I have been suffering from a severe case of the stomach flu. But I feel well enough now to catch up on a few things here in blogland.
There has been much debate as to my last post about the events in Amona. Many of the commentators have questioned my relationship with Rabbi Soloveichik and wondered how I dared differ with him or if I actually really knew his views.
Rav Aaron Soloveichik a very complex individual. He was not the caricature some would make him out to be... the hard core warrior that would have strode into Amona on a white horse and led the charge. He was a man of peace. His manner of protest was passive resistance. No one will ever convince me that he supported any kind of active resistance that was apparently the cause of the violence in Amona. I was not there. But I will not be convinced that IDF soldiers marched into a group of passive demonstrators and started mercilessly beating them to a pulp ala the Nazis. The comparison is so odious it that it defies any reasonable assesment of reality.
The model of protest RAS would have supported was closer to what happened in Gaza, Same IDF... different set of protesters. The Gaza pullout was an excersize in Kidush HaShem. Except for a few isolated cases there was mostly passive resistance. RAS absolutely supported all settlements but he did not support violence. The people in Amona were more Kahane-like than RAS-like. RAS condemned Meir Kahane in the strongest possible terms in Shiur back in the seventies. I was there. I remember it clearly.
As to my differences with RAS on land for peace, I asked him why he didn't consider it a matter of Pikuach Nefesh the way other Gedolei Yisroel had. He answered that he DID consider it Pikuach Nefesh. He believed that giving up land was the Pikuach Nefesh.
So in the end there was no real disagreement in Halacha between RAS and me. How could there be? He was Gadol BaTorah, a Posek, indeed my own Posek. I was just a mere Talmid and barely worthy enough to be one at that. Our disagreement was in Metzius.
I agree with the position of other Gedolei Yisroel, both Charedi and Centrist ala Rabbi Aaron Lichtenstein, who hold one may give up land for peace. In my view the government has the best “intelligence” about what is best for the citizens and the State of Israel. They factor in every detail in making decisions about giving up land, whether it is about more defensible borders, international relations, US relations, demographic trends of the Arabs or... whatever. They are the ones who have been responsible for the physical welfare of their citizens since the very beginning of the Medina.
Those who oppose the government in these situations almost always do it out of religious convictions. That's fine. They are entitled. Let them protest. Had Amona residents just laid down on the floor and let themselves be carried out as the protestors in Gaza were, I would have had more sympathy for them. This is how RAS protested Mizrachi in Chicago when they turned on him there. He laid down on the floor of the Mizrachi building and was carried out by Mizrachi leaders. But violence? This was not Rabbi Soloveichik’s way.
It's time for all those who have been making assumptions about Rabbi Soloveichik's views to have a reality check.
