you have compiled this unedited list of your potential life goals, put the list away for at least 24 hours. You need a full day of breathing space before you can return to the job. Now examine the list again with a fine eye and delete the impossible stuff. Imagine that your best friend is reading your list. Which items would he/she immediately declare as undoable? Take only those out.
Finally, feel free to add any additional goals that strike your fancy now.
But allow me to add one more point.
People who are sincere about using this tool to increase their chances of accomplishing more in life, should take advantage of the opportunity by making a majority of their targets truly meaningful ones.
There may be nothing wrong with becoming a world class sudoku player, learning how to whistle while standing on your head, or memorizing the lyrics to every Lynryd Skynyrd song ever recorded. And perhaps a few of those "less serious" objectives should be included on your list. But primarily, you don't want to "waste" your choices on the frivolous or the mundane.
Take these examples, chosen from actual Life Lists. I guess learning jujitsu has merit, but why would owning a coyote qualify as a goal in life? Alphabetizing my CD collection is probably a functional thing to do, as is learning how to weld, but are they really dreams that must be realized? Some people yearn to floss more often, or to type with ten fingers -- nothing wrong with that, I suppose, but appearing in a Tarzan movie? Or lighting a match with a .22 rifle?
Rosh Hashana is swiftly approaching. It is a time when Jews worldwide seek ways to crown the Almighty as the true king of the Universe. Reflecting on your purpose on this planet and then actualizing your quest to reach that end may just be the greatest way possible to coronate Him.
Tithe your earnings, intensify your prayers, call your folks and your grandparents, keep Kosher for a month, affix a mezuzah to your door, donate blood, attend a lecture series, have a catch with your son once a week, bring soup to Nursing Home residents, make a date with your soul, learn how to say, "I was wrong," -- and practice it, drive with courtesy, smile -- the list could on forever. But we won't go on forever. Maybe now would be a good time to get started.
Forget the igloo and the coyote. You've got important things to do.


Have a wonderful... and productive new year.
.

BIBLICAL ARCHAEOLOGY: BRINGING THE BIBLE TO LIFE


The Seal of Baruch ben Neriah
How lonely sits the city that was once full of people! She has become like a widow! She, that was great among the nations and a princess among the provinces, has become a tributary. Lamentations 1:1
Those melancholy words of the prophet Jeremiah were composed from the dismal confines of a dungeon cell. The prophet of God dictated the words of doom while his protege, the scribe Baruch ben Neriah, carefully recorded them on a scroll. Baruch read the words of Lamentations before the king of Judah, Jehoakim. The thought of losing his kingdom so angered the king that he cut the scroll into pieces and threw the scraps into a fire as though that would alter the divine decree.
Twenty-four hundred years later, a small lump of clay was discovered in Jerusalem bearing the seal of Baruch ben Neriah. The disciple of Jeremiah was suddenly and tangibly brought to life. One's imagination began to run wild. Could this be the seal that was used to authenticate the original scroll of Lamentations? There is one thing the imagination does not have to conjure. When a document was to be authenticated and rendered tamper-proof, the document was rolled up and bound by a length of cord. The knot was encased in a small lump of clay, called a bulla, which was held steady with one hand while the other hand embossed the seal onto the clay. When the bulla dried, the document was ready for delivery. It was not unusual for the fingerprints of the person holding the clay and seal to be impressed onto the sides of the bulla.
A thumbprint can be seen on the upper ridge of Baruch's bulla, most likely the print of Baruch himself.
Sure enough! A thumbprint can be seen on the upper ridge of Baruch's bulla, most likely the print of Baruch himself. Once again the imagination begins to roam. Could there be any DNA residue of Baruch on the hardened clay


