New Biography of Rav Kahane

Here are some excerpts from the back cover of Libby Kahane's wonderful new 761 page biography of Rav Meir Kahane zt"l hy"d, Rabbi Meir Kahane - His Life and Thought, Volume One: 1932-1975:

"When the chips are down. you know who's going to fight for the Jew? Only the Jew. And it's about time we understood this." (1971)

"Jewish survival and redemption are proof eternal and ultimate that the world is not governed by logic, by sanity or by man. It is controlled and decreed by God." (1975)

"...The Jew who makes his body bend to his will is a man who has no chains on his arms. The Jew who hears the cry of fellow Jews and casts off from himself the vanities and nonsense of money and sterile status ... and leaps into the waters of duty - this is a man who has come out of Egypt." (1975)

R' Moshe Shternbach: The majority of gedolim supported the creation of a Jewish state

R’ Moshe Shternbach, one of the leading rabbis of the extremely anti-Zionist edah haHereidit in EY, actually admits in one of his books that the majority of Gedolei Israel supported the idea of a Jewish state even before the state was created. Yes, another instance of Chareidi historical revisionism is contradicted by their own internal sources (תשובות והנהגות ח"ב סי' ק"מ):

"... ולכן טען אז ואמר (הגרי"ז זצ"ל מבריסק) הרי בכנסיה התאספו רוב גדולי הדור, והקב"ה נוטה בתר רוב, והרי הסכימו על עצם מדינה, רק חלקו אם מותר לוותר על חלקי ארץ-ישראל, ואמר אז (בשנת תרצ"ו) חוששני שיתקיים שהרי אינו קשר רשעים והם מן המנין"

"And thus he (the Brisker Rav – haGriz) said, in the convention met most of the gedolim of the generation, and Hashem tends to go after the majority, and they all agreed regarding a state in essence, they only disagreed whether it is allowed to give up parts of the land of Israel. And then he said (in 1936) ‘I fear that [the state] will be established since it was not a convention of the wicked and they are counted as part of the congregation."

Did Ben Gurion want a Jewish state?

Ben-Bayit has an important post which I will reproduce with some translation:

Amnon Lord in a recent column claims the answer is NO. In a wide-ranging discussion of the recent "revelations" that Teddy Kollek served as a British "informer" prior to 1948, Lord comes to the conclusion that what drove the Mapai during the 1940's was enabling absolute political hegemony over the "Yishuv" and in order to do that they cooperated with the British in 2 crucial areas: 1) keeping the local Jewish population quiet insofar as to what was happening to Jews in Europe. and 2) cooperating in uprooting the Jewish underground groups such as the Irgun and the Lehi.

According to Lord, the Mapai's purpose in all of this was to maintain political control - not necessarily to advance the cause of an independent Jewish state. For that matter he claims that Mapai was perfectly happy remaining in political control as a British vassal - as long as they had political control.

ב-1945, נוכח המאבק המתפתח בין בריטניה לבין המעצמות העולות - ברית המועצות וארצות הברית - על ארץ ישראל והמזרח התיכון, היה האינסטינקט הפחדני של הנהגת הסוכנות, קרי בן-גוריון ושרת, לקבל חסות ופרוטקשן מהשלטון הבריטי הקיים. מפא"י בכלל לא חתרה להקמת מדינה יהודית, אלא עודדה את הבריטים להישאר; המדינה היהודית הוקמה כמדינת אין-ברירה כאשר היה ברור שהבריטים זונחים את בן-גוריון וחבריו ומפקירים אותם לגורלם, אולי בציפייה שאלה יזעיקו אותם חזרה כדי להינצל משחיטה.

