Jews Against Secular Jewish Nationalism

Not just the Modern (aka Sometimes) Orthodox but also many Litvacks have lamented the extremism that has set upon the Orthodox world over recent decades. How did parnassah become osur is one common question. The nearly completely uniform dress code for men is another. The tendency towards chumros that are not in accordance with the halacha of one's father or grandfather is another issue. Many have posed the theories -- a pulling back from the immorality of the larger world, a single-minded rebuilding after the Holocaust, a focus on mitzvos of the limbs at the expense of duties of the heart as influenced by the world's materialism. All good theories. But I have another, one that I have never heard proposed before, and that is Zionism both the influence of it and a response to it. Culturally, Orthodox Judaism has been based for the last half century in New York and Israel but increasingly in Israel. And Israel, contrary to the impression one may get in America when the great majo...

Before coming to Israel I never described myself as Charedi. I didn't even understand the need for the term. What happened to Yeshivish and Chasidish? I sensed that the term was an Israeli import and I sometimes judged it unfairly as a self-indulgent attempt to create a new extremism that departed from tradition. But so it goes, one should never judge another until he stands in his place. After a few months in Israel, I could see the need for the term as a way of separating Yeshivish and Chasidish people from the Dati Looney. In America, the Modern Orthodox are insecure around the Yeshivish and Chasidish groups and often try to imitate them and win their approval. In Israel, the MO or DL are emboldened by their association with the military and the state and by their living in the land, which is the highest value on their menu. (Irr)-Religious Zionism in America is problematic by definition for why are you living in America if you believe in your claim that dwelling in the land is ...

R. Zera was evading Rab Judah because he desired to go up to the Land of Israel while Rab Judah had expressed [the following view:] Whoever goes up from Babylon to the Land of Israel transgresses a positive commandment, for it is said in Scripture, (Kesubos 110b) They shall be carried to Babylon, and there shall they be, until the day that I remember them, saith the Lord.  And R. Zera?  — That text refers to the vessels of ministry.  And Rab Judah? — Another text also is available:  I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, by the gazelles, and by the hinds of the field, [that ye awaken not, nor stir up love,  until it please]'.  And R. Zera? — That  implies that Israel shall not go up [all together as if surrounded] by a wall.  And Rab Judah? — Another 'I adjure you'  is written in Scripture. And R. Zera? — That text is required for [an exposition] like that of R. Jose son of R. Hanina who said: 'What was the purpose of those three adjurations...

I have been catching myself. I caught a friend, a good Yeshiva man, a rabbi, the other day too. As if hitting us with a bombshell, he told a bunch of us at the table, "Do you know who is dollar for dollar the biggest supporter of Torah education in history? The government of Israel, that's who." I corrected him, cognizant that he's been as brainwashed as any of us. The brainwashing is to give the State of Israel credit for Hashem's work. The "Religious" Zionists have trained us for years in this way. I asked this rabbi if the government of Israel desires to support Torah education or if it needed the Charedi vote. He admitted the latter was the case and then proceeded on a much appreciated discussion of how intent is everything in determining whether what gets credit in such matters. Because his basic attitudes are correct Torah ones, he was able to catch himself and not let Religious Zionist sound bites take root in his soul. But there's something e...

"All predatory systems of power seek to mask their ultimate aims. As they become more repressive, they become more deceptive. They silence dissidents and bombard the airwaves with lies. Those who effectively resist have to peel back the layers of deceit to understand the intentions of the elites." Chris Hedges In the middle of the last century an assortment of pseudo-intellectuals in the form of the idle rich, the beatniks, and the hippies imported Eastern religions into the Western world. They didn't bring in these religions in their entirety, rather they plucked out the philosophy and left behind the idolatry that would not have been palatable to Western Judeo-Christian audiences. The idolatry is the main part, the philosophies being thin and quickly consumed. Nevertheless, the Eastern religion importers, in the spirit of Hollywood producers, did their best to make the philosophies seem as substantive and glamorous as possible, sometimes getting rich in the process. In ...

