שלח ליה רב חסדא לר”נ הרי אמרו לרכובה שלש ולבעיטה חמש ולסנוקרת שלש עשרה לפנדא דמרא ולקופינא דמרא מאי שלח ליה חסדא חסדא קנסא קא מגבית בבבל אימא לי גופא דעובדא היכי הוה שלח ליה דההוא גרגותא דבי תרי דכל יומא הוה דלי חד מנייהו אתא חד קא דלי ביומא דלא דיליה א”ל יומא דידי הוא לא אשגח ביה שקל פנדא דמרא מחייה א”ל מאה פנדי בפנדא למחייה אפילו למ”ד לא עביד איניש דינא לנפשיה במקום פסידא עביד איניש דינא לנפשיה…
(JTA) — A pair of pants coming up for auction are being described as “holy” — and not just because they’re a little torn.
Rather, the pants once belonged to the late Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, an Israeli haredi Orthodox leader considered by his followers to be the leading Jewish authority of his generation. Kanievsky died last year at age 94, and now anyone can be the owner of his trousers – provided they can afford them. The starting bid is $3,200.
The bidding at the Prime Judaica auction house, in the heavily haredi New Jersey city of Lakewood, begins March 1. The item is listed in Hebrew as “Holy pants from the Prince of Torah, our leader Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky.”
Included on the auction house page is a letter written and signed by Gedalyahu Konigsberg, who identifies himself as a grandson of, and former aide to, Chaim Kanievsky.
Not long ago, the moribund eleventh prime minister released terrorists and destroyed Gush Katif. Decades before these acts, a murdered patriot identified his character in The Jewish Press.
In 1982, Rabbi Meir Kahane Hy”ddescribed Sharon as “the latest darling of the donkey-nationalists.” He wrote concerning Sharon’s conduct as defense minister during the First Lebanon War:
“Let those who rush to dinners for him at the chic glatt kosher nightclubs or those who through him vicariously live their ‘tough Jewish’ life, remember this. He is a man who is a great general but one who knows little and cares less about Jewish concepts and discipline. Tomorrow he is capable of the most incredible and dangerous turnabouts. And that time the donkeys will bray: How could he have deceived us so? And then they will find themselves another hero.”
With similar foresight, Rabbi Kahane observed in 1990:
“…it was Sharon who voted for Camp David; it was Sharon who allowed Begin to sign an agreement to smash Jewish settlements and drag their Jewish occupants from their homes; it was Sharon who, as Minister of Defense, organized and supervised the destruction of Jewish settlements and thus set the precedent for the same in Judea and Samaria and Gaza.”
This Israeli recognized the catastrophic trends. For some people, however, the emergence of a shark fin in the ocean signals nothing beyond the presence of marine life.
When the shark bites, some learn from the trauma while others return defenselessly to be preyed upon again. And for some Jews who think that being a freier is authentic Judaism, it’s a mitzvah to be preyed upon.
