bs"d
18 Elul 5768
Wednesday September 18, 2008
1. Will we allow the Gedoilim to receive Divine Retribution for their Silence and for their indirect liability for what happened in Gush Katif? Perek Hakones in Baba Kama.
2. Clarifying to Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky that indeed this is a very clear matter of Pikuach Nefesh. Thank you Susie Dym
3. Rabbi Algaze. Chareidi Rabbaniim do not have their hands tied. They choose to be Silent.
4. Renanah Goldhar, student of Rabbi Weismandl :
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3. Rabbi Algaze. Chareidi Rabbanim do not have their hands tied. They choose to be Silent.
4. Renanah Goldhar -- Student of Rabbi Weismandl writes:
My comments to Renanah,
It's hard to understand how the Rabbanim had only one march knowing the genocide that was taking place. We can not give up in the face of apathy! Robin.
Learning from our history... Now, before it is too late, the Rabbanim must mobilize the Nation, raise the spiritual level of the people to unite and speak out for our entitlement of Eretz Yisroel and act upon it. These major Jewish organizations have Washington offices and databases and networks to thousands of Rabbanim and shuls and to hundreds of thousands of caring Jews! We all can each write letters and make phone calls at the very least. If we do our hishtadlus, our share, we will then be worthy G-d willing....
Otherwise G-d forbid, the partner and heir to Hitler's legacy, Hamas, Hizbollah, AlQaida, the PA etc. will be empowered to attempt once again to accomplish what Hitler failed to accomplish Chas Vechalila which is the destruction of the Jewish People and the desecration of G-ds name.
18 Elul 5768
Wednesday September 18, 2008
bs"d
1. Will we allow the Gedoilim to receive Divine Retribution for their Silence and for their indirect liability for what happened in Gush Katif? Perek Hakones in Baba Kama.
2. Clarifying to Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky that indeed this is a very clear matter of Pikuach Nefesh. Thank you Susie Dym
3. Rabbi Algaze. Chareidi Rabbaniim do not have their hands tied. They choose to be Silent.
4. Renanah Goldhar, student of Rabbi Weismandl :
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1. Perek Hakones in Baba Kama. Comments by Robin
My 10 year old son in 5th grade started Gemara and is learning Hakones in Baba Kama. In order to help him study I learned this section.
Hakones in Perek 6 in Baba Kama. There is a Braisa where Rabbi Yehoshua says there are 4 cases of monetary loss for which the perpetrator is not liable to pay under the law of man but is liable under the laws of heaven like in the case of one that breaches the wall of a coral thereby allowing the sheep to escape when the coral was properly closed by its owner. Such a person is not liable by the laws of man for damages incurred as a result of his actions because his action did not directly cause the damage but rather indirectly. But he is liable under the laws of heaven.
I understood that one that breached the wall is liable under the laws of heaven because of Grama, they caused damage indirectly. I thought to myself that this is why many in Yesha have said to themselves that the Gedoilim will receive Divine Retribution. Indirectly their silence has caused Damage to those in Yesha and caused very serious damage to those from Gush Katif. True that one cannot demand from them to repay the citizens of Gush Katif for the destruction of their homes but under the laws of heaven they are liable as well..
Apparently these Rabbanim who are silent don't see that their silence caused any damage. They perhaps put the entire blame on the secular Zionist State.Perhaps they say that who knows if we would have spoken up it would have made a difference?
But the Yesha people clearly recognize that the collective silence of the majority of Jews is a major factor leading to the "success" of the expulsion.
That brings us to the Yesha people who refuse to bring testimony against the Rabbinic Leadership who have remained silent. Privately they believe and understand that these Rabbanim will suffer Divine Retribution. However they do not unite and testify against them. Doesn't that also make them liable under the laws of heaven. The Rabbanim are perhaps blind as to the damage that they are incurring and have incurred.
Perhaps if the testimony of the Yesha leaders were public, against the Silent Rabbinic Leadership, then the Rabbinic Leadership would admit to their mistake, take the proper leadership role and bring the Nation of Israel to the proper spiritual level of desiring the Land of Israel, declaring their own entitlement, thereby making our Nation deserving of Salvation from Hashem.
Apparently these Rabbanim who are silent don't see that their silence caused any damage. They perhaps put the entire blame on the secular Zionist State.Perhaps they say that who knows if we would have spoken up it would have made a difference?
But the Yesha people clearly recognize that the collective silence of the majority of Jews is a major factor leading to the "success" of the expulsion.
That brings us to the Yesha people who refuse to bring testimony against the Rabbinic Leadership who have remained silent. Privately they believe and understand that these Rabbanim will suffer Divine Retribution. However they do not unite and testify against them. Doesn't that also make them liable under the laws of heaven. The Rabbanim are perhaps blind as to the damage that they are incurring and have incurred.
