Text version here.
Audio reading here.
This applies to more than what Rothbard had in mind: Establishment-libertarians, such as Milton Friedman. This goes even beyond libertarianism.
Although, per the Moreh Nevuchim’s introduction on “תפוחי זהב במשכיות כסף דבר דבר על אפניו”, even the specific example is valid and relevant.
Yaravam ben Nevat had tremendous spiritual potential. He risked his life and took a public stand against Shlomo HaMelech for the sake of Hashem’s honor. Because of this Hashem chose Yaravam to be the king of the ten tribes when He split Israel into two kingdoms.
Once he rose to power, however, Yaravam quickly turned bad. He feared that the regular Jewish pilgrimages to Jerusalem would render his kingdom inferior, and eventually lead to its dissolution. In order to strengthen his political position, Yaravam placed two golden calves in his territory to serve as substitutes for the Beis Hamikdash. To ensure that those who learned anything from history wouldn’t torpedo his plans, he also set up military checkpoints to prevent his citizens from ascending to the Beis Hamikdash.
He didn’t “force” the Jews to serve the golden calves, but he didn’t give them much choice if they wanted to remain part of society, either.
Even after he sinned so terribly and caused countless others to sin, Hashem offered him a lifeline:
אחר הדבר הזה לא שב ירבעם מדרכו הרעה מאי אחר אמר ר‘ אבא אחר שתפשו הקב“ה לירבעם בבגדו ואמר לו חזור בך ואני ואתה ובן ישי נטייל בגן עדן אמר לו מי בראש בן ישי בראש אי הכי לא בעינא
“After this matter Yaravam did not repent from his evil path” (Melachim I 13:33). What is it referring to by “after”? Rabbi Abba said, after Hashem grabbed Yaravam by his garment and said to him, “Return! Then I, you, and the son of Yishai will stroll in the Garden of Eden.”
He said to Him, “Who will be at the head?”
[Replied Hashem] “The son of Yishai.”
“In that case, I’m not interested.” (Sanhedrin 102A)
These golden calves would continue to drag down the ten tribes for many generations until they were finally exiled. All because Yaravam couldn’t bear the thought of being second after tasting power.
There is much to learn from this, but what comes next is even more instructive for our times. Yaravam’s son, Aviya, became ill and eventually died. The prophet Achiya HaShiloni foretold as follows:
וספדו לו כל ישראל וקברו אתו כי זה לבדו יבא לירבעם אל קבר יען נמצא בו דבר טוב אל יהוה אלהי ישראל בבית ירבעם
And all of Israel will eulogize him and bury him, for this one alone of Yaravam’s [house] will come to be buried, because in him was found something good to Hashem, the God of Israel, in the house of Yaravam. (14:13)
What special merit was found in Aviya?
רבי זירא ורבי חיננא בר פפא, חד אמר שביטל משמרתו ועלה לרגל, וחד אמר שביטל פרדסאות שהושיב ירבעם אביו על הדרכים שלא יעלו ישראל לרגל
Rabbi Zeira and Rabbi Chinina bar Papa: One says that he canceled his guard duty and went up for the pilgrimage, and one says that he canceled legions that Yaravam his father placed on the roads so that the Jews would not go up for the pilgrimage. (Moed Katan 28B)
Aviya was one of the soldiers whose job it was to prevent Jews from going up to Jerusalem. He left his post and went up himself. According to one opinion, he even got other soldiers to follow his example. It’s true that, as the king’s son, he could get away with more than most people, but this still required incredible courage. He was rebelling against a mandate that Yaravam believed was the key to his entire rule.
This was Aviya’s special merit: a valiant act of civil disobedience for the sake of Hashem.
It must be noted that his disobedience did not make a big difference in the grand scheme of things. It didn’t lead to a social movement, let alone the abolition of the military checkpoints. Indeed, the checkpoints remained for approximately two hundred years.
Aviya was a rare dissenter in a society that turned idolatrous. In a world gone crazy, where they were once again serving golden calves, Aviya did something remarkable for Hashem. He was unable to save his society – but don’t be fooled. His civil disobedience was not for nothing.
He saved himself.
__________________________
והוא ליקוט מספרי רבינו הק’ הננמ”ח מברסלב זיע”א
לעורר אש להבת שלהבת הרצון דקדושה בגעגועים
והשתוקקות ביקד יקוד ארצה בכלל
ובפרט במצות קדושת שנת השביעית ושאר מצוות
התלויות בארץ ובקדושתה הנצחית
ושבח קדושת פירותיה
Reprinted with permission.
by Rabbi Yosef Hershman
The circumstances of the giving of the Torah convey a great deal about the character of Torah, and of our relationship to it. In G-d’s preparatory words to Moshe, He explains that by virtue of the Torah the people will become a “kingdom of priests to Me, and a holy nation.” There is then a three day period of separation and sanctification to prepare for the great day. Moshe is instructed to set a boundary around the people and to warn them not to draw close to the mountain or touch any part of it.
