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>>>At the same time, this was clearly a partisan event. No Talmidei Chachamim from other shitot were speaking
Not really true. Rabbi Yisroel Meir Lau spoke at the Siyum Hashas before that one. As did others who did not share Aguda haskafa
>>>Maybe if those who agree with the idea of having a joint siyum with Talmidei Chachamim speakers from several shitot (from YU, for example – R Schachter, R Willig, R Lebovitz, maybe also Chabad, Israeli groups…)
Firstly If R Schachter, R Willig, or R Lebovitz would be asked we all know that it would be spun as tacit endorsement of YU haskafa. The Siyum Hashas certainly does not need to turned into a controversial event. They do sit on the dais so it’s not like they are excluded from the event. Secondly when those three speak it is usually to a smaller crowd than then when those who speak at the Siyum Hashas do. So in terms of bringing attendees the ones who do speak are simply better choices. As far as Chabad goes putting everything else about Chabad aside why on Earth would they ask a representative of a group that does not learn Daf Yomi, let alone promote it, to speak?
Does it bother you why they don’t ask anyone from Satmar to speak or is that something you understand? (Satmar opposes Daf Yomi being a mass daily Limmud )
>>>for your made up speculative “concern” you decided there is a toeles to motzi shem ra on the beis of Jerusalem, headed by the litvish Gadol Rav Moshe Shternbuch shlit”a?
Um.. The point of the V’Yoel Moshe about the Aguda seems to have gone completely over your head. There is a major difference between a reference to the Badatz in the context of it’s function as a Beis Din and the Badatz in it’s function as a political group hanging up paskevilin and calling for demonstrations . The former is a respected group. The latter is just a bunch of baaley batim. As the V’Yoel Moshe says in reference to the Aguda the problem with these type of groups is that the Baaley Batim end up taking over. Rarely is that observation as true as it is about the Satmar affiliated Edah Hachredis.
I will not respond further on this topic
>>>what does your lushen hureh have to do with the statements of the Satmar Rebbe in Vayoel Moshe?
The Satmar Rebbe in Vayoel Moshe criticizes Agudah for being headed by laymen. As such it behooves all of his followers to take a good look at the Edah HaChariedis and the amount of power laymen have in that organization. At least when the Moetzes of Aguda puts out a statement you know that most of them actually support it. When a statement is put out in the name of the rabbinical leadership of the Edah HaChariedis it is frequently flat out Daas Baaley Batim using their names without their prior knowledge.
>>>To be clear (if you care to understand anything being discussed here), the leadership of Agudas Yisroel is emphatically a lay leadership with loose ties to the “moetzes”…
You would be hard pressed to find an organization more controlled by laymen than the Satmar affiliated Edah HaChariedis . The lay people in Agudah do not put out Kol Koreys in the name of the moetzes without their knowledge. The Edah HaChareidis does so on a weekly basis. It is alleged that Rav Yisroel Yaakov Fisher the Raavad of the Edah HaChareidis used to say that he reads the pashkevilin on his way home from Mincha to find out what he signed on last night…
>>>The Brisker Rov, The Chofetz Chaim ect. agreed with this psak
Please try to nominally verify facts before repeating them. Or at least determine if they were even possible. The Brisker Rav who was niftar in 1959 most certainly did not express agreement for V’yoel Moshe that was published in 1961. Let alone the CC who probably barely if at all even know who the Satmar Rebbe was.
The Brisker Rav was opposed to the some of the Satmar haskafa about Zionism. Particularly the confrontational approach they took and their attributing the state of Israel to the Sotton
>>>In fact, the Chazon Ish himself didn’t think the Zionist “State” would last more than 50 years at most
Wow. It’s been many years since I last heard anyone make that claim. (The claim used to be 40 years) Nowadays most people deny it and point out that there was never any actual verifiable source who claimed to have heard that from him . Those who knew him deny it being the type of thing he would have said. There a simple reason even anti-Zionists no longer claim the CI said it. Had the Chazon Ish really made such an off target prediction it would call his general assessment about the state of Israel into question.
