Shabbat under fire: an Israeli story

Sir, - Friday night July 25th, in the midst of the unceasing Hamas terror rocket fusillades fired throughout Israel, Petach Tikva had the dubious privilege of a 'red alert' heralded by a loud wailing siren. This alarm caught many shul-goers off guard just prior to the start of their Leil Shabbat meal.

Upon hearing a siren, the instructions of the Home Front Command for a residential building is for the families to seek shelter in the enclosed inner stairwell and to wait there for ten minutes after hearing the explosive boom. This particular seven story building on Rechov Hanissim found the majority of its families occupying the stairwell from top to bottom.

Yossi Roth and his wife are residents of this building and were on the stairwell, when Yossi had an inspiration. Using his beautiful voice he started singing the 'Shalom Aleichem' hymn which welcomes the two angels into the Sabbath home and asks for their blessings. What Yossi started was picked up by all the families – irrespective of religious or secular – with increasing enthusiasm, providing the angels with a most resounding welcome. The angels of course were happy to provide their enthusiastic blessings for a Shabbat of peace and tranquility.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Wikimedia user יעקב]

Jerusalem Post July 30: Pray for the IDF, not instead of it!

Sir, - Rabbi Shalom Cohen, the successor of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef as the spiritual leader of Shas, has demonstrated a grievous lack of sensitivity, a gross ingratitude, and an offensively mistaken appreciation of Jewish priorities when asserting that "Israel doesn't need an army because prayers protect it." 

At a time when tens of families are crying over the loss of those most dear to them, and when almost the entire people of Israel are united in sharing their heartbreak for the fallen precious fathers, sons, and brothers – all members of the IDF, who gave their lives in order to defend us from annihilation – , Rabbi Cohen, instead of issuing some message of comfort and hope chooses to make a declaration that offends us all.

While praying is of extreme importance at all times, happy and sad, Jewish history bears no record of their being sufficient in themselves, neither for warding off evil nor in Heaven's appreciation. The great European centers of Torah and piety were obliterated despite the oceans of tears and the myriads of fervent prayers. When the Bible confronts the Israelites with an attack by Amalek, Moses orders Joshua to choose men to go out to do battle. He does not suggest that they pray or sit and learn.

As a spiritual leader, Rabbi Cohen should indeed be praying by leading prayers of Hallel and Thanksgiving to the Almighty for the miracles He has wrought for us through the agency of the IDF's valiant soldiers and its brilliant technology.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Youtube, Israel Defense Forces]

The Sins of Satmar

Sir, - One of the cardinal challenges with which Judaism confronts Man is the dictate of imitatio dei: to serve God by imitating His ways. The Psalmist describes Him as "Healer of the broken-hearted and the One Who binds up their sorrows."

As one who purports to be a rabbinical leader of a large Hasidic sect, not only has the Satmar Rebbe failed to follow these rather clear postulates, but he has chosen to add grief and pain to the shattered hearts of those holy and awesome families in the midst of their mourning by ascribing to them the blame for the death of their sons.

Instead of calling on these princely couples to do tshuva for sending their sons to learn Torah in the heartland of Jewish history, it would behoove the Rebbe to consider his own need of tshuva for pursuing a warped and decayed doctrine that denies sanctity and merit to God's miracle that is the State of Israel due to its not being established by the Messiah.

I fear that the dreadful and divisive statements of the Satmar Rebbe, when the entire nation is prayerfully weeping over its fallen sons, will give cause to the Messiah to further delay his long-awaited arrival.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Flickr user diluvi]

J.Post Magazine June 20: Do Israel's rabbis care about real problems?

Sir, - In his article "Where the rabbis went wrong" Avraham Avi-Hai manages to attribute almost all of Israel's ills and shortcomings to the (orthodox) Rabbinate whom he accuses of emphasizing the "shall nots" above social concerns and compassion. 

He begins his article with a description of a scene at the airport where a bearded gentleman called out to him, "Come put on tefillin", and he snapped back with the challenge, "Did you ask anyone if he cheated someone today?"

