28 Adar Alef 5774
Erev Shabbat Kodesh
The so-called "settler station" - Arutz Sheva - continues to misreport details of the event called for yom rishon. Clearly, they have their own agenda, which has also been called into question in the past.
One of their latest article on the atzeret is titled Rabbi, Students: No Place for Zionists at Hareidi Rally . Here is an excerpt...
A group of students wrote a letter urging the rabbis not to attend, and even warning that they could come to harm due to strong anti-Zionist sentiment among those present.
First of all, what kind of chutzpah is this that Torah students are calling their rabbanim to account to them? If they don't trust their rabbis' judgment, what do they hope to learn from them? Second, I warned you this was coming. To the degree that this atzeret will bring unity to Klal Yisrael and advance the redemption process, this is the same degree to which the Other Side (SA) will try to thwart it. Don't look to the left or to the right. Keep your eyes focused straight ahead on the ultimate goal - the geulah shleimah. We are going to show Hashem that we are ready to follow Mashiach!
Next quote...
The letter, a copy of which reached Arutz Sheva, quoted several articles from hareidi news sources in which religious-Zionist rabbis were accused of spreading anti-Torah teachings, of “ruining everything,” and of being “wicked.”
The Erev Rav does not have a monopoly on any one group. That is why they are so dangerous to us. They are mixed among us and are to be found at every strata of our society. The one thing which serves to distinguish them, however, is their craving for power. Therefore, they are often in positions of leadership. The Vilna Gaon said that, at this point in history, "most of the rabbis would be from the Erev Rav." You can look for people on all sides to come against this event in a very strong manner. Look not to the naysayers, but to those who are promoting unity around the Holy Torah. It is forbidden to believe this lashon hara.
Continuing to quote from the article...
“Even if the purpose of the prayer rally Sunday were a good one – please don’t go, because of the danger posed by the herd which is incited by its leaders,” they wrote.
Apparently, they've learned nothing of mesirut nefesh in their yeshivas. It goes on...
Rabbi Ronsky: Zionists don't belong at anti-enlistment event
Rabbi Avichai Ronsky, the former Chief Rabbi of the IDF and head of the Itamar yeshiva, declared that religious-Zionist rabbis should avoid the rally for ideological reasons. Rabbi Ronsky is considered rabbinic advisor to Religious Affairs Minister MK Naftali Bennett and MK Ayelet Shaked (Jewish Home) who headed the Knesset draft law committee. The three had planned running for Knesset together on a separate list before joining the Jewish Home party.
“I really find it difficult to understand how there are rabbis, great Torah scholars, some of them my teachers, who are calling to participate [in the rally] and even plan to attend,” he said.
“Our moral understanding, our understanding of halakhah [Jewish law], is that men must enlist in the army. Even Torah scholars – maybe for a limited period of time, like in the hesder program… That’s our Jewish and moral understanding,” he declared.
'Rabbi' Ronsky seems to have conveniently forgotten that the Torah itself sets down criteria for exemption from military service, and this at a time when it was a pure and holy Jewish army led by Moshe Rabbeinu and Yehoshua Ben Nun!!
One of those reasons is "fear" on the part of the soldier. Would the "fear" of assimilation be considered legitimate? Anyway, the point is that a real Jewish army does not depend on quantity in any case, but on quality. (That's a lesson learned from Gideon's 300 men.) And, as it's already been pointed out, but certain factions refuse to acknowledge it, there are hundreds, if not thousands of chareidi recruits already serving!!
How are these unproven accusations any different from what the rabbi did who warned that a chareidi "might" murder Lapid? This fear-mongering and creating doubt and confusion by questioning the trustworthiness of our leaders' judgment is the exact same thing the ten evil spies did to keep us from realizing our goal of entering Eretz Yisrael in the Midbar and it resulted in catastrophe for every generation until this day!!
NOW IS THE TIME TO REPAIR THIS MISTAKE!!!
Shabbat Shalom and Chodesh tov!
Kol hakavod!
ReplyDeleteI'm totally with you, Devash.
Like Yaak, I'd describe myself as Agudah/Rav Kook (and a bit of Satmar & Kahane) - and a mix of Sephardi and Ashkenazi. Nearly all that you've written since I started reading you around a year ago really resonates with me.
This is no time for labels, categorizations, and divisiveness.
Thanks for keeping your eye (and thus ours) on the goal and what's REALLY going on.
Thanks, Dassie - Shabbat shalom!
ReplyDeleteRabbi Shmuel Eliyahu Shlita Planning to Join the Million Man Atzeres
ReplyDeleteMust agree with Dassie on that you, Devash, 'resonates with me' also. Everything you write I agree with and usually just before I go to your site, the same things are on my mind and am wondering how 'it's the same thinking I have'. Keep up this vital and wonderful work because every Jew influenced by your wise words, is the biggest mitzvah and will lead us to our Geulah Shleimah k'heref ayin!
