Exposing the Exposers

Someone I know quite well has brought to my attention a serious situation going on in a post high school seminary for girls in Israel that his daughter attended. The seminary, Machon Zlata, run by a certain Rabbi Pid, is one of the most popular destinations for Beis Yaakov girls in America for their year in Israel. In fact Rabbi Pid usually has to turn down many an applicant. He chooses his students very carefully after going on recruiting trips throughout the United States, visiting all the Beis Yaakovs and personally interviewing each young teenage girl.

But he is a fraud. And he is a very sick individual. He is a sexual predator, who gets friendly and close with these very naive girls and often invites them over to his house for an “inspirational” Shabbos. In middle of the night, while his wife sleeps, he will sometimes sneak into the most vulnerable of the girls’ rooms in order to engage in deviant sexual behavior. Rabbi Pid has been getting away with this behavior for years. The victims have refused to prosecute him thinking it is Lashon Hara.

But finally after many years of sexually abusing the most vulnerable of his students this Rabbi is going to be exposed. A young victimized young woman confided in her parents who asked me to expose him to the world for the sexual predator he is. I can’t imagine how many girls have been victimized over the years by this pervert, Rabbi Stuart Pid.

The reason I can’t imagine it is because the story is completely false. I just made it up. It is a total lie. There is no Rabbi Stuart Pid. There is no Machon Zlata. There was no abuse. Had I not admitted it and if there really was such a seminary head his reputation and career would have been ruined. Why did I make up this story? Because I wanted to demonstrate that it doesn’t take much to falsely accuse someone. If I have a vendetta for any reason against someone and I am unscrupulous enough and have a blog that has a lot of readers... I can do a lot of damage with a lie like that. In fact I can ruin a life with such a lie.

The recent story of a Rebbi in a Torah Temimah who has been accused sexual misconduct with students over a period of many years was first brought up in a blog called Un-Orthodox Jew (UOJ). Without getting into the details of this particular case or the cover-up (which I covered in an earlier post) I am outraged by what I saw on that blog. Someone sent me one of his earlier posts where-in good people were besmirched without a shred of evidence. Now I don’t know which if any of his accusations are true or false. There seems to be much evidence of truth in the Torah Temimah case but that does not mean he is to be trusted in every accusation he makes.

I have very mixed feelings about this fellow. On the one hand he has done a very great service in exposing a cancer in our midst. On the other hand his "shoot from the hip"... scatter gun approach can do much harm to innocent Mechanchim who have been falsely accused. In one case he lumps together a Menahel of one popular seminary who has been accused of specific sexual deviance, with the Menahel of another one who he accuses of sexual misconduct simply because of the close relationships he maintains with these girls.

Having a close relationship with a student does not automatically make someone a pervert. But UOJ doesn’t make that distinction. In his zeal he does not mind smearing good people.

In his bio UOJ states that he was raised in a prominent Orthodox Jewish home, was privileged to get a wonderful education and that he has a legitimate Smicha.

But I question his integrity. To state that he has Smicha in his blog where he constantly uses Nivul Peh and gives very expicit descriptions of sexual misconduct puts to shame his Smicha, the person who gave it to him, and his entire family. The descriptions don't have to be so explicit. That they are shows at best a certain lack of refinement in character. Using Nivul Peh and such explicit sexual illustrarions on so regular a basis may be more dramatic, but it undermines his credibility, besmirches his title, and in the process it besmirches the Torah he supposedly observes as well. I therefore would not put much credence in what he says. Even if the recent exposé in New York Magazine (stemmimg from his blog) seems to be legitimate, that does not give him license to falsely accuse innocent people with lies and innuendo.

This fellow accuses innocent people of being Menuvalim?! Let him look in the mirror.

A Warm Pitcher of Spit

It seems the rumors are not dying down. So says a May 18th article in The Jerusalem Post. Rabbi Yisrael Meir Lau is still the candidate of choice for President of the State of Israel. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert is still pushing him and it seems that despite other candidates and the fact that Rabbi Lau is not promoting himself at all, he is the odds on favorite to get the job. Although I wrote about it briefly at the time I think it needs elaboration.

So what does all this mean? After all, the presidency is a ceremonial position. It doesn’t even come close to having any power at all. As FDR's first Vice President, "Cactus" Jack Garner, said about the vice presidency, it "wasn't worth a warm pitcher of spit". The Presidency of Israel is less than that. So why care? What difference does it make?

The difference is that the President is the “face” of Israel, much like the Queen of England is the face of Great Britain. He will have the ear of the Prime Minister. He will be the “head of State” that represents the Government of Israel that in the mind of many non Jews is synonymous with the Jewish people. A Frum Jew, ...a Rav... will have unprecedented access to the highest echelons of power. He will have the ear of the Prime Minister.

What a tremendous Kiddush HaShem it would be to see a Rav with a beard, a Kapoteh and a Hamburg as President. It should put to rest once and for all the ranting of those who constantly complain that the Medina is anti-Torah. How could an anti Torah Medina choose as its President someone who so clearly represents Torah?

Of course there will always be the cynics who say that this is nothing more than a political ploy by a very clever Prime Minister to deflect exactly such criticism. They will accuse Prime Minister Olmert of trying to buy support from the Torah world for his agenda. There may be an element of truth to that. But that does not detract from the fact that Rav Lau will still be the face of Israel and Prime Minister Olmert knows that. And in no way can the Torah world be bought when it comes to supporting any part of any agenda which violates Halacha. Prime Minister Olmert knows that, too. He is not stupid.

What I believe to be the case is that Olmert respects the religious community. He had excellent relations with the Frum community when he was Mayor of Jerusalem. He also knows Rabbi Lau’s political capabilities. As the article states, “His claim to fame is for being the most successful diplomat Jewish Orthodoxy has ever had.” This is an asset essential to any individual who must represent the country to disparate elements within Israel and all over the world.

So any talk that the Medina is anti Torah ought to stop. Sure... isolated incidents of anti Torah activity can be found among various people, politicians, and venues in Israel. Sure... there may be some laws that are not in concert with Halacha. And sure... the Judiciary may not be automatically sympathetic to Torah law. But to say that Israeli political leaders are deliberately anti Torah in some sort of conspiracy is just plain wrong. They aren't. The Medina may not be Torah oriented but it is not any more anti Torah then it is anti secular values. And when Rabbi Lau ascends the “throne” ...that will show it.

Extremism in Defense of Torah

We seem to be having a cultural war. But not the one most people think of when this phrase is used. I am not talking about the war between the secular world and its complete lack of any standard of sexual behavior and the God fearing religious world who have clearly defined sexual mores. This indeed is a war fought in this country and in Israel as we speak. But I am talking about another war. The war is between normalcy and extremism within our own Orthodox world. The most recent and personal event which precipitates my writing this article is a something that happened in Ramat Bet Shemesh, Israel on Lag B’Omer.

Ramat Bet Shemesh is very dear to me. I have spent much enjoyable time there visiting my son and his family. I love that community. It is a new and near totally Shomer Shabbos with a mix of Charedim (about 59%) and Daatim (about39%) and Chilonim (about 2%). It is a physically beautiful suburb of Bet Shemesh, newly developed and overlooking a gorgeous view of nearby mountainous terrain. All residences are built with Jerusalem stone and vary from single family homes, to townhouses, to multi-unit condominiums. It is well planned and very user friendly ...the fastest growing religious community in Israel. But all is not well there.

There is a segment of Orthodoxy that refuses to countenance anything other than their own Hashkafos and views. They refuse to recognize any deviance from their own interpretation of Halacha by anyone. And their rabbinic leaders who know that there are differences in Psak ignore those differences and encourage what can only be called hooliganism in the pursuit of their own agendas... hooliganism that results in violence and injury. Such was the case in Ramat Bet Shemesh on Lag B’Omer. This was made known to me in a comment in my last post:

“In Ramat Bet Shemeh, on Lag B'Omer, there was a boy's choir in the park. The concert was attended by a variety of people, although mostly chareidi mothers with their children, including Rebbetzen Kornfeld of the Gra shul. The mayor of Bet Shemesh was also there. During his speech, suddenly Rav Perlstein, the self-styled mara d'asra of Ramat Bet Shemesh, burst upon the scene with about ten of his goons. They shouted "pritzus!" and started pushing away the women and children. They even went on stage and physically pushed the boys away. One child was hurt and needed medical attention. Rav Perlstein is being sued for 100,000 shekel.”

I confirmed this Chilul HaShem with my Charedi children in Ramat Bet Shemesh and indeed this is what happened. And they are as appalled by it as I am.

It is somewhat of a relief to know that some of the prominent local Rabbanim spoke out against him. But... that someone who was considered a leader in the community felt justified in leading an attack like this is a major problem in the Charedi world. One which is reflected as well in their actions and attitudes on other issues: Rioting mobs, or in disparagement of Non-Jews or Modern Orthodox Jews, or covering up sexual crimes... all these are issues stemming from the same source, a source that creates a Rav Perlstein.

Rav Perlstein is not a crazy exception. He is a respected Rav hired many years ago by the Charedi community in Ramat Bet Shemesh from London to come there and basically be their Posek. He a Posek of some renown. And he does not represent some isolated fringe groups but a significant number of people who have similar ideas of how one should react to various situations they don’t approve of.

It is clear that many Charedim do not approve of such people. But they continue in positions of leadership and spread their influences becoming more strident with every passing event.

It seems as though our enemies within are as dangerous as our enemies without, at least in a spiritual sense. As great a danger as anti-Semites pose (whether Jew or non-Jew) there seems to be an equal danger by observant Jews who are hostile to their own Torah observant brethren. I don’t know how this will end but it seems like sanity and common sense is gone and extremism has taken its place.

Yet Another Charedi Riot!

Here we go again. I know I will be accused of Charedi bashing, but I how can I ignore yet another Chilul HaShem like the one in this photo? Why is it that a riot must break out every time someone feels the government has wronged a Charedi even in the slightest way? Where did they learn such behavior? What do they gain? Certainly not sympathy from me! I need not write more. One picture is worth a thousand words.