While his obvious point is that he feels that concerns about peoples' honesty are far more important than putting on tefillin, his rejoinder was totally absurd. Can our imaginations really suffer a scenario in which a bearded, black-garbed gentleman approached a stranger in the airport and asked if he cheated someone that day? The most natural response would be "Who the hell do you think you are? What gives you the right to question my honesty?" Neither the time nor the place are appropriate for such questions.

What Avi-Hai fails to appreciate is the fact that he was approached by a member of Chabad whose operational raison d'etre is respect for the infinite worth of every individual, and asking him to put on tefillin was a magnificent expression of that respect for his merit within the larger Jewish framework no matter how far he may have strayed. 

The above is indeed a powerful message, and if extensively adopted would go a long way toward mending many of the rents in the fabric of our society that Avi-Hai finds so troubling. 

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikvah

[Image credit: Daniel Maleck Lewy]

J.Post March 4: Hezbollah and Hollywood -- The Real Brain-Washers

Sir, - Hezbollah, evidently devoid of any originality or imagination, has chosen to conjure up from their infernal cesspool one of the most fatigued, hackneyed, and malicious accusations aimed at the Jews. This time we are charged with the heinous crime of inventing Hollywood as part of a nefarious Jewish conspiracy to be used as a tool to "conquer all the world."

Farroukh Magidi, a university professor (unnamed university) says that his people also want to take over the world as the Jews do, but are not successful because they do not have the skill-set. "They know how to do it and we don't."

Regrettably, I must beg to differ with the Hezbollah professor and point out that his people have been enormously successful in the brain-washing of millions and in creating the world's worst group of blood-thirsty jihadists. Their extreme fanaticism not only sanctions severing of the hand of an alleged thief, but actively promotes the suicide bombings that continue to take a daily toll of at least 20 lives on the streets of Iraq. The blood drenched towns of Syria supply incontrovertible evidence to the success of their fanatical indoctrination.

If in fact the Jews do control Hollywood, they may be charged with providing the world with entertainment, some good, some poor. Muslim fanaticism however has grown into one of the major threats to western civilization.

Zev Chamudot

Petach Tikva

[Nasrallah image credit: Flickr user Abode of Chaos]

Mis-God-ed Haredi Values

Sir, - Rabbi Berel Wein succeeds in presenting us with a most insightful and robust analysis of some of the important tensions and contradictions that plague the Lithuanian Haredi community. He succeeds in doing so by employing satirical humor and thus is able to some degree soften the portrayal of the often very sharp conflicts that exist in that very distinct community. He is further aided in his coherent analysis by a sensitivity that stems from a sense of identity (since he identifies himself as belonging to this community) which serves to endow his critical remarks with not only a profound sense of poignancy but also with the ring of truth and accuracy.

He correctly points to some of the crucial matters in which the Lithuanian Haredim have adopted customs that intensely highlight the dissonance between their present communal practices and the desired righteous path expounded by our Prophets and prescribed by our sages. The dignity of labor that enables economic sustenance and the avoidance of becoming a burden to others, alongside the proud participation in a military that defends the Jewish people and the state of Israel, are two of the most important of these divisive issues. The ambiance within which these pivotal attitudes find expression is pervaded by a deeply felt sense of distrust of the entire Zionist enterprise and of all its institutions based on an attribution of illegitimacy to any major development in the story of our people that has not yet won the imprimatur of those who see themselves as God's spokesmen. This is especially so in their view of the fact that many of the State's founding fathers were visibly secular.

Unfortunately, their extreme misguided and mis-God-ed outlooks have also succeeded in influencing and misshaping the values of other segments of the Haredi community. The former Poale Agudath Israel, with its healthy positive outlook toward the nobility and importance of labor, and favoring of the full participation in the economic and military life of Eretz Yisrael within a framework of diligent observance, has slowly witnessed the erosion of those values and their substitution by a separatist orientation. The former Shas MK Rabbi Chaim Ansalem has bemoaned the negative and alien inroads made into the mores and values of the traditional Sephardic community regarding attitudes toward the Zionist program and the necessity to maintain a vibrant work ethic and a vigilant security structure.