In 1945, in light of the conflict which was forming between Britain and the rising superpowers, the USSR and the USA, it was the cowardly instinct of the Agency leadership, that is Ben Gurion and Sharet, to receive protection from the British regime. Mapai made no efforts to establish a Jewish state, rather it encouraged the British to stay; the Jewish state was created as a "no-other-choice" state when it became clear that the British are abandoning Ben-Gurion and his friends and are leaving them to their own fate, perhaps with the hopes that this group [Ben Gurion] will call [the British] back in order to same themselves from [Arab] slaughter.

מבחינה מדינית, התנהגות כמו ההלשנה של טדי קולק יכולה לקבל צידוק רק אם האוריינטציה החד-צדדית לכיוון בריטניה מוכיחה את עצמה. אלא שהנהגת היישוב לא קיבלה שום דבר בתמורה לשיתוף הפעולה שלה במשך שנות המלחמה. עד 1942 ניתן היה להעלות ארצה אלפי יהודים כדי להצילם מידי הגרמנים, אך הבריטים לא אפשרו זאת, והנהגת הישוב המפא"יניקית לא לחצה עליהם ואפילו סייעה לעצור ספינות עולים. אותה אוריינטציה בריטית לא הניבה שום פרי גם אחרי המלחמה, באותה תקופה גורלית שבין מלחמת העולם למלחמת העצמאות. בניגוד למיתוס האקדמי התעמולתי הנפוץ היום, כאילו "העולם" שהרגיש אשם בגלל השואה הקים את המדינה היהודית, הבריטים, שהיו חלק קובע ב"עולם" הזה, בלמו עלייה לארץ והתנגדו נחרצות להקמת המדינה. הם גם עודדו את הערבים לתקוף את מדינת ישראל לאחר הכרזת העצמאות. לא ברור אם כך איזו תועלת לאומית ומדינית יכלה לצמוח ממדיניות הסזון. נראה שבאותה תקופה פוסט-מלחמתית שיתוף הפעולה של תחילת שנות ה-40 כבר הפך לעסק מושחת, לסימביוזה שארוחה אנינה של צדפות, רוסט-ביף ויין טוב, כפי שמופיע בדיווח על הפגישות בין קולק למפעיליו, מסמלת את מהותה.

From a political perspective, behavior such as the informing on Jews by Teddy Kollek can only receive legitimacy if the one-sided orientation towards Britain proves itself. Unfortunately, the leadership of the settlement receive nothing in return for their cooperation during the years of the war. Until 1942 it was possible to bring to Eretz Yisrael thousands of Jews in order to save them from the Germans, but the British did not allow this, and the Mapai leadership of the settlement did not pressure them and even aided them in capturing [illegal] immigrant ships. The same pro-British orientation did not give any fruit even after the war - during that fateful period between the world war and the war of independence. in contrast to the propagandistic academic mythology which is so popular today, as if the "world" which felt guilty because of the Holocaust established the Jewish state, the British, who were key players in this "world" obstructed immigration of Jews and firmly opposed a Jewish state. They also encouraged the Arabs to attack the state of Israel after the declaration of independence. It is thus unclear what kind of political or national benefit could have arisen out of the policy of informing on Jews [the "season"]. It seems that in that same post-war period, the cooperation of the early 40s had been transformed into a corrupt enterprise. [It transformed] into a symbiosis whose essence is captured by refined clam dinners, roast beef and good wine (as meetings between Kolek and his operators are described).

It is worth noting that not only was Kollek involved in informing on underground fighters, but he was also the one, as Lord points out, who handed over Joel Brand to the British - thus preventing his attempt at rescuing Hungarian Jewry.

