Mazal Tov!

I am happy to announce that Mr. and Mrs. Chardal have just had a beautiful 4th addition to our family. May our new daughter grow up to chupah, Torah, and Maasim Tovim!

Baruch Atta Hashem, SeHechianu VeKiyimanu VeHigianu LaZman HaZe!

הרחמן הוא יוליכנו קוממיות בארצנו

In light of recent events in Amona, I thought the following story is apropos:

During the period when the chareidi public was protesting against cars that were driving through chareidi neighborhoods on shabbat, it became known that members of the leftist "HaShomer HaTzair" movement (who were graduates of military combat units), had intentions to go up to Yerushalaim and beat those who were protesting the Shabbat desecrations. In response to this, students of the Merkaz HaRav yeshiva started organizing forces in order to physically block the leftists from entering the city. Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook Zt"l fully supported this effort. One of the students questioned the wisdom of such organization since it will not be seen in a good light by the wider public. Rav Zvi Yehuda answered:

וכי אנחנו בגלות, שכשמכים יהודי הוא צריך להתכופף?

Are we in the exile that when they beat a Jew he must submit?

Lazy filler post

A sfarim store noticed that the tanachs were not selling.

The owner then had a creative idea. He took off the cover and replaced it with one that read "Chidushei HaKadosh Baruch Hu"

It sold like hotcakes.

Guess who wrote it

Inspired by S, I have decided to post a contest. The object is to guess which individual or sect wrote the following text in the past 3000 years (The possible answers include secterian and apochriphal or pseudepigraphal sources as well).

Prize: A virtual pat on the back

לַמְנַצֵחַ בִּנְגִינוֹת מִזְמוֹר שִׁיר׃ מִי יְסַפֵּר תְּהִלָּתְךָ יְיָ. יַגִּיד חַסְדְּךָ לְדוֹר וָדוֹר׃ כִּי גָדַלְתָּ עַד מְאֹד אֱלֹהֵינוּ. נוֹרָא אַתָּה בְּכָל הָאָרֶץ׃ וַאֲנַחְנוּ עֲבָדֶיךָ יְיָ עֲשִׂיתָנוּ. נְסַפֵּר אֲמִתְּךָ לְעוֹלָם וָעֶד ׃ בְּמַקְהֵלוֹת נְבָרְכֶךָ. נַזְכִּיר שִׁמְךָ לְעוֹלָם כִּי רַב הוּא. אֲשֶׁר עָלֵינוּ גַּאֲוָתְךָ מֵעוֹלָם. תִּתְפָּאַר בְּעַמְּךָ לְדוֹר דּוֹרִים׃ זֶרַע עֲבָדֶיךָ יִכּוֹן לְפָנֶיךָ לְהַגִּיד חַסְדְּךָ יְיָ יוֹם יוֹם׃

[UPDATE: The answer is … drumroll please … The Ramchal! (go adderabbi) he wrote a full sefer tehillim (with 150 chapters) before he was 20 (and before he started writing the kabblah that the maggid revealed to him). The whole sefer was locked in the same box as the maggid manuscripts after the cherem and the box was lost. 8 chapters remain, however, since some of his friends made copies of them. This one is part of a liturgy he composed for simchat Torah where one chapter was recited at the end of every hakafah. The one I posted was the chapter from the second hakafah.]

Who knew?

Sometimes you run across a story that breaks the image you have in your mind of a certain gadol. I never imagined Rav Soloveitchik as the type to ask tzaddikim to daven for something. I don't know why, it just didn't fit with my mental image of him, I just always figured he would feel it sufficient to daven himself.

I found the following in Tzaddik Yesod Olam by Simcha Raz:

משחלתה אשתו של איש השכל וההגיון הצרוף, הגאון הרב י"ד סולובייצ'יק מבוסטון, הריץ הלה איגרת לר' אריה וביקשו שיתפלל להחלמתה. כשבקרתיו, הראה לי ר' אריה את המכתב ושאלני: חפץ אני להתפלל לשלומה, וברצוני להיות בטוח, הקורא אני נכון את שמה, "טוניא"?