If anything the Chazon Ish said that “Zionism” as the movement was in his time will not last more than 40 years into the state’s existence. There is no evidence that he said that either but at least it is true that in the late 1980s and certainly the late 1990s people were already saying that the Zionist movement of Mapam, Mapai, Makki, Herut etc no longer exists . When was the last time anyone heard from Hashomer Hatzeir? etc.
Rav Ovadia Yosef has a teshuva about saying Kol Moley Rachmim for Druze soldiers who were killed fighting in the Israeli army calling them kedoshim. He says the correct thing to do is to say it. For those who did not see the teshuva and can not bring alternate maare mokomos please spare me your boich svoras on the topic
>>>Even the FBI got involved and made a psychological profile of the killer who they said is “someone who knew him well”
So what? Had the FBI actually cracked the case going with that assumption that would be something. Being that in the world of reality they assigned over 25 detectives to the case, closed the entire dormitory where it took place for over a year (Which according to the them was both the crime scene and the residence of the murderer) repeatedly interviewed the murderer , (according to their belief of who it was)repeatedly reopened the case and still couldn’t come up with a single after the fact clue, I’m not impressed in the slightest with a theory of theirs. Neither should you , if you believe they are such total incompetents that despite all the evidence they had, they still couldn’t narrow it down between less than 150 people who they had easy access to and spoke to repeatedly. Yes, I know they claim no one wanted to talk. If people talked freely to the police, you wouldn’t need detectives to begin with. Their job is to get info from people who don’t cooperate. Not people who do. No one was charged with obstruction of justice (hampering an investigation ) But the police “know” that there is a coverup.
>>>It’s going to be shoved in your face every now and then until it’s solved and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Are you threating me here? I tried to stop anyone from discussing it? I asked a question of why it is being mentioned out of the blue (by someone who just started a new account) . Is my suspicion that you just read some online forum trying to convince you , or at least heavily biased in the direction, that someone inside the Yeshiva did it correct? Yes or no?
From my perspective, the reason the online world loves claiming and then rehashing the claim it was done by someone in the Yeshiva is because the online world loves blood libels against frum people. Even better if it against a Yeshiva. Here is a great chance to perpetuate one.
>>>I heard that from people that were in yeshiva at the time. Some even say they know who it was.
If they KNOW who it was why don’t they say so to people other than anonymous online posters? And don’t give me this coverup excuse. No one engaged in a coverup in such a high profile case is telling people who would broadcast it online that they are complicit in it. Why don’t you try to convince them to talk? Did a Rav tell you that you can’t help get a murderer handed over to the police? Which one?
Maybe had the police and co not done the investigation with such a heavy bias that it was someone in the Yeshiva who did it they would have found the actual murderer. I remember when it happened and I know many people who were learning in Long Beach at the time. Not a single one of them believes that had it been someone affiliated with the Yeshiva he could have avoided arrest by now. The amount of effort the police made to find him was just too much to avoid even a suspicion. They also all say that the online discussions of the story all heavily bend the truth and details in order to point suspicion at someone in the Yeshiva.
Why the new interest now? Were there any new developments or did you just read some online forum trying to convince you it was someone in the Yeshiva?
>>>The CIA shows it plainly on their website that they told the propagandizing Zionists that the war would take about a week and that the Zionists would wipe the floor with the Arabs.
Not true. The CIA never said that . I checked their website They did believe that Israel would win the war but nothing about a week and so little cost of life. And the CIA also promised Israel that it is their unanimous consensus that the Yom Kippur War will NOT happen. And the CIA at that very same time sent almost 60,000 Americans to their death in Vietnam saying that the US would win the war.
For the militant atheists yes the CIA prediction prove in the words of Yitchak Rabin “Anyone who thinks we won the six day war because God came to our aid is mistaken. It was all our superior strength and planning” Yes, Satmar strongly endorses and promotes the viewpoint of Yitzchok Rabin and co. Any independent analysis of the situation would indicate otherwise.
>>>The Satmar Rebbe’s book on the Israeli victory in 1967 (Al HaGeulah VeAl HaTemurah) says the win was since the Arabs were not very good soldiers.
