Pre 9th of Av Thoughts

I just got over reviewing the laws of the 9th of Av with my family, and in the little bit of time until we start the se'udah hamafseket I thought that I would jot down a few thoughts here.

Unless a miracle happens, we will once again be mourning the destruction of the Temple. I saw on a calendar this morning that it is 1946 years since the Temple was destroyed. The more one learns Torah, the more one realizes the depth of this tragedy. This is a wound that the passage of time does not heal.

The truth is, we mourn its destruction on a daily basis, explicitly mentioning it many times every day. We end all of our prayers with the request that God will rebuild the Temple speedily in our days. We also remember the Temple in other ways, for instance leaving a square cubit of our homes unpainted. It is always in our head and heart.

Even so, we do not live our lives in a state of depression. A healthy Jew is an optimist, always looking at the half of the glass that is full of water. I once read how Rabbi Chana Porat, who was seriously wounded in the Yom Kippur War, thought that he had lost one of his arms. At that time, he was busy thinking how grateful he was to God for the one arm that remained.

But the 9th of Av is different. The entire day is devoted to remembering the destruction of the Temple and other tragedies that have befallen our nation. We take a serious look at the half cup of water that is empty.

There is hope. With the current war and all of its horrors, we were witness to a tremendous display of Jewish unity here in Israel. To paraphrase Rabbi Kook, if the Temple was destroyed because of senseless hatred, it will be built through unbounded love. Please God, have mercy on Zion for the time has come.

That's all in the meantime. It's time to go and dine on bread and a hard boiled egg dipped in ashes. Our sages said that those who mourn for Jerusalem will merit to rejoice in its rebuilding. May it be in our days.

I Wanted To Be Good

Recently I finished reading the book Ratziti Lihyot Tov (I Wanted To Be Good). The book is a collection of stories about Chanan Porat z"l, written by Oded Mizrachi and published by Rosh Yehudi.

Chanan Porat was a well known figure here in Israel. He was one of the founders and leaders of Gush Emunim, and a member of the Knesset for 11 years. This book reveals to the reader other facets of Chanan Porat's amazing life that are not so well known.

Chana was not just a politician. He was a Torah Scholar, a genius. The book quotes Rav Avraham Shapira saying that if Chanan would have kept studying full time instead of getting involved with public affairs, Chanan would have become Merkaz HaRav's Rosh Yeshiva instead of him.

Chanan was involved with Chessed, acts of loving-kindness, on a very large scale.

Chanan Porat was also physically strong. He was one of the paratroopers who liberated Jerusalem's Old City in 1967. He was seriously wounded in the 1973 Yom Kippur War.

Chanan had 11 children, among them one who was adopted.

I highly recommend this book. It is fantastic, right up there with A Tzaddik in Our Time by Simchah Raz. I hope that the book will be translated into as many languages as possible in order that all those Jews that still have not learned Hebrew can benefit from reading about this stellar personality.

Here is an interview with Rabbi Porat several months before he passed away. He suffered from a malignant tumor in his brain which at the time of the interview partially paralyzed him and interfered with his speech. The tumor eventually caused his death.

יהי זכרו ברוך

Rav Hanan Porat Passes Away

Read about it here. Rav Porat z"l devoted his entire life to Torah, the land of Israel and the People of Israel. He will be missed.

Torah Scholars on the Front Lines

Here's an interesting article (in Hebrew) about how Rabbi Shabtai Sabato saved Rabbi Chanan Porat during the Yom Kippur War.

Rabbi Druckman, Rabbi Sherman and the Conversion Crisis (Part 5)

This week's volume of "Me'at Min HaOr" (A Little Bit From the Light), Rabbi Chanan Porat's parsha sheet, features an article by Rabbi Druckman on the front page. It is a nice dvar Torah, certainly worth reading. I hoped for naught that the rabbi would mention something about the conversion crisis.

However, Rabbi Porat, in his column "Midrashir", praises Rabbi Druckman and then adds the following:

על כן כמה צר ומר פסק דינם של כמה דיינים שהעיזו פנים להטיל בו דופי ולפסול את הגיורים שגייר בלא לשמוע אפילו מה בפיו. חובת המחאה על ביזוי תלמיד חכם מוטלת על כולנו ולה אנו שותפים ב'מעט מן האור'.