When the wife of HaGaon HaRav Yosef Dov Soloveitchik of Boston became sick, [Rav Soloveitchik] sent a letter to Rav Aryeh [Levine] and asked that he pray for her recovery. When I visited him, Rav Aryeh showed me the letter and asked me: 'I wish to pray for her wellfare, and I want to be sure, am I reading her name correctly, "Tonya"?

Buddhism in the news

The headline on jpost reads "Dalai Lama doesn't rule out meeting Hamas during visit".

And in my previous post I quoted Rav Kook as saying that Buddhism was only about self-annihilation.

[UPDATE: I am NOT saying the Dalai Lama supports terror - he does NOT, he is only overly (and naively) tolerant of those who exercise it]

Why does Buddhism exist?

I always wondered about the role of Eastern religions in the Torah's plan. We can clearly see how the main western religions that derive from Judaism reflect a movement of the world away from its pagan roots towards some sort of belief in one G-d. Where does this leave the Eastern religions that developed independently of the influence of the Torah? How do they fit into the cosmic plan?

Rav Kook has a very interesting insight into the nature of Eastern religion (translation by Rav Bezalel Naor When God Becomes History pg. 116-17):

The divine pleasantness that is displayed in Knesset Israel in its simplicity and naturalness - in light of the divine idea implanted in her - makes for an agreeable, delicate, sweet life. Such life is not in question; not only will it continue to exist, but will even be renewed and replenished. This is the source of an inner Joie de vivre that bonds with all the ideals of man's higher soul. The strong natural energies do not incite any moral protestation or opposition; these energies are viewed from the perspective of a higher science of eternal peace and divine joy.

This divine pleasantness that is imbibed with every draught of life enables one to view life and existence with a goodly eye and the joy of the righteous, to recognize that "all G-d made is very good." At the other extreme, the pagan world that lacks this divine pleasantness - from the source of light of the divine idea innate in Israel - is unable to relate to the joy of life. Its dim view uncovers only misfortune; it becomes frustrated with itself, with its existence, with everything. It finds itself in opposition to its very self. As the pain increases, paganism finds a temporary relief (before it disappears from the earth) in a lifestyle that offers no resistance to all the barbaric elements. But it is impossible to stop up the spirit; the spiritual beauty of man and his inner morality demand their due. They are not to be pacified, especially after maturation of the world-view that inspects life inside and out. Therefore, paganism comes tot he hiding place of Buddhism, which finds peace in nothingness and absolute negation. The cup of wrath - anger with life and its bitterness - is full to the brim; all the talents of intellect and emotion, faith and imagination are summed up by a singular will: to self-annihilate. (From 'To the process of Ideas in Israel')

Could it be that part of Hashem's plan was for a pagan society to run its course independent of the influence of the Jewish people? Perhaps by allowing paganism to run its course without the interference of Judaism we gain clarity as to its final destination. Eastern spirituality thus becomes paganism at its most refined form and thus we have a cultural tradition with which to contrast and thus better appreciate our own spiritual system. This is, of course, all speculation but I think my idea has some merit.

Should I close down this blog?

I have been considering stopping this blog. It is a tremendous stress on my time and has lately just been one endless debate about Zionism which while it interests me, Is not by any stretch my only interest.

I could just decide to post on other topics but so much stuff is happening in Israel now that I feel an obligation to post on it and that always drags me into an endless debate which I really do not have time for but I always feel an obligation to engage in.

What to do? What to do?

Excerpt from the Brisker Bible (What if King David was a brisker?)