The story related by Rabbi Wein about the Haredi professional engineer who sought his counsel about making a trip to America in order to "schnorr" funds for a child's wedding, when questioned if it was not more desirable to work in his profession rather than go begging, replied that in the milieu in which he was living a father who worked (and did not spend his full time learning) would have a negative effect on the Shidduch prospects. This extreme anecdote, while inviting both pity and revulsion, also serves to illustrate the extreme problems within the Haredi community.

Above all, one would expect from those who claim to value Torah to be first in their ability to discern the Divine Presence that accompanies Jewish History and that endows the life of Am Yisrael and its reborn sovereign State with distinctive majesty and eminent religious significance.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

Amnon Yitzchak: Why Women Shouldn't Drive (According to the Torah)

Sir, - Alongside the sober headlines concerning the outrageous murder of a chayal and the somber news about the negotiations with Iran, the Jerusalem Post is to be commended for providing some comic relief when it quotes Amnon Yitzchak's "Don't allow women to drive." Both this papal pronouncement and the arguments presented in its support border on the ludicrous.

Amnon Yitzchak concludes that women should not drive because we lack any knowledge of their being engaged as wagon drivers before wagons evolved into cars. Needless to say, we lack that same information about women being accountants, lawyers, doctors, plumbers, or university deans. Incidentally, that same lack of information relates to men as well, where we have no evidence in the past of men serving as pilots, truck-drivers, or bond traders.

On a more serious note, when Amnon Yitzchak attempts to back his abrasive pronouncement by arguing that women's driving exposes them to immodest behavior by bringing them into contact with men, I would like to call his attention to the fact that Moshe's wife Ziporah, Yitzchak's wife Rebecca, and Yaakov's wife Rachel were all met at wells, where the presence of male shepherds was most definitely noted.

The socio-economic realities of the modern era have engendered the need for women to be fully and actively engaged in the marketplace and in all aspects of commercial life. Haredi society also promotes this as wives are encouraged to be the bread-winners in order to support their husbands learning Torah in a Kollel.

Finally, modest behavior is an extremely important element in the standards of  Jewish values, but this depends on the deportment of the individual, male or female in whatever professional context they are engaged in, and does not preclude driving a car or a spacecraft. 

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

Where's the Real Jew Haven? Israel vs. New York

Sir, – Yair Lapid’s statement made in an interview with CBS’s Charlie Rose (“Lapid: Jews safer in NY than in Israel,” October 9) was both boorish and simplistic, and not at all worthy of a senior government minister.

Objectively speaking, Lapid has no real facts about life in New York that could lend support to his statement, and frankly I am not certain what it means. The one possible area where it has a ring of accuracy would be that of road accidents caused by the criminally irresponsible Israeli drivers.

With the great amount of talk about the need for hasbara (public diplomacy) and the concern that Israeli students and professors traveling abroad serve as ambassadors carrying a positive image of Israel, flippant, thoughtless statements like the above serve to obliterate much of that effort.

At any rate, while it might indeed be safer for Jews in New York than in Israel, beyond any shadow of a doubt Israel is the securest place for the Jewish people. This is so because Israel has two invincible sources of help, as reported by columnist Leonard Lyons immediately after the Six Day War.

Israel, Lyons explained, was aided by both a supernatural and a natural source.

The supernatural was its army. The natural was its God.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petah Tikva

[Image credit: Roman Iakoubtchik]

Ortal Shmueli vs. Lag Baomer Animal Abuse

Sir, - I must confess that it was curiosity that prompted me to read the article by Rachel Avraham about Ortal Shmueli titled "A wonderful candidate for Beersheba's city council." Never having heard her name, I was interested in finding out why she merited an article that essentially was nothing other than a letter of recommendation for her election, plus some statements by Shmueli herself expressing her interest in helping Olim and some of the programs that she would like to promote.

Shmueli, however, also informs us about an additional agenda to that of serving the citizens of Beersheba, one in which she wants to help educate the population against the abuse of animals. In pursuit of that goal, she is quoted as saying that "many children around the country throw animals into fires during Lag Baomer and abuse animals in horrific ways."