Dichotomy

I received the following e-mail which illustrates the dichotomy between Modern Orthodox views and Charedi ones. Therein an individual wanted to know how one can define Modern Orthodoxy. In the course of answering it he referenced a speech by a Chasidic Rav, Rabbi Mayer Schiller, who while wearing the Chasidic Garb seems to identify more with Modern Orthodoxy than Charedism. In the course of a speech given in a program called Torah In Motion he asked the following question:

“How does modern man deal with the Halacha that you are not allowed to save the life of a non Jew that you encounter drowning on Shabbos ? (Ignore the fact that halachically today we say you can save the gentile for public policy reasons. Let's assume there is no such issue so the halacha is that it is assur to save that person.)”

“This evening I went to the wedding of the son of a clerk of mine. She has worked for me for 18 years. I have another clerk who has worked for me for 27 years. Both of these individuals are the epitome of honesty, morally caring always anxious to help out what we in our circles would call Mentchen of the highest caliber.”

“If either one of them was dying on Shabbos and I could save them what would I do. It certainly poses an ethical dilemma.”

“If this does not pose any problem for you, then you are clearly Charedi. Maybe the following will sharpen the moral issue. How about a gentile doctor who saves your child's life and as result thereof you become best friends would you save his life on Shabbos.”

“If that still does not pose any religious qualms let's try this, your father is saved from the gas chambers by a righteous gentile or your child in Israel is saved from an Arab mob by an Arab would you save their lives? Do you simply say there just Goyim that's the halacha good riddance or is this an issue that your religious soul is tormented by. If you feel no need to grapple with this then you are clearly in the Charedi camp.”

This ends the quote of Rabbi Schiller. Now many people would say this is an unfair characterization of Charedi versus Modern Orthodox attitudes, But consider the following anecdote by the e-mailer:

“There is a Rosh Yeshiva in town that would not have any pangs of conscience.
About seven, eight years ago my daughter brought home a few of her Bais Yakkov friends for a Shabbos meal. One of them said: we had a guest speaker at school Rav (a local Rosh Yeshiva) and you won't believe what he said. She then related how he gave a derogatory Shmuess about Goyim and said that if you called an animal a goy you had to apologize to the animal because a goy is a lower being than an animal. Although not totally shocked that this Rosh Yeshiva held this view I was not sure that he in fact said it.
I had two nephews in the two local Charedi yeshivas at that time so I decided to gingerly ferret out of them if they had ever heard such talk at their yeshiva.”

“So I said to them, “I heard that a certain Rosh Yeshiva claimed that goyim are lower beings than animals but the person wouldn't tell me the Rosh Yeshiva's name.” One of them gets a smirk on his face before I finish the Spiel. I said to him, “What's so amusing?” He said, “I've heard that Shmuess a dozen times.”

“I then asked the English principal of that yeshiva if this story can be true. He said, “Impossible”. He then spoke to the Rosh Yeshiva and comes back to me and said, “Not only is it true he believes it B’Emunah Sheleimah. As there are Gemaros where non Jews are compared to animals... to him their need be no soul searching.”

In light of my article on Tzelem Elokim is it not fair to ask who has the more ethical approach to treatment of non-Jews? Is it Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik who uses the Gemara in Bava Metzia (Yerushalmi) to show how Shimon Ben Shetach acted... or is it the Gemarah that this Rosh Yeshiva used to show how lowly non-Jews are thought of? After all both are Gemaros. Which ones should we be emphasizing to our children. Form the speech by Rabbi Schiller and the anecdote provided by the e-mailer the answer seems clear. If you are an MO you act in accordance with Shimon Ben Shetach. If you are Charedi you follow the approach of the Rosh Yeshiva who thinks that non-Jews are lower than animals. The question remains which one is the way you want your children to taught? To me the answer is clear.

The Price of Rabbi Dessler’s Path

The following is a letter I received from an individual who reads my blog. After reading my post on Orthodox Atheists, he was inspired to write me of his own life experience. With the current discussion about Rabbi Dessler’s position on the need to sacrifice many individual Jews for the greater good of producing Gedolim, I thought it to be very poignant. The letter speaks for it self and needs no additional commentary from me. With permission by the writer, here it is in its entirety:

Harry,

I've read your blog with great interest. While I do not consider myself an athiest, I think you'd be interested in hearing why I am somewhat off the derech, as you seem to take an interest in these stories.

I am in my late 20s and I barely daven or learn. I keep kosher, but I feel as if I have very little spirituality.

As a kid, I attended a chareidi yeshiva in Brooklyn, NY and I sensed from about age 12 that they were full of garbage. The moment they told me that my suede yarmulke was no good, I knew something was fishy. As a result, they lost all credibility. Also, I remember the rabbeim talking about kollel being the ideal and all, but then kissing up to the richies.

In high school I was miserable, not necessarily having to do with religion, but I tried to be a good kid and daven and learn, thinking that these things would make me happier. They didn't. When I stopped wearing a hat at 15, I got snobbed out in shul. My parents didn't let me go to movies (although they themselves went and would probably be considered centrists my most), and it was a horrible era for me.

Then came Israel at 18, and I discovered that I had little interest in learning. I also noticed the chareidi agenda rear its ugly head, but I had no choice as my parents would not have sent me to an MO place.

In college I stopped davening regularly. I was in bais medrash for a couple of years but was so miserable there that I left. I found that when I did daven I was miserable in shul. It was meaningless. When I sat down at a gemara shiur, it brought back memories of high school, where I hated every minute.

Got married and had major parnassa issues. A lot of it I blamed on the rabbeim that I had listened to, who told me to get married despite not having completed college and having a stable source of income. They said not marrying was not having emunah. Then I went to rebbehs, mekubalim, and was told to increase my davening, learning, etc. I did just that, and of course, it didn't help right away. By all accounts, I was sold a rotten bill of goods. And then I started evaluating why Hashem gave this one money and this one not. I was borderline suicidal.

That lasted four long years. I was incredibly depressed, and medication and therapy did not help. I turned to Hashem and nothing (or so it seemed). Then I looked around and saw corruption within the frum community and I was sickened. Like I said, borderline suicidal.

Well, things did turn around and finally I started making a living. I always thought that once that happened, I'd be happier, more appreciative towards God and thus, would daven and learn besimcha. Unfortunately, that hasn't happened. It's just the opposite - I go to shul and it brings back bad memories of those years of hell when I struggled and struggled.

Now intellectually, I know that people have had it worse (holocaust survivors) and yet stayed true to Hashem and did even better. I also know that money isn't everything, and at least I was healthy, I had my wife and kids, etc. Yet emotionally, I feel like Hashem neglected me for those years and put me through living hell. And the same way people say, "Oh, we can't judge those who went through the Shoah and went off the derech," I say, I had an emotional holocaust for four years, and it wasn't as if things were always great growing up either.

I know the argument can be made that Hashem put me through it for reasons known only to Him, but I associate frumkeit with what I've seen here in Brooklyn, and with the way I felt going through hell on earth. I feel peace of mind when I'm not in shul. It's when I go to daven that everything comes back.

I know it's probably wrong, but I feel that God neglected me for all those years. And I can't help but look at the richies in my neighborhood who are horrid human beings, yet get a great deal of material wealth. Yes, I know money isn't everything and all that, but I'm still traumatized from that time in my life.

So here I am, spiritually bankrupt, but hoping that my children will find their way back to Hashem and do things right. Because deep down I know that Hashem is emes, and the Torah is emes, but I can't get too into it myself.

That's my story, and I'm sorry it was a little long-winded.

The Source of Problems in Ultra-Orthodoxy

On the Main Line has an interesting review of the book “Off the Derech” by Faranak Margolese. I commented there but the issue is so important it deserves a post of its own. The issue goes beyond the very serious problem of young people abandoning Torah observance. It goes to the very heart of problem today within ultra Orthodoxy. It has produced what I consider to be a near fatal flaw in the system and is tied to the rapidly increasing crises it faces today... crises of faith, Parannasa, Shiduchim... amongst many others. And the effects are not limited to just to the ultra-Orthodox. They affect all of us. The vast majority of educators come from their ranks. With perhaps a few notable exceptions, there is barely a day school or high school that doesn’t have a least one Mechanech from their ranks... usually more than one. These are often very talented people who in many cases become role models... even charismatic role models to our children.

In his review of the book, On The Main Line cites the pertinent paragraph from Rav Eliyahu E. Dessler (REED) Vol. III pp. 355-60 of Michtav Me-eliyahu):

"...the philosophy of Yeshiva education is directed towards one objective alone, to nurture Gedolei Torah and Yirei Shamayim in tandem. For this reason university was prohibited to their students, because [the Gedolim] could not see how to nurture Gedolei Torah unless they directed all education towards Torah exclusively. However, do not think that they did not know in advance that through this approach, G-d forbid, many (students) will be ruined, since they will be unable to survive such an extreme position, and [therefore] separate from the path of Torah. However, this is the price that must be paid for [producing] Gedolei Torah."

In my view, the Rav Dessler quote is the source of all sources. It is the reason no secular education is allowed beyond eighth grade in Charedi Yeshivos in Israel. And it is the reason for the de-emphasis of secular knowledge of most Yeshivos here in the US. Young people going “off the track” is but one spoke on the wheel of problems that such a philosophy has produced.

I strongly disagree with REED's position. It may have had merit at a time when full time Yeshiva learning was a hard sell to the masses. But the reverse is now the case. University is anathema to the generations who were raised in REED's philosophy. And these are the parents and grandparents of today. They are the spiritual children of the REED approach. And so are most of the Mechanchim. And it is profoundly harmful to Klal Yisroel. Yes, as REED indicates we need to produce Gedolim. But in the current ultra-Orthodox climate that is the entire focus. Unlike the times in which Rav Dessler wrote this, there is no other pursuit which is valued today within ultra-Orthodoxy, other than learning Torah full time. There is no need to tolerate the kind of losses this system is producing any more.

