Secular Coercion Will Fail (part 4)

The "draft drama" continues.

Yohanan Plesner and company did not get their way, so Kadima left the coalition:

The Kadima party has approved party head MK Shaul Mofaz’s proposal to leave the coalition. Three MKs voted against leaving.

Likud MKs accused Mofaz of leaving for political reasons. Mofaz said his party had to leave over disagreements with Likud over enlisting hareidi men to the IDF. However, Likud MKs said, Likud offered several proposals in the matter, and Mofaz rejected them all.

In the meantime, the ultra-Orthodox press revealed information about Plesner that was not known to the general public:

The Merkaz Inyanim newspaper did some checking into the background of Plesner, the man behind the committee, the champion of the “share the burden camp” and reports that the MKs father was not a Jew, but a Catholic from Denmark, a descendent of priests and bishops. The paper reports the MKs parents were married in a church.

You can see Yohanan's father, Ulrik, here.

The son of a gentile is hardly the man to decide the fate of Torah learning in Israel, according to the aforementioned press.

Then came Avigdor Lieberman's turn. He wants to draft everybody, including the Arabs. His bill took a whacking:

The Knesset on Wednesday killed a bill that would have mandated universal military service for all Israelis at age 18 – including Arabs and Hareidi-religious – by a vote of 74 to 22.

The bill from Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beytenu party would have made those who refuse to serve in the army or perform national service ineligible for funding from the State.

After the Knesset voted down the bill, Lieberman said "reality will do what the bill didn't. Right now were focusing on August 1 (the expiration of Tal Law)."

Indeed, August is less than two weeks away. Will the Knesset pass a bill which is acceptable to the ultra-Orthodox, or will we face chaos in less than two weeks? Time will tell.

Rabbi Yisrael Rosen Wins Libel Suit Against "Yated Ne'eman"

22 Marcheshvan 5769

Here's some more fallout from the disengagement: Rabbi Yisrael Rosen took the "Yated Ne'eman" newspaper to court for libel, and he won. I know. What does this have to do with the disengagement?

The story starts way back in the beginning of 2005. The Israeli government makes one of the stupidest decisions ever, the decision to to destroy the Jewish towns in the Gaza Strip, and to withdraw the army from it. The name that they gave to this crime was "disengagement". The National Religious Party (NRP) leaves the coalition, and the United Torah Judaism (UTJ) party joins the coalition. Rabbi Yisrael Rosen, a well known NR rabbi, writes a column in the Shabbat BeShabbato parsha sheet deeply critical of the UTJ. Among other things he writes the following:

"ואומר מיד, עם נציג הפלג החסידי אין לי כלל דין ודברים, "כי השוחד יעוור..ויסלף דברי צדיקים", כולל 'צדיקים' (=אדמו"רים). ומה לנו שוחד יותר מקופת המדינה כולה, הממושכנת כערובה אצל יו"ר ועדת הכספים...".

My translation:

"And I will say immediately, that with the Hasidic faction (of UTJ) I have nothing to deliberate with them at all, 'for a bribe doth blind the eyes of the wise, and pervert the words of the righteous.', including 'Tzadikim' (=Hasidic Rebbes). And what is a bigger bribe than the purse of the entire country, which is mortgaged as a guarantee with the Chairman of the Finance Committee (of the Knesset)."

These words upset the people at Yated Ne'eman very much. A scathing article about Rabbi Rosen appeared in the satirical section of the paper. This is the quote caused Yated Ne'eman to lose the case:

"אם כבר מזכירים גיור המוני, מן הראוי לציין, כי את תחילת דרכו המקורית עשה הרב רוזן בהפעלת פס ייצור לגיורים המוניים, באמצעות שיטת הוקוס- פוקוס. השיטה היתה פשוטה בתכלית: נרשמים, משלמים במזומן, שומעים כל מיני הרצאות בנושאי יהדות-בדרכי-נועם, לומדים תפריטים נבחרים מהמטבח היהודי, עוברים עוד אי-אילו עניינים פרוצדוראליים, קופצים למים, ו...הוקוס-פוקוס: אתה יהודי חילוני כשר. ברוכים הבאים לעם הנצח.

