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Monday, July 23, 2007

We Need To Be Faithful To The Torah

This week's Besheva magazine is devoted mainly to commemerating the second anniversary of the destruction of the Jewish communities in the Gaza Strip and Northern Samaria and the expulsion of their residents. I was particularly struck by what the legendary doctor of Gush Katif, Dr. Sodi Namir, had to say.


לד"ר סודי מצידו יש ביקורת נוקבת על הציבור הדתי לאומי, שלוקה לדבריו באי קבלת מרות של הרבנים הגדולים: "אצל החרדים גדלות בתורה זה הדבר הבלעדי והקובע, ולא יקום מאן דהוא ויצפצף נגדו. אצלנו כל אחד תופס מיקרופון, רשאי להביע את כל מה שיש לו. כשאנו נראים כך, התוצאות הן בהתאם". בחירתו של מנהיג חילוני לראשות מועצת יש"ע, היא לדעתו סימפטום נוסף לחולי בציבור הדתי: "אנחנו ציבור שהתורה רק מפריעה לו במובנים מסוימים. לוקחים את המדינה כערך בפני עצמו ומכופפים לזה הכול. מגיעים למצב שיו"ר יש"ע המתחדשת הוא אדם בלי כיפה וזה לא מפריע לאף אחד. אנחנו מעמידים בראשנו אנשים שלא חיים לפי מערכת ערכים של תורה, והרי ראינו לאיזה ערכים מושחתים אפשר להגיע בלי תורה".
A rough translation:
Dr. Sodi Namir has a piercing criticism of the national-religious public, which according to him is afflicted with a lack of acceptance of the authority of the great rabbis. "By the ultra-Orthodox greatness in Torah is the only thing that counts, and nobody will rise up and 'chirp' against it. By us, anyone who grabs a microphone and is allowed to express what he feels. When we appear like this, the results are in accord."

The election of a secular leader as the head of the Yesha Council, is according to his opinion another sympton of illness in the national-religious public: "We are a public that the Torah bothers in certain ways. We take the state as a value unto itself and we bend everything according to it. We have arrived at a situation where the head of the Renewed Yesha Council is a man without a yarmulke and this doesn't bother anyone. We are putting at our head people that do not live according to the Torah value system, and we have seen what corrupt values one can arrive at without Torah."
Is anyone in the national religious public listening?

5 comments:

Avi said...

Sounds to me like Sinat Hinam - how unfortunate as we are in the 9 days and Tisha b'Av starts tonight.

A Jew is a Jew is a Jew regardless of what is on his (or her) head.

Cosmic X said...

Amechad,

There is not even a gram of hate here. Dr. Namir is giving us a well needed rebuke. He is reminding us that our first allegiance is to the Torah, and not to the State of Israel. As the Rambam says:

המבטל גזירת המלך בשביל שנתעסק במצוות, אפילו במצוה קלה--הרי זה פטור: דברי הרב ודברי העבד, דברי הרב קודמין. ואין צריך לומר אם גזר המלך לבטל מצוה, שאין שומעין לו.

This is an important principle that was ignored by religious soldiers and policemen that took part in the expulsion.

With regards to the head of the Yesha Council: he is not saying that the man is not a Jew, rather that he does not live by Torah values. The problem is not what is on or not on his head. The problem is what is in his head. He is reminding us that even ardent Zionists, when they lack Torah values, can turn into agents of destruction and corruption.

Chana @ Lemon Lime Moon said...

Wow, Powerful words from Dr Namir.
And at this time of year especially we need to take this deeply to heart and not forget this.

Anonymous said...

"There is not even a gram of hate here. Dr. Namir is giving us a well needed rebuke. He is reminding us that our first allegiance is to the Torah, and not to the State of Israel."

Nor might I add is our allegiance slavishly follow a to Rabbinic system that has no business in Eretz Israel.
Thats why the Sandhedrin is more a concern then the Beit Hamikdash right now, as the Mikdash was our heart, the Sanhedrin was our intelletual faculty. Our allegiance first and foremost is to the Torah and its authorized body, the Sanhedrin. All current smichas should be invalidated and the Smicha returned to its original concept as beautifully illustrated by Moshes smicha on Yehoshua. A Rabbanut serves no purpose. We arent living in shteiblach or states or different countries here so we need our Suprem Court back functioning and fast.

Avi said...

Israel without Torah is simply an empty vessel. How low have we sunk...

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