Indy should have let the Nazis keep the Ark. Could you imagine what would have happened if Hitler had requested to personally see the power of the Ark demonstrated? No more Hitler! The Angel of Death would have melted the flesh from his bones!
And since this movie takes place before WWII, maybe the war wouldn't have happened, or it would have been far more brief without Hitler's insanity prolonging it.
Maybe, but Belloq (a Frenchman and likely Christian) did perform a Jewish ritual before opening the Ark, something no Nazi would likely do. Maybe without the ritual, the Ark was inert.
shareThe Nazis weren't THAT anal.
shareI'm not so sure. The Nazis built hundreds of concentration camps. They killed millions of Jews, an equal portion women and children. They had a true hatred of the Jews and tried to exterminate the race. Could they get *any* Nazi to do the ceremony? Maybe. Would they perform the Jewish ceremony in front of Hitler? I'm less certain.
shareEichmann himself studied Judaism and learned Hebrew and we know he wasn't a fan of the Jews. The Nazi party was a little bit more than just a "We Hate Jews" club, not every member felt the same way about the issue. Anyway, if a Jewish ceremony would help Hitler become invincible, I think even he wouldn't mind.
shareEichmann was far from fluent in Hebrew and Yiddish. During his trial in Israel in 1962 he relied on German interpreters. He was supposedly a "Jewish" expert but that didn't mean much to the Nazis.
shareI didn't say he was fluent, my point was that he studied it despite his hatred for the Jews.
shareHe studied it as an opportunity to move up within the party. He also traveled to Palestine in hopes of shipping European Jews to Palestine.
shareHe studied it because it was his job to report on Jewish organisations. But, Mitch, the issue isn't whether Eichmann had a genuine interest in or knowledge of Judaism, but whether every Nazi would get an immediate gag reflex if they came into contact with something Jewish. I think a lot of them would've been just fine.
shareThey did stay very quiet while the Jews were stripped of their rights and possessions/property and ultimately shipped off to concentration camps.
shareWell yeah, the Nazi party wasn't the Jewish fan club either.
shareI was referring to the everyday German who said and did nothing. There was latent antisemitism throughout the country and many obviously approved of what the Nazis were doing.
shareI don't think that's necessarily true, but that's an issue unrelated to this discussion.
shareThe Nuremberg Laws were the very essence of anal with its obsession on race mixing.
shareI didn't say Nazis weren't anal, Mitch! I said they weren't THAT anal that none of them would be willing to perform a Jewish ritual to become invincible. I guarantee that quite a few would have no problem with it whatsoever.
shareThere was latent antisemitism throughout the country and many obviously approved of what the Nazis were doing.
It was pretty clear after the war that the everyday German was not told anywhere close to even half of the things that were done to Jews. They were told, like the jews, that they were being relocated. Most had no idea what went on in concentration camps.
shareWhen it came to the Jews they were obsessive or anal. The Nuremberg Laws were the very essence of anal with its obsession with race mixing.
shareI don't think the ritual made any difference one way or the other. Belloq was the one who performed the ritual, but since he wasn't Jewish, much less an Israelite, the ritual didn't work.
shareHmmm... Let's have some fun here, shall we?
We know what happened when Belloq opened the Ark, but we don't know what would have happened in a different circumstance. On that island, there were several possibilities:
1) The Ark would be opened following a ritual performed by a non-Jew.
2) The Ark would be opened following a ritual performed by a Jew
3) The Ark would be opened following a ritual performed by an anti-Semite (like those Nazis)
4) The Ark would be opened with no ritual by a Jew
5) The Ark would be opened with no ritual by a non-Jew
6) The Ark would be opened with no ritual by an anti-Semite
The only circumstance we know for sure is number 1 and possibly number 3 (we don't know Belloq's beliefs - although I'm inclined to believe his main motivations were archaeology, money, and hot broads with tight heinies, not racial hatred).
If no ritual were held, the same thing might have happened as we saw, or nothing at all might have happened. Perhaps if the Ark were opened by a Jew following a proper ceremony, the angels wouldn't have turned into destroyers. Maybe the angels only turned to destroyers because the Nazis hated Jews, ritual or no.
Interesting possibilities with no way to answer.
There is a very strong indication that events would transpire as I have explained them, and that is the fact that the Ark, on its own accord and without anyone performing any rituals, burned away the swastika of the crate in which it was transported. Clearly someone did not approve.
Edit: I just remembered why the ritual was performed in the first place. It wasn't to unlock the Ark, because the Ark was neither locked nor sealed. Belloq performed the ritual so that he could touch the Ark without being struck dead by God. IIRC, there was supposed to be a brief exchange between Indy and Sallah in the chamber where they found the Ark, where one of them cautioned the other not to touch it. The Bible is pretty clear that anyone who touched the Ark - aside from the high priests - was instantly killed. There is one passage where one Israelite observes that the Ark is about to fall off its wagon, and he rushes to stabilize it - and is killed.
So in short, the ritual was to allow physical contact with the Ark, no more no less.
If you watch the movie carefully, you’ll see a scene where Indy sees the Jewish high priests carrying the ark with long poles while blindfolded. This is how the ancient Jews used the ark as a weapon, and how Indy knew that simply closing his eyes was how to protect himself.
Since even the Jewish high priests covered their eyes, we can assume that, when activated, the result of opening the ark was the same, no matter who did it. The only thing we don’t know for sure is if the ritual actually “activated” the ark, or if the simple act of opening it was all it would take.
Personally, I think the remnants of the original 10 Commandments, carved by the finger of G-d himself, are nothing to be trifled with, ritual or no!
If you watch the movie carefully, you’ll see a scene where Indy sees the Jewish high priests carrying the ark with long poles while blindfolded.
I agree. If we go by the actual bible the Nazis would all die just with it being in their possession. There's the story in 1 Samuel where the Ark gets captured by the Philistines and then God makes the Ark spew out bacteria that causes people to get sick. It also destroys their Idol which was a giant statue. After having people die from the Illness they return the Ark to the Israelites. It's likely the Nazis would all die if they did anything with the Ark. The movie itself doesn't go against this since when it's being transported on the ship, the Ark burned the part of the crate with the Nazi symbol on it.
shareThe war had a lot more to do than with Hitler. Hitler wasn't the only one on board for the elimination of the Jewish peoples from Europe. It was a very popular trend at the time. Read the history of Europe between the two world wars and as one of my history teachers once said "The Holocaust wasn't a matter of if but a matter of who" meaning that the wheels of anti-Semitism had been turning for a while and backlash against the Jews was nearly ensured. Start reading up on the Madagascar Plan and you'll see how things turned from bad to worse for those people.
shareI am not sure if the ark could be opened by anyone, ritual or not. In a passage from Leviticus, God tells Moses to warn his brother Aaron about not going in to the ark at all times. So we know that not even he was safe.
The Bible also says that David was afraid of carrying the ark home.