Interesting matter to watch with respect to “minor cancellation fees”: Will El Al continue to place advertisements in Yated? Will travel agents advertising in Yated continue to place ads touting El Al’s services and El Al’s logo? Will Yated accept such ads? How minor will the advertising fees lost to ad cancellations be for Yated?

[And let us not single out Yated. Ditto for Hamodia, Jewish Press, Jewish Observer, et cetera.]

In your own words:
“I would call him , however I know him and he knows me well so if i were to call him now he may be terribly offended by the above knowing that I say this.
I am not looking to embarass him so I will not call him…”

If you are not looking to embarrass someone, disparaging him on a public forum is seemingly contradictory to the above statement.

Call him.
Ask what he meant and when he said it.

Remember, there are times when gedolim give an eitzah and other times when they give a psak.
From my understanding, at the beginning of this ordeal, many people thought the gedolim were giving an eitzah as to not fly El Al.
Later, it became clear that this was a psak.

Rabbanim, even thoughs of lower stature, may disagree on an eitzah.
Final psak is psak, though, and we must listen to our gedolim.

May we merit to see clarity in all that we do.

And may Hashem grant us the courage to do what is right at all times, even when it may be tough.

Good night, all!

Sd, granted, the Begin article isgod, but maybe you can tell who exactly you refer to as the “moral authority”? While Begin was a great guy and a oheiv of the frum Yidden, what made him a moral authority? WHy is Rabbi Pinchos Lipschutz less of a moral authority than Begin?

ANd, Rabbi Lipschutz never claimed to be a moral authority if I read his article correctly. He is simply stating what the gedolim in ERetz Yisroel, namely, Rav Elyashiv and Rav CHaim Kanievsky, have said.

Also, what made Rabbi Lipschutz’s article “politically” charged? I fail to see where there is any political motivation or any politics altogether in the artice.

SD, you try to sound smart by using terms like “moral authority”, “politically charged,” and “childish rhetoric”, but you basically haven’t the foggiest idea of what you’re saying!

What a difference when someone is capable of persuading through eloquence, moral authority, and common sense as opposed to politically-charged, childish rhetoric!

A little respect is called for, for the Klal and for all humanity.

Have a wonderful night, all!

He has daily hours for paskening shailos 3-4PM & 10-11PM, call him and find out. If i am correct and he did pasken this way, you can then follow up and ask him why he “succumbed to the level of those that are mevaze Gedolei Hador”

We await to hear your report after you spoke to him.
(Btw – he lives in flatbush and his number is listed)

I would call him , however I know him and he knows me well so if i were to call him now he may be terribly offended by the above knowing that I say this.
I am not looking to embarass him so I will not call him, however I do have ways to be mevarer and I was somewhat mevarer already. So far I am very sad to say to say that indeed he did pasken as you claim and to that I say again what was written earlier.
You say I am being mevaze an Adom Godal and I answer you that if I would not be “moche” then I would be someone who is Mevazeh the Gedolei Hador. If one hears someone going aginst the Gedolei Hador and he is not moche then he is no better the the one going against the Gedolim.
I WILL CONTINUE TO BE MEVARER MORE AND IF INDEED HE DID PASKEN AGAINST MARAN HARAV ELYASHIV THEN HE HAS LOST HIS CHESKAS KASHRUS AND CAN NOT BE RELIED UPON TO PASKEN A SHAILA!!
In the Torah Velt today Harav Elyashiv is the POSEK ACHRON WITHOUT QUESTION!!!

For many many years, El Al has taken affirmative action to identify itself as the airline of the Jewish people. It has entered into sweetheart deals to become the “official airline” for various Jewish functions, and to provide its services as raffle prizes and the like for the promotional fundraising activities of Jewish organizations.

Following a labor strike settlement which had grounded the airline, the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations took out a full-page ad in the New York Times [21 January 1983, p. B-16] to welcome El Al back into service. The Conference included the NCYI and the OU, who were specifically mentioned in the ad. The display ad was obviously placed with the knowledge and approval of El Al.

And, of course, El Al has extensively marketed its Jewish Heritage Tours of various countries, and has sponsored various printed guides for religiously-observant Jewish tourists to Israel. They even have their own Rav HaMachshir.

Having implicitly marketed itself as the Jewish People’s own airline, and sought out the public adulation as such, the goodwill of its observant Jewish passengers became an intangible but valuable asset of the airline, and, as such, was purchased by its new owners when the airline went to private investors. Despite its going over to the hands of private investors, El Al continues to utilize and exploit and build upon the aforementioned intangible goodwill asset by directing its advertising towards observant Jews.

Given its inextricable history of seeking to present itself to the world as the airline of Jewish people (and therefore Jewish values), El Al ought not now be heard to say that it has no responsibility to adhere to those same Jewish values.

This is especially so because El Al is more than an airline — it is a public symbol in the eyes of the world. And its public symbolhood was something it deliberately sought to attain, and not an unwanted fortuitious accident. Therefore, actions taken or not taken against this symbol will send a message to the world — to friend and enemy of the Jewish people alike.

This is why El Al is being singled out.