Besides... the system hasn’t really worked anyway. It has succeeded in producing a great many dropouts. But exactly how many Gedolim has it produced?

Satmar and the State of Israel

There is an interesting website called True Torah Jews Against Zionism. On this website is a story about the way the Israeli government handled some of the immigrant children during the era just after achieving statehood. Here is an excerpt:

"And truly this was not the first time this had happened. It was only the first time that it happened on such a large scale. Even as early as 1943 some Yemenite children also were brought to Palestine and had their peyos shorn off. In addition the Jewish world was aghast about the forcible coercion to abandon religious observance of over one thousand Polish children refugees from Hitler brought by the way of Teheran. These were the famous children of Tehran, the “YALDI TEHERAN”."

It is very sad, indeed disgusting, when children are coerced to abandon religious observance. But this story, whether accurate, taken out of context or whether there were mitigating circumstances is not my issue, here. My issue is that stories like this are used by Medina haters to show just how evil the State of Israel was, and still is.

Most of such criticism stems from the philosophy of Satmar which is a legitimate but minority view questioning the legitimacy of a pre-Moshiach State. But it is one thing to have this view. It is an entirely different enterprise to act on it. Neturei Karta has taken upon itself the mantle of “military wing” of Satmar and thereby causes perhaps the greatest Chilul HaShem in the Torah world today. But can all be blamed on Neturei Karta? I don’t think so. Clearly the attitude exists in Satmar too even if they don’t actually act upon it. But the rhetoric from Satmar is almost as strong. So strong, in fact, it sounds almost like "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion". Just substitute "Zionists" for Jews.

Neturei Karta has taken the Satmar position and has perverted it to the point of inspiring extremists within their camp to snuggle up to, and laud terrorist organizations like Hezbollah and regimes like Iran who perpetrate, advocate, and/or support the indiscriminate murder of ALL Jews (not just Zionists). Neturei Karta is not Satmar. But they are Satmar’s soldiers whether Satmar likes it or not.

Often one will hear Satmar strongly disavow these people as a bunch of crazy extremists that nobody supports. But it is a meaningless comment when the only difference between Satmar and Neturei Karta is that Neturei Karta acts on identical beliefs while Satmar just spews nearly the same venomous rhetoric. They take every opportunity to bash the Medina.

Need I repeat the obvious? Israel has given millions, perhaps even billions of dollars by now, to Bnei Torah either directly or through their Yeshivos and other Mosdos. It is a State which has enabled Torah to flourish like no other time since the Churban Bayis Sheni... a State which has provided an immediate haven to holocaust refugees the minute they were granted Statehood by the UN... and so much more.

Of course the early Zionist pioneers weren't saints. Neither are the current leaders. And I concede that there were some virulently anti Torah Zionists in the early days. There are even a few now. But they are not all anti Torah. Not by a long shot. And the truly bad ones (Shinui) just lost the election. All of them. Not a single seat did they get!

Some really bad decisions were made by the early Zionist pioneers. Some had anti Torah motives, some just went along, and some just didn’t know any better. The same is true now. But to so strongly condemn the entire enterprise as Satmar does, and to a lesser extent Agudah and now even the right wing of the Religious Zionists... is to invite bloodshed upon our people. It inspires and ennobles our enemies to go out and kill us.

Orthoprax Atheists

Many years ago, I watched a Bill Moyers PBS interview with Rabbi Saul Berman. Mr. Moyers asked him whether it was possible to be an Orthodox Jew and doubt the existence of God. He answered that not only is it possible, he knows many fine Jews who do not believe in God and he considers them Jews in good standing.

I found that quite shocking at the time. But upon reflection, I thought that perhaps he meant people who have uncertainty about God's existence, or the inability to prove His existence while struggling to do so. If such an individual maintains observance of the Mitzvos, that grants that him standing as an observant Jew. In fact the Chafetz Chaim touches on this theme and allows for the existence of momentary and fleeting minimal doubt on the part of all humanity. He considers this normal and as long as he concludes belief in God... all is well.

Yet, upon further reflection, I don’t think this is what Rabbi Berman meant. I think he meant atheists. If so, I question it. It seems basic that belief in God is a defining characteristic of Orthodox Judaism... indeed of any religion. Doesn’t the very first Pasuk in the Torah tell us that there is a God? Isn’t God telling us in the very first of the Aseres HaDibros, that He exists? Isn’t it also logical to say that belief in God is the underlying component of any religious belief system... that there is a Creator who guides the universe?

I’ve often thought about that interview. But never more than since my encounter in the blogosphere with atheists who observe Halacha. It seems there are many such people. And it seems that they are good people with good values. They maintain a Torah lifestyle because that’s how they were brought up. That’s what they’re used to, and that is the community in which they live. To jettison all religious practice would be too drastic a lifestyle change and would have irreparable consequences on their family, their friends, and on their own mental health. It would be too traumatic. So, they continue to live as Frum Jews even though they have no rational reason to do so, only a psychological one. Some, in fact, actually love the lifestyle and the Torah learning. They wouldn’t change if they could, even while they do not believe in God. Are these people Jews in good standing? According to Rabbi Berman they are. But how? Does the practice of all the Mitzvos in service of no God... have any real value?

I read an essay by one of these skeptics a while back and it was obvious to me how much he loved Torah Judaism. But does God value this fellow? Does He reward his Mitzva Practice? Or will his fate be: "Sofo Yoresh Gehinom"? On the other hand perhaps God will just say that it wasn’t his fault he became a non-believer and reward him for the Torah he learns and the Mitzvos he keeps?

My gut instinct is that without belief in God, all observance is in vein. All observance must perforce flow from belief in God. But Rabbi Berman seems to think otherwise. I wonder how he would explain his views.

Bad Behavior: Whose fault Is It?

To quote Shakespeare,” The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves...” I would add, “and in our Mechanchim”.

Several years ago a friend of mine accepted a position as a general studies high school principal at a highly respected Yeshiva. The students there were generally fine Bnei Torah many of them budding Talmidei Chachamim with all the Midos one would expect of them, which includes profound Kavod for their Roshei Yeshiva and Rabbeim. Upon commencing his duties there the principal was shocked by what he saw. Once they were in the classroom of the secular studies teachers who were non-Jews, they acted in a most disrespectful and disgusting way toward them. They ridiculed them behind their backs and in some cases, right to their faces! Upon the first opportunity the principal tried to rebuke them and get them to stop this reprehensible behavior. To his great surprise, they did not think they were doing anything wrong. The explanation went something like this: “What’s the problem?” “They’re Goyim!” “They were probably Oiver on one of the Sheva Mitzvos... M’Stamah they stole something in their lives... and were therefore Mechiuv Misah anyway!”

When the principal approached the Roshei Yeshiva about this attitude on the part of the Yeshiva Bachurim Bachurim, the response was tepid. They agreed it was wrong and a Chilul HaShem and promised to speak to the boys about it. But they were certainly not outraged and perhaps not even surprised by it. This story shocked me at the time. While I knew how non-Jews are thought of by some of our Mechanchim in Yeshivos, I never thought they would allow their Bachurim to perpetrate a major Chilul HaShem. And of course these Roshei Yeshiva would never purposely allow a Chilul HaShem like this to be perpetrated by their students. But the question is: How could they let go on right under their noses? How could they not know about it? And... why the lukewarm response?

I think the answer lies in the way the attitude in general is conveyed to students about the secular world in general and Non Jews in particular. In their zeal to discourage their students from participating in general culture, they go to great lengths and never miss an opportunity to show non Jews in the most negative light. Whenever the Gemarah talks of an Akum in a disparaging way they will often use that as a springboard to show how immoral and disgusting “Goyim” are. And they rarely if ever differentiate between good Goyim and bad, except to say that the good Goyim, whom they refer to as the Chasidei Umos HaOlam, are the rare exception.

These children, who for the most part have been sheltered from the outside world, have little if any exposure to the media, or the world of entertainment, wind up thinking that Goyim are generally Michuiv Misah and not worthy of being treated as human beings. There are many instances where the Gemarah speaks of an Akum in unflattering ways. Mechanchim in elementary schools and high schools always make a point of extending these comments to all non-Jews.

What kind of conclusion would one expect by these boys when all they ever hear about Non Jews is a constant barrage of negative and comments disgusting comments? The very word used to refer to non Jews: ...Goyim... has become a pejorative. It should therefore be no surprise to anyone that young Bnei Torah end up with this attitude.

And since this attitude has been instilled in Yeshiva students for many decades, is it any surprise that there are Frum and otherwise Ehrliche Jews who never the less treat their fellow human beings with less than the dignity they deserve? Add to that a leftover justifiable European mentality about the non Jews of Europe from grandparents passed on in their own families and you have a prescription for the kind of behavior in the above story. Young people have been immersed in a culture which teaches that a Goy is a disgusting creature to be avoided at all costs.

Now I’m sure that this is not the universal message in all Yeshivos. There are many fine Mechanchim who do teach the proper Midos with respect to interacting with non-Jews. But it is pervasive enough in Orthodoxy to allow for massive Chilul HaShem. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve noticed the condescending attitude a Jewish merchant will have to a non-Jewish employee or customer. It makes my stomach turn.

The key to changing this behavior is education. And the Mechanchim are the first ones that need to be educated. They can start by reading my article, “In the image of God” and then incorporate this attitude in to their teachings. There needs to be a sea change in attitude. No longer should every opportunity be taken to bash non-Jews. Instead, non-Jews should be judged individually and “presumed innocent until proven guilty”. In this great country of ours whose very credo is tolerance, we should be no less tolerant of non-Jews than our fellow non-Jewish citizens are of us.

Gedolim, Daas Torah, Kavod HaTorah

I am often accused of bashing Gedolei Yisroel. Well I would like to clear up once and for all that I DO NOT! Never have... never will. But I DO often disagree with them. Is that the same as bashing them? No, of course not. Why not? Read on.