ברכתנו שלוחה לרב דרוקמן שליט"א שימשיך ללכת על פי ה' ויוסף לקדש שם שמים ברבים ללא מורא וללא חת

My translation:

Therefore how narrow and bitter is the ruling of a few rabbinic court judges that acted impudently to defame him and to invalidate the conversions that he performed without hearing what he had to say. The obligation to protest the degradation of a Torah scholar is incumbent upon us all and we at "Me'at Min HaOr" are partners to this [obligation].

Our blessing is sent to Rabbi Druckman (may he live a long life) that he will continue to go according to God and to fearlessly sanctify the name of Heaven in public.

Let's take a look at this and see if this statement is "A Little Bit From the Light" or something else entirely.

"Therefore how narrow and bitter is the ruling of a few rabbinic court judges that acted impudently to defame him and to invalidate the conversions that he performed without hearing what he had to say."

If we are concerned with the honor of Torah scholars, this includes the rabbinic court judges who for some reason are not mentioned here by name.

The claim that they invalidated the conversions is also not exact. Rabbi Rosen got it right when he wrote, "The ruling casts a doubt on myriads of conversions (and their offspring), but does not invalidate them in a sweeping manner (each case should be considered on its own)."

Rabbi Porat raises an interesting point with by saying that the judges did not hear what Rabbi Druckman had to say. This is what Rabbi Druckman told Arutz 7:

"הרב אברהם שרמן שהיה אב בית הדין בדיון, פרסם אותו לפני כשלושה חודשים בכנס דיינים כללי והרצה עליו, והזכיר אותי ב"תוארי כבוד" רבים, תוך כדי אמירת גיבובי דברים. בעקבות ההרצאה הזאת טלפנו אלי דיינים כשהם מזועזעים מכך, שבלי לדבר איתי או לשמוע את הצד שלנו, הוא פרסם פסק דין כנגדי".

"רק שבוע לאחר הכנס הם הזמינו אותי לשמוע את דברי, לאחר שכבר היה פסק דין! הגעתי לדיון ואמרתי להם שבכך שהם פרסמו את פסק הדין בלי לשמוע את הצד שלנו, הם פסלו את עצמם מלדון, ופניתי לרב עמאר, שהורה להם שלא לפרסם שום פסק דין אלא להעביר אליו את התיק".

"יומיים לאחר ההחלטה של הרב עמאר הם פרסמו את הפסק, כל מאן דהוא מבין שזה כתב פלסתר. אלו דיינים? אלו לא יכולים להיות דיינים! דיינים, שכביכול באצטלה של בית דין, כותבים פסק בלי לשמוע את הצד המדובר, איך אפשר לעשות דבר כזה?", אמר הרב דרוקמן

Rabbi Druckman explains that before the ruling was made public Rabbi Sherman publicized it at a convention of rabbinic court judges. A week later they invited Rabbi Druckman to tell his side of the story. Rabbi Druckman told them that since they came to a decision without hearing him first, they invalidated themselves from adjudicating the matter. Rabbi Druckman notified Chief Rabbi Amar who instructed the court not to publicize the ruling. Two days later they publicized the ruling against the explicit instructions of Rabbi Amar who is the President of the Great Rabbinic Court.

In summary: They did not hear his side of the story. When they invited him to hear his side of the story he refused to tell it. In the meantime, I, and others like myself are waiting to hear Rabbi Druckman's response to the "forgery affair" as described by Rabbi Rosen.

"The obligation to protest the degradation of a Torah scholar is incumbent upon us all and we at "Me'at Min HaOr" are partners to this."

We also have an obligation to make sure that the special conversion courts are acting in accordance with Jewish Law. We have an obligation to demand that the rabbis that sit in the courts will not act in a way which will cast a doubt as to the validity of the conversions. We have the obligation to protest the continuing disinformation being circulated with regards to this affair which gives the impression of an attempted whitewash.