When the Satmar Rebbe was asked about Bava Basra 158b: אוירא דארץ ישראל מחכים, he retorted the Yetzer Hara (the personal angel inciting one to evil) of those in Israel gains wisdom, too, so it’s still an equal match.
Source: Rumor (but they don’t tell the story about you, right…?).
Thoughts:
Contrary to popular projection, anti-Zionists oppose Israel, and its mitzvos, in every which way, and not just “Zionism”. This is obvious “between the lines”, both written and oral, in countless places. One example: Vayo’el Moshe‘s pathetic “proofs” there is no obligation to live in the land of Israel.
In his book The Body of Faith (1983), Michael Wyschogrod makes a stronger case for the aesthetic dimension of Judaism. Throughout history, he argues, art and cult have been intimately connected and Judaism is no exception. “The architecture of the Temple and its contents demand a spatial thinking that stimulates the visual arts as nothing else does. It must be remembered that among the many artefacts past civilisations have left behind, those intended for ritual use almost are always the most elaborate and aesthetically the most significant.”
Wyschogrod says that postbiblical Judaism did not, for the most part, make outstanding contributions to art and music. Even today, the world of religious Jewry is remote from that of the great writers, painters, poets and dramatists. To be sure, there is a wealth of popular religious music. But by and large, he says, “our artists tend to leave the Jewish community.” This he believes represents a spiritual crisis. “The imagination of the poet is a reflection of his spiritual life. Myth and metaphor are the currency both of religion and poetry. Poetry is one of the most powerful domains in which religious expression takes place. And the same is true of music, drama, painting, and dance.”
Rav Abraham Kook hoped that the return to Zion would stimulate a renaissance of Jewish art, and there is a significant place for beauty in the religious life, especially in Avodah, “service,” which once meant sacrifice and now means prayer.
Here is the relevant portion (thanks to our reader, Rabbi A.S. for the recording!):
Instead of answering to the point; is the identification of Techeiles with murex trunculus valid or invalid, he boldly opposed the mitzvah, because of the antinomian “Chadash assur min hatorah” expression.
Rabbi Eisenstein further complains that Chas Veshalom, Techeiles might lead to observing other mitzvos as well, such as prayer on Har Habayis (or even worse, the unspeakable, unmentionable, unlinkable…). Right. As Rabbi Brand notes (here maybe?), the goal of tzitzis is, indeed, to lead to the observance of all the rest of the mitzvos!
והיה לכם לציצת וראיתם אתו וזכרתם את כל מצות ד’ ועשיתם אתם ולא תתורו אחרי לבבכם ואחרי עיניכם אשר אתם זנים אחריהם למען תזכרו ועשיתם את כל מצותי והייתם קדשים לאלהיכם
This shall be fringes for you, and when you see it, you will remember all the commandments of the Lord to perform them, and you shall not wander after your hearts and after your eyes after which you are going astray.
So that you shall remember and perform all My commandments and you shall be holy to your God.
Rabbi A.S. quotes Rabbi Eisenstein saying he’s “Baruch Hashem” (!) not an expert on the topic, but Techeiles is a “mageifa” which “must be stopped”, since “wearing Techeiles, even if it’s the right Techeiles, is not as big of a mitzvah as the huge mitzvah of listening to the gedolim (well, which ones?!).”
Of course, his rabbi, Rabbi Elyashiv himself, too, didn’t bother investigating anything either, for the very same nonsense reasons (as is clear in his sole, infamous four-paragraph [mis]treatment of the topic in Kovetz Teshuvos). He was admittedly not “aware of the re’ayos (proofs)”! The same intentional ignorance is certainly the case for most other current Torah scholars. About this Chazal say ערבך ערבא צריך!
Rabbi Eisenstein’s idea of Masores is insane (and he ignores the decrees against wearing Techeiles).
By the way, the pernicious arrogated “Posek Hador” political entity (arguably misapplied to the wrong people, to boot) violates the only true Halachic authority, each Jew’s decentralized, voluntary “Mara De’asra”, Rosh Yeshiva, etc. Of course, that’s part of the point of the PH idea.