My family and I have celebrated Lag Baomer more than 40 times in Israel, and I state categorically that we have never witnessed or heard from any of our many friends about the revolting practice that Shmueli describes. It is a most unfortunate and baseless exaggeration, that not only brings no credit to its author but will also undoubtedly be added to the list of calumnies against the people and state of Israel. It is a hapless statement that has no redeeming qualities and for me reflects quite negatively on the merits of Ortal Shmueli.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Image credit: אדיר-מתן אוזן] 

Keep Jerusalem UNITED, Keep Jerusalem JEWISH

Sir, - Gershon Baskin's article is basically another one of Baskin's attempts to deceive and thereby influence the Israeli public towards accepting his perverse pro-Palestinian position.

The attempt at deception begins with the very title "Negotiating Jerusalem, negotiating peace" -- by which Baskin means that he would like to see Israel totally capitulate to the Palestinian position and accept their claims of entitlement to the Old City and East Jerusalem as the capital of Palestine. Presently Jerusalem is united under Israeli sovereignty, so the P.A. has nothing to offer at the so-called negotiations other than what exists in Baskin's delusional scenarios.

United Jerusalem as Israel's capital affords unprecedented equal rights and access to all its citizens, as well as full freedom of worship. Throughout the millennia it has never served as the political or religious capital of any sovereign entity other than that established by the ancient Davidic Kingdom or the modern state of Israel. 

The hundreds of years of Muslim dominance in this region have always placed the capital cities in Damascus, Baghdad, or Istanbul -- but never in Jerusalem. Baskin has the effrontery to cite Jordan's annexation of East Jerusalem in 1949, when Jordan joined several other Arab countries in their attack to eliminate the new state of Israel. In the 19 years of Hashemite rule, Jerusalem was never considered its capital. It did, however, manage to divide the city by barbed wire fences and walls that cut off the Old City and the Jewish holy places from Israel and the Jewish world.

Baskin's unmitigated gall continues with his positive approval of the Palestinian position as including the entire Old City of Jerusalem including the Jewish Quarter and the Jewish holy places. He is, however, willing to accept a division of the Old City that would leave the Jewish Quarter under Israeli sovereignty while the other three quarters -- Armenian, Christian, and Muslim -- would come under Palestinian sovereignty. Under what flight of fancy should the Armenian or Christian quarters be turned over to Muslim rule, when faced with indisputable evidence of deliberate Muslim deprivation of the Christian community of Bethlehem and active anti-Christian behavior throughout the Muslim world???

Baskin is most treacherous when trying to tackle the question of the Temple Mount. He makes himself completely oblivious to the harsh reality where the Muslim Waqf absolutely forbids Jewish prayer on the Temple Mount. A Jew is presently not permitted to move his lips without being stopped by Muslim officers. If this shamefully abusive denial of freedom of worship for Jews exists while under general Israeli sovereignty, can any honest and sane person other than Baskin truly believe it would change under Muslim sovereignty? I challenge Baskin to find any recognized Muslim religious authority that would back his claim that Muslim Sharia law permits the Jews to pray in the Temple Mount mosques. 

He goes on, cynically finding support for his anti-Jewish bias in some rabbis from the orthodox world who oppose praying on the Temple Mount. Their objection is based on the state of sanctity of the Temple Mount and their zealous concern that this sanctity not be defiled. He obviously does not understand that their opposition would have to include Muslims as well.

Finally, Baskin -- who is unable to offer any coherent reasons for denying the status quo -- asks the Jews to accept his Palestinian program and wait for the Messiah to solve the difficulties inherent in his myopic views. I too suggest that we all await the coming of the Messiah, but until then a united Jerusalem should and must remain the capital of Israel.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

[Lower image credit: Wikimedia user Ori~]

J.Post June 14: What Would Moses Say to Haredi Protesters?

Sir, – The challenging retort of Moses to the tribes of Reuben and Gad in regard to their request to settle on the east of the Jordan while the remaining tribes were to be engaged in the battles necessitated by their entrance into the promised land, should serve as a most appropriate rejoinder to those haredim in New York who were protesting against Israel’s drafting of yeshiva students for military service (“Thousands of haredim in lower Manhattan protest IDF draft,” June 11).

