Guest post by R. Alan Haber
Rabbi Alan Haber is one of the founders and Directors of Michlelet Mevaseret Yerushalayim (MMY). He has been involved in women’s education full-time for over twenty years.
Dr. Ruth Calderon’s inaugural address to the Knesset last week has gone viral on YouTube. Nine days after being posted, it has already received close to 180,000 views.[1] The speech is entirely in Hebrew, and there are no subtitles on the video. I therefore deduce that the great majority of the 180,000 people who watched it were Israelis.
It’s worth asking what it was about this speech that Israelis found so remarkable. When I ponder that, I come to very different conclusions than those expressed in Gil’s post earlier this week. I am not going to argue with Gil’s impressive analysis of the Talmudic sources regarding a talmid she-eino hagun and learning she-lo li-shmah. I believe that his interpretation of those sources is absolutely correct. But applying them to this case shows a misunderstanding of contemporary Israeli society.
From afar, today’s Israel may seem overwhelmingly secular and (as Gil put it) shallow. Even the secular Zionists who built the state, although they were militantly anti-religious, were at least dedicated to their ideology and to building a country. But today’s society, by contrast, is often portrayed as increasingly post-Zionist, self-absorbed, materialistic and empty of values. Particularly, watching the Israeli media (the part of Israel most visible to those outside the country), one can be forgiven for believing that most Israelis care much more about what is currently going on in the “Big Brother” reality TV show than they do about Torah or the Jewish people.[2]
However, if you scratch the surface just a little bit, you see a very different story. Leaving aside the fact that the percentage of Israelis who are religious or at least closely affiliated with religion is much, much higher than anywhere else in the Jewish world (has anyone noticed that as many as one out of every three members of the new Knesset is religious??), even the so-called “secular” population is a lot less secular than meets the eye.
If one judges only by actual halachic observance, then indeed a significant percentage of Israelis are secular (or, to use the Israeli term, chilonim). But although the media doesn’t show it, many of these “secular” people are actually very connected to their Jewishness and even to Torah – much more so than the average American Jew, for example. Secular Israelis study Tanach and Jewish history, recognize all Jewish holidays, hike the length and breadth of Eretz Yisrael, and view their country as the State of the Jewish People. More to the point, many of them are thirsting to be even more connected and are constantly looking for opportunities to be learn more. In fact, a number of months ago, I wrote a blog post documenting an amazing but little-known example of this phenomenon, the “Selichot Tours” that attract thousands of secular Israelis to Jerusalem every night during Elul and Aseret Ymei Teshuva. Dr. Calderon herself is one of the primary leaders of this renewal movement. She founded the first “Secular Bet Midrash” in Jerusalem, and a few years later, founded an institute for Jewish studies in Tel Aviv (which today has branches in other cities as well), and made reference to this in her speech as well.
As a religious person who studies Torah daily, and refers to it every evening with the phrase Ki Hem Chayyenu v’Orech Yamenu, I share Gil’s hesitation (and perhaps even suspicion) about those who study Torah but are not willing (at least not yet) to follow all of its dictates. Yet at the same time, we must recognize that Dr. Calderon and the movement she leads do not (as some may think) study Talmud and Jewish texts for purely intellectual or cultural reasons. For Dr. Calderon, the study of Talmud is not equivalent to English literature, Chinese history or any other field of study at the university. She approaches it not as a detached academic, but rather as a passionate Jew who wants to (in her own words) “reclaim that which is ours”.
In an interview six years ago, she said “I do not wish to be a spectator on the world of religion – I want to participate in it.” And in last week’s Knesset speech she described the Torah as “a gift that every one of us received, and we have all been granted the opportunity to meditate upon it as we create the realities of our lives.” And she ended her speech with a tefillah to Hashem asking Him to bless her efforts in the Knesset on behalf of the Jewish people.
Indeed, she and other like her violate halacha on a daily basis, and do not believe it to be binding on them. Is this situation ideal? Far from it. Does such a movement perhaps even pose a danger to Torah? Perhaps. But in the big picture, this is a truly blessed phenomenon. As the Midrash (Eicha Rabba, Petichta) says, “Halevay Oti Azavu v’Torati Shamaru” – “If only they would (even) abandon Me (i.e., cease to observe the commandments) as long as they preserve My Torah.” Why is this so? The Midrash goes on to explain that it is because ultimately, we believe in the power of the Torah itself. Those who study it out of genuine love will eventually be enlightened by it and come to accept it.