For all those who hold the brisker (and Rav Shach) approach to pikuach nefesh, here is what the brisker version of the Tanach would look like, A guest post from mevaseretzion:

Excerpt from the Brisker Bible. First Samuel, Ch. 17:

(1) Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle, and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongeth to Judah, and pitched between Socoh and Azeka, in Ephes-dannim…(3) And the Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side; and there was a valley between them….(21) And Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army. (22) And David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage, and he walked carefully (so as not to endanger his balance) to the army, and came and greeted his brethren. (23) And as he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and he spake according to the same words; and David heard them. (24) And all the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were sore afraid. (25) And the men of Israel said: ‘Have ye seen this man that is come up? surely to taunt Israel is he come up; and it shall be, that the man who killeth him, the king shall enrich with great riches…(26) And David spoke to the men that stood by him, saying: ‘Wherefore does the king expect a man to kill this Philistine, and take away the taunt from Israel? It is the way of our faith to kneel before such brutish might! Darest a man among us defy the danger of confrontation? This uncircumcised Philistine carries with him sword and spear; the man that attempteth to kill him does great wrong to the L-rd! Now, the Book of our Covenant is clear: ‘and thou shall choose life’! The man that killeth this Philistine will choose death, instead!’ (28) And Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke unto this manner, and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said: ‘Dost thou not know of the rest of the word of the L-rd, ‘Thou shalt be afraid of no man’? And does it not also say, ‘And thou shalt inherit the land and settle it’? We must stand strong against the enemies of Israel, and our G-d, L-rd of Hosts!’ (29) And David said: ‘What have I now done? Was it not but a word? You are not clever as I. For see now, there may be such commands. However, they devolve on the camps of Israel as a whole. But, now, see: as an individual man, I may heed not these commands. Rather, must I ensure mine own survival. For see, it is two laws that can be bifarcated: on the one hand, the law pertaining to the nation, which requires the nation to produce men who will fight for the land and G-d; on the other, the law pertaining to each individual man, that he not endanger his own life. Thus, as individual men, we may not confront this uncircumcised one.’ (30) And they turned away one from the other… (31) And when the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he was taken to him. (32) And David said to Saul: ‘All men’s hearts fail within them. In the ghetto my father taught that we run from danger, that is the path of the righteous. Therefore, I shall not fight for thee.’ (33) And Saul said to David: ‘But thou art able to go against this Philistine. Thou art powered by thy faith in G-d and thy justice and right! Besides, thou art a Shepard, have thou not fought wild animals to save thy flock?’ (34) And David said unto Saul: ‘’Tis true, thy servant is a Shepard; and when there came a lion, or a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock, (35) I allowed it, so as not to endanger thy servant or the rest of the flock; thy servant believed that if wild animal must come to take his share of the flock, then, if there be no resistance, he will leave after satiating himself. So must we act with the Philistine; if it be G-d’s will that Israel conquer the land, the L-rd of Hosts will lay it at my master’s feet without fight or battle or death or danger.’ (36) And Saul said unto David: ‘Wiser than all men art thou; call to the Israelites to retreat; he who does not shall surely die.’ (37) And David said unto Saul: ‘Who is wise like thee, o king?’ (38) And the children of Israel retreated that day, from between Socoh and Azeka, in Ephes-dannim. (39) But Eliab, eldest brother of David, said: ‘I shall not go! We must fight for our G-d and land!’ (40) And Eliab took his sling in his hand, and he drew near to the Philistine…(53) And Eliab said: ‘Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin; but I come to thee in the name of the L-rd of hosts, the G-d of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast taunted!’…(54) And Eliab ran (fearing not the loss of his balance) and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out…and slew him..(55) And the children of Israel returned, and smote Eliab until he died, for his brazenness towards King Saul and David.

Israeli polls

An investigation done by Israel channel 10 shows a bunch of serious indiscretions done by the polling companies. In some of the places, the pollsters filled out the question forms themselves when they felt they were not meeting their quota.

Another report shows that 75% of Israelis don't respond to pollsters at all.

So all you people who constantly assert that the vast majority of Israelis supported the expulsion of their brothers from Gush Katif based only on polls, you seem to not have a leg to stand on.

The question of Zionism

At the turn of the century, Herzl’s Zionist congress met for the first time. It represented something that few had expected at the time. Namely, a move by enlightened secular Jews to restore the national life of the Jewish people. Reactions in the religious world were mixed. They ranged from open hostility to the congress to enthusiastic support. The debate as to how to relate to secular political Zionism and the state that was later to be established is continuing to this day.