First a bit of an explanation about past posts on this subject. I have written that there are no Gedolei Yisroel today. What I meant by that is that there are no Gedolei Yisroel today that are anything like what we had in the last generation, which included the likes of R. Moshe Feinstein. But even more... it is my personal belief that the current generation is so far removed from that one as to create a separate Tekufa... a new era akin to the separation between Rishonim and Achronim. Why I feel that way is the subject of another essay which I will not go into now. But every generation has it Gedolim (which I prefer calling “Rabbinic leadership” as this is how Agudah often refers to them in their writings) and today is no different. Who they are depends on who you ask. But in Charedi circles it is the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudas Yisroel. For the purpose of this essay I will refer to them as Gedolim as I will any of the rabbinic leadership of any other stream within Orthodoxy.

The question is: “How should we treat Gedloim”? What is considered appropriate behavior for Bnei Torah with respect to Gedolim?

The answer is quite simple: They are top be treated with the utmost of respect. They deserve it as leaders in the Torah world, no matter how much we disagree with their Hashkafos. I have too often read comments on this blog and elsewhere that refer to them quite disparagingly. And this is absolutely wrong. I understand their reasons. It is because of the many controversies stemming from certain of their pronouncements, most notably the banning of two books, especially one of them. They... WE (I include myself) ...have been attacked. In the course of banning that book our very Emunah has been challenged. Our beliefs have been attacked as K’fira, heresy! And the fact that the ban was issued by a man who is considered THE GADOL HADOR has made almost all other Gedolim stand by it.

So the resulting disrespect from many of us is therefore quite understandable... even natural. But it is wrong! We are allowed to disagree with them. But we are not allowed to besmirch them and doing so is a HUGE Chilul HaShem.

But... ARE we in fact allowed to disagree with them? This is a matter of contention and controversy between Centrists and the world of the right. And this is key to understanding one of the most fundamental differences between us.

The issue of is that of infallibility. While everyone, including the most right wing among the Torah world agrees that Gedolim, even the ones of the last generation, are fallible, the Right treats their pronouncements as though they are infallible. This is made clear time and again by Agudah which constantly restates this position. What ever the Gedolim say... goes. Period.

Why? ... How can they say that Gedolim are fallible and yet treat their words as inviolable?

The answer is deceptively simple. The argument is that since they are by far the most knowledgeable in Torah our knowledge pales by comparison. Their thoughts on every subject is therefore filtered through the prism of their Torah knowledge. Our opinions are near worthless in comparison to theirs if it contradict their opinions. After all they say, who should one listen to, a Baal HaBos or the Gedolim? A Gadol says, “Don’t do something” ..even if it is not a Halachic issue, it is treated as though it were. They also believe that our Gedolim, even the ones we have today, have access to Ruach HaKodesh which gives their pronouncements an added boost of legitimacy and treata it as though it is the word of God. This is what is called “Daas Torah” and it is therefore looked at as inviolable.

But it shouldn’t be. Daas Torah should mean the wisdom of people knowledgeable in Torah The less something has to do with Halacha the less it should be valued. Here is how I believe it should work:

In the case of Psak, one is required to listen to a Gadol or a Posek. If for example one asks a Shaila to a Gadol or Posek on Hilchos Niddah and he Paskins... that is it. That is the Halacha. One cannot contradict it even if he has learned otherwise because indeed the Gadol’s knowledge is far greater than yours. That does not mean that there can’t be Maclokes HaPoskim. There is of course much of that. And when asking a Shaila one is permitted to ask the Posek that he believes will be more favorable to him. But once he has gotten a Psak from a Posek he must listen to it. He cannot “shop it”. And in those cases where the Psak is universal....it’s over. Daas Torah has spoken.

In the case of Hashkafa, one does not have to listen but should instead value it against what he hears from many differing Torah sources and other disciplines (such as science) and filter the information though his own rational mind to find a Hashkafa that works for him. As long as the conclusions are not in contradiction to fundamental belief it is not a problem, in my view. If for example a Gadol says that it is wrong to believe that the universe is more than 5766 years old, one need not necessarily believe that. One can find sources in the Torah world that allow factoring in scientific knowledge that contradicts the notion of a young universe and allows belief that the age of the universe is 15 billion years old.

In the case of communal issues, it is yet another step removed from being the word of God. If a Gadol states his views about participating in a rally for Israel for example, one should factor in his opinion and perhaps give it more with then even his own. But he may in good conscience do as he chooses... again, as long as it does not violate the fundamentals of Torah and does not create a Chilul HaShem.

What about Ruach HaKodesh? How does one dispute advice from someone who has it? The answer is that they do not have Ruach HaKodesh. At least not the man who is considered by most Bnei Torah to be the Gadol Hador, Rav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, a Gadol and a Zaken who belongs to the last generation of Gedolim. Rav Elyashiv by his own admission said he does not have Ruach HaKodesh. And if the Gadol HaDor doesn’t have it, does a lesser Gadol? I don't think so and I think they would be the first to tell you they don't.

So that’s the bottom line. Our Gedolim are not infallible and we need not treat every pronouncement they make as though they were. But it would be the biggest Chilul HaShem to disrespect them in any way. Kavod HaTorah demands it.

Emulating Orthodoxy: The Successes We’ve Achieved

Rabbi Emanuel Feldman has a wonderful article in Cross Currents on the popularity in America today of things Orthodox. Yes, it is cool to be Jewish, as I wrote about here awhile ago. Only he takes it in a different direction than I did. Whereas applied it to general culture and took it as a pat on the back for our cultural successes albeit with a grain of salt and a warning to keep or eyes open... Rabbi Feldman applied the phenomenon to American Jewry and its impact on non-Orthodox Jewish denominations.

Rabbi Feldman is right on target. He basically says that it was primarily due to the influx of ultra-Orthodox rabbinic figures with single minded determination to rebuild in America what was lost in Europe without regard for the political correctness of the times. The times of that era demanded a melting pot mentality. And that was the dominating influence on virtually all immigrants up to that point. But Rabbinic figures, most notably Rav Aharon Kotler, established their institutions which all but ignore that Zeitgeist . And from there sprang generations of students who’ve done the same. Contrast that with the melting pot mentality that so dominated Conservative and Reform thinking and the results are that those denominations look at us with envy. Instead of considering Orthodox Judaism an ancient relic of a dead past (...as historian Arnold Toynbee not so generously called observant Jews) they now point to what we’ve accomplished as the model which they are trying to emulate.

There are a few factors that were left out from his article which I believe were as vital to success as are those he mentioned., most notably, the influx of post holocaust immigrants. Without these committed Jews who came here “suddenly” and wanted to resurrect what they lost during the holocaust, Rav Aharon Kotler would likely have failed. This wave of immigration was different from that of the pre war era. The intensity of religious beliefs of these new immigrants and the determination to rebuild is what kept the enterprise going and resulted in what we have today.

Additionally working conditions of that time made Shabbos observance extremely difficult. Only the most committed of Jews would be able to withstand not working on Shabbos.

And it was also the case that those who immigrated here were not so interested in holding on to their Judaism. In some cases they couldn’t wait to jettison their Yiddishkeit. There are stories of Jews dumping their Teffilin overboard into the ocean upon their ships reaching Ellis Island. Others who perhaps wanted to remain Frum succumbed to the pressures of American society and ended up working on Shabbos right along with the Teffilin dumpers. Another factor was that there was hardly any religious infrastructure of significance in pre holocaust America, hardly any day schools and high schools. And they did not have enough organized infrastructure of significance to remain Frum, especially day schools which are indispensable in passing observant Judaism on to our children. These are all factors, among others, that contributed to our current success.

But it is not perfect. Rabbi Feldman also points out that not all is well within Orthodoxy. And he mentions some of the things I harp on all the time... such as the fact that there was a level of respect by the RW for Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik and his Hashkafos then, that has disappeared, and in some cases has turned into a near contempt. And there is an excessive emphasis to dress a certain way (black hats) in the RW world. So too does he mention the problems with Satmar and Lubavitch...all things which I’ve mentioned here on this blog.

So hat’s off to Rabbi Feldman. We need more people thinking like this.

This Week in the Jewish Press

For those who just cannot get enough of me, I’ve written an op-ed in this week’s Jewish Press on the subject of Tzelem Elokim. It’s located here.

Protecting Our Children

The richest man in the blogworld has posed some questions in the commentary section of a post that deserve answers beyond just a reply in that section.

How do I know he is the richest man? Because he is “happywithhislot”. I don’t know this gentleman but I really love that he chose this name for himself. It shows his character. It shows that he does not value material worth as the indicator of happiness and instead values the words of Chazal of “Eizehu Asher?” “Ha Sameach B’Chelko.”

But... I digress.

In commentary to my post on sexual abuse in the Torah world he asked three questions:

1) Has the time come for the Gedolim to make an Asifa about privately owned yeshivas?

2) Should any one man or family control a yeshiva?

3) Should a yeshiva be a business, a profit center?

Many of the greatest Yeshivos were run by a single individual or their extended families. Telshe, Mir, Lakewood... are all controlled by the Roshei Yeshiva. That doesn't mean they shouldn't listen to their Baalei Batim. I’m sure that in the more successful Yeshivos, they do. But Roshei Yeshiva make the ultimate decisions. There is nothing wrong per se with private ownership. As to whether a Yeshiva should be run as a business or a profit center... I wish they would. It might help their budgets if they could operate on a profit basis.

The real question is what do we do about this terrible plague of sexual misconduct in the Torah world that has been with us, and virtually unaddressed for many decades? How do we prevent it from ever happening again?

The solution to these kinds of problems is transparency and accountability. No matter who runs the institution they need to be accountable for their products and their methods. In the real world when a product is found defective or their methods found to be illegal, the management is held accountable by the consumer (represented by governmental protection agencies and remedied by the criminal and civil justice system).