“Shall your brothers go out to war while you sit here?” (Numbers 32).

 Is there a need for any more to be said?

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petah Tikva 

Manhattan Haredi Protest: The Ugly Truth

Sir, - I was both profoundly grieved as well as deeply angered when reading about American haredim who planned a major rally in Manhattan to protest the draft of Israeli yeshiva students. The planned rally was canceled before it was held. I would like to address my thoughts about the rally and its subsequent cancellation and how it reflects an ugly, growing and misguided gap between that group of American haredim and the God-fearing, Torah observant, Zionist community in Israel.

 

Although the Almighty's thoughts are beyond our mortal comprehension, I would venture to say that He desired the cancellation of the rally, because if it were held the Desecration of His Name and that of the State and people of Israel would have been beyond his sufferance. A number of glaring aspects of the portrayal of the reasons for the rally and its cancellation testify to its being conceived in sin and motivated basically by ill-will toward the State of Israel and its glowing accomplishments.

 

Unfortunately Agudath Israel still is unable to embrace the reality of the sovereign State and is thus forced into the tortured casuistry expressed by its executive vice president who states that "while Agudath Israel was not a sponsor [(why not?)] of the rally it nonetheless enjoys the strong backing of Agudath Israel's rabbinic leadership." It is important to note the anonymity of the rabbis in support of the rally, while the only named rabbinic luminary, Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, who assumed the mantel of world Torah leadership upon the passing of Rabbi Shlomo Elyashiv, was reported to be against the event.

  

Agudath Israel spokesman Rabbi Avi Shafran, usually an intelligent and well-balanced presenter, is evidently forced into the unenviable comical position of trying to explain the patent absurdity of the reasons for the cancellation. He offers that "the senior ultra-orthodox rabbis felt that now [(i.e. during the wake of the Boston marathon attack)] would not be an appropriate time to gather masses of visibly Jewish Jews into one area for such an event." We are compelled to ask Rabbi Shafran how this rally is any different from the tens of rallies held by visibly Jewish haredim -- and this rally was

scheduled for Manhattan, which is a fair distance from Boston.

 
However, the most troubling question is what was the initial purpose of the rally and how that relates to the Torah-committed and army-serving community in Israel. We are informed that it was intended as a forum for prayers for "heavenly mercy" in the face of the ''possibility" that full time yeshiva students may be required to serve in the Israeli army. It is again worthy of note that there are far more efficient ways to evoke heavenly mercy, such as declaring a day of fasting and prayer, that do not require the presence of screaming masses.

The biggest violation of truth and self deception took place when the formerly quoted Agudath Israel executive vice president emphasized that the rally was not meant to be "a demonstration or protest against the State of Israel, or an effort to enlist the American public or the American government in a campaign to fight the proposed new law." I am sorry to say that anyone with a minimum of intelligence and integrity, including the anonymous rabbis themselves, would understand that a visible mass demonstration like the one planned was designed to accomplish exactly that.

 The important truths concerning this issue may be summed up as follows. The draft laws in the state of Israel are not those of Czarist Russia which meant being drafted into a hostile environment. There are tens of thousands of Hesder Yeshiva students that willingly and proudly study Torah and combine it with army service vital to the security of Israel and the continued existence of the Jewish Homeland. Instead of organizing massive protests against the State, any rabbi worthy of the title should positively embrace the state of Israel and the fact that here, where we are surrounded by major hostile forces, God has enabled and blessed the State of Israel with the ability to engulf in its midst more Torah learning and learners than any other period of Jewish history, while at the same time enhancing His name by the state's achievements in science and technology, agriculture, medicine, and all worthy areas that can alleviate suffering, and help make His world a better place.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: IDF spokesperson]

Ultra-Orthodox Chutzpah Won't Appreciate IDF

Sir - The ugly and irresponsible statements made by self-styled ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student Doniel Hool provide stark evidence that the curriculum of his yeshiva is heavily weighted toward teaching ingratitude, resentment and hate, while leaving little time for the actual study of Torah or the meaning of "Ahavat Yisrael." 

