העורך Editor

Tomer Devorah Endorses Religious Coercion (Again)

She writes:

Many citizens of Israel are confused on this matter and because of the assimilation of western values and ideals, they feel that so-called “separation of religion and state” should be the desired goal.

However, we are not a state like all others. This is supposed to be a Jewish state built on holy ground. If you want to see what that is supposed to look like, you need only go back to the last time we returned from a stay in the exile. It is most instructive to read the accounts of the first return from exile in the writings of Ezra and Nechemiah.

Count me among the “confused”, then!

Indeed, this is not a state like all others. The question of how exactly to coerce Torah observance and when is important. The knee-jerk response to either side is wrong.

In short, since when does the state get to do Beis Din’s job?!

Where Are Your Shoes?!

We recently pointed out the counterfactual of there being “too many” men studying in Yeshiva and Kollel (follow the link).

There is a known story the Netziv told about himself, where his parents wished him to be a tailor, since he was unsuccessful in his studies, and he made a firm decision to apply himself and was allowed to return to studying Torah. When later in life he published one of his Torah works, he imagined the path not taken, having become a shoemaker, instead of writing his destined works, and coming to heaven a kosher Jew, who thought he had done all he could be asked, only to be asked where his Sefer was.

I heard a contemporary Torah great remarked some will come to heaven at the end of their lives with their Torah works only to be asked: Where are your shoes?!