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Fascinating discussion, it is not often you get to see dialogue like this. I have personally met the Neturei Karta activists in Monsey, and the truth is they really believe that they are doing the Ratzon Hashem for Klal Yisroel. Perhaps as a lmud zchut, the argument could be made that there is a logic to their position and that they help dispel hatred. I do have sympathy and respect for their intent…

HOWEVER, reality is, as R Amnon Yitzchak says, their logic is flawed, unsupported by 99.99% of the nation or the rabbinic elite, this war has nothing to do with Zionism, it is a war of race/religion, politics are really a feeble excuse. Although truth does not necessarily lie with numbers, a person should really start having doubts if there are only 10 other people in your community who are backing you. Our religion/nation does not take as normative, lone individuals taking life/death situations into their own hands, no matter how well intentioned.The sooner people start realising this, the sooner we will be on the way to hopefully reaching a state of peace and tranquillity.

Dear Rabbi:

Today I read the horrifying news of the young boy brutally murdered in Borough Park. I know there are plenty of horrors in this world, but this one won’t let me rest or think of anything else.

Do you rabbis have answers?

—Y. T.

Response:

I have no answer to calm your soul and let you rest. But I can share the thoughts I have written to myself this day.

We believe that G‑d is good. And yet He has created beings that commit horrific evil, acts He Himself despises in the most ultimate sense of the word. Things about which we can only recoil in horror while turning to the heavens in indignant outrage, screaming, “Why did You allow this? How could You?!”

And all we receive from heaven is a silent tear.

Of all the questions we ask, why does this one never receive a satisfactory answer? We believe our Torah is a Torah of truth, of divine wisdom, yet of all the questions it answers, why on this one does it fail us?

We are told that good cannot come without evil, just as darkness cannot come without light.

But, G‑d, dear beneficent and all-powerful G‑d, could You not do whatever You please? Could you not create light without darkness, good without evil? At the very least, did You have to create an evil so hideous?

We are told that commensurate to the darkness will be the light, commensurate to the pain will be the reward. Looking at this world and the pain we have suffered, the reward must be beyond any measure.

But, my G‑d, you are good! Does everything have to be measured so precisely? Can a G‑d who is good allow such horror, even if ultimately it will become good?

We are told that human beings must be given free choice. That this is the ultimate kindness of G‑d to humankind, that He grants us the space to fail, and the opportunity to achieve greatness on our own.

But if this is kindness, then what is cruelty? Are there no limits? Even the most liberal parents, if they care, they will have limits on the freedoms they grant their children. And here, in our world, we see ugliness without bound.

My G‑d, each day I am surrounded by Your wonders. Each day, I see Your miracles, one after the other, Your unending goodness to me and to each of us. I will not lose faith, I will not stop praying to You. But if I will not stand up and demand, “Does the Judge of all the earth not do justice?” if I will not declare, “Why have you done evil to your people?”—then what kind of a creature am I? And in what sort of a G‑d do I believe?

One day, we will understand. Until then, we must be outraged. We must recoil with horror, we must reach deep inside ourselves, we must protest to G‑d Himself. For only the righteously indignant can heal this world.

That is our answer for now: That we cannot be allowed to understand. For if we would understand, we would not be outraged. And if we were not outraged, then why would we ever stand up and do all that is in our power that such horrors could never happen again? And then there would be no one to heal G‑d’s world.

And so the answer is only a silent tear, falling from heaven, into our hearts.

(Source: Coping With Tragedy in Borough Park – R’Tzvi Freeman)

Rabbi Kelemen Educational Funding Proposal

There is a powerful passage that really touches to the heart of everything I write about in this blog from R’Samson Raphael Hirsch. It is a response that he penned to Zecharia Frankel’s scholastic writings. I cite it here in full and will be posting further on the topic:

“Frankel makes a distinction between dogma and scholarship and by making this distinction he deals the deathblow to that which he calls dogma. There can be only one truth. That is true by the standards of dogma must be true also according the standards of dogma must be true also according to the standards of scholarship, and conversely, that which scholarship has exposed as falsehoold and delusion cannot be resurrected by doga as truth. If the results of scholarly research have convinced me that the halacha is the comparatively recent creation of the human mind, then no doga can make me revere halacha as an ancient divinely uttered dictate and allow it to rule every aspect of my life.

…. Jewish thought knows no such distinction between faith and science which assigns faith to the heavenly spheres and science to the earth. The “dogmatic” element is not hold in one’s vest pocket ready for presentation to the celestial gatekeeper, if the necessary, as a ticket to heaven, while “science” which shapes the intellect of man and is planted on another sort of soil, is nurtured from wellsprings of quite a different source. Jewish “dogma” does not teach mysteries which logic cannot follow, which have no common language with reason and to which reason cannot address itself.

Those concepts which the Jewish “faith” offers as the basis of Judaism are facts, historical realities founded on the living, lucid experiences of a whole nation. These facts are not presented for “believing” but so serve the most vigorous and vital development of theoretical knowledge and practical action. The true science of Judaism is to perceive the world, mankind and Israel in these terms and true Jewish life is to translate these perceptions into living reality.

[Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, Collected Writing V, p 312, Quoted in the Artscroll biography of R’Samson Raphael Hirsch p 260]

I am always fascinated by people who make the decision to convert to Orthodox Judaism, especially where there prior lives where anything but ordinary. Read the fascinating story of Jamal Michael Barrow / AKA “Shyne”  (Link )

Rav Chaim Kanievsky served in the IDF
Yes, you read that title correctly. You can stop rubbing your eyes.