 

He describes the State of Israel (of which he feels no part) as the biggest freeloaders in the history of mankind because it receives large sums in military and hospital aid. If Doniel was to remove the blinders from his eyes, he would appreciate the fact that it is the men, women and children -- including tens of thousands of haredim -- who constitute "Klal Yisrael," that are the beneficiaries of this largesse when they receive the protection provided by the IDF or, when ill, fill its hospitals.

When Doniel relates the story of Ben-Gurion and Hebron as told by Rabbi Sarna to his father, he seems to be unaware that Rabbi Sarna himself begins with "when Jewish soldiers captured Hebron" and an appreciation of that fact is lost on Doniel. Ben-Gurion may have indeed expressed willingness to acknowledge the contribution of the Hebron bocherim and their spiritual input to the final outcome, but in no way did he imply that Hebron was won due to the sole effort of those bocherim. We are sadly left with the irony of Ben-Gurion's granting recognition to the spiritual side, whereas according to Doniel's understanding there is no recognition or appreciation that is due to the heroic fighters of the IDF.
 

Doniel describes his father as a most worthy man who volunteered to come to Israel during the Six Day War, and I say therefore with a degree of certainty that he does not seem the type that would besmirch the good name of Israel by repeating the malicious blasphemies and falsehoods about those "who want to close down yeshivot and other houses of ultra-Orthodox study."

 

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

Jews on Temple Mount Expose Meretz Hypocrisy

Sir, - It is rather ironic that the subject of prayer invites such contradictory and hypocritical responses from Meretz MKs. At least two members of the Knesset from Meretz were among the most demanding and outspoken of those present when the "Women of the Wall," in defiance of Supreme Court decisions and police regulations, chose to conduct their Rosh Chodesh Prayers at the Kotel. They certainly related with complete disdain and total rejection of any claims that their behavior would perhaps stimulate violent reactions from the haredi groups that pray at the Wall on a daily basis and maintain established traditions of behavior and prayer that have been in practice for centuries.

How blatantly and disgustingly different is their reaction to the wish of the new head of the Knesset Interior C'tee MK Miri Regev who states that Jews should be able to pray at the Temple Mount. This would rectify the patently absurd and maliciously discriminatory policy of the Muslim Wakf that presently dictates the arrest of Jews who dare to even move their lips in silent prayer on the Temple Mount. Despite the complete justice and fairness of Regev's attempts to establish a policy of sanity on the Temple Mount, Meretz MK Michal Roisin vehemently states her objection and issues a dire threat about the igniting of a third intifada.

It is about time that Meretz MKs understand that it is not the location where a Jew prays that disturbs the Palestinians, it is rather our very presence that they cannot tolerate.

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petach Tikva

Ponevezh Time Movie: A Disturbing Glimpse

Sir, - 'Ponevezh Time,' the film made by Yehonatan Indursky, provides us with an intimate, yet obviously caring look into one of the haredi world's most prestigious bastions of study. Indursky, who from the age of 16 spent three years at the Ponevezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak, brings an insider's knowledge to his portrayal, together with a great measure of empathy and understanding. However, his film alerts us to a number of serious concerns that are common to huge institutions, be they haredi or secular. 

 

click here to view full trailer

The most blatant of the concerns begins with the circumstances that caused Indursky himself to feel compelled to leave the Yeshiva that he so much admired. He relates the feeling of being "utterly at sea there" and "on your own, with no one to turn to." Did this most respected institution maintain an atmosphere that valued excellence in Torah studies above the emotional health and well-being of the individual student? 

In view of the fact that most of those who enter Ponevezh are of adolescent age -- and are thereby afflicted and conflicted with much inner emotional turmoil regarding their religious, theological, sexual, economic, social, and military behavior -- it would seem that a major priority would be a staff that combined great Torah knowledge with a warmth of personality to provide a responsive ear and understanding for their concerns.

 

The great Torah sages throughout Jewish history knew how to combine their brilliance in Torah with brilliance of character -- along with a deep understanding of the human condition -- so they were successful at imparting their love of learning to their disciples with warmth, acceptance, and love. 

