Famed Evangelist Pat Robertson has now joined that unique and rarified atmosphere reserved for those with Ruach HaKodesh. He has proclaimed that Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is being punished for giving away parts of Eretz Yisroel.
Hmmmm. Where have I heard that before... Oh, I remember now. It was quite a popular refrain by certain RZ Rabbanim during the Gaza pullout. In fact in one rather bizarre case a group of these Rabbanim participated in some kind of Kabalistic ritual that prayed for his pre-mature death.
But he is not the only one with Ruach HaKodesh in this regard. Many Gedolei Yisroel have used similar rhetoric in explaining natural disasters like Katrina and the Tsunami.
Of course when they were asked about it they all explained away what they said, including Reverend Robertson. In the case of the Gedolim it wasn’t that they were claiming to know God’s mind. It was just that they were trying to gain a lesson from it. In the case of Robertson, it was just that he was quoting the bible about God’s attitude with respect too Eretz Yisroel.
Well, that may be true in each case but I find it inappropriate at best to speculate about these things in the midst of a crisis. All of these pronouncements were made while people were is dire circumstances. Furthermore such statements are often made without explanations which only come after they are asked about it. To publicly say that the people going through the horrors of tragedy that “It isn’t about them... it is about us” is to de-humanize the victims. It is to turn them into the objects of a lesson or nothing more than a message from God. Very inappropriate.
And to make these kinds of statements without immediate explanations is to allow for misinterpretation by the masses at whom they are directed. They can easily say, “If a Gadol says it happened because of X, then who am I to say it didn’t?” In other words they don’t see it as a lesson to be learned but as a reason it happened... that there is some sort of Ruach HaKodesh assessing blame.
It behooves anyone in a position of leadership to think before they speak. EzeHu Chacham? HaRoeah Es HaNolad.