So I suppose, like Gil, I also see the dilemma. But if it is a choice between an Israeli society that studies Torah out of a genuine for these texts to be a guiding force (even if not yet the entire authoritative basis) of their lives, or the type of Jewishly ignorant assimilated Jew typical in the Diaspora, there is no question in my mind which is better.
[1] By contrast, the speech given by Yair Lapid, the head of Calderon’s Yesh Atid party who led the campaign that brought 19 new MKs into the Knesset, was also posted on YouTube and got less than 15,000 views.
[2] Truth be told, even many religious Israelis share this conception of their secular counterparts. Dr. Calderon made this point herself in the speech when she acknowledged that many in her secular community often believe that haredim are wasting their time studying archaic texts and aren’t contributing anything to the Jewish People. She then pointed out that those very haredim often “feel that they are carrying the entire burden of Jewish culture and tradition on their shoulders while we are going to the beach and enjoying life”. She enjoined both sides to recognize the value of what the other is doing, and to learn from one another. Statements like this showing respect for Yeshiva studies, coming from a secular politician, should certainly be welcome.
Further, stop quoting sources, they are irrelevant as you yourself prove by readily ignoring any source that does not back up your preconceived vision of an ideal Jewish society. The Rambam and R’ Saadia are trampled underfoot by your entire community daily. You use Torah to worship your sociological model while showing disdain for anyone who tries to study Torah on their own terms. The days of such hypocrisy being tolerated are over.
Didn’t that smaller band who defeated the Hellenists do so via guerrilla warfare? I know there will be revisionism that turns Yehuda Hamaccabi into a rosh yeshiva but at the very least you need to admit that he was “also” a warrior. How can one possibly use the chashmonaim as a paradigm for today’s chareidi community, which totally abhors the idea of physically defense?
Odd comment by artscroll
Shabbat 139a “when there are no more arrogant people there will be no more “heretics”(1)
(1) Arrogant people are those who wear long side locks of hair and wear distinguished clothing. (rashi)
It plays itself out in Israeli society all too well. I’m curious how the footnote got passed the censors :P
I am shocked and saddened by the vitriol on display here. What has become of the sanctity of word, written or spoken? May G-d have mercy upon us all.
Shut down funding to RZ Kollelim, and we’ll talk. Until then, the hypocrite is you.
You should be burying your face in shame over Bennett joining with Lapid – who, never mind being mesader kiddushin in gay marriages, never mind supporting a complete Hellenization of the State (that is exactly what he wants) openly advocates eradicating the word “Yehudi” from Hatikvah! Not religious and not zionism, nothing!! – over a stupid issue that will solve nothing, just open up another front of war, and lose merits for the physical war with the Arabs that is virtually sure to come some time in the next Knesset session. It is pure Charedi hatred and/or political prostitution. There is no other explanation.
They assure themselves publicly that rockets will not fall on Bnei Brak because of the protection afforded by the Torah learning of that city. On the other hand, where their yeshivot are situated more practically in the line of fire (such as in Sderot, Ashkelon, Ashdod), they claim that one may not rely on miracles and must relocate to the center of Israel until the rocket fire abates. It is this hypocritical position that reveals the fact that the haredim themselves know that it is not the merit of their Torah learning that protects them, but the military.
This is a parroting of (one of) Natan Slifkin’s infantile argument(s) in a scandalously wrongheaded article in the JPost. When you are not fighting, do you say Tehillim for the soldiers? Do you believe it helps? If yes – would you relocate if your shul was getting bombed? Why? If you don’t think it helps, why are you doing it?
. It is pure Charedi hatred and/or political prostitution. There is no other explanation.
==================================
I think you mean there is no other explanation that you will accept.
KT
Let’s hear it, then.
How can one possibly use the chashmonaim as a paradigm for today’s chareidi community, which totally abhors the idea of physically defense?
No worse than using Yeshoua bin Nun’s army lead by a God-fearing Jew and the gadol ha dor as the paradigm for subordinating oneself (and rhetorically complaining about others who refuse to do so) to an Army controlled by minim and kofrim, who expressly state that one of their purposes, besides national defense, is forcibly acculturating inductees to a secular philosophy.
IH, I don’t know if you have given up on this thread yet (I wouldn’t blame you), but if not I have an assignment for you.
Compare and contrast Bina/Secular Yeshiva/etc. with the Reconstructionist movement in the US. To what extent and in what ways do they parallel one another? Your answer should not exceed 3 pages double-spaced.