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

Naftali Bennet and Yair Lapid: Not Haredi-Haters

Sir, - Shas's labeling of the Bennet-Lapid ties as a "bond of hating ultra-Orthodox" is utterly reprehensible. Besides being completely false, it appears to be maliciously slanderous. It most unfortunately and gratuitously injects the element of hatred where it is not present, and it thus further tears asunder the national cohesiveness that we so desperately need.

Not having participated in the convoluted political maneuvering of coalition building, I cannot and will not attempt to rationalize or justify any of the machinations involved, but I most assuredly assert that they are not at all grounded in hatred. The contrary seems to be closer to the truth. Both Naftali Bennet and Yair Lapid have clearly stated and demonstrated their respect for Torah Learning and have stressed its importance in our national calculus. They do have differences with the Haredi parties on plans for trying to find solutions to the very real problems of equitably sharing in the national burden of military and civilian service. My impressions are that they are sincere and not in the least motivated by hatred of Haredim. In fact, it was the Shas mentor who was first to introduce contempt for the other side by labeling the 'Bayit Yehudi' membership as "goyim."

At a time when our country is surrounded by increasing hostility and hatred it is of the utmost importance that we do everything possible to establish a completely unified sense of national purpose.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

[Image credit: Wikimedia]

J.Post March 8: Heroic Chabad Women

Sir, - It was indeed most welcome and quite refreshing to read the positive and wholesome article featuring the 'Shluchos' of International Chabad-Lubavitch. These women emissaries came together for their annual International Conference, and a reader very quickly understands and appreciates why the article is titled "Heroines in their own right."

These 1,700 emissaries, from Chabad outposts across the globe, gather in order to gain strength from each other's experiences and share their stories of great hardships as well as those of enormous achievements. They are often confronted by the glaring absence of facilities for the education of their children and the other basic necessities of Jewish life. Obtaining kosher food is accomplished only with great difficulty. Although they must start from scratch and raise their own funds, they have succeeded in transforming these outposts into centers of Jewish vitality, warmth, hospitality and tradition. Their motivation is based on the importance of reaching out to all with acceptance and respect, and encouraging the tiny spark of Judaism which is to be found in every Jew. These women are called on to be educators, mothers, hoteliers, accountants, public relations experts, builders, and together with their husbands (the Shluchim) are committed to radiate and spread the positive warmth of Judaism as far as possible.

The inspiration for this idealism and sacrifice are attributed by all to the revered 'Rebbe' of Lubavitch, the venerable Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson who, more than any other, was responsible for the spread of Ahavat Yisrael and Jewish values during the 20th century.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

J.Post January 30: New Trees, New Bones

Sir, - The countless words, analyses, and opinions that constituted the sound and fury of the party campaigns in Israel's recent elections, have yet to reveal their ultimate worth and significance. In the world at large there is a clear and ominous rise of hatred and hostility, toward our beleaguered state that found its most recent expression in the obscene anti-Semitic cartoon posted by the Sunday Times of London. On Holocaust Remembrance Day, it chose to depict a big-nosed Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu building and cementing a wall with the blood and limbs of Palestinians.

And Yet! We are able to respond and show the world what we truly are and how we differ, by virtue of two recent magnificent achievements of which we can be justly proud. The first, is the most beautiful and meaningful way that we and the Keren Kayemeth Leisrael commemorate the Tu Bishvat holiday. We did so by having hundreds of thousands of participants plant one million saplings all over Israel. Surely there can be no more positive and elegant way for a nation to express its wholesome respect and love for the genuine values to which they subscribe.

Second, is the almost unbelievable technology developed by Dr.Shai Meretzki and his Bonus BioGroup, where they have demonstrated the ability to grow healthy bone and cartilage, and literally create spare parts for people who suffer from the loss or deterioration of limbs.What a marvelous contribution to all of mankind and a most fitting response to all our detractors.

ZEV CHAMUDOT

Petach Tikva

J.Post January 8: Accusation and Insult

Sir, – Kollel teacher Daniel Adin, in his pious, self-righteous zeal to protect his perceptions of certain Torah values and institutions, is evidently unable to do so without resort to ungracious accusations and personal insults (“Pundits from afar,” Comment & Features, January 6). It is of utmost importance to examine whether the targets of his condemnations are indeed deserving of his opprobrium.