The topic is complex. Charedi culture is so different than that of the IDF. I was in a Charedi community this Shabbos and felt like I was on Mars. It's another world. I could deal with the IDF - except for all the shouting and bullying and abuse that leads to 22 suicides a year. But that's another matter that needs fixing. But I could deal with the fatigues and the push ups and the mixing of men and women and all that stuff. For these people, Chassidic youth you' confuse them so much. You'd destroy them. And they are not needed. We haven't had a war in 40 years! You don't need to conscript the entire country to fight a few terrorists. We have a few dozen incidents a year. This isn't just a matter of hypocrisy or laziness or whatever other insults you can concoct. It's a complex situation. If all you can come up with is rage and superciliousness then you aren't using your brain.

I just returned from a Yom HaZicharon presentation with my Ulpan class. It was my first and I went with an open mind as I hadn't had breakfast or lunch and lacked the strength to project my own perspective onto it unless really provoked. Warning, these are not the kind of reflections you may be expecting. A number of things struck me during the 45 minute ceremony which was held at a national religious school and conducted mostly by school boys. The first was how all the gestures seemed borrowed from somewhere else. The plethora of flags, the marching, the solder with the torch, the national anthem. It was all European/American military except for the national anthem not mentioning God. There was even an American military band marching song which very well could have been written by John Phillip Sousa. The second thing was how little of it was religious considering that the school was National Religious and this was an event to commemorate the dead. We Jews are specialists in commem...

Daniel's Father:   What about Polard ? Daniel:   Polard is the same story.  Polard and Shalit both belonged   to a society of lies, illusions. They gave themselves for an   illusion, not with bad intentions, but believing in an   Idealism that doesn't have anything to do with truth.   When a Jew goes far from his G-d then he becomes   automatically a prisoner of the lies. Both Polard and Shalit   and all Jewish captives are victims ("Korban").   For if every Jew will come close to Hashem, keeping   (Shabbos), Mitzvos, learning Torah, being kind to each   other, not speaking "Leshon Ara" (Gossip) keeping   "Zniuth" keeping the laws of modesty , then every captive   Jew will be free. Website "But what I can tell you is that the Zionists murdered the Jewish nation. They took Torah-observant Jews and cut off their peyos, stole their children, took away the Shabbat from them and left them with nothing. The Zionists left th...

Racquel RS speaks out on Mayim Bialik's FB post supporting ORA: "ORA sadly may be good intentioned, but does not research the whole story when they push their advocacy. I personally know of two men targeted by ORA. One never denied a get to begin with, and was needlessly smeared and defamed, even though it was his ex wife who was dragging the divorce on and on through civil court and went beit din shopping. The other man was alienated from his children. He eventually gave a get and still has not seen his children a year later. His ex wife has cruelly banned him from the kids, and ORA does not care, does not get involved, and removed the one leverage he might have had to have any contact whatsoever from the children he is now completely banned from and locked out of the lives of. That's ORA. I am a liberal female, and I do not support such an organization." There's much more we can say about ORA which is a terrible, horrible organization that deems itself wonderful...

I didn't know what to expect for Independence day in Israel but the build up indicated that it would be big indeed. By build up I refer to the hanging of flags. In my neighborhood they were everywhere. On cars, on balconies, between balconies, over the street, on synagogues. I figured, these people are patriotic. Independence day is going to be a whopper. So came the day, and guess what, nothing. I spotted a few barbecues in the park. Oh, and there was a flyover by American-made jets with Israeli pilots. It took 20 seconds. That was Independence day. Empty. And the reason for that is that Zionism is empty. As for "Religious" Zionism it's the same as any Zionism -- a man made movement about the power of man. And that by definition is empty for man is nothing without G-d. Actually man is worse than nothing without G-d for man is a major pain in the neck without G-d. The ubiquitous flags that are so important to the Dati Loonies, particularly the American Dati Loonies, a...