So too, a Yeshiva. Its product is the student and it's "method" is the Mechanech. It is time for the Yeshiva "consumer", the parents, to demand this from their Yeshiva management

A system of accountability needs to be developed that is backed by rabbinic leadership of all stripes united in this cause. We need to have the type of conference held recently on standardizing Gerus. At that meeting virtually all segments of Orthodoxy were represented from Rav Nochum Eisentein representing Rav Elyashiv who is the Gadol HaDor of the Charedi world... to Rav Hershel Schachter, representing the world of YU. This is what we need here, with the additional participation of psychologists, psychiatrists, and other experts in the field of aberrant sexual behavior.

Standards of sexual misconduct need to be developed and guidelines set up for hiring and firing violators. Every teacher upon being hired should be made aware of the standards and be required to report to a principal misconduct of any kind. No exceptions. Batei Din need to be set up to deal with these issues and should include as varied (Hashkafically) a set of Dayanim as possible. These Daynim should be trained to properly deal with these matters and dispense justice fairly. Torah U’Mesorah should require all of its member day schools and high schools to participate or lose their affiliation.

I’m sure there are some other, perhaps many, steps missing that need to be added to these. That is why a conference is needed. It has to get done. Agudah, the RCA, Young Israel, Chasidim, Misnagdim, Sefardim, Torah U.Mesorah... ALL OF THEM should be involved and universal compliance needs to be mandated. This is the only way we can get rid of the problem. Anything short of that won’t work. If there was ever a reason to be united this is it. Nothing is more precious than our children’s welfare.

The Next President of Israel

Is the next president of Israel going to be a Shomer Shabbos Jew? And not only Shomer Shabbos but a respected Rav, a Mechaber Seforim and an individual who is respected by almost all streams of Orthodoxy. This is what Ha’aretz is reporting. But what is even more interesting is the person promoting it. It is none other than the current Prime Minster, Ehud Olmert. That’s right, the very same Olmert who many people consider a self serving, anti-Torah, re-incarnation of the Ehud Barak.

To those who constantly curse Omlert as being anti-Torah, doesn’t this show exactly the opposite? I think it does. He may not be Frum himself, but he certainly isn’t anti-Frum, if he wants Rav Lau to be the titular head of the state. Personally I think such a move would be a big Kiddush HaShem.

Sexual Abuse in the Torah World

I am loath to write about his subject. And perhaps this attitude is in part why there continues to be a problem in our community. The subject is so loathsome and most of us are so repelled by it, that the mere mention of it elicits a gag response. Unless it happens to a child or spouse most of us would rather stick our heads in the sand than speak about it. And that is I suppose why there is a tendency to cover these things up when they rear their ugly heads. No yeshiva wants to have that kind of stain on their record. So they deny, deny, deny... and cover up using Hilchos Lashan Hara and Motzi Shem Ra as their shield. But the shame this institution faces upon exposure is far worse than if they had dealt with the problem immediately and there would have been far fewer victims . But... they always seem to act in the hope that it will go away. But it doesn’t. It never does. It just festers and gets worse.

When a story like the one in New York Magazine comes up it is a reminder that the problem not only exists in the Torah world but that it has existed for quite some time as the story of that Chasidic "psychologist" shows. That fellow (unfortunately someone I know) is the son of a major Talmud Chacham (a Gerrer Chasid, whose S’forim have Haskamos from the Brisker Rav and many other Gedolim from that era). He (the "psychologist" son) sexually molested his patients. This happened about 25 years ago and remains unresolved.

And the problem is not limited to one segment of Orthodoxy. Prominent Rabbanim in virtually all segments of Orthodoxy have been accused and in many cases convicted of sexual misconduct. There was the famous case of the NCSY leader a few years ago... as there was the case of the scion of a revered Rosh HaYeshiva in Baltimore. There is the ongoing case of the grandson of one of the biggest Gedolei HaDor of the last generation... all accused of sexual misconduct and/or abuse. And now we have a story of an individual who for decades abused children sexually with complete impunity.

What is really troubling about this lengthy article is the way certain types of abuse are treated by leaders in the Torah world. The article in New York Magazine relates the story of a teacher in a RW Yeshiva who has for years been molesting children. The acts described in the article are quite disgusting, but a revered elderly sage, when asked, said that such acts are not actionable in Halacha, this fellow gets a pass. Instead of getting fired, he continued to teach and victimize young people at will.

The question is not so much on this sick individual who passes for a Mechanech. He is sick and needs help. The question is why he gets a pass. Why did a respected Rosh Yeshiva continue to allow this fellow to teach? Why continue to defend him? Why did the Rosh Yeshiva continually brush off accuser students as not reliable witnesses? And why wasn’t this Rosh Yeshiva’s Gadol outraged by the accusation? According to the article it seems that instead of outrage he said that as a matter of Jewish law, he would have had to do more than what he did for the acts to qualify as sexual abuse.

Is that the standard of acceptability for Mechnchim... as long as one’s acts are not Halachicly actionable, they are acceptable teachers? Does an act that elicits revulsion by any civilized standard of behavior not mean anything? At the very least this “Rebbi” is a Naval BeReshus HaTorah. But I suspect he is actually guilty of more than that.

Now that one of his early victims has decided to sue the Rebbi and the Yeshiva, the Rebbi has finally been put on leave. But did it have to take decades and a lawsuit? Hasn’t anything been learned from the cover-up by NCSY of a popular executive a few years ago?

NCSY paid a high price for their reticence. The abuser was eventually sent to prison after decades of abuse and heads rolled at NCSY.

Didn’t this Rosh Yeshiva pay any attention to that?

Neturei Karta: Who is to Blame?

Neturei Karta has been in news once again recently doing what they do best, making a mockery of Torah Judaism by engaging and pledging support to a movement that has sworn to destroy the Jewish people by any and all means available to them the most widely used of which is suicide bombings. A Jerusalem Post story reports of a meeting between Rabbi Moishe Arye Friedman, a representative of Neturei Karta and Palestinian/ Hamas cabinet minister Atef Adwan. There is nothing new here in this behavior. They do this kind of thing all the time as they did not long ago in Iran, when the met with President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad and expressed their support for his calls to eliminate Israel.

Many people express outrage (correctly) when Neturei Karta is cited as an example an as representative of Charedi thinking and claim that this is a miniscule publicity seeking fringe group. It is, they claim, the same 10 or 12 individuals doing it every time and they represent no one but themselves. But that is only partially true.

While it is likely that these rabble rousing members of Neturei Karta are but a few individuals, it isn’t that simple. Their ability to call attention to themselves makes this a Chilul HaShem beyond description. But their philosophy is not as extreme as it seems. Their view of the State of Israel is sourced in a historical rejection of the State of Israel by almost the entire Charedi world. Before the founding of the State, Neturei Karta was part of the mainstream portion of Torah Jewry (with the notable exception of Religious Zionists) that was strongly opposed to its creation as envisioned by the secular Zionist founders, albeit the most rejectionist of the group. After the state’s founding, most Charedi leaders became resigned to its existence and dealt with in in various different ways. But not Neturei Karta. They were purists and continued to oppose the State. These individuals are the spiritual heirs of that kind of thinking and they act on it.

So we cannot just chalk it up such behavior to an extreme fringe element within an extreme fringe element. One needs to look at their context and see where they are coming from.

That there is universal condemnation by even Satmar does not absolve them of any blame. Satmar is a group that is well known for its antipathy to the Israeli government and Neturei Karta is well justified in the claim that Satmar are their spiritual heirs. Some of the worst venom against the State of Israel comes out of the mouths of Satmar Chasidim. It is sometimes difficult to distinguish between the rhetoric of Satmar and that of Neturei Karta. That Neturei Karta does the kinds of things that even outrage Satmar just means that they have carried their rejection of the State of Israel to an even greater extreme. True, they have crossed a line that even Satmar has drawn, but Satmar is in part to blame here.

But it isn’t only Satmar that is to blame. Even Agudath Israel has some culpability here. While they (the Israeli Agudists) participate in the government by running for public office, accepting government portfolios, and government funding for their institutions, they, too, waste little opportunity to bash the Israeli government, both of today and of yesterday. They curse the founders and often point out the nefarious deeds perpetrated by them to destroy Torah. An oft cited example is the claim that Yemenite children who immigrated to Israel were systematically separated from their families for the purpose of making them irreligious. While Agudists are loud and clear in condemnation of Neturei Karta they must share some of the blame too. Neturei Karta gets succor from stories like this which Agudists are all too eager to spread.

You would think that the last people in the world responsible for Neturei Karta’s behavior are the Religious Zionists. But they too cannot be completely be absolved of blame, especially the most extreme right wing Messianist element among them. While they are obviously on polar opposite sides of the religious-political spectrum, their recent condemnations of the Israeli government rivals that of Neturei Karta (for obviously opposite reasons).

So to say that they are a fringe element with absolutely no support is not quite accurate. They feed off of the rancor expressed by all these elements. It is high time for those who are so venomous in their attacks against the Israeli government to step back, and reflect on the consequences of their words.

Gedolim and the Holocaust

There seems to be a sentiment amongst some that pre-holocaust Gedolim of Europe were somehow to blame for preventing the Jewish people from emigrating to Eretz Yisroel. An e-mail sent to Areivim expressed outrage at such an accusation.

“Some people seem to think that the Gedolim "SHOULD have had
Nevuah" and since they didn't, they "obviously" weren't really Gedolim. They think that the Gedolim, Rabbeim and Roshei yeshiva "should have" seen the Holocaust coming and "should have" told people to leave Europe en masse”

The writer considers such a view an insult to their memory and I agree. The only Navi in this regard was Zev Jabotinsky.