No worse than using Yeshoua bin Nun’s army lead by a God-fearing Jew and the gadol ha dor as the paradigm for subordinating oneself (and rhetorically complaining about others who refuse to do so) to an Army controlled by minim and kofrim, who expressly state that one of their purposes, besides national defense, is forcibly acculturating inductees to a secular philosophy.
Yes, the comparison to Yehoshua is equally fluffy.
On the other hand, has anyone seriously suggested that a Talmud Chacham was pattur from a defensive war when the king was an oved avoda zara (aka most of the melachim).
>Shut down funding to RZ Kollelim, and we’ll talk. Until then, the hypocrite is you
If there are any that serve as a loophole from service, then I agree. Cut off funding.
>You should be burying your face in shame over Bennett joining with Lapid
For all his many faults, he is head and shoulders a better partner than the chareidim. At least with him there is common ground. With the chareidim there is nothing but their disdane for us and our money being taken by them.
When you are not fighting, do you say Tehillim for the soldiers?
No, I don’t believe in using scripture as a magical rite.
>Do you believe it helps
No
? If yes – would you relocate if your shul was getting bombed?
No, we were within rocket range a few months back and stayed up in spite of the air raid sirens, unlike the Chareidi cowards who fled to bnei brak.
Why? If you don’t think it helps, why are you doing it?
It doesn’t help. At best it increases morale. The exact opposite of what happens when chareidim who “protect” us with their Torah flee when the first rocket falls. The header yeshiva relocated to the rocket zone to boost morale, lehavdil from the Chareidi cowards.
>No worse than using Yeshoua bin Nun’s army lead by a God-fearing Jew and the gadol ha dor as the paradigm for subordinating oneself (and rhetorically complaining about others who refuse to do so) to an Army controlled by minim and kofrim, who expressly state that one of their purposes, besides national defense, is forcibly acculturating inductees to a secular philosophy.
More dumb excuses. Secular philosophy is all around us. It is part of every western society. The good parts and the bad parts. The army is not that different. Just educate your children to want to choose Torah or else you will loose them. You are loosing plenty now with your own educational system – no army involved. Heck, Rav dessler said that your attrition rate is expected and an appropriate price to pay for producing “gedolim”. Of course, you haven’t produced any of those either, but at least you get to keep the dropout rate. Other than that, you can continue using your sinaat chinam as a smokescreen for your cowardice and lack of civic responsibility but no one is buying it. Heck, most chareidim probably don’t buy it. The ones I have worked with ( in mixed environments, didn’t see the army as a bigger challenge than the rest of the big wide world.
Yes, the comparison to Yehoshua is equally fluffy.
On the other hand, has anyone seriously suggested that a Talmud Chacham was pattur from a defensive war when the king was an oved avoda zara (aka most of the melachim).
Don’t mean to disagree with your (partial) agreement with me, but your example misses the point. An army lead by an idolatrous king fighting a defensive war in the time of Bayis Rishon presumably was engaged in just that — fighting a defensive war. War is over, everyone goes home.
Here you have a constant commitment, in both times of war and peace. You have a government that openly announces that the IDF has a dual purpose — war, and education, or to use an old phrase (IH would call it “quaint”) re-education.
Your argument would gain a great deal more credibility if you advocated that the IDF should give up its re-education mission and focus solely on the defense needs of the country. Somehow, that part seems to have gone missing in the latest rhetoric, including by MK Dov Lipman in his speech.
(Of course, focusing solely on the defense needs of the country might call for complete rethinking of the whole enterprise. Quite a few have called for replacing the current system with a volunteer/professional army, which the US has had for decades. I am not such an expert to say they are right, but it is odd that no one has taken that proposal seriously — which could be combined with generous benefits for those who do serve. What I do know is that many have told me that there is surplus of “jobnikim” in the IDF that it does not know what to do with, and drafting thousands of Charedim will simply add to their ranks.)
Secular philosophy is all around us. It is part of every western society. The good parts and the bad parts. The army is not that different.
This is about the stupidest thing I have seen in a while. In the Army, you are under the control of someone else, subject to military discipline (that means jail) if you don’t listen, and at the mercy of your commanding officers. In society in general (at least a free society) you are not.
In civilian life, I can chose not to attend a lecture, or listen to a woman sing, or not to eat a certain food. In the Army I can be ordered to do any of those and be thrown in the brink for refusing.
Shlomo – It’s an interesting question. The primary difference, it seems to me, is that Reconstructionism is an indigenous American response to “living in two civilizations” whereas Bina/Secular Yeshiva/etc is an indigenous Israeli response to living in The Jewish State. This is no small thing – the nascent Secular Yeshiva movement is not an import of foreign ideas, but sui generis.
