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I have compaints against Rabbanim. I am getting fed up. But I am not discouraged. That is because I have lived in close proximity to Chevron and have learned something about Ahavas Chinom. Read through till the end because this will BeEzrat Hashem have a happy ending.....
Basically I see a pattern. The problem is not my Emunas Chachomim. Quite the opposite. I expect alot from Rabbanim. I believe they can make a difference.
What I've found is that they are afraid that they can not make a difference. They believe that they are Chagavim, grasshoppers. They don't believe in themselves..
Let's take a few hypothetical scenarios.
A Mother is subjected to physical abuse. She goes to a shelter and she gets a Get. The children who are young, demonstrate tendencies of physical aggression towards each other that if not addressed will repeat a cycle of physical abuse when they grow up. Friends of the family tell Rabbanim. Rabbanim who are told are sympathetic. Let the Mother and Ohel deal with it. These Rabbanim are barely getting paid themselves. There are so many needy congregants. You can't really blame them.... What more can they do?The family feels rejected and alone unable to handle their issues. They are embarrased to go for Shabbos meals when invited because they are disruptive at the Shabbos table with their physical fights and the kids would rather stay at home where nobody bothers to correct their behavior. The children are still young. We will see how this plays out in the future......
Another scenario: A single women in her middle age is homeless. She is in the country illegally. She comes from a chashuv ancestry who have passed on. She is not on talking terms with other members of her family. A kind family takes her in figuring she will eventually find a job and move on. This isn't the case. The women doesn't pay rent. She insists that the chesed will benefit the kind family and that she is doing them a tova. by giving them the opportunity to do this chesed. Shalom Bayis issues set in. Rabbanim are consulted. The kind family did what they could. Can the Rabbanim take over. The sympathetic Rabbanim are at a loss. What we do or say won't make a difference.....What can we do? Just throw her out.....
A shul is renting an apt to an elderly Jewish man who is very messy. The shul says that he is causing roaches and a fire hazard. They call the officials and evict him. The man dies soon after.....
Rabbanim teach about the evils of TV, Internet, Nivul Peh etc. rightfully so. A women goes to a Rav expressing her concern that these infractions take place in her home. Rabbanim reassure her. Her husband, a baal Teshuva, son of a Holocaust Survivor who went through many years of the worst Gehenim imaginable raised her son from infancy fixed to the TV. How can one blame this mother of anything????? So the Rav says to this woman who brought her concerns to them, you're also imperfect. Try to be positive. Shalom Bayis is most important. Divorce is not a good solution. Who will support you? (probably thinking It will be the headache of the Clal). Don't be a chnyuk. Alot of men curse. Then comes their son who grows into a teenager, a good kid, and guess what. He also likes the internet and uses nivul peh besides breaking all the rules in the book. The mother pleads with the Rabbanim and says b"h it's surfaced now when he's 14. Surely you will now address the matter. I've been waiting so many years. Better now then when he's married. why should his wife suffer. Her pleas go on sympathetic but deaf ears. Sorry,. When the child is willing to behave like a Ben Torah we'll take him back. "If you won't teach him who will" she cries. It's up to you and your husband to deal with it. Nisht Inzere Sugia... Our Yeshiva isn't equipped.. We have a Psak from Rav Pam that if a child can endanger the Ruchniyus of the other children the school has the right to throw him out.....
Now look what takes place in Eretz Yisroel. 10,000 beautiful Jews are thrown out of their beautiful homes. Rabbanim didn't protest. They didn't cry out in pain. Subsidies were promised to the Yeshivas and their silence was bought. What about all the halachos about property rights? Baba Kama, Baba Metzia? Rabbanim are consulted. Nisht Inzere Sugia they reply. 8 years later, many expelled families are still without permanent homes. The gov't is holding up their permits necessary to start building. They are in temporary homes that leak that were meant to last 2 years and not 8. Another branch of the gov't is getting fed up that these expelled people haven't moved yet. They start charging penalties to their rentees, the expellees, of the temporary homes. Some of these families are still paying for mortgage for the old homes the gov't destroyed. Arab employees are suing them, the Gush Katif employers for compensation because these unfortunate Arabs lost their jobs after the expulsion. Rabbanim of the most religious parties consistently vote with the left wing gov't against the rights of the settlers. Ask Mattot Arim for their record. Silence from the Rabbanim... Nisht Inzere Sugia....
In America, Obama, supporter of Radical Islam and Nazi loving countries, empowerer of the Muslim Brotherhood nominates 3 key gov't officials for office. Secy of State, Secy of Defense and head of CIA. All these individuals have a proven track record against Israel and pro Iran and/or radical Islam. Letters go out to Rabbanim pleading them to speak out for Eretz Yisroel. The Rabbonim are silent. They are afraid it will hurt their relationship with the American gov't. What can they do? They are weak....
Now let's analyse what's happening.
This teenage kid with all his issues is threatening their Yeshiva. It's like he's drilling a hole in their boat. It's Mutar to throw him overboard.
Really? If this kid without too many tools can actually drill a hole in their boat, then it means that their boat is too flimsy and they had better get a stronger boat. Or perhaps they do have a very strong boat and the kid is perhaps wrecking it by graffitti or causing dents. But does this warrant throwing him off the boat hoping that some nice whale will be out there ready to catch him? Why do they not realize that this kid is in no way endangering their boat but just needs some help and a good paint job with some patchwork will get the ship in better condition it ever was to begin with.
What they fail to realize is that they are right that there is someone drilling a hole in their boat. It's not the kid. It's the evil ones who have nuclear weapons and they are slowly infiltrating their boat and would love nothing better than to drill that hole. Perhaps that kid that they threw over will grow up to have what it takes to fight such evil people.
So where is the Ahavas Chinom?
Let's take those 10,000 families who were thrown out. In spite of everything that was done for them they want nothing more than to have Ahavas Yisroel. They cry to Hashem but deep in their hearts they don't want to hurt the Rabbonim who betrayed them.
And that kid that was thrown off the boat, his mother was there to hopefully catch him. She tells him. My dear son... Hashem has many strikes against those who threw you out of Yeshiva instead of embracing you with love by teaching you what you might have done wrong. They didn't really yet help the abused mother teach the abusive children. They would have allowed the homeless women to be thrown to the streets and didn't try to teach her that what she had done was wrong and they evicted a poor elderly man. They betrayed the people of Gush Katif. Just last night 9 settler homes in the Shomron, ready to be moved in, were destroyed in honor of Obama coming to Israel. The Rabbanim have not protested this nor Obama's nominations. Do the Rabbanim need one more strike against them up in heaven, against us the entire people. Please find it in your heart to forgive them and in your Zechus Hashem should have Rachmanus on his people.
And you know what? I believe this kid did.
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Sincerely,
Robin Ticker
Activist emails sent to my list are L'Ilui Nishmat Yisrael ben David Aryeh ob"m (Izzy - Kaplan) a great activist and lover of Eretz Yisroel, Am Yisroel and the Torah. Yehi Zichrono Baruch.
Most of these emails are posted on Shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com
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