Blood Brothers In Arms

I was infuriated and horrified that there were very few famous charedi figures at the levayah of the eight slain bochurim in Yerushalayim last week. R’ Elyashiv and the Belzer attended, while the Gerrer sent his condolences via messengers, and the Pinsker –who adheres to the Yerushalayim Aida Charedis and their ideology- gave a lecture in Mercaz Harav.

Now, I am not a great fan of hassidism and certainly not of the Belzer. But in this case, he behaved like a true leader. He went to the levayah, he went to visit the injured in the hospital, he did the right thing, and that is exactly what everyone should have done. Ditto for the Pinsker and even Aaron Teitelbaum of Kiryas Joel. I very seldom have good things to say about hassidim, but in this case, I totally take my hat off to these Rebbes. I think these are great steps forward, and shows that at least in times of tragedy we are still, to some extent, able to put our quibbles aside and be quasi-Jews.

But of course the hatemongers and ignorami who can’t read simple Hebrew, much less understand a shmuess by an elderly rav, had to turn reality on its head. It seems the words of Rav Don Segal made some people very angry. “How dareth he”, declares pompously a blogger, “voice such opinions right now, in middle of shiva! This tears us all apart”. But if that blogger isn’t outright lying, he can’t read Hebrew too well: first off, R’ Don was giving a ‘vaad’ – a shmuess to a regular group of talmidim – not for the media. How and why the lecture was aired, I don’t know. But the fact of the matter is, the aforementioned blogger completely twisted R’ Don’s words, and took them out of context.

What Rav Segal really said was that the chiloni government, through their actions and their defiling of the Torah put the Jews in danger. He mentioned that the media reported the murder and immediately turned to sports, as if nothing had happened. He also mentioned Ben-Gurion and Dayan’s futile capture and immediate release of the Sinai (the first time, in ’57, when many soldiers were killed just to show muscle, while the corrupt government momentarily relinquished the occupied land.) The Rav was clear in putting the blame squarely on the secularist government.

The controversial part of the speech: "...I'll tell you what I think You know what happened in the Yeshiva, רח"ל. Why specifically there? These are things from heaven, ...because that ideology that [the State] is part of the redemption, is the opposite of emunah and a transgression of the three oaths... ..They are all beloved and holy, but there is a greater demand (by G-d, i.e. responsibility) from observant people."

Reb Don didn’t at all blame the victims. That’s Brainless Blogger’s phantasmagoria. Although I don’t like when people –even great people- make statements as if they’d speak to G-d face to face, I don’t turnin a blind eye to our History either. Perhaps Blogger Brainless still has his Gideon’s Bible open at page one, but during the fourteen centuries from kibush ha’aretz until churbon bayis sheni, whenever Jews sinned, disaster was brought upon them by their enemies. And especially for those who do believe that the current occupancy of the Promised Land is akin to previous ones, there is no reason to forgo the immense responsibility that goes with it.

But of course, if one can stir up a little hatred while pretending that all he wants is love and peace, why not? Proof that this blogger is malicious, is that he harshly condemned rabbis and others who called for vigilante forces to safeguard Jews and rebel against the treacherous government. So this idiotologue holds “the Law” above all. Just like the murderers who put the heiliga “White Paper” (British prohibition of immigration to Palestine while the Deutsche crematoria were raging at full-force) above refugees’ lives, sending them back to the ovens, just as the appeasers call for quiet and restraint while they are bombet to smithereens and the Israeli politicians sell them to the Arabs for less then a stew of lentils, so too they side with The Law again, and oppose any and all self-defense. To Brainless Blogger and his ilk, the greatest evil in the world is Neturei Karta. Not Olmert and his eleven predecessors, who invariably chose Jewish deaths for a bone from Gentile politicians over Jewish life, honor and victory at the price of a British frown.

Such people do not care about Jewish unity, Jewish survival or Jewish victory. They are those who opposed Moishe Rabeinu and Mordechai the Jew. They gobble down everything the government and media tells them, and take pompous airs of self-importance. That they cause more death and killing? Who cares? We do our job, we keep the Law! When the Law is to stuff Jews in trains, they still adhere to the Law.

Despite such drugged demagogues, it seems that we finally start defying gravity. In the common Jewish psyche, something is maybe starting to sink. The good news just came out that many rabbis signed a prohibition on employing Arabs. And with a little more good will, common sense and willingness to stand up, unite and fight evil, we may again see true leaders leading a true nation.

© Joseph Izrael 2008