That said, my sense is the Reconstructionist movement is in flux so any comparison would also need to be careful to define which Reconstructionism is being referenced. As a 2nd generation Reconstructionist Rabbi has told me: “Kaplan and my Dad’s generation were attempting to Americanize Jews. We are attempting to Judaize Americans.”
So, perhaps in that way there is a similarity – the Secular Yeshiva movement is, arguably, attempting to Judaize Israelis.
>would you relocate if your shul was getting bombed? Why?
I don’t have to answer this in the hypothetical; I live in the south and did not leave during the war.
However, the question itself shows a serious lack of appreciation for כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה. While the RZ yeshivot relocated to the south to demonstrate that “you are not alone”, they fulfilled this meta-principle of Torah, while the haredi schools, which claimed to actually be able to physically protect cities with their Torah learning, ran away in cries of סכנת נפשות. According to their logic of the power of their learning, this is a transgression of לא תעמד על דם רעך.
The Rambam says that the way Avoda Zara destroyed the Jews was that it made them unable to accurately see reality and train for wars properly. The way Torah protects is by giving us “straight vision” – the ability to see the world how it really is and the wisdom to harness nature to achieve our goals – not magically, but naturally.
Look, we all know that the haredim don’t actually believe that their Torah learning protects physically from danger or war – that much is clear from actions which speak far louder than words. Haredi society needs to take the next logical step and admit it, and therefore contribute to the defense of the country physically, and its material sustenance. (This is all beside the fact that in מלחמת מצווה there is no פטור for anyone.)
By the way, I have been told in the past by Haredi rabbis that “of course we fight when necessary. During the Six Day War, the yeshiva boys went out and filled sand bags to help with the war effort!” It is as if the haredi rabbi did not understand that because they were not trained – because they had not invested the time and effort necessary – to be soldiers, when the war actually came, they could only participate in civil defense activities usually left to women and children. In the modern world, to be ready to join in when a war happens, you need to be ready. You can’t just say, “now there is a war, now I will join.”
The same thing goes for the haredi outlook on work. They say, learn until you need to work, and then work. But don’t they realize that the world we live in today requires training and investment before you need to work, so that when you need to work, you are capable of doing something meaningful, useful, and lucrative? It is attitudes of disdain such as these towards the enterprise of modern man that make the haredim anachronistic. In their hands the Torah, one of whose main strengths is its ability to adapt to change, is turned into a frozen artifact of time and creates a society of people who are living about two centuries back.
I’m done with Chardal. The weaknesses and contradictions in his views are readily apparent. (I note as well the implicit concession that this campaign in motivated by anti-Charedi sentiment expressed in classic anti-Semitic terms.)
Anonymous, the Charedi families did not leave the south either. The Yeshivos boys, for whom the admistration have a responsibility toward the parents, relocated. Whether or not the boys were actually present in the south or learning for the people in the south makes no difference at all in terms of its efficacy. Armies also abandon positions, and nobody thinks they don’t protect.
The Charedim absolutely do believe their learning provides protection (not instead of the army, in tandem with it). There are many places where the Netziv spells it out; I’ll choose one, from his שאר ישראל essay (the context is success in battle):
דכמו שיש הרבה מיני כלי זין והראש והמובחר שבהם הוא החרב, כך יש הרבה זכויות שגורמות להצליח את ישראל, כמו שאמרו על דורו של אחאב, שלא היה בהם דילטורין, ואמרו הקובע מקום לתפילתו אויביו נופלים תחתיו, ועוד יש הרבה, אבל כלי זיין המיוחד לישראל הוא עסק התורה שנמשל לחרב שנאמר חגור חרבך על ירך
There is much more there, I would very strongly recommend that you read it. Especially the parts where he stresses that failing in החזקת תורה is a major cause of defeat in war…
On Yeshiva boys going to the army, Rav Neriyah, Rav Arieli, Rav Moshe Feinstein, Rav Waldenberg etc., have written that Yeshiva boys are absolved from the IDF. The Yeshivot Gevohot such as Mercaz Harav. Har Hamor, Beit El, etc. keep their boys out of the army until a very late age when they can no longer fight, although they could have. So your claim is as much against them.