באוטוביוגרפיה של שמואל תמיר, שיצאה שנים לאחר מותו, יש תיאור מפורט של "קליטתו" של יואל ברנד בקושטא על ידי אהוד אבריאל וטדי קולק. מי שקורא את הקטעים האלה לא יכול שלא להגיע למסקנה שמעצרו של ברנד על ידי הבריטים באחת מתחנות הרכבת בוצע בעזרתם הפעילה של קולק ואבריאל, כלומר שהם תפקדו כסוכנים בריטים. הסגרתו של יואל ברנד, שבא להציע לבריטים את העסקה של אייכמן להצלת יהודי הונגריה, נועדה קודם כל למנוע ממנו לקומם את דעת הקהל בארץ ובעולם היהודי. אפשר להתווכח אם היו סיכויים כלשהם לביצוע עסקת ה"משאיות תמורת דם"; אבל ודאי שניתן היה, בעזרת יואל ברנד, לבצע הרעשת עולמות על טבח יהודי הונגריה. זה בדיוק מה שהנהגת היישוב פחדה ממנו לאורך כל תקופת השואה, שמא דעת הקהל היהודית בארץ תצא משליטה.

In Shmuel Tamir's autobiography, which was published years after his death, there is a detailed description of Joel Brand's "absorption" in Istanbul by Ehud Avriel and Teddy Kolek. Whoever reads these sections can not help but arrive at the conclusion that Brand's arrest by the British in one of the train stations was achieved through the active aide of Kolek and Avriel, that is, that they acted as British agents. The handing over of Joel Brand, who came to offer the British Eichman's deal for the rescue of Hungarian Jewry, was intended primarily to keep him from stirring public opinion in Eretz Yisrael and in the Jewish world. One can argue whether there was any chance of success for the "trucks for blood" deal; But it is certain that it was possible, with the help of Joel Brand, to create a world-wide shakeup regarding the slaughter of Hungarian Jewry. This is precisely what the leadership of the Yeshuv feared throughout the entire Holocaust, lest the Jewish public opinion in Eretz Yisrael will move beyond its control.

So on this Holocaust Memorial Day and Independence Day period all I could think about was two things: 1) How the leaders of the Zionists (and later the State) will often do anything to maintain political power - and thus can't be trusted with our welfare and 2) How miraculous it is that the Jews have a state despite of all this.
Chag Sameach!!!

Gedolim Stories in Israeli Supreme Court decisions

Sometimes you find gedolim stories in the most unlikely places. For example, someone who is researching the history of the Israeli draft exemption for religious women (and the exemption from Sherut Leumi as well) will eventually come across an Israeli supreme court decision (בג"צ 456/71 שרה ברזני נ' שר הבטחון ואח', פ"ד כו 2, 543.).

In this decision, the halachic opinion of Rav Zvi Pesach Frank Zt"l is brought as evidence of the strength of religious opposition to the drafting of women. Now, the court has to show that Rav Frank's opposition is not motivated by a basic ideological opposition to the state so it lists some biographical facts to establish Rav Frank as a moderate religious leader. Among these facts, I found the following:

בדירתו שהיתה מקודם בעיר העתיקה ואחר-כך ברחוב מלאכי בירושלים היה מחסן נשק של ההגנה, הטלפון שלו עמד לרשות ההגנה, במרתף ביתו ברחוב מלאכי היה בית- חרושת לפצצות של ההגנה ושם ערכו גם אימונים. לא נמנע מלשתף פעולה עם ההגנה בשל משרתו הציבורית בתקופת המנדט, וכן לא נמנע מהשתתפות בפעולות אחרות להקמת המדינה.

In his apartment which used to be in the old city and later on Malachi Street in Jerusalem there was storage room for the Hagana's weapons. [In his apartment,] the phone was also made available for the Hagana. In his basement of his house on Malachi Street there was a bomb factory for the Hagana and they used to hold training sessions there. He did not stop cooperating with the Hagana even during his public role [as chief rabbi of Jerusalem who was paid by the British -ed.] during the mandate period and also did not refrain from cooperating with other activities towards the establishment of the state.

Somehow, I don't think that this will make it into the Artscroll biography.

The dilemma of the anti-Zionist

The recent visit of the Neturei Karta to Iran and the swaths of condemnations by Hareidi publications of this act illustrate to me the impossible situation the mainstream Hareidim have arrived at.