Despite some recent recent research indicating the contrary, I don't blame the Gedolim of that era for not urging their people to go en masse to Eretz Yisroel. It is absolutely not their fault in any way. Their sole interest was the welfare of Klal Yisroel. They did the best they could with the information they had. They could not have foreseen what was about to happen. Had they been able to foresee that, there would probably be a lot more Jews around today and I would have been able to know some of my grandparents, aunts, and uncles (...and a brother and twin sisters). Of course I wouldn't have been born either, but that's a topic of a whole other discussion.

But the fact that there was such a "Navi" in the person of Zev Jabotinsky shows that there were enough warning signs around for those with the right antennae to pick them up. Unfortunately his Nevuah didn't help too much anyway.

Taliban Tznius... is it Good for the Jews?

There was a story in the news a couple of days ago about two Israeli Rabbinic figures,the Gerrer Rebbe and Rav Aharon Leib Steinman, who purchased all first class tickets so that they would not have any women passengers and asked El Al to only post male stewards on flight so they do not have to see women on way to America.

Frankly I don’t understand. Why can be there be no women on board? Why go to that length... to expend extra money and cause the kind of negative media attention that makes it seem like our leaders belong to in the same camp as the Taliban with respect to Tznius standards? There is certainly no Halachic need for it. And I doubt that these rabbinic figures have ever asked for such accommodations in the past... at least not Rav Steinman who flew to Chicago last year did not request it then. Why now? I suspect that the initiative is the Gerrer Rebbe’s since the Tznius standards of Chasidim are somewhat extreme. But even so, why do something like that. Is the extra level of Tznius worth the level of ridicule it brings? I cast no aspersions on either of these people but I do not understand the behavior at all. Is the ridicule caused by such behavior over-ridden by the self imposed Tznius Chumros?

This incident reminds me of another one which is a Musser Haskel for us all and makes my question even stronger. If I recall correctly, Rav Shlomo Zalmen Auerbach* used to sit in his seat while Davening Shmoneh Esreh during overseas flights so as not to create a Chilul HaShem. Contrast this with the number of poeple who, without so much as asking permission, would walk to the back of the plane (even if it isn't El Al) and create a Minyan, disturbing the cabin crew, who are usually busy back there, blocking off the lavatory entrances, and just making one big commotion which disturbs the other passengers. (Can you imagine what some of the irreligious or non-Jews are thinking? Instead of thinking how wonderful the Orthodox Jews are, they are probably thinking how selfish, noisy, and disruptive they are.)

RSZA understood the importance of Teffilah B'Tzibur and standing during the Amidah prayer. Yet he sat in his seat. Why do you think he did that? Was he not as Frum as passengers who commandeer the rear of a plane to make a Minyan? Of course he was. But he was more concerned Chilul HaShem.

So once again, I ask... Why did they do that?

* After I published this post, I was informed that RSZA never left Israel and was never on an airplane. If that is so, then the Gadol in the story was someone else. But even though my recollection of who the actual Gadol was may be incorrect, I can assure everyone that it was someone on RSZA's level and of his genertion. If I can find out exactly who the Gadol in question was, I will correct the post.

Sorry about the error.

Rock Throwers

A poster on Areivim took umbrage at what was perceived to be a slight to Charedi society in Israel by someone who referred to rock throwers in Meah Shearim. Here is some of what was posted:

"Despite all the talk of rock-throwing, I've spent many shabbosim in charedi neighborhoods in E"Y and have never yet seen anyone throw rocks. I've heard many a dvar Torah at charedi Shabbos tables, too, and so far I have not yet heard a father or rebbe say, "Listen carefully kinderlach, I want you to know what Yiddishkeit and Torah are all about -- it's about throwing rocks on Shabbos at the people you hate."

The poster has never seen any incidents like that and then implies that these kinds of acts are rare and basically done by hooligans. ...And that "it is a ridiculous and even ugly caricature and stereotype which doesn’t fit the reality of the average charedi home, neighborhood and school in Jerusalem."

But the reality is that the rock throwing type behavior (if not actual rock throwing) is not all that rare. We have recently seen such behavior displayed in several incidents in the recent past, both in Jerusalem and in the US. In fact Jonathan Rosenblum’s most recent post on Cross-Currents acknowledges that reality:

"Despite the greater provocation in the Boro Park case, leading rabbinic figures, including the Novominsker Rebbe, Rosh Agudas Yisrael of America, were outspoken in their criticism of the riots. The Rebbe labelled the actions of those who set fires and attacked police cars a chilul Hashem that required condemnation in no uncertain terms."

No one (certainly not me) ever said that Charedi Mechanchim tell their students that Yiddishkeit and Torah are all about "throwing rocks on Shabbos at the people you hate." But that does not explain what brings some of these kids to go out on their own, take a few rocks, and throw them at passing cars yelling: "Shabbes, Shabbes!"? Nor does it explain the tendency by some to riot.

There seems to be an attitude that permeates the homes of a significant number of Charedi homes that consider all Chilonim to have a Chazaka as being evil, disgusting human beings, especially if they are in government or on the police force.

Oh, and please don't say that I am bashing Charedim again. I said "a significant number", not all or even most of them. Most Charedim are law abiding families that concentrate on Limud HaTorah, Chasadim, and have Midos Tovos which they transmit to their children. But there are enough people in those communities with extremely negative attitudes that make it a problem. In the families where this attitude exists, it spurs some of their children to be trouble makers thinking that they are performing a Mitzvah through acts of rock throwing and rioting. And it makes the whole community look bad. In fact it makes ALL observant Jews look bad especially to those who lump all observant Jews, no matter what their Hashkafa, together.

And they are right in doing so. We ARE all together. We are one people, an Am Kadosh and we are responsible for each others actions. Kol Yisroel Areivim Zeh LaZeh. And in the context of the Torah's admonition: Hocheich Tochiach Es Amischa, it behooves us all to speak out and loud and clear, as did Rabbi Perlow (the Novominsker Rebbe) to condemn behavior such as this anytime we see it and not minimize or excuse it.

The Theory of Everything

Godol has yet another thoughtful post where in he elaborates on his beliefs vis-à-vis contradictions between science and Torah. It is a well written, sincere, and rational argument for Emes, something he seeks to find, as I do.

As I have written in the past, the struggles he has, I have too. But I do not come to the same conclusions he does, namely that experts in various scientific and literary fields have proven that much, if not all of the Torah must have been written as allegory by men who were never-the-less “divinely inspired”.

As I have said before I do not accept allegorizing the bible as the answer every time an event therein recorded, seems to be contradicted by lack of scientific evidence for it. To me “lack of evidence” is not the same as “hard evidence” to the contrary. So, for instance, when it comes to the age of the universe where there is ample hard evidence of an aged universe, allegorizing the six days of creation makes sense and there is precedent for it in Chazal, Rishonim, and Achronim. When it comes to the Mabul, or Ma’amid Har Sinai, ...that there is no hard evidence of its occurrence does not mean it didn’t happen.

And let’s face it. There is no hard evidence at all that any of the entire five books of Moses happened. Are we therefore to reject the entire Torah from any form of literal interpretation? Is the entire Torah written by man in some sort inspiration from God? This, is not a novel concept. It is in fact a relatively old one and it is exactly what the Conservative Movement believes. Their credo is Emet Ve-Emunah. Emet they define as “Metzius” based on scientific study. Emunah is their belief in an active, participating God and that his word is the form of the Torah, but because of Metzius, is a document “divinely inspired” and not literal, written by men at various different points in time.

But to me it is impossible to believe that the Torah was just an inspired creation of man. Just as I accept the validity of science, I accept the validity of the Torah narrative. Just because we cannot seem to reconcile many of the conclusions reached by science with our Mesorah doesn’t mean that the events mentioned in the Torah did not happen.

Why the contradictions, then? I don’t know. I am neither an expert in any of the scientific fields that have produced these challenges, nor am I an expert in Torah. I cannot reconcile those differences. What I do believe, however, is that both science and Torah are true... and that at some point in the future they will be reconciled. But my current lack of ability to reconcile the two disciplines does not free me to ignore it. I continue in my struggle to search for truth and do not abandon either science or Torah in that pursuit.

So, how do we reconcile the seemingly irreconcilable? Consider this. I once put forward as a reasonable explanation, a scientific idea that could explain the apparent contradictions.

There can be two realities ...each one contradicting the other... but both real. It is well know among expert scientists that Einstein’s theory of relativity explains the macro world... the universe of the cosmos. Quantum mechanics explains the micro world of the sub-atomic universe. Both theories explain well phenomena that occur in the universe and predictions made based on them have proved correct. But when you try and switch them and apply quantum mechanics to the Cosmos and the theory of relativity to the sub-atomic universe the theories do not work. They completely fall apart. Two explanations of phenomena in nature that are radically different from each other. Yet both are accepted as true. That would seem to be an impossibility. Yet that is exactly the situation now in science. Scientists freely admit this conundrum yet they still believe in the truth of both theories. In fact they are currently working on a “theory of everything”... a theory that would provide a singular explanation of how the universe works. They haven’t quite found it yet but have come up with something called “string theory” which attempts to reconcile the two mutually exclusive explanations.

I believe that the same thing is possible with the contradictions between the Torah and science. There is a unified theory of Torah and science. It explains how Torah and science are both true. We haven’t found that truth yet. But that doesn’t mean we won’t. Until that time I remain a firm believer in both science and Torah. I also believe that by definition science (Metzius) and Torah do not contradict. That would be the ultimate Sheker. We just don’t have all the answers and may not be able to ever fully understand nature or Torah. But whether we ever do or not, I will continue to struggle to find those answers without rejecting either science or Torah.

Distorting History... L'Shem Shamyim?

In the Areivim e-mail List a poster writes of a story his Rav related about Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. This story was told to him by someone who was there. A Chiloni had brought Rav Shlomo some Shalach Manos. A few minutes later the head of the Edah HaCharedis walked in and Rav Shlomo Zalman passed on this Shalch Manos on to him. Later someone asked him how he could do that, the underlying presumption being that the Kashrus standards of the Chiloni could not possibly be in line with the strict standards of either Rav Shlomo himself or with those of the head of the Edah HaCharedis.