Today, those who enthusiastically supported political Zionism and the state are in a very tough position. It seems like the very state that religious Zionists bled for is dead set on destroying all which the religious Zionist community holds dear. Everything from the educational institutions to the actual physical communities the religious Zionist community has built is being threatened by the state. What I would like to do here is attempt to analyze what has happened. How did the cooperation of the past turn into open hostility and in the end, perhaps give a suggestion as to where to go from here.

What does the land mean to a religious Jew?

The land of Israel is not just a piece of real-estate. To a believing Jew, the land is the eternal gift of Hashem to the Jewish people. The health of the land is seen as indicative of the health of our relationship with HaKadosh Baruch Hu. When we are sinful, the land withholds its blessing. When we act righteously, the land responds in kind. But the land is more than a gauge of our compliance with Divine will. The land itself is an agent of our spiritual connection to Hashem. All the mitzvot were primarily designed to be performed in the land. More than half of the commandments of the Torah can only be fulfilled in the land and those which can be fulfilled anywhere are seen as being qualitatively better when performed in the land. The land represents our national mission – to infuse with holiness even the most mundane aspects of life. It is in this vain that the Chatam Sofer remarked that the very act of working the land in EY is a mitzvah. National presence in a land, however, can not exist in a vacuum. Institutions must be established which will allow society to function. An army must be established in order to defend the people and the land. An economic system must be created and regulated in order to ensure fairness and prosperity. In other words, a political state must be created in order to ensure and protect the nation’s religious mission of settling and land and serving Hashem through the land. The state, therefore, is also Holy. Not the same intrinsic holiness of the land but rather holy to the extent that it enables the Jewish people to accomplish its mission. The state, then, is holy to the extent that it defends the Jewish people from physical and spiritual harm.

What does the land mean to a secular Jew?

Secular Jews were in a difficult predicament at the turn of the century. The promise of the haskala movement to lead Jews towards acceptance by European society and subsequently towards equality and social justice seemed little more than a pipe dream. Anti-Semitism was on the rise and the enlightened social theories of the day seemed to offer little that would remedy the situation. Hertzl and those who followed him proposed to create a political reality for the Jewish people such that we would define our environment and social norms and thus we would be able to implement the teachings of the enlightened and modern world in a more perfect manner – without the old prejudices of the Europeans. The natural place to implement this experiment was in Eretz Yisrael, the historical land of the Jewish people. The land was not an ideal in its own right nor did it contain any religious meaning to these assimilated Jews. The value of the land was only so far as it provides the nation with physical security and independence thereby curing the social ills experienced in Europe. In other words, where for the religious Jew, the state is a response to the religious need to live in the land – for the secular Zionist, the land is simply a necessary component of creating a political state.

Cooperation or separation?

The rise of secular Zionism created a dilemma for religious Jews. The nature of the state proposed by the seculars was by no means the same as the one envisioned by religious Jews throughout the centuries. On the other hand, a state can be a tremendous force in helping create Jewish settlement in the land and can also be a source of physical protection and economic freedom for a people who sorely lacked such standard luxuries in other lands. Also, there was the fear among some that opposition to political Zionism in its secular form would be interpreted by many as opposition to the land itself. On the flip side of that coin, many feared that cooperation with the Zionists would be a secularizing influence on many people and would be interpreted as acceptance of a secular state as a religious ideal.

The Chareidi response

The chareidi world chose various degrees of separation. In large, it refused to cooperate directly with the seculars and any settlement activity was done separately from the official institutions of the Zionist movement. This has been both a blessing and a curse for the chareidi world. On the one hand, they have been protected ideologicaly from most of the negative influences of secular Zionist society. The lines between the pure and the impure are clearly drawn in the chareidi educational institutions. Chareidi children are not encumbered by having to integrate loyalty to the Torah on one hand and to a secular state (which is often hostile to Torah) on the other. However, the chareidi world has paid a tremendous hashkafic price. The ideal of settling the land of Israel - what was almost universally accepted in the religious world of the 19th century as a religious requirement and ideal – has been destroyed in large parts of chareidi society. The practical need to separate from secular institutions has become an ideal in and of itself. As a result of separation from the state came a separation from the land.