Charedi society is undergoing gradual change. The springing up of Kiryat Ono and other such places proves this. But people are not satisfied, they want to impose quicker change. The entire effort will most certainly fail. The Charedim will retreat yet further into their barricades, will go to jail if necessary, and battle what has been cast as a gezeiras shmad, with all that entails. The Charedi public has not yet lost a battle over their core issues (such as sherut leumi), and will not lose this one either. Machoness notwithstanding, the RZ lost brutally in Gush Katif as a direct result of the govt. trying to cut off funds to Yeshivos, אם ראית עיירות נעקרות…
and will continue to lose if they choose the path of destroying the Olam HaTorah. It will not be forgiven and without Charedi support there is no majority for the settlement enterprise. Now Chardal might bluster again, but he underestimates Charedi resolve on this issue. We are determined, we are ready to do what it takes, and we will defeat you.
“You” will defeat “us”? Binyomin, you really seem to believe that you are separate from RZ. This is unbelievably short-sighted of you, and you really haven’t gotten any closer to an understanding of כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה.
I hope one day you will admit that there is also Torah on the RZ side. The RZ yeshivot push Torah and army, spiritual and physical activity. There is one community in this discussion that fulfills all the aspects of Jewish nationhood, not just the elitist part.
>Machoness notwithstanding, the RZ lost brutally in Gush Katif as a direct result of the govt. trying to cut off funds to Yeshivos
Actually, it was the haredi Shas party that provided the votes necessary for the disengagement to occur. You can’t be the cause of the disengagement and then point to that event as evidence of the “other side’s” lack of Torah. I am surprised that you would say such a thing.
>and will continue to lose if they choose the path of destroying the Olam HaTorah.
It is a shame that you call the haredi world exclusively the olam hatorah. As I said earlier, ספרא וסייפא exist in the RZ beit midrash, and both are part of Torah.
Correction: Shas did not vote for disengagement when the actual vote was brought to the Knesset – but it did support the government until that point, which allowed the government to proceed until it no longer needed Shas’s support.
Correction: It was Yahadut Hatorah that did not vote against the Disengagement.
I am fully aware and I fully agree that there is Torah by the RZ, and that many are as, or more, committed to full halachic observance.
There, the day came sooner than you think. Now, will you concede that the Charedim are not all one unit of parasitic fakers? The first person on this thread to cast this as “us vs. them” was not I.
The cynics will say we don’t mean it, we’re all money-grubbing parasitical liars who think our blood is redder than anyone else’s, a claim put forth here with no challenge from anyone. “You have nothing but disdane [sic] for us and take all our money,” is despicable rhetoric worthy of the vilest anti-Semites in history. Der Sturmer comparisons are, for once, quite apt. But no one says a word.
No, we mean it. Understand that when it comes to shutting down Yeshivos, invoking כל ישראל ערבים is strange. What comes to mind is:
תלמוד בבלי מסכת ברכות דף סא עמוד ב
רצונכם שתעלו ליבשה, ונדור אני ואתם כשם שדרו אבותי עם אבותיכם? אמרו לו: אתה הוא שאומרים עליך פקח שבחיות? לא פקח אתה, אלא טפש אתה! ומה במקום חיותנו אנו מתיראין, במקום מיתתנו על אחת כמה וכמה! אף אנחנו, עכשיו שאנו יושבים ועוסקים בתורה, שכתוב בה +דברים ל’+ כי הוא חייך וארך ימיך – כך, אם אנו הולכים ומבטלים ממנה – על אחת כמה וכמה
Cutting us off from Torah is cutting us from life itself, and if we are sent to jail for it, well,
אשריך רבי עקיבא שנתפסת על דברי תורה
Great. So the State of Israel, the single largest supporter of Torah learning (and “Torah learning”) in, well, the history of the world, and the lone protector of the lives of millions of Jews from physical harm (and a half-million charedim from starvation) is now akin to the Romans. Talk about living in hateful fantasy worlds.
They have been, and we are grateful. There were many hospitable countries that turned against the Jews, and Israel is fully capable of becoming inhospitable and outright hostile to the Charedim. We are, to many in Israel, what the Jews were to Europe. The weakest element and most convenient scapegoat, and one need look no further than the current Purimfest circus of a country that is under imminent threat of nuclear annihilation focus all its efforts and coalition negotiations on a fake “shared burden” that is nothing of the sort.
I’m so sorry to hear how badly the State of Israel treats you.
Given Shlomo’s question amidst the rancor, perhaps an opportunity for some early 20th century American Jewish history that may not be that well known:
From The Jewish People in America: A Time for Building by Gerald Sorin (Johns Hopkins, 1992) p. 189
Everyone participating here is a product of these (continuing) changes in Orthodoxy, grappling with 20th and now 21st century realities, irrespective of whether they admit it to themselves or not.