If they root for the Arabs, Jews die.
If they root for the Jews, they are basically rooting for the success of the state which they despise so much since the state is doing most of the fighting.

So what do they do? I would assume that most are davening for some sort of open miracle that would somehow quietly and peacefully dissolve the state. However, any ideology that relies on Nisim Geluim leKatchila is an impoverished one which has no real plan for the future and nothing more to offer than depressing passivity.

Oh well, what am I complaining about? Every community has their problems - its just that this ones looks like a really big one to me.

ADL - Anti (self-)Defense League

ADL Slams MK Effie Eitam's Statements on Transfer of Arabs
12:33 Sep 12, '06 / 19 Elul 5766

(IsraelNN.com) The US-based Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has issued a condemnation of Knesset Member Effie Eitam (National Union-NRP) following Eitam’s call for the transfer of Arabs from Judea and Samaria and removal of Israeli-Arab Knesset members.

“Such inflammatory statements are irresponsible and display an ugly and abhorrent bigotry against other peoples and leads to incitement,” the ADL statement said. “Calls by public figures to ban minorities and expel them from their homes are abhorrent. These are irresponsible statements advocating collective measures that the ADL totally rejects.”

“Eitam’s remarks do nothing to further Israel’s quest to live peacefully among its neighbors and are an insult to its loyal Arab Israeli citizens,” the statement, issued by the group’s Israel office, concluded. “ADL rejects the notion of transfer of any people from their homes and homeland.”

The ADL was a vocal supporter of Ariel Sharon’s Disengagement Plan, which called for the forced expulsion of nearly 10,000 Jews from their homes in Gaza and northern Samaria.

I would be disappointed if I actually expected something from this band of hypocrites. Of course they are wrong - there is nothing morally wrong with the population transfer of a hostile population. There IS something wrong with leaving such a population in place and endangering the well-being of your own population. In truth, they understand this since they supported the expulsion of Jews when they felt it would better Israel's situation. Now, why all of a sudden does population transfer become a global moral standard? Hypocrites! When will they stop bowing at the alter of western civilization? Democracy is a practical tool, not an independent global value.

I am all for democracy (since it works well most of the time) but when the values of democracy endanger the well-being of 5 million Jews, they have to be compromised - period.

Bitter defeat

So, it looks like the evil imps that run the Israeli government are planning to surrender to the enemy monster and therefore declare that Jewish blood is worthless and that all those soldiers died for nothing.

The only question is what change in attitude can all of us implement so that the deaths of those holy martyrs will not have been in vain. The only think I can think of is the words of the Navi (זכריה ד:ו):

וַיַּעַן וַיֹּאמֶר אֵלַי, לֵאמֹר, זֶה דְּבַר-יְהוָה, אֶל-זְרֻבָּבֶל לֵאמֹר: לֹא בְחַיִל, וְלֹא בְכֹחַ--כִּי אִם-בְּרוּחִי, אָמַר יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת

Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying: 'This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying: Not by might, nor by power, but by My spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

The Mahral in his introduction to Netzach Yisrael explains that the term כִּי אִם in the tanach is never used to completely reject one idea in favor of another - rather it is always used to create a primary secondary relationship between the phrase that is before and that which is after.

In other words, the Navi is telling us that military power in and of itself is useless when the spirit of Hashem is missing. This is so clear in the pathetic leadership we have today. They have all the weaponry in the world but lack the spiritual strength to use it less they offend the perverted moral sensibilities of the nations of the world. Thus they waste Jewish lives accomplishing NOTHING and put millions of Jews in extreme danger out of their spiritual weakness and fear of the nations.