The Mizrachi response

The mizrachi world chose nearly unfettered cooperation with the secular Zionists. The mizrachi jumped at every opportunity to support almost all programs of political Zionism – even when these programs funded institutions dedicated to driving Jews away from traditional Judaism. Many of the great gedolim that supported the mizrachi were often ignored by grassroots mizrachists who refused to stunt their enthusiasm for the building of the new yeshuv. Slowly, the excitement over the political achievements of secular Zionism began to cause a merging of two sets of values in the mizrachi world. The distinction between the religious relationship with the land and the religious relationship with the governing body of the land began to get blurred. When the state was created, it was treated with the same reverence as the land itself. Serious moral and religious flaws were overlooked and those who challenged to the direction the state was taking were branded as semi-heretical. The state, since it enabled the settlement of the land – the building of Torah academies – and the physical defense of the Jewish people through the army and a vessel for the ingathering of the exiles, was seen as Holy and then seen as intrinsically holy. All this could be done because there was a tremendous common ground between the mizrachists and the secular Zionists. Both saw as an ideal the settlement of the land and the creation of a state. Which ideal was subservient to the other was a largely academic question. Sure there arose the occasional conflict between religion and state but usually a compromise was achieved. All was fine as long as there was no strain on the relationship between the land and the state.

The great split

What would happen however – if the ideal of settlement of the land and the ideal of a political state were to clash? For many years such a clash seemed impossible. The state supported almost all settlement activity – it bravely defended the Jewish people – and often stood up proudly to its enemies. However, the normalization of the Jewish people that was to have led to their acceptance by the nations never came. The world continued to view Israel as an anomaly and our enemies refused to acknowledge our legitimacy. The Zionist version of the haskalah's promise of acceptance went as unfulfilled as the promises of the haskala’s earlier versions. And so, while in the 19th century, Jews in desperate need of acceptance by gentile society assimilated on an individual level, secular Zionism started to assimilate on a national level. The state would submit itself to the most irrational international-political demands of the nations of the world. It would integrate the morality of the post-WWII world and become a beacon of the enlightened west. It would offer up its ideals of settlement and land on the altar of “peace” and economic prosperity. Any ideal that would be in opposition to these new ideals would be now branded as backwards and immoral. In other words, in order to normalize, the state would shun its former ideal of settlement and development of the land and adopt an ideal of economic materialism and hedonistic culture. This would be the new price that would be paid for acceptance by the nations. The settlement of the land thus became a hindrance to the secular and enlightened state.

Those left behind

The religious Zionist community was thus left to itself to bear the great ideal of the settlement and development of the land of Israel without the political power to fulfill it. It was also left behind with a loyalty to the institutions of the state that was quickly used against its interests. Great confusion ensued and still exists. Many continue to serve the state with a fascist like loyalty – even to the extent of serving in the very forces that expel their brothers and sisters from their homes. Others lose their faith and join the seculars while others still give up on their ideals of national life and join the chareidim. There are those of us, however, that refuse to give up on any of our ideals. We find ourselves in a situation where we still long for an ideal state that does not exist. We refuse to give up on the mitzvah of yeshuv haAretz and refuse to bow down to the secularizing forces of the state. It is not easy to be in this position, but I believe it is where we must be. So what are the answers? I believe that it is in the next generation – one which will not be burdened by misplaced sentimental emotions towards the state and which will raise the spiritual banner of the Jewish people up high. The future lies with Torah and those who adhere to its tenets. Everything else is like a passing shadow that can not last. May it be Hashem’s will that the spiritual revolution will happen quickly and painlessly in our days.

