העורך Editor

For if someone contends that the majority in Country X should govern that country, then it could be argued with equal validity that the majority of a certain district within Country X should be allowed to govern itself and secede from the larger country, and this subdividing process can logically proceed down to the village block, the apartment house, and, finally, each individual, thus marking the end of all democratic government through reduction to individual self-government. But if such a right of secession is denied, then the national democrat must concede that the more numerous population of other countries should have a right to outvote his country; and so he must proceed upwards to a world government run by a world majority rule.

In short, the democrat who favors national government is self-contradictory; he must favor a world government or none at all.

Man, Economy, and State with Power and Market, p. 1283

(We have written elsewhere of another contradiction discovered by Rothbard in political democracy here.)

Those garish gold-and/or-silver-embroidered rabbinical robes and turban for “Rishon Letzion” and “Chief Rabbi” today arrogate undeserved honor (and denote deserved mockery) for the wearers.

Think: Ethnarch glorifying himself with reflected glory after the source is dead, sans testators. After all, these garments are meant to palely reflect the greater honor of a specific sovereign (the Ottomon Emperor) who reigns no more.  Do these משבצות זהב uniforms convey legal authority? If so, they have the same validity as a British Honduras passport representing a defunct country.

Perhaps the agent doesn’t need the principal since Torah scholars deserve all the honor in the world, anyway?

Sure. But are these appointees the greatest Torah scholars in the land, as (may have been) the “Chacham Bashi”, after whom these items and titles are styled?! No longer is this even vaguely plausible (with all due respect).

Yerushalmi Bikkurim 11b leaps to mind:

ר’ מנא מיקל לאילין דמתמניי בכסף. רבי אימי קרא עליהון אלהי כסף ואלהי זהב לא תעשו לכם. א”ר יאשיה וטלית שעליו כמרדעת של חמור. א”ר שיין זה שהוא מתמני בכסף אין עומדין מפניו ואין קורין אותו רבי והטלית שעליו כמרדעת של חמור. רבי זעירא וחד מן רבנן הוון יתיבין עבר חד מן אילין דמיתמני בכסף. אמר יתיה דמן רבנין לרבי זעירא נעביד נפשין תניי ולא ניקום לון מן קמוי. תירגם יעקב איש כפר גבורייא הוי אומר לעץ הקיצה עורי לאבן דומם הוא יורה יודע הוא יורה הנה הוא תפוס זהב וכסף לא בכספייא איתמני וכל רוח אין בקרבו לא חכים כלום הוי אומרי’ בעיתון ממנייה.

Of course, there is something highly symbolic about all this. The entire rabbinic establishment is ensconced in a non-rethinking, behavioral rut, especially when it comes to their own benefit.

Rabbi Yitzchak Brand on knee-jerk conservatism:

… מנהיג שחי עכשיו, אבל כל ההנהגות שלו הם ע”פ מה שפסקו ונהגו בדור הקודם, על אף שיש הרבה שינויים במצב הדור ובחלק ההלכה, מ”מ כיון שחי עכשיו זה נחשב שופט שבימיך. או שצריך להיות שהוא מבין שכעת אנו חיים במצב שלנו וצריך לפסוק ע”פ המציאות של המצב שלנו, ואם הוא פוסק ומנהיג ע”פ מצב של דורות הקודמין לא נחשב שופט שבימיך…

(Rabbis should be literally defrocked, too, for another reason.)

The gold is fool’s gold.

We have written many times of bans and rulings inexcusably issued without the presence of the accused, in blatant contravention of the Torah’s command: שמע בין אחיכם ושפטתם צדק.

When I mentioned this to a certain Jew, he mentioned an interesting legend:

The Maharshal (Rabbi Shlomo Luria) was related to the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzchak Luria), and when he heard of the fantastic claims coming out of Eretz Yisrael, he began sending letters in an attempt to excommunicate the latter, all from his home base in Poland.

So, the Arizal sent him freshly baked Challah from Tzefas. Although it took many weeks of travel, the bread arrived fresh and piping hot. When the Maharshal saw this (and other things) he ceased all opposition.

(For a complete/embellished version of this, see here.)

Of course, even if all this is literal fact, this doesn’t mean it was permitted to act in this fashion…

The Passion of Our Time

Rabbi Sholom Gold

Har Nof, Jerusalem

There was something hauntingly familiar about the question posed in the most recent issue of Viewpoint, “Why are serious Jews like us living in America?” It seemed like an echo from the distant past – and then it came rushing back. The question had indeed been asked before. It’s right there in the Kuzari, Rabbi Yehuda Halevy’s classic masterpiece of Jewish faith.

The Rabbi (chaver) in response to the query by the King of the Kusars, “Tell me some of the words that they (the Rabbis of the Talmud) said regarding Eretz Yisroel”. The chaver responds with a long list of Talmudic statements about Eretz Yisroel such as, “It is always better for one to live in Israel, even in a city that is mostly non-Jewish – than to live outside Israel – even in a city that is mostly Jewish. For anyone who dwells in Israel is like someone who has a G-d and anyone who dwells outside of Israel is like someone who has no G-d” …. The Rabbis praised “one who
comes to live in Eretz Yisroel during his lifetime rather than one who is transported there after his death … the air of Israel makes one wise … anyone who walks four cubits is guaranteed a place
in the world to come.”

The King responds with a variation on the theme of why is a serious Rabbi like you not living in Israel ? The Kuzari said: “If so, then you must have limited affection for your Torah. You have not made Israel your goal, nor your place of living and dying. Yet you say in your prayers: Have mercy on Zion for it is our life’s home. I see that all your knee bending and bowing toward Israel is mere flattery or insincere custom …” One could add the twice yearly L’shana Habaah BiYerushalayim at the end of Yom Kippur and the Seder night. What about Birkat Hamazon, especially the second blessing where we thank G-d for having “granted as a heritage to our ancestors a desirable, good, and wide land.”

How does one who has decided not to go on aliyah say all that and so much more? Major portions of our prayers focus on Eretz Yisroel and are known to all. I would add a prayer that is unfortunately overlooked. There is an amazing sentence in the Tachnun prayer we say on Mondays and Thursdays. Its significance casts a light on all of our prayers and confirms that Hashem does listen to us and answer our fervent requests. This prayer is one that defines the generation in which we live. For some strange reason I feel that we are hardly aware of the power of this prayer. But it’s there, tucked away in the folds of the long Tachnun. “Our Father, compassionate Father, show us a sign for good, לטובה אות ,and gather our scattered ones from the four corners of the earth. Let all nations recognize and know that You are the L-rd our G-d.”

Of all things, the most important sign for good we ask for is the ingathering of the exiles and we are the generation that in fact bears most eloquent testimony that He heard our prayers and He answered them.

Continue reading…

From Rabbi Sholom Gold, here.