I am going to translate this article about how Rav Chaim Kanievsky served in the army, or else to be known as "Sticks and Stones"for those of you who might have trouble with the Hebrew. I had never heard this before, and find the story fascinating.

    Rav Shmuel Grossbard, father of one of the mashgichim in Ponevvezh Yeshiva, passed away this week. His children were surprised when Rav Chaim Kanievsky came in to be menachem aveilim, and were even more surprised with what he told them shortly after he arrived.

    "You have no idea why I troubled myself to come console you?" Rav Kanievsky asked.. "I have hakarat hatov for your father who was my commander in the army and helped me a lot!"

    Those present were surprised by what he said that he had served in the army. One of those present had the courage to ask "The Rav was in the army? We never heard this before about our father, and about the Rav even more so!"

    Rav Kanievsky smiled and related to them, "It was during the War of Independence, I was then learning in the Yeshiva of Lomza in Petach Tikva. The war started and everyone was drafted to the army with no exceptions. Of course, we knew nothing, until one day a large vehicle pulled up outside the yeshiva and they said everybody has to get in to go protect the country.

    Because none of us knew how to hold a gun,they gave us sticks and stones and put us out to guard a large hill. I remember everyone was very scared and Rav Berel Povarsky hid in a bathroom and got out of it. But me and Rav Moshe Soloveitchik, we went, and he was sitting beside me the whole time saying tehillim while crying.

    Your father, z"l, was appointed as commander, because he was the oldest in the group. because he was commander, he got the largest stick. When we got there, I asked him what we should do. he told me you should go up the hill and sit and learn where they can't see you, but take a stick and two stones so if the Arabs would come you can scare them away. We sat there for a long time, and after we left the place we were told the Arabs had shot to that same place."

    When he finished relating this story he said, "Out of gratitude for then, I have come to console you."

[http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.com/2009/08/rav-chaim-kanievsky-served-in-idf.html ]

Very inspirational story of two Chabad volunteers  (I happen to know one of them, Peretz Shapiro personally from Sydney, Australia. ) and their work with the Aleph Institute, helping Jewish inmates in American prisons.<link >

Key quote that sticks out in my mind:

Schapiro said that in order to prepare for their Jewish jail jaunt, he and Kalmensohn asked the head of their yeshiva in Los Angeles what they should tell the prisoners. "He said that of all the great personalities in the Torah, including Abraham and Moses, only Joseph, while in prison, is called a 'successful man,'" Schapiro reported. "He went on to explain that when things are going right for someone and he enjoys success in what he is doing, it's not real success, rather the result of circumstance. When things are not going right and the person still remains positive and focused on his goal, he is a successful person. Joseph, who was hated by his brothers, sold into slavery and thrown into a dungeon for a crime he didn't commit, had every right to be angry at society and lose focus. However, even after these terrible things had befallen him, he kept a positive outlook and a good attitude. He woke up one morning, and the fact that his fellow inmate didn't have a smile on his face bothered him. That is real success. When we heard this, we thought it would be something nice to tell the inmates to try to lift their spirits a bit."

Relevant Sources: 

– He would also say: Those who are born will die, and the dead will live. The living will be judged, to learn, to teach and to comprehend that He is G-d, He is the former, He is the creator, He is the comprehender, He is the judge, He is the witness, He is the plaintiff, and He will judge. Blessed is He, for before Him there is no wrong, no forgetting, no favoritism, and no taking of bribes; know, that everything is according to the reckoning. Let not your heart convince you that the grave is your escape; for against your will you are formed, against your will you are born, against your will you live, against your will you die, and against your will you are destined to give a judgement and accounting before the king, king of all kings, the Holy One, blessed be He. (Pirkei Avot 4:22)

– Sins committed against other people, including hurting someone's feelings. Yom Kippur does not atone for these sins until the perpetrator gains forgiveness from the victim himself. (Orach Chaim 606:1)  

Four years ago on the 5th of January 2006, I wrote a post entitled the Value of Learning Mishna outlining the benefits of learning Mishna, links to online mishna classes and some general guidance for starting your own mishna seder.

On the 5 of January 2010, I received the following email, which I post with the authors permission as is.

I cannot put into words what tremendous joy I feel from receiving this email, knowing that one blog post by a guy in Sydney, Australia inspired Yitz Fleischman of Baltimore to complete the entire of Mishna. Incredible! On behalf of myself and all my readers, I congradulate you Yitz on this tremendous milestone and may you  go G-d willing from strength to strength in all your future learning endevours, keep us posted!

As for myself, I unfortunately have not be so resilient in my learning efforts, however this email from Yitz has really got me inspired to get back in the game and go on to finish mishna myself. I hope this post will inspire you as well, Yitz is proof that it really can be done and we should all aspire to his example and go from strength to strength in our learning. Amen.

Amazing inspirational Hesped for Rav Noach Weinberg by Rav Baruch Horowitz, Rosh Yeshiva of Dvar Yerushalayim – Listen here it is well worth it (warning Large file 20 meg). It really makes you think about how much of an impact we can really make. I personally very much enjoy Rav Horowitz's drashas, and I think they should be advertised to a broader audience as in my perception he is unfortunately rather *unknown* in the wider community, despite his life long achievements and dedication to jewish education. Please see a collection of his video drashas here.