הרב שלמה אבינר - קונפליקטים בחינוך בהתמודדות מול הרפורמים

Who Thinks Katzav May Be Innocent?

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner:

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, one of Religious Zionism's leaders, said Thursday that the former President Moshe Katsav was innocent, and that the Tel Aviv District Court should not have convicted him of the sexual offenses detailed in the indictment.

The rabbi stated that the case files had previously been revealed to him and his conclusion was that the man in question was innocent. His statements were first published on the Kipa website.

Ben-Dror Yemini:

Moshe Katzav was the victim of a feminist-leftist media lynch and his trial may well have been a mistrial, according to popular columnist Ben-Dror Yemini of Maariv.

Atty. Yoram Sheftel:

Maverick Israeli lawyer Yoram Sheftel says that justice was not served in the Katzav case and that the judges were unable to stand up to media pressure. “There is no evidence to back up the accusations,” Sheftel told Arutz 7.

Cosmic X:

The verdict is in. He may be guilty and he may not be. I do not have faith in the Israeli Judicial System.

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner Explains Why Not To Sell Israeli Real Estate to Arabs

Rabbi Aviner writes:

Why did I add my humble signature to the Rabbinic petition against selling houses and apartments, lands and fields, to the Arabs?
The answer is so simple. The vision of the Jewish state. We have returned here after 2000 years of exile, in order to establish a Jewish state.
True, it is permissible for non-Jews to live there, and one has to treat the non-Jew who lives in the land with integrity and respect. Yet strengthening the foothold of the Arabs in the Land demonstrates a lack of national responsibility, for they are presently 25% of the entire population, and a large scale Jewish majority has to be preserved.
It is no secret that the Arabs want to annex our country for themselves and banish us from our Land, and they are doing this in every possible way: 1. By way of bloody wars which result in our country being full of widows and orphans and bereaved parents. 2. Unrelenting terror which likewise exacts from us a price in blood. 3. Recently, since the Carmel tragedy, a call has gone forth from the Arabs to commit a lot of arson in Israel, and indeed, there have been 15 attempts at arson since then. 4. Unrelenting land purchases by the Arabs throughout our country on a gigantic scale, in Yafo, Haifa, Acco, the Galil, and recently, an attempt to buy the Nof Tzion neighborhood in Jerusalem. In our world there are enormously wealthy Arabs who are ready to budget millions towards this end, and indeed, the Jews, lacking national responsibility, who are tempted by the money.

Read the rest!

The Old "Shaking Hands With a Woman" Controversy

Here is an old controversy that has come up once again. You are a Jewish guy. If a woman extends her hand, are you allowed to shake it?

Rabbi Yuval Sherlo has recently answered in the affirmative. He says that embarrassing the woman by not taking her hand is a greater sin:

לכן, במקרה שבחורה מושיטה לבחור יד ללחיצת שלום (וכן להפך), איסור לחיצת היד אשר נובע מההחמרה היתירה בקרבה לעריות, נדחה מפני כבוד הבריות והלבנת פנים. מובן שעל לחיצת היד להיות רשמית בלבד, ואין לגלות בה גילויי חיבה יתרים

Rabbi Shlomo Aviner disagrees, and tells an appropriate story about Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu zt"l:

פעם נערכה לו קבלת פנים אצל מלכת אנגליה, והיא הושיטה לו ידה, אך הוא נאלם דום והצמיד ידיו לצדדיו לעיני כל בית המלוכה והטלויזיה. בערב התקבלה התנצלות מבית המלוכה על כך שהביכו אותו, ובדקו בספר הפרוטוקולים, וכתוב שאין למלכה להושיט יד לרב יהודי

Once there was a reception with the Queen of England, and she offered him her hand. However he stood silent and placed his hands at his sides in front of the Royal House and television. In the evening an apology was received from the Royal House on that they had embarrassed him. They checked the book of protocols, and there it is written that the Queen should not extend her hand to a Jewish Rabbi.

Rabbi Elyakim Levanon of Elon Moreh has also expressed his opinion on the matter. He is against shaking hands, and has called on the National Religious public to "stop searching for hard-pressed leniencies and to cease justifying ourselves".

I remember my Chabad Rabbi in New Jersey who, when offered a lady's hand, would raise his hand up to his forehead and say, "I salute you".

I am in no position to say who is correct according to Jewish Law. Practically speaking, I think that it is best not to take the lady's hand. One time it may be a little bit unpleasant, but after that people know that you are just that kind of guy and they won't put you in that situation again. One who gives his hand once, will have to give it again and again.

Save Yourself from the Singles Swamp

I just saw this really great blog post by Baruch Gordon on Arutz 7. He describes something very similar to what I went through:

In 1983 when I started going out on shidduchim [blind dates pre-arranged by a matchmaker], Rabbi Shlomo Aviner of Bet El published a book called Pirkei Ahava on dating and marriage. In the first few pages, he lays down a principle that changed my attitude towards shidduchim to the point that, coincidentally or not, I married the next girl that I dated.

I myself started a couple of years later, and did not find my wife so fast. However, Rabbi Aviner's advice was very helpful to me:

Rav Aviner explains that a person must approach the shidduch with emunah [faith]! He must have faith that if G-d has made this shidduch materialize, and

1. the girl is suitable, and
2. the girl has positive traits which are congruent with his aspirations and spiritual level and
3. there is some level of attraction,

then he should believe that this is the girl that G-d has designated for him.

Read the rest of his blog for an elaboration on the subject.

Personally, it breaks my heart to see bachelors and bachelorettes that have met many suitable men/women but just lack the faith and courage to take the plunge.

Rabbi Zalman Melamed and Rabbi Shlomo Aviner

My son took this picture of the Rabbis at the religious-Zionist youth rally yesterday. Rabbi Aviner, the Rav of Beit El Aleph in on the left. Rabbi Melamed, the Rav of Beit El Beit and the Rosh Yeshiva there is on the right:

Ynetnews Goofs Again

Quote:

In an article recently published in the Rosh Yehudi (Jewish Mindset) pamphlet, the Rabbi of Bet El and spiritual leader of the Religious Zionist movement, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner, called on Orthodox Jews to change their deeply entrenched prejudices against divorced women, and to start judging people based upon their character rather than their past marital status.

Rabbi Aviner is that rabbi of Beit El Aleph. The rabbi of Beit El Beit is Rabbi Zalman Melamed.

Rabbi Aviner is a spiritual leader of the Religious Zionist movement, but certainly not the spiritual leader of the Religious Zionist movement. It is interesting to note that the Hebrew version of this article did not have these errors.