Again the translation according to your's truly:

If we are mentioning mass conversion, it is proper to point out that the beginning of Rabbi Rosen's original path was the running of an assembly line for mass conversions, using the hocus-pocus method. The method was ultimatively simple: you register, you pay cash, you hear all kinds of lectures about ways-of-pleasantness-Judaism, you learn selected menus from the Jewish kitchen, you go through a few procedural matters, you jump into the water and... hocus-pocus: you are a kosher secular Jew. Welcome to the nation of eternity.

The judge, Shirli Renner, wrote the following about this:

הצגת התובע, שהינו רב, כמי שמספק הכשרים לעקיפת ההלכה תמורת בצע כסף נועדה להשפיל ולבזות את התובע. הנתבעים בתצהיריהם לא הניחו כל תשתית ראייתית ולפיה מצג עובדתי זה הוא בגדר אמת. מדובר אפוא בפרסום שאין כל ראייה לאמיתותו ולפיו מספק הרב הכשרים הילכתיים בשל תאוות ממון. סבורה אני כי אמירות אלו הן בגדר לשון הרע.

That is to say in Mamme Loshon:

The presentation of the plaintiff, who is a rabbi, as one who supplies certification for the circumventing of Jewish law in return for money was intended to humiliate and put down the plaintiff. The defendants in their declarations did not bring any proof that this presentation is true. Therefore we are dealing with a publication that has no proof to (back up) its truthfulness, which according to it the rabbi provides halachic certification out of the desire for money . I am of the opinion that these statements are in the realm of libel.

A bizarre aspect of the case is that the rabbinic committee of Yated Ne'eman, which is supposed to be a spiritual supervising body of the paper, instructed the editors to react to Rabbi Rosen's article in the satirical section of the newspaper . Even more bizarre is that Yated Ne'eman claimed in its defense that the article is not libelous since it appeared in this satirical section of the newspaper. The judge did not accept this claim.

The bottom line is that Yated Ne'eman - Yeteidot Publications, Yisrael Wertzel (Wortzel?), Yitzchak Rot, and Natan Grossman were found by Judge Renner to be responsible for the libelous publication. The amount of damages will be set at a later hearing.

I can understand how the Yated Ne'eman newspaper, and the public which they serve, would be offended by Rabbi Rosen's article. But that does not justify printing things about Rabbi Rosen that have no basis in fact. I hope that the amount of damages will be high enough to deter the newspaper and others from publishing things that are so distant from the Torah that they purport to represent.

Post Election Fallout

19 Marcheshvan 5769



We thought that life was returning to normal, and that the streets of Jerusalem would be clean of political fliers and posters. But it seems that the election process itself, and all the more so the results of the election, have left the ultra-Orthodox community wounded. The pain felt from these wounds is reflected in a post election "paper war" that is "decorating" the city's walls and littering its streets.

It started with wall posters stating the Talmudic dictum that "Jerusalem was destroyed because they disgraced Torah scholars." The poster was signed "The Honor of Torah". This is a somewhat ambiguous poster for one not familiar with Hareidi politics and social codes, but for the rest of us the hint was clear: the race for mayor was lost to the secular candidate (who will bring about the destruction of Jerusalem) because of Meir Porush, who disgraced Torah scholars.

If anyone had doubt as to who and what the posters were referring to, the following day the streets were littered with fliers that were a carbon copy of the wall poster. The difference was that the flier had two sides. The flip side of the flier was an editorial from the Yated Ne'eman newspaper (from the 15th of Cheshvan 5769), which is the mouthpiece of the Degel HaTorah (Lithuanian) faction in Agudat Yisrael. It was a very long editorial, which among other things was a trial in absentia of Meir Porush, although his name was not explicitly mentioned. However, his political crimes were described in detail:

"He acted with public irresponsibility, he caused intense arguments, he divided the public, he turned his back on the great Hasidic leaders and Torah luminaries."

Needless to say the paper found him guilty as charged. The editorial declared Porush as being unworthy to be a public servant for the ultra-Orthodox community.

This of course could not be left without a reply. So today we were greeted on the way to work with a poster singing the praises of Meir Porush. Why wasn't I surprised?

As far as the editors of Yated Ne'eman are concerned, Meir Porush's political career is finished. It will be interesting to see Porush's next move. He is currently a member of the Knesset, but it is now doubtful that UTJ will give him a place on the list for the elections that are scheduled for February. Will he continue in the city council? Will Barkat give him the job as "assistant-Mayor"? Will he split away from UTJ and form a rival party? Time will tell.