Every Jew to whom the nation of Israel and their mission is important should know: we will not have any peace until those who carry the spirit of the LORD take the reigns of leadership. As long as the power is in the hands of those who reject all that is holy and good, we are insuring the continuing suffering of the entire world. Forget the machloket. Forget reishit tzmichat geulateinu or not. Forget all the excuses. We are talking about pikuach nefesh of the most direct kind. If all of us who hold the Torah as our banner do not stand up and take control, we will ensure the continuing pointless death of precious Jews. If we do not take control, we will not be able to declare: "Our hands did not spill this blood"

So the next question is: What can a simple Jew such as myself do? I really don't know the full answer, but if all of us demand that our leaders and rabbanim drop everything that divides them and come to some agreement so that we can all be united as one political block. We must DEMAND unity! If 100 years ago, the litvaks, chassidim, and yekkes managed to get together and form agudat Yisrael as an umbrella organization to represent them all, why in the worlds can we not do the same today??? We must stop seeing ourselves as satellites and shtadlanim in the political process in Israel - We ARE THE NATION! The Torah is our banner and anyone who does not rally around their banner and their flag will always be stepped upon.

I pray that someone out there, just one person will read these words and do something - anything to increase Torah unity in this world. If even one person does - Zeh Yiyeh Sechari.

May the souls of the fallen soldiers shake the heavens and demand our speedy redemption. May their memories be a blessing.

The hisotory of Jewish political messianism

Many chareidim claim that the view of the religious Zionists that the mitzva of yeshuv haAretz is a catalyst for redemption is a modern religious innovation. Arie Morgenstern, in his article Dispersion and the Longing for Zion, 1240-1840 shows that such a view is a-historical at best and revisionist at worst. It is worth while to read the entire article. Keep in mind that the article does not give an overview of those rabbis in history that opposed the messianic ferment and its expression into mass aliya, if you are interested in reviewing the history of such opposition, I highly recommend Avi Ravitzki's essay The Impact of the Three Oaths in Jewish History Published in the back of his book on modern Jewish Messianism, הקץ המגולה ומדינת היהודים: משיחיות ורדיקליזם דתי בישראל which has been translated into English as Messianism, Zionism, and Jewish Religious Radicalism.

Here is an excerpt from Morgenstern's article:

"Indeed, from the time of the Crusades until the nineteenth century, Jewish life was infused with a sense of messianic anticipation, which found expression, among other things, in aliya. This messianic anticipation was focused on specific dates, which were endowed with mystical significance. Starting with the year 5000 on the Jewish calendar (1240 c.e.), the beginning of each new century signaled for many the possibility of redemption, leading large groups of Jews to make the journey to Palestine as a necessary step in bringing it about. Some of these aliyot were unknown to us until recently; in other cases, recent research has added substantial detail to the historical record. The picture which emerges is one of a clear, recurrent trend of immigration to the land of Israel, which was by no means limited to the “lower” elements of society but took with it Jews from all walks of life. Indeed, in many cases, some of the outstanding Jewish figures of their day led the way. Although the number of Jews who succeeded in making the voyage and settling in Palestine never constituted more than a small portion of world Jewry, these messianic aliyot were of enduring significance, partly because of the renown of those who took part, partly because of their regular appearance over the centuries, and partly because of the variety of diaspora communities which participated. The messianic impulse which spawned these waves of immigration, and the belief in the centrality of the land of Israel upon which they depended, were in no way marginal to the Jewish tradition, but in fact became an axis of Jewish spiritual life. Indeed, the story of aliya from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries illustrates the depth and force of the Jewish people’s connection to its ancestral homeland, a connection that was carried into the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries, when modern Zionism found a new way of giving it voice."

Sometimes a poem can say more than an entire post

I am not going to even try and translate this. The beauty will be lost in the translation:

צִיּוֹן תַּמָּתִי, צִיּוֹן חֶמְדָּתִי
לָךְ נַפְשִׁי מֵרָחוֹק הוֹמִיָּה.
תִּשְׁכַּח יְמִינִי אִם אֶשְׁכָּחַךְ, יָפָתִי,
עַד תֶּאְטַר בּוֹר קִבְרִי עֲלֵי פִּיהָ.