Outside Verification


A large number of modern-day historians claim that there is no evidence that the events in the Biblical accounts from Moses, Joshua, David, through Jeremiah, and Baruch, and their successors actually happened. They claim that these leaders never existed, or that, at best, they were insignificant tribal chieftains who were later made into national heroes by writers who lived long after the alleged events. According to those historians, the events mentioned in the Bible were the products of the composer's imagination. The heroes and villains of the Biblical story were crafted for a people who desperately needed heroes and villains.
Exactly who these crafty composers were, they do not say. Another point they do not address is how was it possible for these composers to one day suddenly present to the masses their supposed history, one of which they were previously totally unaware, is beyond explanation. The creditability of this history had to have been based on the reputation of the composer or composers, composers about whom we know nothing.
However, modern-day anti-Biblicists would rather embrace the idea that the story of Joshua, David, Solomon and their successors where mythical tales concocted by obscure writers rather than yield to the possibility that the stories are true.
It was not that long ago that there was no independent outside verification for hardly any of the Biblical characters. Nowadays, almost on a yearly basis, some independent source confirms the existence of one of the Biblical characters. Below is an impressive list of 61 Biblical persons, some are kings, some are prophets, some are heroes while others are enemies. They are central characters as well as minor players whose reality can be verified by archaeological and historical evidence.

Acceptable evidence is based on three factors:


1) The name of the individual has been found in some extra-Biblical record or on some piece of archaeological evidence, such as a bulla or seal.
2) The name must in some way be connected to the person named in the Biblical story. For example, the name Ahab being found on a seal would mean very little. However, if the seal read Ahab, King of Israel, that would mean a great deal.
3) The chronological context of the name found must match the chronology of the Biblical story. If the above "Ahab, King of Israel" seal was found in an archaeological stratum dating to the 12th century BCE, that would create a major problem. The Biblical Ahab lived many centuries later.
When all three factors have been met, according to the interpretation of recognized scholars, historians, and archaeologists, only then is the evidence conclusive.
The verification of the more obscure Biblical characters is the more astonishing.
To my mind, it is not the verification of the major personalities that is so impressive but rather the verification of the more obscure Biblical characters is the more astonishing. It could be argued that the Biblical stories were crafted around real kings and actual prophets who had lived and ruled in some bygone era. The names of these kings and prophets may have been retained in the conscious memory of the Biblical composers. They merely had to invent the stories, many of which were not at all complimentary to the audience to which they sought to appeal- something unheard of in the ancient world but has gained great popularity in our times. The Biblical composers would have found it necessary to add in a whole bevy of minor characters to make the story flow. These insignificant folks were totally fabricated by the composers. So goes the theory.
When outside confirmation of the minor characters surfaces, it lends great strength to those who firmly believe in the veracity and accuracy of the Biblical narrative.

FAMOUS LINCOLN'S THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATION


Washington, DC, October 3, 1863
The year that is drawing toward its close has been filled with the blessings of fruitful fields and healthful skies. To these bounties, which are so constantly enjoyed that we are prone to forget the source from which they come, others have been added which are of so extraordinary a nature that they can not fail to penetrate and soften even the heart which is habitually insensible to the ever-watchful providence of Almighty God.
In the midst of a civil war of unequaled magnitude and severity, which has sometimes seemed to foreign states to invite and to provoke their aggression, peace has been preserved with all nations, order has been maintained, the laws have been respected and obeyed, and harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict, while that theater has been greatly contracted by the advancing armies and navies of the Union.
Needful diversions of wealth and of strength from the fields of peaceful industry to the national defense have not arrested the plow, the shuttle, or the ship; the ax has enlarged the borders of our settlements, and the mines, as well as the iron and coal as of our precious metals, have yielded even more abundantly than heretofore. Population has steadily increased notwithstanding the waste that has been made in the camp, the siege, and the battlefield, and the country, rejoicing in the consciousness of augmented strength and vigor, is permitted to expect continuance of years with large increase of freedom.
No human counsel hath devised nor hath any mortal hand worked out these great things. They are the gracious gifts of the Most High God, who, while dealing with us in anger for our sins, hath nevertheless remembered mercy.
It has seemed to me fit and proper that they should be solemnly, reverently, and gratefully acknowledged, as with one heart and one voice, by the whole American people. I do therefore invite my fellow-citizens in every part of the United States, and also those who are in foreign lands, to set apart and observe the last Thursday of November next as a day of thanksgiving and praise to our beneficent Father who dwelleth in the heavens. And I recommend to them that while offering up the ascriptions justly due to Him for such singular deliverances and blessings they do also, with humble penitence for our national perverseness and disobedience, commend to His tender care all those who have become widows, orphans, mourners, or sufferers in the lamentable civil strife in which we are unavoidably engaged, and fervently implore the imposition of the Almighty hand to heal the wounds of the nation and to restore it, as soon as may be consistent with the divine purpose, to the full enjoyment of peace, harmony, tranquility, and union.
In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand and caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.
Done at the city of Washington, this 3d day of October, A.D. 1863, and of the Independence of the United States the eighty-eighth.
Abraham Lincoln
By the President:
William H. Seward,
Secretary of State.