The militantly atheistic anti religious Jews say the exact same thing. I’ve yet to see anyone try to provide an independent analysis proving this was true.
When one side (Israel) is outnumbered between 3 to 9 in everything , soldiers, weapons, planes, etc and is facing a muti national coalition tht is attacking them all sides they don’t usually win the war in a mere six days. If they win at all. Even if their soldiers are better.
Furthermore if you believe that Israel won the six day war so quickly despite being so outnumbered because they were better fighters, then you should also believe the Zionist argument that had we been around during the holocaust we would have prevented it . Because we know how to fight.
>>>The Brisker Rav noted that the “State” the Zionists have achieved is the “greatest triumph of the satan since the sin of the golden calf” –
This is SHEKER GAMUR and a tremendous disgrace to the Brisker Rav and Torah true Judaism.
Firstly whatever your view on Zionism is there is no way anyone can argue that they are worse than Yeruvem ben Nevat who made actual real egels and forced the majorty of Klal Yisroel to worship them. They aren’t worse than Menashe who burnt every single sefer torah in all of Eretz Yisroel (according to most opinions) and turned the Beis Hamakdush itself into a place of idol worship. They aren’t worse than the Yesvekitzia who successfully helped in the shmad of the three million people Jewish community in Russia. (The Yesvekitzia also persecuted Zionists with the same zeal as they persecuted frum people)
Secondly the Brisker Rav was of the opinion that the anti-Zionist belief that attributes the state of Israel and all of its succusses to the Sotton borders of Kefira. It elevates the Sotton to having power of a deity R”L. It is not so different (if at all) from them non-Jewish idolatrous view that all evil in the world exists because of the Satan. The Sotton does not “triumph” R’L . He does what Hashem gives him power to do
>>>Can someone please provide us with an exact source for this statement?
See the end of the second volume of Kisvei Rav Yosef Elya Henkin where he discusses haskafa issues and some of his articles in Torah journals in the early 1950s where he strongly, strongly writes against the behavior and secondary haskafas of the anti-Zionist kanoim.
Rav Yosef Elya Henkin was the very few Gedoley Torah from out of the Satmar orbit to have opposed voting in the Knesset elections so he was no Zionist. Unlike the troll question asked here and most of the anti-Zionist answers given here he was truly not a Zionist. But as Rav Yosef Elya Henkin wrote in the name of Rav Ozer Grodzenki, most of the anti-Zionist kanoim are no better than the Zionists themselves when it comes to the Gimmel Shavous and hsigarus b’umos. They happen to have a different vision than Herzl but they also want to control and conquer the state of Israel and install a government of their liking in the name of Judaism. What makes them different than Ben Gurion? There is also the Jabotinsky wing of Zionism, and the Kanoim wing of Zionism. Perhaps the kanoim are more aggressive, standoffish, confrontational and have been far more successful in turning people away from authentic Judaism over the past few decades. than the other wings of Zionism. But they all share the same goal. Control of Israel and installing a government of their liking while claiming to speak in the name of Judaism.
>>>smerel- uh no, the antisemites cant touch us if hashem doesnt want them to (source: the thirteen ikarim of the rambam)
Um…Where in the thirteen ikarim of the rambam does it say that Hashem took away the bechira of the anti-semites today?
There is a machlokes in the Rishonim whether a rasha would still have the bechira to kill a Tzadik who took all safety precautions and did not have in his mazal to die at a certain point but we will leave that aside. Where in the thirteen ikarim of the rambam does it say that Hashem took away the bechira of the anti-semites TODAY?
>>>We are told that there is more Torah being learned, more tzedaka being given and more chesed being done today than at any time in Jewish history.
Firstly who told you that? Secondly even if true, since the first Beis Hamakidash there was no probably no time in Jewish history that had the favorable external circumstances allowing for Torah being learned and tzedaka being given. (I’ve never heard anyone make that claim about chesed) Thirdly antisemites have bechira even today
>>>How did Yakov become Yankev
That one is easy. In many countries the letter AYIN was pronounced as an ANG sound . The word Shemah would be pronounced Shmang but with very little emphasis on the G. Therefore the name Yaakov would always have been pronounced as Yankov by them. (Actually Yankgev but with so little emphasis on hte g that it sounded like Yankev)
Even today in Amsterdam children are still taught that an AIYN in ang, Briskers repeat the words in Shema with an AIYN to also make that sound in case it is correct and some of the old time Yekke shuls still insist that whoever davens for the amud pronounces “Elokei Yangkov”.
