Friday, August 05, 2005

Catching Up...

It's been weeks since I posted. My schedule in New York was just too full to allow for it. Now that I want to catch up, however, there's so much to discuss that I scarcely know where to begin. And if I begin, I'm afraid one posting will over shadow the other (cf. Berakhot 14a). So, I'll start by writing telegraphically and try to follow up with fuller discussions. [It's a tried and true method for those who listen to Rega shel Ivrit on the radio at 1555.]

1) I'm sick over the criminal insanity worked by a meshugenah Kakhnik. Murder is murder. The Torah forbids the murder of civilians, period. Never mind that every Jew in the world will now be a target (as if they wetren't before that.)

2) I am a big fan of Rivka Yaffa's columns. Her latest on why she can't plan a vacation after Tisha B'Av because of the impending expulsion from Gaza hits home. We're not going awayu that week either. Same reason. The real insight is provided by the comments that her column attracted. The Religious Zionist and Haredi Worlds have become the 'Jew.' It's chilling how so many hate us. I didn't experience that kind of loathing when I had to put up with physical attacks by Irish and Italians toughs when I was a kid. And if you don't believe it, take note of Haaretz' declaration of war on a messianic public that doesn't exist, except in its own fevered imagination.

3) If you didn't believe that this is a Kultur-kampf, get a load of Gidon Samet's scurrilous screed about the so-called decline of Jewish Studies. I can't believe that I used to sit with this same person as part of the Shaharit Group and thought he would work toward dialogue and the re-judaization of the State of Israel. There must be something about Haaretz hiring vicious, ignorant demagogues named Gidon.

4) I recently received an email from the RCA where a colleague reproduced the Rav zt"l's remarks in favor of territorial compromise, from 1967. I am really tired of people taking things out of context and using the Rov as an oracle. He was the absolute last person who would tell people what they must do. He did not believe in Daas Torah. He believed, mirabile dictu, that people should think for themselves.

5) Oh, and how could I forget the exciting events of the Fourteenth World Congress of Jewish Studies. Contrary to Samet's imbicilic, vicious diatribe it was truly inspiring and legitimating.

Expansions to follow.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I am marginally pro-hitnaklut, but I know of few better arguments against that position than the thought of being on the same side as the editors (and op-ed writers)of Ha-aretz. Their hatred is truly breathtaking.

Jeffrey R. Woolf said...

Thanks for your honesty. If I ever needed proof that the Left is using this traggedy to create the larger tragedy of a kulturkampf, they are always ready to oblige.

Anonymous said...

Thaks. Fortunately or unfortunately, some things can still be true even if the editors of Ha-aretz believe them.
I hope to soon post a response to a thought I've seen on a number of blogs, including yours - about the attitude/reaction of those of us in golus towards the hitnakut. I don't believe that it's that people (referring to, say, the people you & I attended yeshiva with, daven with in shul, visit on frequent trips to the other's country, etc.), don't care about the consequences. I think it's usually a combination of having internalized the dual mindsets of a) "support Israel, right or wrong" and b) not having the standing to independently judge the advisability of an Israeli action.
And I agree with you that we've had more than enough of "people taking things out of context and using the Rov as an oracle." Unfortunately, an occupational hazard of thinking for yourself is potentially disagreeing with those who are closer to the issue than you are - also a cause of restarined discussion among certainl golus-dwellers, I think. (I, of course, have no such compunctions and will try to post later this weekend as to why.)
Shabbat Shalom (belated, as it's already begun in Israel).

Anonymous said...

So when will you post the transcript of R.Y.B. Soloveitchik's meeting with Begin's emissary where RYBS came out againts a PLO state in Yesha? The only way to stop those type of e-mails from the RCA, is to ACTIVELY argue against the pikuach nefesh "theology" that has taken hold of the MO religious left - to the point of absurdity. I wonder if RAL would change his article now that MDA ran an ad campaign saying people are dying because there isn't enough blood donations due to the disengagement descurity forces not being able to donate as they usually do at this time of year? or the Israeli oncologists who decalred that people are dying b/c there aren't enough radiation equipment in Israel (which of course could have been bought with some of the 10 billion being spent on the disengagement)? After all the whole position of RAL was based on RYBS' view that for pikuach nefesh we can give up territory and that the disengagement MIGHT save lives, while we can't be certain that not doing it is DEFINITELY costing lives (says so right in RAL's piece). I guess MDA and the Oncologists in Israel might argue differently.

Nachum said...

"meshugenah Kakhnik"

Necessary?