The Charedi parties are vowing to take revenge on the Bayit Hayehudi party if they are excluded from the coalition including voting with the left to destroy settlements and giving up land to the Palestinians.
The Charedi parties claim that they are run על פי תורה, is this a Torah true position? The answer is clearly not for many reasons:
1. There is an issur of לא תקם, you aren't allowed to to take revenge. Even if the Charedi parties are claiming that Naftali Bennet and the Bayit Hayehudi leaders are not really religious and they are reform (see for example R' Moshe Sternbuch), and therefore the issur doesn't apply, that applies to the leaders only. The people who the revenge will actually be taken on, the ones who live in the settlements are without a shadow of doubt, religious people who devote their lives to Torah and Mitzvot. Should their lives be ruined for petty revenge? Is this allowed ע"פ דין?
2. The Chinuch explains the issur of לא תקם as follows. Since everything that happens to a person comes from Hashem what is the point of taking revenge? The person who harmed/slighted/whatever you is just the messenger, the harm/slight/whatever is coming from Hashem. If the Charedi politicians really had Emuna they would look at this whole series of events as a learning experience and try to understand what Hashem is trying to tell them, not planning revenge.
3. Are they really going to give back holy places in Israel just to satisfy their revenge? Does ארץ ישראל mean so little to them that they are willing to sacrifice it to a silly revenge fantasy?
The fact is that the whole draft crisis has been blown completely out of proportions by the Charedi politicians. No one is trying to destroy the Torah world, the Torah world will survive just fine if many of the boys spend a short time in the army.
IMHO, the Charedi politicians have shown a complete moral bankruptcy during the coalition negotiations and are willing to do anything to get into the government. Is this really the message that the Charedi world wants to put out that they are for sale and will do just about anything to get into the government? That they are obsessed with petty revenge?
There has been a set of 12 questions posted all over the internet (http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2013/03/03/good-questions-to-ask-ourselves/ , http://haemtza.blogspot.co.uk/2013/02/the-12-questions.html and others) for Charedim to answer. I would love to see some cogent answers.
Click here for part 2
4 comments:
Of course they will sell themselves (and their souls) to get into the coalition. If they don't, there's a real chance that their gravy train will be derailed. Perhaps not immediately, but the portents are fairly obvious.
The Chareidi leadership has shown intellectual and moral bankrupt for decades and justified its bizarre and odious behaviour by invoking "Daas Torah". This is no different.
"The fact is that the whole draft crisis has been blown completely out of proportions by the Charedi politicians. No one is trying to destroy the Torah world, the Torah world will survive just fine if many of the boys spend a short time in the army."
Indeed, and to claim otherwise is either a grave insult to Torah, or an indictment of Charedi chinuch, alleging in effect that it produces young people with so little strength of character that they cannot withstand army service.
MIghty Garnel Ironheart couldnt have said it better. Orthodox judaism has a very important role in providing Israel with a cultural identity. But as far as the charedim are concerned, they are doing a disservice to israel and its citizens and will always be an extremist representation of judaism. As in the rest of the world, you always maintain your right to practice your beliefs however you want, but you NEVER have the right to impose it on others.
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