ReplyDeleteI heard that even Machon Meir students might be going. I have no doubt then that Merkaz HaRav students will go. Har HaMor,...not.
ReplyDeleteThe filtering process continues...
Devash, I think there is a message for Obama in this 'Kenyan' runners name. Please take a look.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.timesofisrael.com/kenyan-ezekiel-koech-breaks-tlv-marathon-record/
Devash, great post!
ReplyDeleteDassie, I'm glad that there are others who think like me. :-)
BTW, there's a whole poster of 29 Dati Leumi rabbanim who support this rally:
http://www.kikarhashabat.co.il/image.php?id=171007
Shabbat shalom. I am lighting soon. Please post when the actually tehillim /achdut rally will start in Israel's time zone so we in the States can say our own at the same time.
ReplyDeleteDevash, I don't know what to say, what to add. It is so sad. So sad.
ReplyDeleteMoriah - I'm sorry, I get nothing.
ReplyDeleteDassi and Yaak - I think it takes a mix like this to get on the right path because each group seems to have a piece of the puzzle and if you take each one's piece and put them all together, you get a complete picture. For me, the Ramchal is my "rebbe." With Derech Hashem and Mesillat Yesharim, you can't go wrong, no matter how hard you try. ;-)
Esser - Thanks for passing that along. Great to hear! It's entirely possible that for every person who goes to the atzeret there is another one who wants to, but can't.
Leah - B'li neder, will try to remember to do that. Because of the traffic arrangements, I am going to have to get into Yerushalayim early and I won't have computer access for the day. (No I-phone or laptop.) I may even not be back on here til the next morning, if I can't get back home. I have a place to stay there overnight if needed. Be"H, I hope to get pictures to share.
I bless us all that this chodesh Adar Bet we'll greet Mashiach and once again see our enemies overturned. Chodesh tov ונהפך הוא!
"the Torah itself sets down criteria for exemption from military service"
ReplyDeleteRight. And learning in yeshivah is not one of them!
there are hundreds, if not thousands of chareidi recruits already serving!
That's simply baloney. And even if it were true, it's irrelevant. By what right does the charedi community insist that the army draw from other sectors of society but not from its own? There is no halachic category of exemption from war for charedim.
Devash -
ReplyDelete"...for every person who goes to the atzeret there is another one who wants to, but can't."
Well, one of those who wants to but can't - is me! I start work exactly when this atzereth starts!
Many thanks for thinking of folks like me. I'll have my Tehilim on my desk ready for reading between things. Count me in!
CDG, Yerushalayim
ExMirGuy - your screen name seems to suggest to me that the emphasis is on the "Ex."
ReplyDeleteApparently you didn't spend much time learning bekiyus when you were in the Mir, otherwise you might have stumbled across the Gerama which brings an opinion the the reason we had to be slaves in Egypt was as punishment for Avraham recruiting his students to fight against the 4 kings and taking them out of the beit midrash to do battle. And we're talking over a hundred years of hardcore slavery for drafting 318 yeshiva guys. Look at today's situation and do the math.
As far as the Charedi community having the right not to join the army - perhaps when you were in the Mir you didn't step out into Israeli culture to learn a bit about the country but it's a well known fact that the founders of this country from Ben Gurion down set their top priority of the army (after defending the country) to be an assembly line to divorce Jews of their religious roots and implant them with a new secular socialist ideology. It may not be as blatant today but it is still very much so part of the mentality in Israeli army leadership.
Don't jump to any conclusions about my bekiyus.
ReplyDeleteThat Gemara is talking about milchemes reshus, not milchemes mitzvah.
See http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/must-torah-students-serve-in-the-army/
As for your claims about the socially corrosive effects of the army - so let them create a non-socially corrosive unit in the army. And in any case, that does not answer my question. Why would harmful social effects mean that an essential and risky job has to be done by others, but not by you? By what right does the charedi community insist that the army draw from other sectors of society but not from its own?
ExMirGuy,
ReplyDeleteWith all due respect to Rav Melamed, the obligation for Milhemet Mitzva can only apply when:
1) the Hatan, Kallah, etc. are needed to contribute in some way. When they are not needed to contribute, there is absolutely no necessity to draft them.
2) the Milhemet Mitzva is actually happening. If you take Yeshiva guys away from learning for an extended period of time to train them, you will waste Torah learning on an immense scale.
You asked:
By what right does the charedi community insist that the army draw from other sectors of society but not from its own?
Ein Hachi Nami - it doesn't have that right. But that's not what it's insisting on (at least not the majority of them). It's insisting on those learning Torah to be exempt. Anyone from any group who learns Torah and wants to do so all day should be exempt.
As far as fairness goes, I say fairness shmairness. Torah learning is as much of a role (and I'd say even more so) to play in the success of the army against its enemies as a combat soldier, an army technician, an army medic, a military tactician, and certainly a journalist for Bamahane Magazine (as Lapid did).