More Testimonies

Hear, O Israel reports:

Teenagers all over the country are trying to recover from the mostly unprovoked physical blows they suffered at Amona yesterday, and even more so from the emotional duress they are experiencing.

The banner draped from one of the Amona houses reads, "Every house that is destroyed is a victory for Hamas."

Yechiam Eyal, 15, of Psagot, was atop one of the houses slated for destruction, together with many others. When the police arrived - stepping off the shovel of a giant bulldozer that lifted them up and crossing over the barbed wire - the boys on the roof went to one side and sat down.

Yechiam Eyal began breathing on his own Thursday morning

At that point, says Yechiam's brother Yotam,
"the police just came over to them and started bashing. One policeman hit my brother three times on the arm, and apparently broke it. Afterwards they smashed him on the head, and that caused his condition to deteriorate. No policeman took the trouble to help him, and they kept on pushing him even after he was bleeding from the head. Once in the ambulance, they gave him something to put him out." Yechiam regained consciousness over the night, and has even begun to speak.

The ambulance driver, who came to visit Yechiam Thursday afternoon, said, "What really happened in the ambulance is that his condition deteriorated to the point that I had to perform resuscitation for a minute and a half."

"The police came with the purpose of killing," another brother, Amotz, concluded. A soldier in the Paratroopers Brigade, Amotz received permission not to take part in the Amona operation. "I give my all to this country, and then it comes and spits in my face," he said.

The Amona community leadership asks that everyone who was hit in the head by police clubs be checked medically. The request was issued after it was learned that some teenagers hit in the head yesterday discovered only today the symptoms of a concussion.

Avraham Fishman, a photographer from Kedumim, related the following story:
"I was sitting inside one of the houses, with some 40-50 others in the living room - yes, it was very crowded, and there were many more in the other rooms - and our plan was that when the police would come in, we would sit in a line and be dragged out... I was photographing, and my video shows that when the police came in, they did not allow us this option; they said quite clearly, 'Either you leave on your own or we beat you' - and they did ...

"One policeman is seen hitting someone over and over and over, and I was hit by three policeman. You can see clearly in the pictures how everyone is sitting; no one cursed them or anything."

Rivka K., 14, of the Ulpanah in Ofrah:
"We were a bunch of girls standing around the 6th house, trying to be a passive force against the police entry into the house. With no warning, the police just rushed us, crushed us, hit us with their clubs... Many of the girls fell down, and then I found myself on the floor, alone, and then two policemen started dragging me away on the rocky ground, and at the same time another one was hitting me, and mocking me: 'Go home, little girl.' Then he stopped, and another one started hitting me. They dragged me to a pole, and continued to mock me. Then they left me...

"As I looked around to join my friends, I kept seeing more and more people getting beaten up, and I kept on crying again and again."

Rivka was speaking this morning from the site of the destroyed homes in Amona, where she and several dozen others had arrived to clean up the garbage and rubble left behind. She said that some people had already begun "rebuilding" one of the ruins out of doors and bricks.

Shlomit T., 13, Beit El:
"I was standing with other girls, forming a line around one of the houses. Our goal was to prevent the police from coming in to the building, using passive resistance. We knew, for reasons of modesty and the like, that we would try just to talk with the police when they came, and certainly not to fight. We were standing with our arms locked together when the police came rushing down on us and didn't even give us a chance. They started right away with the clubs, one policeman hit me in the leg, then he pulled me and I said, 'Stop, I can go by myself,' and he threw me down on the ground and then hit me with his club on my face, right near my eye. I was dizzy for a couple of seconds, and then I got up and was able to get away... My face was swollen for a while, but I had an x-ray and I'm much better now."

Elazar K., 19, a student in Yeshivat Beit Orot:
"We were outside the houses, planning to stand in a line and show passive resistance. We were standing near the two big barriers of bricks and burning tires. Then the policemen came, and started advancing towards us, with their horses, like a big powerful wave. On the level above us we could see horses scattering the girls...