I knew someone who was a twelve year old in a safe house under the protection of Wallenberg during the holocaust . He for his part was obsessed with the holocaust and his experiences. None of the Polish survivors I knew, who all went through so much more and worse were obsessed like that.
Anyway, there are different levels of being a holocaust survivor . The secular definition is anyone who went through Nazi persecution. Someone who was a child in Germany and left with his family in 1936 because of the way they winds were blowing is considered a holocaust survivor just like someone who went through six years of torture in Poland. There is an ulterior motive behind why the secular world stretches the definition so much. That way the holocaust is barley unique.
I think it depends on what someone went through. Even being in a safe house was terrible . But being someone who is worthy of giving brochas on par with a Gadol B’Yisroel because they went through the holocaust and remained frum is something I would only say about someone who was in actual concentration camps. Or an extended period in a ghetto. Or years of hiding in a forest . Etc.
>>>Chesky, if we trust your testimony, then what are we to of R Landau’s position that R Chaim did not hear the right question (or of posters who say that video is AI-produced?). Was now he mislead?
If you’re going with that logic (1) You are in general calling everything RCK said into question (2) why stop by him? The anti-WZO voting crowd loves quoting alleged comments of Gedolim who are dead for100 years with very little evidence they actually said those things. But even if they did (I assume they did) why not just say they were also fed misinformation and didn’t understand the situation?
>>>1. By cooperating with Russia to end the war on terms favorable to Russia, Trump sends the message that the USA does not keep its commitments
The US never made any commitments the Russia- Ukraine conflict . Trump’s policy and view about the Russia-Ukraine conflict has been pretty consistent since he took public office.
>>>Civil Service, at least for the last 60 years, has been a leading source of employment for frum Jews.
Are you joking or do you mean that 60 years ago civil service was a leading source of employment for frum Jews? A white frum man wearing a yarmulka has about a zero percent chance of getting a civil job unless he has some connections pulling strings for him.
>>> Some of Trumps policies are likely to backfire and increase the chance of a Democratic president with control of Congress by 2029, and perhaps one in which the “Progressive” (WOKE) caucus is dominant.
No matter what Trump does the Democrats have a very high chance of retaking the white house and congress in 2029. The Republicans best bet at keeping it is if the Democrats put up woke candidates
I’m not going to argue about Zionism itself. Anti-Zionists rarely define what that is anyway. And when they do they never define it the same way those who consider themselves t be Zionists do. I will say this however. There was a time in my life that I had a Friday seder in V’Yoel Moshe. I read more than my share of anti-Zionists literature. Even assuming V’Yoel Moshe was the ultimate Torah authority on this issue. Even assuming the anti-Zionist version of history was true (I believe neither of those) Extreme anti-Zionism today is a movement. Not just an haskafa. And that movement has a lot of poison in it and destroyed many of its followers. And it’s followers are frequently the aggressors, not the victims when it comes to dealing with “Zionists” And that movement has a lot of fault for the CURRENT hostility to the frum world in EY. And that movement has NEVER accomplished anything in bringing people closer to Hashem and Torah. Etc.etc.etc. That is why I’m so disillusioned from that movement
>>>I think one of the main problems is a lack (or a refusal) of Charedim to understand the other side. To have genuine empathy. To be nosei be’ol chavero.
One of the main problems in Israel in general is that NO ONE seems to understand or have any empathy for the other side. The stakes are so high and passions are so strong for anyone that everyone seems to have a siege mentality. And in reality they in fact are all correct. Every group in Israel would be adversely affected if ” they” have their way or gets to be too much of a majority
>>>(AKuperma) If all the Zionists wanted was to Jews being able to live in peace and devote themselves to Torah and Mitsvos, they had that option a century ago, and turned it down.
