Year: 2017
When Protests Are Not Bittul Torah
When Rabbi Meir Kahane started the Jewish Defense League in 1968 he held countless rallies for the freedom of Soviet Jewry. I was just a young boy but I attended many of those rallies with my older brother and sister. We simply could not stay in the comfort of our home while millions of Jews were languishing in misery. Rabbi Kahane noticed that these rallies were almost never attended by the Yeshiva world and he asked many of the Rabbonim why they stayed away. The answer he got was always the same: “Bittul Torah”. The Rabbonim felt that the boys should sit and learn and not attend any kind of protests that wasted time away from their Torah learning. Rabbi Kahane told me that he really believed them and even agreed with them because – as we all know: Talmud Torah comes before everything else.
Well, it all changed on September 6, 1970 when Rav Yitzchak Hutner, the Rosh Yeshiva of Chaim Berlin, was hijacked on a plane (together with his family) and taken to Jordan. All of a sudden, the Yeshiva world poured out into the streets. There were protests and rallies and cries to free Rav Hutner. For 3 weeks, Rav Hutner was in a living hell until, finally, he and all the hostages were released and freed. Rabbi Kahane told me that he learned an important lesson at that time. Why did these same Rabbonim not have a problem with “Bittul Torah” NOW??? Simple… because it was one of them! Immediately after Rav Hutner returned to Brooklyn, the protests from this chevra stopped. Why not scream for Yosef Mendelovich, Ida Nudel or Anatoly Sharansky? Bittul Torah…
The Jewish Laws of Borrowing
I would not be the first to take note of no clear obligation of a borrower to helpfully return the borrowed object to the lender’s home (unless this was clearly stipulated).
A Popularity Contest in Truth
Here are some recent most-read posts (in no special order):
כי בתחבלות תעשה לך מלחמה ותשועה ברב יועץ
Beis Mikdash Myth Busting: The Series
Defining ‘Tza’ar Ba’alei Chaim’
ספר ‘מענה לאגרות’ נגד שו”ת אגרות משה
A Fascinating Letter from the Author of Shulchan Aruch Harav
Israel: World Destiny
A Jewish state cannot exist without establishing a clear purpose for the younger generation; it is only from our positive destiny that we draw our right to exist as a nation. As I see it, the destiny of a Jewish state can be no other than our historical Jewish destiny.
‘We gave you a country because we thought that when the people of the prophets returns to its land, a new bible or a new ethical code will be written in the land of Israel for the world as a whole. We had expectations – and look what you have done.’
This is how a group of British intellectuals described their disappointment with Israel and the reason that they no longer see Israel as legitimate in a conversation with the President of the Sapir College, Professor Ze’ev Tzachor. (Interview with Meir Uziel in Makor Rishon, Adar 5768)
I would like to echo that with a perfect quote I recently heard from Eric Hoffer, soon after the state’s founding (no source available):
If Israel does not succeed, history has no meaning.