Rav Shlomo answered that on Purim, Shalach Manos is to unite the Jewish people that should not be separate peoples. So everyone can rely on the same Hasgachos and not insist on Chumros.

They wanted to print the story in one of the books about RSZA, but one of his sons objected. He said it was a Kulah the people could not understand ( ...known in Talmud parlance as a “Kulah She-eEin HaTzibbur Yachol Laamod Bo)

Surprise, surprise.... NOT!

Certainly to most of us, RSZA's act and his explanation is a wonderful demonstration of Achdus. But in their Tzibur his act is a Kulah She-Ein Hatzibbur Yachol Laamod Bo.

The actions of Rav Shlom Zalman Auerbach, a man who according to the vast majority of Jews was considered one of the great Gedolei HaDor of the last generation are trumped by people with a mindset that cannot handle such a Kula. ...a mindset that chases every Chumrah as though it were normative Halacha.

Is this the way God intends His people to be? I don't think so. Yet, that is what Bnei Torah have evolved into. They never saw a Chumrah they didn't like. And it would appear that Rav Shlomo’s son is actively perpetuating Chumra mentality in that community by refusing to spread this true story about his father.

But why should anyone be surprised at this behavior? Just today on Gil’s blog he tells of his experience over the weekend with Pirchei who did the same thing. They completely failed to acknowledge the contributions to the Torah world of the Rav. In a video “Dare to Dream” about the building of Torah in America, they completely ignored him as though he didn’t exist.

And on his blog Marvin Schick tells us the same thing:

“An English language book has just been published on the life and teachings of the great Roshe Yeshiva of Lakewood. I trust that it has much merit, but it also puts on display the problem we face. There is a photograph from the first Chinuch Atzmai dinner which was held more than a half century ago. Amazingly, Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik has been cropped out of the picture. What makes this distortion especially egregious is that he was at the dinner because Rav Aharon Kotler pleaded with him to come and be the main speaker.”

Where do the ultra-Orthodox get their attitude? When it comes to Hashkafa, RW education is more about indoctrination than it is about education. They never let the facts get in the way of their "truth". Their "truth" is that RYBS was Krum and his Hashkafos distorted the Emito Shel Torah. So we can't God forbid let them value him as any kind of contributor to the up building of the Olam HaTorah.

This is precisely what the ban on MOAG was about. This is what the incident with Rav Shlomo Zalman is about and this is what the cropping out of the Rav’s picture is about.

The primary organization of the Ultra-Orthodox is Agudah. Their loyalty to "the Gedolim" (meaning those who were chosen to be on the Agudah Moetzes) is so complete they treat them as infallible. The Ultra-Orthodox Agudah types are so indoctrinated to fear "outside Hashkafos" that they have to hide the truth from their flock lest their children become "spoiled" and end up in a YU, or worse God forbid! (Of course, I'm not sure one can do worse than YU in their eyes either.)

This is unfortunately the “state of the union” today. And as the examples in this essay demonstrate, the revisionist, rejectionist, exclusivist, Hashkafa is the same both in the US and in Israel. And it is egregiously wrong.

Pastor John Hagee

An article in today’s Ha’Aretz highlights the activities and thoughts of a Christian preacher who has been a lifelong supporter of the Jewish people and the State of Israel. In fact I have recently seen his infomercial asking Christians to financially support the Pidyon Shvuyim of Russian Jews still left behind in Russia who are too poor to afford passage to Israel. It is nothing short of amazing.

I assume Pastor John Hagee is an Evangelical Christian. This is in large part how most of them feel. It should be noted, however, that the mainstream Protestant Christian hierarchy does not take his approach and in some cases have expressed an antagonistic view towards Israel. But the fact is that the vast majority of religious Christians are either Evangelical or are sympathetic to their views.

I wrote a post about this some time ago and my views have not changed. If anything, they have become stronger precisely because of stories like this one. The Christian Right has displayed closeness to Israel and her people that is simply astounding. There is no better way to describe it. It should be embraced and seen for what it is. It is a "180" from what it was just a few decades ago where Evangelicals were in the forefront of trying to convert us. Today only fringe elements try to do that.

The motivation for the newfound Christian love of the Jewish people has little to do with their end-times theology. But it is this theology that is repeatedly cited by many well intentioned Jews when anyone says anything good about them. They say that it is their end-times theology that Jews must be in-gathered and the Beis HaMikdash re-built, before Christ's second coming... that motivates them. Sure... their theology is one that denies the kingdom of heaven to non-believers in Jesus. But that is not what their support for Israel and the Jewish people is all about. It is about following the biblical directive to praise the Jewish people. They read the "old" testament and they believe it speaks the word of God. And so, too, are Christians admonished in the “New” Testament. As Pastor Hagee states in the article:

“Thus, in response to all those who suspect that what he really intends to do is to convert the Jews to Christianity, he quotes verses from the New Testament, such as Romans 11:1, "I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid”

But their support is even more than theological. These Christians actually identify with Israelis and see them as a westernized democratic society whose values are pretty much the same as theirs while seeing Islam in terrorist terms ...as evil incarnate.

What about their beliefs that Jews ...as non believers... will be denied Olam Haba? Well, they feel sad about it and pray for us to "see the light". But so what? Let them pray. Who cares?! Why should their prayers which they see as benefiting our welfare, concern us? They do nothing but support us until end-times and until then, they are literally our greatest allies... more pro Israel then many Jews! What’s more, they do so with complete love and sincerity. When "end-times" arrives and Moshiach comes, they will be the ones who are most surprised. It is irrelevant what their belief is before then. What is relevant that their theology tells them to embrace us. And they do so lovingly. I can’t say this often enough: We ought to accept them and stop being so paranoid.

Orthodox Feminist Haviva Ner-David: Rabbi

Gil has a post in Hirhurim today where he references the Jerusalem Post story about a recently ordained female Orthodox Rabbi. While this may sound liked an oxymoron since Orthodoxy does not accept female rabbis, it isn’t that simple. In fact this subject is one of my early posts .

In my view the title rabbi in its current usage is somewhat overblown. The Smicha we have today is not the real Smicha handed down from Moshe Rabbenu, but simply a Heter Hora’ah ...permission to Paskin Shailos. What Smicha basically does is it informs people that the rabbi in question is an observant Jew, has done his due diligence in Torah study, has passed an examination on certain portions of the Shulchan Aruch and can be trusted to answer Halachic questions accurately .

Why not a woman? Good question. The answer probably has more to do with Tznius and tradition than the strict letter of Halacha. But one should knock tradition even if it it not the strict letter of the law. This may not be true in all cases but in some, breaching the walls of tradition can have dire consequences. Knowing which tradition is important and which isn’t is not a simple matter.

In the case of female rabbis, keeping the tradtion is important because it has to do with countering a trend which is foreign to Torah Judaism, that of the social feminist agenda (as opposed to economic feminist agenda which I support).To that end it is important to resist the pressure to ordain women, not because they aren’t capable, but because the barriers that separate Torah from foreign influence must not be breached when those influences are detrimental to observance. Once that “horse is out of the barn” you can’t stop it, and what follows could easily become wholesale rejection of Halacha.

Witness the Conservative movement. They were founded because they could not stomach the complete rejection of Mitzvah observance of the Reform. Their intentions were honorable. They wanted to “conserve” Judaism and modernize it to match contemporary American culture so as to make it more relavent to their lives. They therefore eliminated the Mechitza which they said had no real Halachic basis since it was not mentioned anywhere in the Shulchan Aruch. That was it. But, they allowed a foreign influence to breach the sanctity of the synagogue. And now, about a hundred years later the movement that was conceived as the antidote to Reform Judaism is now taking itself out of Halachic observance... on par with Reform.

Several years ago there was the advent of Yoatzot, woman who study family purity laws and were given the title of Yoetzet, advisor. These women had passed an examination on those laws and knew them well. The condition of the title Yoetzet was predicated in their commitment not to Paskin. In other words any difficult question that was not clearly spelled out in clear Halachic practice was to be asked of a Rav. This was roundly rejected by the Charedi world as tantamount to Smicha. They also felt that this phenomenon would lead to female rabbis. While I think it provides a valuable service to women who can now go with a Shaila to another woman without the potential embarrassment of asking a male Rav, I think the concern of the Charedi world is understandable, especially in light of this new development.

Contesting Valid Conversions: The Rabbanut vs. the RCA

Yet another injustice seems to be happening in the Torah world. The Jewish Week reports, the Israeli Chief Rabbinate is refusing to honor conversions to Judaism performed by members of the RCA. Until recently all such conversions were accepted. And why shouldn’t they be? The Av Beis Din of the RCA court, the Beth Din of America is Rabbi Gedaliah Dov Schwartz. He is one of the most honorable people I’ve ever known. He is a Talmid Chacham, a Dayan par excellence, a scholar, and a Zaken. He has the respect of the entire spectrum of Orthodox Jewry in Chicago and has few peers. I have had many a conversation with him and every single time, his integrity stands out. He is not one to trifle with Halacha. If his name is on a document, one can be certain that it is valid. But that is no longer good enough for the Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel.

From the article:

“... although the name of Gedaliah Dov Schwartz, chairman of the Beth Din of America, is on a list of American rabbis whose conversions are approved by the Chief Rabbinate, his signature on an authorized document is no longer accepted unless he personally performed the conversion.”

Why? How can they suddenly decide to reject documents signed by Rav Schwartz? What are they saying about this man of such great integrity? It is impossible in my mind that anything has changed with this man. The only thing that has changed is the attitude of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, a body which until now, I have honored.

But now, this piece of news makes me want to go to Israel and hit someone over the head with a “two by four”.

I realize that there has been a dispute between the Rabbanut Beis Din and the RCA. Can this be the cause, as the Jewish Week speculates? If so, it ought to stop. Too many innocent people are being hurt in major ways. To deny someone his Judaism for political reasons is to stoop to a new low. It is harmful to Klal Yisroel and makes them look like a vindictive group of rabbis. A real Chilul HaShem, in my view.

