Wednesday, November 15, 2017

Giyus: Bnei Torah in the I.D.F.'s Crosshairs

Re: Against the Backdrop of the Supreme Court's Decision:
Giyus: Bnei Torah in the I.D.F.'s Crosshairs

                                                By: Beinish Dorit

Am Yisrael, Listen Up!
Giyus, the army draft is here in real time. The Israeli government is proactive to fill the I.D.F. with yeshiva-oriented recruits. Things aren't the way they used to be.
Since the inception of the State, an agreement was in place, that allowed b'nei Yeshiva a 'pitur,' or deferment from military service. Years ago, the Bayit Yehudi party revised the 'chok' with Shivyon Benetal – everyone must contribute and share the burden of the country's defense. Still, whether you embrace Bnei Brak's philosophy, or in contrast, are of "Peleg" orientation, all will acknowledge that the government's on-line ad tells a different story.

Witness its text: "Rotzim l'shanot, rotzim l'hishtalev." Literally: 'They want change [for themselves] and opt to blend in with society.
A prominent Israeli attorney brings us up to speed. He employs similar verbiage to explain the Memshala's intentions:
לא ניתן להתעלם מכך שרשויות המדינה גמרו אומר לשלב את החרדים במוסדותיה ובאורח חייה החילוני, והדרך להשגת שילוב זה מתחילה [ונגמרת] בצבא. הצבא הוא הכלי לשילוב ולשנוי, שמבקשות הרשויות לחולל בחברה החרדית. עיקרון זב שזור כחוט השני לאורך התיקונים המחמירים בחוק, ומהווה את הבסיס להם.
One cannot ignore the fact that the authorities have decided to incorporate the Haredi people into its institutions and secular way of living. The means to achieve these goals begins – and ends, with the army. "Tzavah" is a tool being used to incorporate and alter the Haredi community to its liking. 
In short, Yahadut's shortfall is the army's livelihood ר"ל.
––––

Rav Elyashiv – Psak and Hashkafa
An acquaintance recounts how, during his tenure of study in Israel, he sat by Rav Elyashiv zt'l, as a 'chayal' from a hesder yeshiva, walked in and inquired as to the Kashrus of a Mezuzah at his military base.
Here's the conversation: 'L'mah ata mitkavain' – what do you mean to infer, queried the Rav. 'She'zeh dira ba'al korcho' – that a domain in which an individual is coerced to abide in, is not a normative dwelling place, and is therefore absolved of Mitzvas Mezuzah? [See Tractate Yoma 10b]
"Zeh lo ba'al corchi, ani merutza la'asot tzavah!" – it's not against my will, countered the soldier, I'm agreeable to army service!
"Zeh tzorich li'yot ba'al corchacha" – it should be against your will, said Rav Elyashiv.
Then he asked the zkan Haposkim the $64,000 question: "Lamah lo osim bnei yeshiva tzavah?" – and quoted the Rambam that it's a mitzvah to defend the Yishuv in Eretz Yisrael against an enemy.
Rav Elyashiv answered: Yeshivaleit are not obligated to train, they're only 'mechuyav' to fight – and then Tzavah won't take them. Then he continued: And even if they are enjoined to train, you're not mechuyav to put your life in the hands of Arik Sharon [Sar Bitachon at the time]. The Posek Hador provides clarity and perspective for this crucial issue.
––––
The Giyus issue is larger than life – who is Am Yisrael? Who's in charge of the Jewish People?
The 'Memshala' wants a piece of everything you do and think. But what of history? Our inexplicable survival upends Tzavah ideology.
3,000 years of experience has embedded in the Jewish human condition, that a Supreme entity micromanages the course of human events, even as we speak.
Jewish Home Party has partnered with others to write an alternate narrative, a fictional novel of 'Im tirtzu, ain zu agada' – we can determine our own fate.
The Settler movement have their fingers in this pie, too – as enablers, they catapulted 'Bayit Yehudi' into power. In Bayit Yehudi's parallel world, a ben yeshiva's ruchniyut is worth expunging, just so that Chibat Eretz Yisrael reigns supreme.
Their rendition of the Passover Hagada reads, 'Ilu natan lanu Eretz Yisrael, v'lo natan lanu et haTorah, Dayeinu!' Had You given us the Land and not the Torah, t'would have been enough. So they crafted a chok with two periods of "Histalgut," – adaptation timelines, till the entire olam hayeshivos enters the army's enclaves ר"ל.

Wednesday, November 1, 2017

Argentine Jewish businessman, among dead in NYC terrorist truck ramming

JTA- Five of the fatalities in the terrorist truck-ramming attack in New York City on Tuesday afternoon were Argentine tourists celebrating the 30th anniversary of their high school graduation, including one Jewish businessman.

At least eight people were killed and about a dozen injured when a truck rammed into a crowd on a bike path in downtown Manhattan in what Mayor Bill de Blasio called “an act of terror.”

According to Argentina’s Foreign Ministry, the victims are Diego Enrique Angelini, Ariel Erlij, Hernán Diego Mendoza, Alejandro Damián Pagnucco and Hernán Ferruchi.

Erlij, 48, is a Jewish steel mill owner from the city of Rosario in central Argentina. He reportedly paid for two of his high school friends to go on the trip so they could all be together for the anniversary. They graduated in 1987 from the Polytechnic School in Rosario.