There were two very important posts plus a large and important comments thread removed from reb nossons Rationalist Judaism site (most probably due to threats he received from chariedi sympathisers upset that he was exposing them for who they really are I am reposting the text for those who missed them first the two posts and then the comments I was able to recover as a third post.
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Deadly Serious
There's been so much wild rhetoricfrom the charedi world in the last year that we've become accustomed to it. We're used to hearing polemicists scream that Lapid and Bennett and anyone else who wants charedim to share the mitzvah/burden of military service, and who wants charedim to follow Chazal and the Rishonim in not demanding financial support from the rest of the country, is Amalek and Haman and Hitler. This kind of talk is shocking, but ultimately it is generally dismissed as not being serious. A person could argue that this kind of talk comes from politicians, not from rabbinic leaders, and that even if it comes from rabbinic leaders, it is meant as a rhetorical flourish, and is not to be taken literally.Until now.One of the most popular maggidei shiurim in the Mir Yeshivah is Rav Nissan Kaplan. I used to know him, and I always found him to be a very nice and down-to-earth person. Over atTorah Musings, R. Joel Rich posted a link to a recording of a lecture that Rav Kaplan gave. R. Joel introduced the link by describing it as "A must listen for those who think that the reports of Chareidi Yeshivot/chinuch antipathy towards the government of Israel is overstated." Indeed. In the lecture, Rav Kaplan reports the view of Rav Steinman, widely considered the leader of the Litvishe charedi world (except by those who find him too moderate). Starting at 36:50, Rav Kaplan says as follows: On Shabbos I spoke to my kids, and I said that Rav Steinman spoke thatlemayseh, we have today Haman and Amalek, all this [Israeli] government, and really the way is to take knives and to kill them, just as with the Yevanim. This is what Rav Steinman said. You have to take a sword and to kill them. So why are we not doing it? Because, he said, I don't know yet who is the general who could run the war. But if I would know who's the general, we'd go out with knives. This is what Rav Steinman said. There's a war against religion... I explained this to my kids... then, in the middle of the meal, my kid, five years old, says, "Aba, we don't have a sword in the house, I'm looking... maybe a hammer is also good?" I was very happy, I gave him a kiss... I was so proud of my son, he's looking for a sword to kill all these government ministers... Rav Kaplan proceeds to say how his taxi driver was not thrilled to hear about his conversation with his son. He told the taxi driver that it is no different from how we had to kill the Greeks and the enemies of the Jews in Shushan. But the taxi driver was wondering if perhaps there is a difference. Rav Kaplan explains that the conceptual threat of Amalek is doubt, making us wonder if perhaps the government ministers are in a different category from those enemies that we had to kill. We must not have any doubt!This is the message that the charedi world is teaching?! That the ministers of the Israeli government are Haman and Amalek, that (barring a technical obstacle) we should actually kill them, that we should teach this to our children, and that it is utterly wrong to have any doubts about this?! Hashem yerachem.Natan Slifkin
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Deadly Serious
There's been so much wild rhetoricfrom the charedi world in the last year that we've become accustomed to it. We're used to hearing polemicists scream that Lapid and Bennett and anyone else who wants charedim to share the mitzvah/burden of military service, and who wants charedim to follow Chazal and the Rishonim in not demanding financial support from the rest of the country, is Amalek and Haman and Hitler. This kind of talk is shocking, but ultimately it is generally dismissed as not being serious. A person could argue that this kind of talk comes from politicians, not from rabbinic leaders, and that even if it comes from rabbinic leaders, it is meant as a rhetorical flourish, and is not to be taken literally.Until now.One of the most popular maggidei shiurim in the Mir Yeshivah is Rav Nissan Kaplan. I used to know him, and I always found him to be a very nice and down-to-earth person. Over atTorah Musings, R. Joel Rich posted a link to a recording of a lecture that Rav Kaplan gave. R. Joel introduced the link by describing it as "A must listen for those who think that the reports of Chareidi Yeshivot/chinuch antipathy towards the government of Israel is overstated." Indeed. In the lecture, Rav Kaplan reports the view of Rav Steinman, widely considered the leader of the Litvishe charedi world (except by those who find him too moderate). Starting at 36:50, Rav Kaplan says as follows: On Shabbos I spoke to my kids, and I said that Rav Steinman spoke thatlemayseh, we have today Haman and Amalek, all this [Israeli] government, and really the way is to take knives and to kill them, just as with the Yevanim. This is what Rav Steinman said. You have to take a sword and to kill them. So why are we not doing it? Because, he said, I don't know yet who is the general who could run the war. But if I would know who's the general, we'd go out with knives. This is what Rav Steinman said. There's a war against religion... I explained this to my kids... then, in the middle of the meal, my kid, five years old, says, "Aba, we don't have a sword in the house, I'm looking... maybe a hammer is also good?" I was very happy, I gave him a kiss... I was so proud of my son, he's looking for a sword to kill all these government ministers... Rav Kaplan proceeds to say how his taxi driver was not thrilled to hear about his conversation with his son. He told the taxi driver that it is no different from how we had to kill the Greeks and the enemies of the Jews in Shushan. But the taxi driver was wondering if perhaps there is a difference. Rav Kaplan explains that the conceptual threat of Amalek is doubt, making us wonder if perhaps the government ministers are in a different category from those enemies that we had to kill. We must not have any doubt!This is the message that the charedi world is teaching?! That the ministers of the Israeli government are Haman and Amalek, that (barring a technical obstacle) we should actually kill them, that we should teach this to our children, and that it is utterly wrong to have any doubts about this?! Hashem yerachem.Natan Slifkin
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