The Making of a Gadol

No one can know why someone becomes a Gadol. Rav Moshe was asked by Time magazine how he came to be considered such an important figure in Orthodox Jewry and he answered that it just evolved that way. One Shaila followed another and one Psak followed another and was accepted. In other words, the whole thing just snowballed. Each successive Shaila and acceptance of his Psak added to his stature until he achieved the status as one of the Gedolei HaDor. (...and in the eyes of many THE Gadol HaDor.)

It is a widely held view that the way one can achieve Gadlus is by taking advantage of the system. That is, to send one’s sons to the finest Yeshivos with the best Rabbeim. As R. Eliyahu Dessler points out, you throw 1000 young men into the Beis HaMedrash and hopefully one will rise to become a Gadol.

But I submit that this is an unlikely way to do it. Conformity does not produce an individual that is so unique in his Torah learning, knowledge, and any other requirements... that he will become a Gadol. To be sure (I hate that phrase) any individual who attends an institution like Lakewood, if he is diligent, will become a major Talmid Chacham and perhaps even a Posek. But a Gadol? I’m not so sure.

Most often there are factors extant in an individual or circumstances surrounding him that are not obvious to the casual observer. If one looks at it historically, most Gedolim do not follow the normative educational path. Often they are prodigies given special treatment. Such people are unique individuals who would've come to Gadlus no matter where they went to school. They did not chase Gadlus. Gadlus found them.

Bearing that in mind I would say that experience outside the "normal" environment of a Charedi Yeshiva is a plus in the development of Gadlus. It enables Gedolim to have perspectives beyond the narrow confines of a Charedi Beis HaMedrash. A Gadol who attended a Yeshiva with distractions such as sports, movies, TV, and a myriad of other such distractions yet finishes all of Shas (for example) with all of those distractions surrounding him has achieved a great deal more than someone who has finished Shas without any distractions at all in a Lakewood type environment.

This is not to say that all those distractions should be required. Of course not. But in those circumstances where they exist, if one “overcomes” them, he is a far greater individual than someone who had no distractions at all to worry about.

An individual so exposed becomes better equipped to handle these and other distractions in his future.

But it is so much more than that. He has a much broader world view and understanding of it and is better equipped to handle issues of the day. His secular knowledge is initially broader, which will help in areas of Psak Halacha that require such knowledge. He knows the “mind” of other Hashkafos better than those who only attend a Lakewood type institution. In my view a Gadol with more exposure than is typical for a Charedi Yeshiva student will be far greater than one who has limited or no exposure to anything other than the Daled Amos of his own Beis HaMedrash.

Of course one might say that Rav Moshe and most other Gedolim weren’t exposed to formal study of secular knowledge, other Hashkafos, or distractions of the type I mentioned above... during their own development. Are they lesser Gedolim because of it? No, of course not. They were far greater than any other individuals in our own time. But that was then.

What I am saying is that in our time it is necessary. Technological advances have exploded to proportions unimaginable even a generation ago. Distractions of every kind in far greater number and variety exist that are too easily accessible. The more you know of both general knowledge and about the cultural environment of your own milieu, the more prepared you are to achieve the great heights required of a Gadol. And perhaps this is one reason that the cookie cutter system of our Yeshivos has not yet produced a Gadol of the stature of Rav Moshe.

On the Eve of Yom HaAtzmaut...

“As long as the Jewish spirit is yearning deep in the heart; With eyes turned toward the East, looking toward Zion; Then our hope - the two-thousand-year-old hope - will not be lost: To be a holy people in our land, The land of Zion (and) Jerusalem.”

Beautiful and inspiring words they are. These are the words of the national anthem of the State of Israel. Words sung played at the annual dinner of the Yeshiva founded by Rabbi Aaron Soloveichik, Yeshivas Brisk. Rabbi Soloveichik felt so strongly about the religious significance of the establishment of the State, that he said Hallel on Yom HaAtzmaut every year until his passing. But even without any theological significance attributed to it, the creation of the State of Israel by its Zionist founders is worthy of tremendous Hakaras HaTov by all of Jewry.

There has been much written about the creation of the State and its founders, some of it negative by people like Hollywood screenwriter Ben Hecht. The founders have variously been portrayed as evil and selfish people interested more in the faith of their socialist cause than in saving the lives of their brethren during the holocaust. Chaim Weitzman has been painted as an elitist Jew interested only in saving other elitist Jews and caring little about the uneducated “wretched refuse” of Eastern Europe. David Ben Gurion has been portrayed as a murderer because of his attack on the Altelena and a kidnapper because of the treatment of Yemenite children.

I do not agree with these characterizations. It is really impossibe to judge anyone without being in their shoes. We do not have all the facts. Although there may be some truth to these allegations; the human condition makes no man a total saint or total sinner. People can and do rise above their evil inclinations and become great heroes, even while in some instances, tripping along the way. People will do some bad... but do even more good. Judging anyone based on one aspect of his tenure here on earth is not the right way to look at any individual. It is incumbent upon history to look at the totality of what one has accomplished in life, both good and bad, consider the circumstances and then evaluate. Ultimately, of course it is not ours to judge another human being. It is God’s. It is in this spirit I write of the founding of the state and look at its founders as great people.

The period in history between the liberation of the concentration camps in Europe and the establishment of the State of Israel is an amazing one... one that is full of travail about which many questions can be asked. The immaciated survivors of the death camps who managed to be “resurrected” to life upon being liberated were treated little better by the allies than they were by the Nazis. I don’t necessarily blame the allies... at least not entirely. They just didn’t know how to handle the masses of displaced humanity. With no homes to return to and no where to go survivors were put into displaced persons (DP) camps that very closely resembled the concentration camps of the Nazis. Of course they were not murdered and not tortured. They were fed and kept relatively healthy. But they were prisoners in the sense that they were not permitted to leave and kept under the armed guard of the military and surrounded by barbed wire fences. They lived in far less than humane conditions. And they had little to relieve their despair not knowing what will be with them... what kind of future they would have.

This was because some of the greatest and most influential figures of the time were secretly quite anti-Semitic and were put in charge of the refugee problem. Famed US General George S. Patton harbored such feelings and recorded them in his diary. He hated Jews and called Holocaust survivors "subhumans". It was under his jurisdiction that Jews were kept in these deplorable conditions. When General Dwight D. Eisenhower found out about it and went over there to see for himself he was disgusted and immediately relieved Patton of his duty.

Secretary of State George S.L.A. Marshall was not much better. He argued strongly against President Truman’s support of s Jewish State in Palestine, threatening to resign and vote against him in the next election if he did so.

Many of the Jews in these camps yearned to go to Palestine. They saw their ancestral home as the only viable alternative for the future and were excited about the Zionist ideal of returning and building up their ancient homeland. Ben Gurion visited one of these refugee camps and promised them they would soon be able to come to the holy land. At the end of the assembly he sung Hatikva together with the entire crowd in the squalor of that DP camp. It must have really been a deeply emotional experience unlike any other for both the refugees and Ben Gurion.

Some Jews started finding ways to escape the DP camps on ships, the most famous of which was the Exodus, which would take them to Palestine. Most were intercepted by British soldiers at the time still holding on tenuously to the mandate in Palestine. There were some ships that did make it through but the British government, more interested in Arab oil than in the humanitarian concerns of the Jewish Holocaust refugees kept the gates to Palestine all but closed, allowing only a trickle to enter. It was NOT Britain’s finest hour. British Foreign Secretary Ernst Bevin was quite the anti-Semite himself and was in charge of executing the mandate over Palestine. He ordered these ships to be turned back or in some cases transferred its human cargo to DP camps set up in nearby Cypress. In the case of the Exodus, he ordered it fired upon killing some of the passengers and wounding others.

So here you had a group of people who suffered untold horrors during the holocaust now being kept in limbo in concentration camp like conditions by a world still unsympathetic to their needs. The human tragedy of this scenario is beyond description, in my view.

And it was against this backdrop that God in His infinite wisdom opened up the gates. He caused the world to recognize the need of the Jewish people. Soviet Foreign Minister Andre Gromyko went up to the podium of the UN in front of all the member nations and to the shock of almost all, proclaimed the right of the Jewish people to a homeland in Palestine. This was eventually followed by a vote in which a resolution dividing Palestine into two States, Israel and Palestine, was passed by a 2/3rd majority. Shortly afterward David Ben Gurion declared:

ACCORDINGLY WE, MEMBERS OF THE PEOPLE'S COUNCIL, REPRESENTATIVES OF THE JEWISH COMMUNITY OF ERETZ-ISRAEL AND OF THE ZIONIST MOVEMENT, ARE HERE ASSEMBLED ON THE DAY OF THE TERMINATION OF THE BRITISH MANDATE OVER ERETZ-ISRAEL AND, BY VIRTUE OF OUR NATURAL AND HISTORIC RIGHT AND ON THE STRENGTH OF THE RESOLUTION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY, HEREBY DECLARE THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A JEWISH STATE IN ERETZ-ISRAEL, TO BE KNOWN AS THE STATE OF ISRAEL.

The gates were finally open. And the refugees all came. Now under Jewish control for the first time since the destruction of the second Temple, the Jewish people were finally, with the help of God, in control of their own destiny in a world that, during the holocaust that either looked the other, or actively participated in the near genocide of the Jewish people. And now, a world that refused to help them rehabilitate after the war... a world still filled with anti-Semitism.

This is the Israel I celebrate. The in-gathering of the exiles so elusive throughout the millennia was now at hand. Jews are finally free to emigrate at will to a nation, a haven always open to receive them. For this fact alone Yom HaAtzmaut is a day that should be instilled deeply in the hearts of every Jew, regardless of how Frum and regardless of Hashkafa. If they had done nothing else but establish a state and open up the gates to all those survivors, that alone would suffice. Israel, I salute you.