Perhaps if the testimony of the Yesha leaders were public, against the Silent Rabbinic Leadership, then the Rabbinic Leadership would admit to their mistake, take the proper leadership role and bring the Nation of Israel to the proper spiritual level of desiring the Land of Israel, declaring their own entitlement, thereby making our Nation deserving of Salvation from Hashem.
2. Rabbi Shmuel Kamenetsky, This is clearly a matter of Pikuach Nefesh! Thank you Susie Dym - Matot Arim.
In view of this crucial interview by former Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense C'ttee chairman Dr. Yuval Steinitz, a supporter of both Oslo and the disengagement, in which Steinitz warns specifically that a Palestinian state will destroy Israel, we ask that you take immediate steps to modify American policy so as to stop support for the Palestinian state notion which is a terrible danger to us here as explained aptly by Dr. Steinitz. In parallel we are working here, but the change MUST come from BOTH sides of the ocean as you know. Thank you very much indeed.
additional proofs: Sderot following the Disengagement.
Quotable quotes: (thanks Susie Dym for the links)
additional proofs: Sderot following the Disengagement.
Quotable quotes: (thanks Susie Dym for the links)
US President Bush, 9 January 2008:
"You can't expect the Israelis, and I certainly don't, to accept a state on their border which would become a launching pad for terrorist activities."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080109-4.html
US President Bush, 10 January 2008:
"[Israelis] don't want a state on their border from which attacks would be launched. I can understand that. Any reasonable person can understand that."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/01/20080110.
Quartet envoy Tony Blair, 9 November 2007, Jerusalem Post: "Israel can make its case better sometimes....If Israel says, "Look, we can't have Hamas running the West Bank, firing rockets at Ben-Gurion Airport,", I think people would say, 'Yes, obviously you can't'." http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1192380771239&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter
Former Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, 31 March 2008: "There are already Iranian bases in Gaza which threaten the Negev, and there are Iranian bases in the North, in Lebanon, which threaten us. We cannot have Iranian terror bases in Judea and Samaria as well, which will threaten Tel Aviv and the Tel-Aviv area." (Maariv - Israel's second largest daily, 31 March 2008, reporting on former premier Netanyahu's meeting with American Sec'y of State C. Rice).
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/875942.html
There is a growing consensus in Israel that a withdrawal from the West Bank is no longer possible….The reason is obvious: Israel …does not want Qassam rockets against Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Ben-Gurion International Airport. Most Israelis assume, in view of the experience from Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, that any territory that will be evacuated will become a launching pad for rocket attacks against Israel. (Haaretz, 1 July 2007)Susie Dym, spokesperson for Mattot Arim
Israel
3. Rabbi Algaze. Chareidi Rabbanim do not have their hands tied. They choose to be Silent.
In a message dated 9/16/2008 3:07:23 PM Eastern Daylight Time, dalgaze@nyc.rr.com writes:
Dear Robin,The Haredi Rabbis have their hands tied? Nonsense. They tie their own hands. A leader cannot claim to be a leader and complain that he does not have power. If they choose not to use it that is a choice, not a necessity.
I read with great sadness the analysis by Rabbi Hollander of the motives behind the gedolim's silence. He may be right that some decisions may be costly, that the rabbis do not have the information the government had and so on. My response is, What decision does not carry some potential danger? Moreover, is not remaining silent in itself a decision? When one chooses not to decide, that in itself is a decision. Don't the esteemed rabbis fear that that decision too may be very grave?With regard to Rabbi Steinsaltz' humble acknowledgment that he does not have all the information the government has and therefore he believes that the government decision is better? What does "information" have to do with ideology? If Meretz is in government or the Arab parties and they have "better" information, will that in itself allow them to make a better decision? That argument seems very spurious to me. On the matter of information, or military and security options, there is always some choices. It depends on which general you consult. You well remember that a Commander who disagreed with the disengagement was forced out of office. Obviously, he had a different opinion than the government's and the reason he was sidelined was not because they had better information but because they subscribed to a different viewpoint. Is Rabbi Steinsaltz so naive as to believe that better information leads necessarily to better decisions? I doubt it . I respect Rabbi Steinsaltz's mind too much that he would hold that simplistic view. I do believe that if he used that argument, he must think we are stupid. And not all of us are. Rabbi Steinzaltz' argument is spurious, fallacious and suspect.By the way, when it came to Oslo Rav Yosef consulted many generals. Rabin gave him one set of facts, while Sharon and Gandi gave him another. That he chose to follow Rabin was not because it was "better" information, but because he chose to do so for his own reasons. That had nothing to do with information and neither does Rabbi Steinsaltz' decision not to decide.Maybe Hashem is giving others, including the non religious, the opportunity to save Eretz Israel and withholding this privilege from our gedolim. If that is the case, I propose that we stop talking to them and about them and follow people like Rav Kook who, in spite of the vehement opposition of so many gedolim, stood his ground and made important nationalistic decisions on his own. We have upon whom to rely, our Rishonim, the simple reading of halacha and, above all, an honest reading of the Torah, gives us the path we should follow. Those who choose to be blind and deaf to these precepts are making their own decision and they will be held accountable for them one day. To paraphrase a Hassidic Rabbi, I would rather go to Gehinnom for not listening to the Rabbis than for sacrificing my obligations to what the Torah tells us we should do with the Land: Virishta, you shall inherit it.I would so much like to get an answer from any of the Rabbis or gedolim, but they choose not to engage in discussions. While the Jewish people remains without Torah leadership in one of the most important issues of our time, they choose to hide behind spurious arguments. When Moshe and Aaron were going to Pharaoh,the Elders of that generation sneaked away one by one and they left Moshe and Aaron to confront the Pharaoh alone. Who are the Moshe and Aaron today?