One purpose of this separation was to establish for future generations that G-d remained in His place, opposite the people, and that His Word came to the people. In this way Judaism is fundamentally different than all other “religions.”
“Religion” stems from the hearts of people: their codes of law originate in the human mind and merely express their conceptions of deity, of human destiny, and of man’s relationship to deity and his fellow man that exist in a particular period of history. Like all other disciplines — language, science, art and philosophy — “religion” is subject to change with the passage of time, as its laws and practices are merely an expression of levels reached by civilization at a given time. Because it is only a marker, religion cannot undertake to raise and educate the nation from which it sprang, up to its own higher standard.
But Torah is not religion. It was given by G-d to the people, who stood at a distance, and required preparation to receive it. It was given from the untouchable, extraterrestrial sphere, and strict separation was maintained. As such, Torah presents the absolute ideals, and sets forth conceptions for all time about G-d and human affairs.
Far from having its genesis from within the people, this set of Laws was imposed on a stubborn, stiff-necked people, a people who struggled for centuries to impart and implement its truths. It is this imperfection of the Jewish People, and its repeated rebellions against Torah that attests to the Divine origin and uniqueness of Torah. It still remains an absolute, an ideal, towards which the people strive, and the Torah still awaits the age which will be fully ripe for its realization. The Torah has no development and no history; it is the Jewish People which has a history, and a development towards Torah. Torah does not have to catch up with the times. It is the times that have to catch up with Torah.
As much as Torah is not religion, it is also not theology. Despite the Divine, unchanging and supernatural nature of Torah, it has never been withheld from the layman and reserved for the gowned theologian. “Theology” contains the thoughts of man on G-d and things Divine, and results in complicated systems of theology, incomprehensible to the layman. But Torah contains the thoughts of G-d on man and human affairs. The Torah speaks not of the essence of G-d and the supernatural, but of what G-d is to us, and how we are to relate to Him and to each other. The Torah does not describe how things look in Heaven, but how they ought to look in our hearts and homes. And this is why the entire nation is to be a holy nation of priests, each member drawing the Torah’s wisdom into his personal sphere, wherever and whenever that sphere may be.
From Ohr Somayach, here.
From Wikipedia:
The yeshiva made headlines when one of its teachers and assistant principal, Joel (Yehuda) Kolko, was charged in 2006 with… Six former students also filed suit against the yeshiva, alleging the school administrators knew about Kolko’s molestation of students for decades, but sought to cover it up and intimidate students who spoke out. Kolko later pleaded guilty to two lesser counts of child endangerment and was sentenced to three years’ probation, later left the school, and died in November 2020. The suit also alleged that school principal Lipa Margulies waged “a campaign of intimidation, concealment and misrepresentations designed to prevent victims from filing lawsuits.” Four of the lawsuits were dismissed for being filed beyond the then five year statute of limitations. In October, 2016 it was reported that the school had reached a $2.1 million settlement on the two remaining cases.
Thanks to Yerachmiel Lopin for bringing this to my attention!
Needless to add, the Rasha was eulogized in Yeshiva World News, Matzav, Hamodia, Bechadrei, JDN, and perhaps more to come. (Not to mention being warmly greeted in The Purgatory Post.)
Rabbi Yair Hoffman over at VIN News tries a hilarious whitewash:
There were those, even among Rav Margulies’s many admirers, who felt that he was too overzealous in his vision to ensure the reputation and continuity of the remarkable Torah institutions he had built, and to disbelieve accounts of grave dangers in his institutions. And, sometimes, other Gedolim perceive the true depth of such dangers – whereas others do not. Rav Avigdor Miller zt”l had argued with Rabbi Margulis on such a matter. Boruch Hashem, however, there were wise Baal HaBatim involved in his Yeshiva who took the necessary steps to ensure that Rav Margulies’s vision continue, while still ensuring that, to some extent, those who were harmed or had tried sounding an alarm were vindicated.
The efforts of these dedicated Baal Habatim and family members made sure that Rav Margulies work and lifetime of dedication to Torah and its continuity, not only remain alive but thrive and prosper.
Independent Yerachmiel Lopin puts it slightly differently:
Rabbonim going back to Rav Avigdor Miller begged Lipa to fire Kolko. Some askanim were even willing to buy out Kolko and set him up to make money in some way that did not involve children. But Lipa refused. Over and over, he fought back using all sorts of dirty tricks. He kept Kolko employed until the Brooklyn DA finally charged Kolko with abuse. Lipa is guilty of the retzichah of neshomos for thirty years.
For more, see this.