Don’t become a slave to a slave – לחתום קבע.
The posthumous “A Divine Madness: Rabbi Avigdor Miller’s Defense of Hashem in the Matter of the Holocaust” is Rabbi Miller’s justification of speaking the truth about the level of Torah observance in the period preceding the Holocaust. The Jews rejected the covenant, so Hashem punished them, exactly as He said He would.
If you agree with the above logic, however, then this applies equally to exposing the lack of Torah observance (including fraudulent workarounds) from way before the Holocaust, too…
Hyehudi.org writes about these problems partly in order to encourage change and to show rabbis cannot be automatically relied upon. But another reason is simply to justify the sufferings of the Jewish people; to defend Hashem!
I don’t know whether this happened, of course.
Rabbi Yisrael Abuchatzira, known as the “Baba Sali”, opposed the introduction of the secular “Alliance” schools to his region in Morroco, so they stayed away. But when he once left on travels, the school saw an opportunity. By the time he came back, the school was already a done deal.
There are times for talk, but the Baba Sali decided that would no longer work in this case. Parents everywhere want their children to have a better economic future and often tend to dismiss religious concerns. So he used his reputation for miracle-working. He publically announced for the first and last time: Anyone whose sons were still registered in the school would not wake up the next morning.
And… that was that. No one died, but the school closed.
The school closed because not one parent was interested (in dying).
Shivers…
Update: An alternative version is of Rabbi Avraham Chaim Ades threatening anyone who offered the seducers hospitality (“a cup of water”) with death that year.
החזו”א נשאל האם לעכב סלילת כביש העשוי לגרום לחילול שבת.
הוא השיב: “ישרים דרכי ד’ צדיקים ילכו בם ופושעים יכשלו בם. צריך לעשות הכביש, אלא שתעשו השתדלות שלא יחללו שבת.”
מקור: ספר מעשה איש חלק ב’ עמ’ ריט (מתוך גליון “נחלת השם” האחרון שולי עמ’ 2)