Silence and inaction are not doing nothing; they are actions and decisions that directly aid those who would harm us. An act of omission (which is what this is) is no less criminal or punishable than the act of commission. For 2,000 years, our Rabbis (at least some) have forgotten how to lead the people in matters of life and death. They can explain a blatt of Gemara about important issues--even life and death in theory--but when it comes to making actual decisions, they have become weak and indecisive. Now it's the argument that "their hands are tied" or "we do not know enough" or any other argument to justify their silence and inaction. The truth is that they do not need those reasons not to act. Lack of courage, low self-esteem and plain laziness are the real reasons for their inaction. Just as Yehoshua was punished for not conquering Eretz Israel soon enough and delayed due to his own laziness, the Rabbis of today have their own laziness (atzlut) that robs them of their power and effectiveness. Never mind the arguments they give; the bottom line is that they are paralyzed, partly by their own humility and partly by their lack of energy. O, that someone should remind them that if they do not act to defend Eretz Israel and the valiant builders who are risking so much in order that Israel remains in our hands, who will?By the way, you can never be wrong if you don't do anything or make any decisions. How comfortable it is to sit back and do nothing. In this fashion, you can never be criticized--as Rabbi Akiva was-- for taking sides or making decisions! In The Little Prince, the prince asks a king "why don't you give an order (that the people should stop)? The King replies, "I cannot give an order that the people may not like to listen." How sad it is when leaders follow instead of leading! How sad that some leaders prefer the comfort of not making errors to the courage of making choices and risking being wrong!Rabbi David Algaze
I think we should consider trying for another rabbis march before Yom Kippur. But not just one. The head of the Hatzalah Rabbi Eliezar Silver was at the front of the march. The book about Rabbi Weissmandl - The Unheeded Cry - ends with Rabbi Silver's dirge: "If only we had paid more attention to Rabbi Weissmandl...that brave......if only, if only, if only."
We should have one and then another and another march I would think....
I have wondered for some time if roots go back to the Holocaust. What I refer to is our not being honest about our behavior during, before and after the Shoah. There were great heroes and so many were victims and I cannot begin to imagine their suffering. I can only cry for them. My suggestion is that we have not done teshuva. First we must face our history. Perfidy by Ben Hecht covers some of this material - the trial of Kastner.
I refer however to behavior I only recently became aware of. I began studying the life and work of Rabbi Dov Weissmandl from Slovakia. Are you familiar with his memoir "Min Hametzar" and the biography "The Unheeded Cry"?
One quote from Rabbi W. " One day you too will beat your breasts because you will know that you could have saved us and you did not." "The Unheeded Cry" by Professor Fuchs of Jerusalem records the "secret" memo from the heads of the the rescue efforts in Palestine - how they dismissed Rabbi Weissmandl's success in stopping deportations in Slovakia and his "Europe Plan" to save one million Jews. In this latter endeavor, Eichman had given permission for the Joint to come to Slovakia or for a rep. of Rabbi Weissmandl to travel to Switzerland to conduct negotiations.
I would ask you please to watch the short video from "Among Blind Fools: where he cries for the dead and for the silence. http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/mediaclips/weissmandl/weissmandlvideo.cfm He sent hundreds, perhaps thousands of communications to Jewish and secular leaders begging for money for bribing Eichman, and for bombing of the Auschwitz train tracks.
Sincerely,
Renanah Goldhar
My comments to Renanah,
It's hard to understand how the Rabbanim had only one march knowing the genocide that was taking place. We can not give up in the face of apathy! Robin.
Learning from our history... Now, before it is too late, the Rabbanim must mobilize the Nation, raise the spiritual level of the people to unite and speak out for our entitlement of Eretz Yisroel and act upon it. These major Jewish organizations have Washington offices and databases and networks to thousands of Rabbanim and shuls and to hundreds of thousands of caring Jews! We all can each write letters and make phone calls at the very least. If we do our hishtadlus, our share, we will then be worthy G-d willing....
Otherwise G-d forbid, the partner and heir to Hitler's legacy, Hamas, Hizbollah, AlQaida, the PA etc. will be empowered to attempt once again to accomplish what Hitler failed to accomplish Chas Vechalila which is the destruction of the Jewish People and the desecration of G-ds name.
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