"They first came to us and merely touched us, then they went back - without talking to us at all - and then they came again, but this time charging towards us with full force, hitting us also with their clubs. I fell down from the force of a blow, and somehow made my way backwards - and then I felt my head and realized that I was full of blood. I made my way to the medics on the side, where they gave me initial treatment, and then to another station where army medics were treating us. Some of us refused treatment from the army medics, saying, 'First you smash us and then you treat us?' I was in no position to do this, but I showed them the irony of the situation...

"In the ambulance with me was someone who had been expelled from Gush Katif, and the medics said he had a broken jaw. Speaking with difficulty, he said that some [special police unit] Yassamnikim had set upon him, even though he wasn't really doing anything, and threw him to the ground and laid into him with blows. Luckily for me, the Yassamnikim didn't attack me; it was only the police...

"Once in the hospital, I saw about 30 of 'our' guys come in with bad injuries, in the head, ribs, neck and the like - and only one injured policeman brought in."

Elazar A., from Carmel in the South Hevron Hills region, was also standing between the two lines of bricks and burning tires when he was attacked. He told his story shortly after getting his broken finger set:
"We were set upon with policemen swinging their clubs. I received many blows to my arms and legs, and one extra sharp one that broke my finger. But then, I got an even bigger one on my head, causing a wound that ended up having to be double-glued... I fell down, and over my body, they kept on hitting other people. Finally someone got me out of there, and later I was taken out on a stretcher...

"Once in the hospital, I was sitting there with four others who had been hurt, and there was one Border Guard policeman who was also hurt. When he saw us, he started yelling at us and getting up to throw something at us, until he was restrained by some people there."

Naamah G., 15, Beit El:
"I was on the roof of the fifth house, and the police came from behind, where we did not expect them. One of the policemen just came over to me, grabbed my ponytail and began twirling me around by my hair. Then he gave me a slap and a few others also hit me very hard, and I ran towards my friends. Then they started dragging us, with one of them choking me very painfully by sticking his finger under my chin..."

Eitan Says:
I would have loved to be in Amona yesterday but being married and with my parents both struggling healthwise, I made the painful decision not to go. The Israeli Defense Forces, the first real Jewish army since the defeat of the Bar-Kochba Rebellion, has turned into the I.K.B., the "Israeli Kid-Beaters." At this point I've stopped my inquiries into how I can volunteer for the army and from now on I will look upon soldiers not as heros but as criminals not much better than Arab terrorists.

I'm sick to my stomach of Israeli Left wingers pointing their fingers at the so called "settlers" and saying "they killed Rabin" and the like-things I've heard more than once here. The bottom line is there will be a civil war here and as far as I'm concerned the sooner the better. I can honestly say I hate; hate with a passion the masses of Arab-loving, Jew-hating left wing defeatists. I can honestly say that I'm looking for a chance to seriously hurt anyone left of the Avoda.

In my humble opinions, the Left represents a far greater danger to the survival of the State of Israel than does any Islamic terrorist faction or, for that matter, Iran. Ehud Olmert is nothing short of a criminal who should be put on trial for not living up to his pledge to defend Israel and act in its best interests: that he obviously hasn't done and doesn't have the balls to do. So are all Left wing Knesset members.

Forget the Arabs. Most simply watched on in glee while the Amona massacre unfolded. I don't hate Arabs. There are plenty of good folks amongst them. I do hate radical Left wingers. There's not a single good human being amongst the Jewish Sixth Column!!!

Which is the violent side? Part III

From Akiva:

Moshe's son is from America. A family who's returning, and has returned farther than many born into it, he's learning in yeshiva in Israel. He called his father, "The land is in trouble, can I stand for Israel?" His father answered from New York, "If I was there, we'd go together." The yeshiva called to verify, permission given? Yes.

He made it with classmates to Amona, together they entered the last of the 9 Jewish homes to be destroyed. They blocked the door and sat, laying their bodies on the line for Eretz HaKodesh, the Holy Land.