Israel should be one nation, an entire nation that should have no other foundation for its existence, survival, activity and significance other than this Torah. It is to see the realization and devoted observance of this God-given "fiery Law" as its one contribution in world history for the edifice of human salvation. What the Phoenicians sought to bring about with the keels of their ships, what the ancient Greeks sought to achieve with their chisels and what the ancient Romans sought to attain with their swords, Israel is to accomplish with its Torah. Nay more, Israel is a nation that became a nation only through and for the Torah, a nation that once owned a land and existed as a state only through and for the Torah, and which possessed that land and that statehood only as instruments for translating the Torah into living reality. This is why Israel was a people even before it possessed land and statehood; this, too, is why Israel survived as a people even after its land was...

Loyalty can be a very good trait when it is directed at something good. As G-d is the source of good, only loyalty to G-d and anything supportive of our service to Him can constitute a worthy loyalty. So what about a secular state that was founded on Jewish blood. Well that would hardly qualify. Nevertheless, irr -"religious" Zionists go about it with alarming alacrity, the type that should be reserved for the Creator of the universe. An example. Purim seudah. Dati Looney guests at my table. Somebody mentions smoking which by the way is epidemic amongst Israeli chiloni. I note that I read recently that lung cancer was, if I recall correctly, the highest cause of death amongst Israeli men. My Dati Looney neigbhor who I know from America announces that the Israeli life expectancy rate is higher in Israel than America. As we are families at a table, and since I'm not an argumentative Israeli, I say only but men are dying because of this. He says something like it's just ...

The military police in Israel have been waging sting operations to catch Charedim who taunt solders. This is all to the glee of the Dati Looney. But watching the videos of two recent incidents, one in Ramat Bet of Beit Shemesh and one in Meah Sharim, one sees not police catching law breakers, but police provoking children and shotim basically. The Israeli government is very good at this. They do it with the Arabs all the time. They keep them in stressful conditions and then provoke them. A violent arrest will do. Then comes an unruly protest in response. It all escalates from there until a few people get killed or until there's an all out bombing run. (Note, I'm not exonerating the local Arabs for the many challenges they have created in the peace process and for their shameful violence.) I'm also not exonerating Charedim for taunting solders. Not that I don't understand it. The Charedim feel threatened by the draft, understandably. It just isn't going to help anyt...

22  Then Eliyahu said to the people, “I, I alone, am the only prophet of  Adonai  who is left, while Ba‘al’s prophets number 450.  23  Let them give us two young bulls, and they can choose the bull they want for themselves. Then let them cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood but put no fire under it. I will prepare the other bull, lay it on the wood and put no fire under it.  24  Then, you, call on the name of your god; and I will call on the name of  Adonai ; and the God who answers with fire, let him be God!” All the people answered, “Good idea! Agreed!”  Melachim 18:22-24 I have always been one that tried to walk the line. "Between the Yeshiva World and Modern Orthodoxy" is the title of Marc Shapiro's bio on R' Yechiel Yaakov Weinberg. While I wouldn't recommend that approach for all, it seemed like a worthy one when I lived in America. But Israel is different. In America, the Modern Orthodox are insecure. They look up to the Charedim an...

I just returned from a Yom HaZicharon presentation with my Ulpan class. It was my first and I went with an open mind as I hadn't had breakfast or lunch and lacked the strength to project my own perspective onto it unless really provoked. Warning, these are not the kind of reflections you may be expecting. A number of things struck me during the 45 minute ceremony which was held at a national religious school and conducted mostly by school boys. The first was how all the gestures seemed borrowed from somewhere else. The plethora of flags, the marching, the solder with the torch, the national anthem. It was all European/American military except for the national anthem not mentioning God. There was even an American military band marching song which very well could have been written by John Phillip Sousa. The second thing was how little of it was religious considering that the school was National Religious and this was an event to commemorate the dead. We Jews are specialists in commem...