Motorcycle Accident Revisited

Last week I blogged about the MVA near Tel Aviv where moped driving instructor Moshe Hai Yisraeli lost his life. I complained about the ridiculous treatment the accident was receiving in the MSM, who were claiming that drivers bypassed 'the "obstacle," the dying man on the road, rather than stopping to offer assistance.'

Today I saw an article on ynetnews by B. Michael that dealt with the accident and the way it was treated in the press. You should know that B. Michael is a writer rooted firmly in the extreme Israeli left, and as such is someone that I rarely agree with. However, this time we are in full agreement. Here is a little of what B. Michael had to say:

Perhaps there's no need to recount what this story is all about, but nonetheless following are the details: A terrible road accident occurred at the Azur intersection in Holon south of Tel Aviv this week. For some unknown reason Moshe Hai Yisrael (may he rest in peace), who was riding a moped, was hurled under the wheels of a cement mixer. He was squashed to death and remained lying on the road alongside his mangled moped.

A security camera positioned on a nearby roof by Channel 10 News aired the footage which shows the 10 seconds where traffic continued to flow normally without a single car stopping and without a single person coming to the casualty's assistance.

And indeed, immediately after the footage was aired the festivities began. Everyone was quick to accuse one another, to cry over the demise of Israeli society, to wail, to be shocked, to wring their hands in obvious desperation and to impressively sound voices of calamity and lamentation that looked and sounded good.

In short, it was a festivity crammed with satisfaction.

However there is only one problem with this festivity: It's synthetic, it is false. It is artificial and affected, but mostly it is dangerous in its ability to teach drivers to act like a herd of curious idiots, instead of as responsible citizens.

Firstly, a few facts should be noted, perhaps not concealed intentionally but not highlighted either:

* The driver of the cement mixing vehicle stopped on the spot, got out of the vehicle, directed traffic and apparently called the police or the Magen David ambulance service, just as he should have. (I personally passed the scene of the accident about an hour after the accident and the cement mixer had indeed stopped near the site. - CX)

* According to reports, at least 20 of the drivers passing by called the emergency services, just as they should have.

* According to eye witnesses, the injuries inflicted on the moped rider were so severe that there was not the slightest doubt that Moshe Hai-Yisraeli had died instantly. (Someone where I work told me that his brains were outside of his skull, which isn't surprising since he was crushed by a cement mixer - CX)

Read the rest.

While B. Michael got it right, it seems that Israel's Internal Security Minister Avi Dichter got it wrong:

In the middle of the day, in the heart of the country, Moshe Hai Yisraeli was hit by a passing truck and critically injured as he was hurled onto the road. For a minute and a half, which seemed like eternity, he bled on the road of a busy junction and no one stopped to offer assistance. Moshe bled to death in front of passing drivers who saw what was happening and drove on.

Dichter goes on to malign the nation by accusing us of being indifferent:

Something has happened in Israel. My soul can find no comfort and my stomach has been turning since watching the inconceivable footage. My heart keeps asking what have we come to? Where will the indifference and apathy take us? What is this screen that has plastered our eyes shut so that we do not see or hear the groans of death?

Unfortunately, I saw that certain elements in the Israeli ultra-Orthodox Jewish press also swallowed the MSM bait, hook, line and sinker. Anyone who learns Gemara should have known better!

In any case all of the people that used this incident to preach morals to the nation from their pedestal of ignorance owe the nation an apology.

Update: Just saw this from Ha'aretz:

Several passersby who saw Hai-Yisraeli after the crash later told police that they kept away because of the gruesome appearance of Yisraeli's body after the truck crushed his head. "It was obvious the man was dead anyway, so there was no point in attending to him," they said.

There it is black on white: Moshe Hai Yisraeli's head was crushed. He was dead and there was nothing that any of the drivers could have done to help him. Avi Dichter proved that he is unworthy to serve in any position of authority memah nafshach: If he knew the facts about the accident and lied about them in order to gain political mileage he is beyond contempt. If he did not know the facts about the accident and started blabbing away in ignorance he is simply irresposible.

There is a lot of mussar that we all can learn from this incident. We have to be careful in passing judgment. How misleading is the film of the accident! We don't see what happened just beyond the scope of the camera. The condition of the moped rider after the accident cannot be discerned from the distant camera shot. Wise men, be careful with your words!