The black clad policemen came, shouting voices and faces twisted in anger and hatred. They did not come to remove those defending the land, they came to break them. They smashed through the door and broke through the windows. They waded in to the seated defenders, boys of 14 through 18, billy clubs swinging. "Achim! (Brothers!)", the boys called, "stand fast!" as boy after boy was smashed on the head, blood splattering everywhere.

After so many heads that his hand was drenched in sweat, the club slipped away from the officer before Moshe's son was hit. Moshe's son saw and dove for it, fearing not the risk of being shot to prevent another boy being struck. The policeman saw him and dove as well, coming up with the club first. Standing two feet away, Moshe's son stood fast, ready to be struck. Staring in to, in his own words, "a look of hatred such as I have never seen", the officer grabbed him and threw him out the window!

Amazingly, in a miracle, he landed stunned but unhurt. He came away whole, but more than just whole. "Achim! Brothers!" he repeats, "now, now we are brothers!" He has risked his life for the Holy Land, and stood with his people. He's no longer the boy he was yesterday.

Also B"H, the prognosis for Yechiam ben Rachel is now good. Here is a picture of what the police did to him:

Graphic video of police brutality

From JoeSettler:

Video of police brutally beating clearly non-violent settler youths sitting in a room.

Warning it is graphically violent.

If you need anything more to convince you that something is very wrong with the Government of the State of Israel and its representatives, then you are hopeless.

As you can see, the kids sitting non-violently in the room were a real threat to the yassamnic with the metal club.

Which is the violent side? Part II

The following quote from an emergency room doctor at Hadassah hospital summed it up:

"I have worked for over 20 years in the emergency room, and have never seen anything like this in my life. Terrorists from Shechem are brought in here with less trauma than what I saw today. I saw teenagers, between 14-15 years old, brought in with serious trauma, and its a miracle none of the people I treated were hurt even worse."

You should really read Jameel's words on this, he is much close to it right now and can shed much more light than myself.

Which is the violent side?

Here is what one normal and honest lefty (aka Roni Daniel of Channel 2) had to say about what happened today in Amona:

"The police are violently hitting the settlers, with extreme brutality. The blows are totally unnecessary, and they are striking them just to blow off steam. There is no reason for it at all; its superfluous. The police's activity on the rooftops needs to be examined. All the violence here is needless."

Hattip: Jameel

Please Daven

Please Daven for Yechiam ben Rachel. Yechiam suffered a very serious skull fracture after being beaten repeatedly in the head in Amona. He is unconscious and is listed in serious condition. May he have a speedy recovery.

The Israeli Gestapo

Over 200 injured in the Pogrom the Israeli authorities perpetrated today. 2 members of parliament have broken bones and a teenager was shot in the face with a rubber bullet. Teenage girls were beaten unconscious and horses and metal clubs were used without mercy. One girl recounts:

"We were outside the 5th house, with the goal of forming a line to stop the police from climbing into the windows. We had planned in advance, because of modesty and the like, that when the police would tell us to go, we would go right away. But they didn't let us. They just set upon us - all of them: Yasamnikim, Border Guard, soldiers, everyone - and didn't give us a chance. I screamed, 'I'm going by myself!' but they didn't care; I heard them saying, 'Smack them! Get them!' They hit me with a club on my leg, and then they pushed me to the ground and smashed me with clubs twice more - once on my face, right near my eye. Miraculously, he didn't hit me on the skull; I saw others right near me bleeding from their heads, unconscious - it was just terrible... It was just by miracle that nothing worse happened to me."

These policemen are evil! They should be punished. I do not believe that the secular Jews have perpetuated such crimes since the Altalena. May we see justice quickly in our days. One protester gave the following analysis about the future which I believe is correct:

"The only reason why all this violence is happening is because Olmert wanted blood - and so he received it. But the truth is, it doesn't matter; we have patience. Because I'm sitting here nursing my three-week-old baby, next to my other children here in the park in Ofrah, and we'll have other children with G-d's help - not like Olmert, whose daughter has left the country - and soon in 20 or 30 years, we will be in charge - and then we will have a country based on fear of G-d, and pleasantness, and mutual respect."