>Here you have a constant commitment, in both times of war and peace.
Um … this is a necessity of modern warfare. You think we can wait to start organizing and training when the enemy actually attacks?!? This is the milchemet mitzva.
>You have a government that openly announces that the IDF has a dual purpose — war, and education, or to use an old phrase (IH would call it “quaint”) re-education.
It serves an important social purpose of getting people from different backgrounds to feel and think as members of one nation. Something the chareidim can sure use much more of.
> What I do know is that many have told me that there is surplus of “jobnikim” in the IDF that it does not know what to do with
Jobnikim are also important for the army to function. Besides, the manpower argument is the most idiotic one ever, so every other segment of the Jewish world should risk their lives while cowardly chareidim stay at home?!?!?
>This is about the stupidest thing I have seen in a while. In the Army, you are under the control of someone else, subject to military discipline (that means jail) if you don’t listen, and at the mercy of your commanding officers. In society in general (at least a free society) you are not.
Please, there is no escaping general western culture. It is all around you, even in the most isolated parts of mea shearim. the dropout rate in the army is no worse than any other activity frum jews do between 18 and 21 years of age. college in america. heck, the cahreidi system has a 30% dropout rate – and this according to chareidi educators themselves. its a red herring, otherwise the chareidim would set up conditions for enlisment. They don’t. They just want to continue their cowardly welfare culture.
>The Yeshivot Gevohot such as Mercaz Harav. Har Hamor, Beit El, etc. keep their boys out of the army until a very late age when they can no longer fight, although they could have. So your claim is as much against them.
Almost all enlist. and many still enlist in combat units. In any case, they are a tiny elite part of the larger RZ world. They are not an entire community dedicated to avoiding work and national service like the chareidim are.
>We are determined, we are ready to do what it takes, and we will defeat you.
Yes, the approach that brought us to a world where 90% of Jews are estranged from Torah will “win”. One more such victory and we are truly all done for. You will not do a thing. Once the money is cut off, you will normalize and start contributing. Until then, you will continue feeling self-righteous.
>They have been, and we are grateful.
Yes, you are grateful like Jews were greatful to Franz Yosef… wait, Jews actually composed a prayer for him, and he actually WAS an antisemite. stop lying, you miserable fanatic meragel.
Ye’yasher kochakhem R. Haber and respondents, all of whom have raised excellent points.
Just one suggestion vis-a-vis R’ Chardal’s intriguing insight(final paragraph at 2:29 p.m. today) that those who refuse to serve in the IDF risk repeating the transgression of the meraglim. See Tosafot to Kiddushin 42a, s.v. yetomim, who posit that the conquest of the land by Yehoshua was unique in that it was “al pi ha-Dibbur”, i.e. by direct prophetic command of Mosheh Rabbeinu. Thus, as I understand Tosafot’s comment, the meraglim were culpable for denying the prophecy of Mosheh Rabbeinu. By contradistinction, I am confident that we can say (based on R. Haber’s post) that there is no Israeli today who (Heaven forfend) actually denies the prophecy of Mosheh Rabbeinu, such that we can rest assured that no Jew is actually duplicating the transgression of the meraglim. Ashreinu she-zakhinu le-kakh! At the same time, this does not detract from the cogency of the argument that IDF service represents a great mitzvah for other reasons (e.g. ezrat Yisrael mi-yad tzar, etc.) I am proud that my synagogue recites the prayer for IDF every Shabbat.
Now, now, chardal, let’s be fair. Franz Joseph was not an antisemite. My late grandmother, born a subject of his, attributed this to a Jewish girlfriend in his youth. :-)
Chardal and Binyamin Eckstein: I know that each of you thinks he is Mordecai and other is Haman, but still… Purim is over!
I was wrong on one, thing. There are a few members of the chareidi community who are doing a cheshbon nefesh:
http://www.jewishpress.com/blogs/yoris-news-clips/12-good-reasons-why-secular-israelis-reject-haredim/2013/02/16/0/?print
Rabbi Dovid Bloch says many of the things I have been saying as an insider. How anyone can argue that this situation can continue is beyond me.
Apropos: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=444429402293149#!/photo.php?v=444429402293149
אלעזר שטרן Elazar stern’s video: שאלתי לשר הדתות 26.2.12
[...] A more muted form of criticism, coupled with recognizing the benefits of such a development [...]
Is anyone else who hasn’t joined in here appalled by Binyomin Eckstein’s use of the F word?
Did you miss my comment?