CHRISTIAN'S REACHOUT TO THE GANG MEMBERS IN UNITED STAES OF AMERICA


USA ― Youth for Christ is an organization that embeds itself in local communities. It wants to make a difference. It's doing just that with gang activity in the United States.
President of Youth for Christ USA Dan Wolgemuth says Jeremiah 29 has become a key passage of Scripture for their work in Tacoma, Washington. "We, as an organization, have really embraced the words that talk about seeking the welfare of the city where God has us in exile and to pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you'll find your welfare."
Wolgemuth says YFC staff members in are involved in the juvenile justice system and specifically in gang activity.
The director of the Tacoma YFC Bobby Arkills says their new City Life ministry is heavily involved in urban ministry, including gang outreach. He says one gang member attended YFC's program on and off. Philip was killed last month in a gang related shooting at a Tacoma community center.
What followed was nothing short of miraculous, says Arkills. "Over the next six hours our staff was contacted and literally counseled kids through that night Saturday night, all day Sunday. We have been on the frontlines ever since."
YFC has had meetings in their offices with community, police, and church leaders who wondering how to deal with gang activity and the potential for gang warfare.
Arkills says the shooting has provided opportunities for outreach. "At the memorial service for Philip, there were over 400 people. I believe it was over 90 young people responded to the message of the Gospel. And then, at our Tuesday night drop in center we had about 150 people there. Many of those kids came forward and said they wanted to stop where they were at in gangs," he says.
He says their work is having an impact, especially with the TF gang. "We literally have seen some girls come of that gang, gang leaders, come to Christ, go back to their fellow gang members and say, 'this will not meet your needs. This gang, these people don't have your back, they will not cover you, they will not be your friends when it gets difficult. We're leaving the gang and you should, too.'"
Wolgemuth says through a long relationship, this young woman is doing more than encouraging her peers to leave the gang. "This young woman now has turned her life around and is prepared to confess Christ to them and talk about what it means to walk with Christ and the difference that will make in relationship to gang activities."
He says the program will be replicated in cities around the U-S. However, he says there are challenges. "We really fundamentally believe that God has called us to reach kids that nobody else is going to reach. You talk about unreached people groups. And, that does require funding that frankly is more difficult at times to come up with."
Arkills is asking people to pray for their staff who are literally on a battlefield. "Kids are being shot. I could be shot. It's something we pray about every day. Especially in light of these shoots as we pray for Darin, Dwayne and Krissy as they go out. They walk in some really scary territories, but at the same time we know there are angels surrounding them and we know that what they are doing is for the Gospel."

CHURCH FIND ' CHOCOLATE JESUS ' TASTELESS



GERMANY - Germany's churches criticised a businessman this week for selling thousands of Jesus chocolates.
Frank Oynhausen set up his 'Sweet Lord' chocolate Jesus business saying he wanted to restore some traditional religious values to Christmas in Germany.
But the German Protestant Church rebuked the idea as 'tasteless' and the Roman Catholic Church was not amused.
'I started thinking about how I could reintroduce traditional religious values into this commercial world,' said Mr Oynhausen, who had been unemployed since losing a recycling business two years ago.
Together with a friend, a local chocolatier, Mr Oynhausen, 54, developed the concept of 'Sweet Lord'. He says thousands of people have put in orders for the figures wrapped in gold foil.
'It is terrible that Jesus is being wrapped up in gold foil and sold along with chocolate bunnies, edible penguins and lollipops,' said Aegidius Engel, a spokesman for the archbishopric of nearby Paderborn.
'This is ruining the symbol of Jesus himself,' he added.
Mr Oynhausen is now custom-producing the chocolate Jesus figures, at a cost of €15 for 100g, but by Easter he hopes to have a partnership with a mass producer.
'We're hoping to be able to export them around the world one day,' Mr Oynhausen said. He reckons there are parts of the United States where they will be especially popular.
In 2007, a life-size chocolate sculpture of a naked Jesus caused an outcry from Roman Catholics when an art gallery in New York wanted to exhibit it in a window.