Adin attacks the representatives of the American Jewish Committee for their focus on and criticism of the Chief Rabbinate while the organization itself has failed to curb the 50 percent rate of assimilation existing in American Jewry. Is the AJC alone guilty of this deficiency? Is he not at all disturbed by the persistent reality of this rate despite the existence of a vast network of Jewish day schools, yeshivot and kollelim that are active throughout the United States? [Have the glorious centers of Torah learning succeeded in curbing the encroachment of the Haskalah movement and the assimilation of European Jewry?]

In dealing with the magnitude and the serious ramifications that the conversion issue has for the whole structure and security of our Jewish state, I believe that Adin could be far more appreciative of the sacred work being performed by God-fearing people on behalf of the well-being of clal Yisrael.

Perhaps some hint of a proper direction can be found in Chabad, which insists on maintaining proper halachic standards while at the same time recognizing the infinite worth of that dormant Jewish spark to be found in all and creating the inclusive, warm and nonjudgmental atmosphere necessary for its revival.

Adin also chooses to vigorously condemn the late Rabbi Shlomo Goren and, unfortunately, goes well beyond stating wherein they disagree while maliciously accusing him of manipulating Halacha for purposes of personal political gain. I, however, firmly believe that the people of Israel, and particularly its religious element, owe a great debt of gratitude to Rabbi Goren for boldly using his great knowledge of Torah and Halacha to show how Torah and Jewish values can and must be applied to our new conditions of sovereignty and modernity.

[His well-deserved paratrooper wings went a long way in showing how a bearded and learned Hevron Ilui, can fully participate in all parts of the emerging Israel reality. The fact of Kashrut in the IDF kitchens is one of the many achievements whereby he has undoubtedly merited honorable recognition in the heavenly roles.]

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petah Tikva

J.Post November 27: Words Better Said

Sir, – I begin this letter with a great deal of trepidation. It is essentially being written in reaction to statements made by two men, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, both saintly Torah giants for whom I have the utmost esteem and reverence.

I feel compelled to respectfully differ with their joint response when asked during Operation Pillar of Defense whether people from the South who were under bombardment should leave their homes. Both answered in the affirmative, saying these people should go to Bnei Brak, where they themselves reside. In a place where Torah is studied, they said, damage cannot be inflicted (“Rabbi Ovadia Yosef: May our enemies fall by the sword before our soldiers,” November 16).

Unfortunately, their explicit promise of safety cannot find support in the historical record – the martyrdom of Rabbi Akiva and the plague that decimated thousands of his pupils; the annihilation of entire Torah communities by the Crusaders; and the Holocaust’s extermination of Europe’s greatest Torah centers together with six million of our brethren.

I am troubled as well by the obvious impracticality of the suggestion.

Is the city of Bnei Brak in fact able or willing to accommodate an influx of a large group of outsiders? Most troubling, however, is the negative and divisive implications in the worthy rabbis’ advice (perhaps unintentional) that separated those who might choose to make the move and the many left to their fate.

Would it not be far more appropriate for the rabbis to have issued a declaration that all of Israel is worthy of the Almighty’s favorable countenance, without distinction of location? Should they not have been among the first to acknowledge with pride that in fact there is more Torah learning by more Torah learners in the State of Israel today than in any other period of Jewish history? Finally, should rabbinical leadership not be offering a message of encouragement and solace to the myriad of people whose lives and well-being have been shattered by years of constant terrorist violence? Should they not be the leaders who joyfully point to the daily miracles that we witness in our relatively few casualties, and the miracles being performed through the Iron Dome defense system? Should they not be involved with urging and beseeching the general populace to listen to and obey the safety instructions of the Homefront Command? And should they not be praying for and thanking the Creator for his care for all those who participate in the defense of our beleaguered country, and joyfully and publicly proclaim that the “Guardian of Israel neither slumbers or sleeps?” 

ZEV CHAMUDOT
Petah Tikva