They did??? They turned it down??? In the anti-Zionist education that I received growing up of course they never acknowledged that at the time Zionism was taking root, Jews were in a horrible situation with no apparent solution so the idea of having your own country made a lot of sense and had a lot of appeal but this takes the anti-Zionist revisionist history to a whole new level. Say you are were a Jew in Russian 100 years ago during the time of rampant pogroms AND a government looking to (and was ultimately successful at ) uproot(ing) Torah to a degree that makes the Zionists seem like absolute Tzadikim where was your opportunity to live in peace and devote themselves to Torah and Mitsvos? Say you were in neighboring Poland with many laws discriminating against Jews, little police protection, major government interference into Chadorim etc. where was your opportunity to live in peace and devote themselves to Torah and Mitsvos? Maybe at the time it was true in neighboring Germany at the time. We know how that ended up…. The US did not allow immigration at the time and most of the Gedolim who opposed Zionism opposed immigrating to the US too…
>>>I am confused, because I recently read an article written by a psychologist
Without directly addressing the question, I sure hope you don’t get confused every time you see some article from some psychologist claiming something you didn’t think was the case before. To answer the question in a peripheral way, think of all the people who you believe hurt you in your life. Do you view ALL of them as nebach because plenty of psychologists will tell you that “hurting people hurt other people”?
The common anti-Zionist argument of the Arab world was better than the Christian world so therefore the state of Israel must be the cause of the current animosity to Jews is faulty for many reasons. (1) It assumes that the way a country acted in the past was the way they will act in the future. There were many countries that had long term up and down mostly benign relationships with Jews who turned on them. Take Germany as an example (2)That argument ignores that in general the Arab world post WWI has little resemblance to the Arab world before that. There were also much more wars going on in general in the Christian world than in the Muslim world at the time periods being ignored (3)It isn’t much different than the Zionist viewpoint during the heyday of pre state Zionism. (1910-1948) Being that at that point of time Jewish blood was being spilled like water and Jews faced serious discrimination even in the more benign countries (With Germany being the exception for most of that time period) the idea that only if we have our own country will we be safe made sense. Today the anti-Zionists adopted that same view in reverse saying if we DON’T have our own country we will be safe (4)It ignores the many times that Chazal say that in the period right before Mosiach , Klall Yisroel will suffer terribly from Yismoel. See for example the Pireky D’Rabbi Eliezer about the birth of Yismoel.
Elon Musk is not an elected official so he has limited ability to make proposals that will get done.
It isn’t only frum people who don’t want it getting light at 9:00 in the winter. It is also a major nuisance for dairy farmers because if their cows wake up so late in the day it means they will have difficulty getting the milk to the market that day. non diary framers don’t like it either because the dew doesn’t defrost until later in the day making them wait around later in the day to start work (but they aren’t doing that much work in the winter to put a major fuss)
If standard time becomes year round it will be a major problem for Bochurim summer bein hazaminim when the second zman krias shma will get as early as 8;00. Baale Batim aren’t going to like 7:30 Shabbos Shachris either
Not so simple in halacha to own a dog. Even if it were when people think of “chesed” in terms of owning dogs you see why in haskafa people are so opposed to it.
(My father asked one of the major poskim in the US 50 years about owning a dog as a pet. He said that the Mishna and later sources in halacha who say you aren’t allowed to own a dog aren’t referring to American domesticated dogs but an Erlicher Yid does not have pet dogs. Before you start spewing your daas baal habos about that realize that you don’t reach his toenails in Torah knowledge)
>>>Never do we find that Chazal collected from people or raised donations for the Yeshivos or for the Gedolim or for the Dayonim or for the Marbitzei Torah or for any position of Torah leadership or for anyone else.
Firstly I don’t think this statement is true. Who do you think was supporting the educational system set in place by Yehoshua ben Gamla? Certainly not the parents. It was made because those who had no father to teach them Torah weren’t learning anything.
Yissocher and Zevulan predate even that.
But we will put that aside and ask the oppisite. From the community that claims to oppose supporting Lomdey Torah and claims to believe that Talmidey Chachomim should have their own source of income, why has that community been such an abject failure when it come to living up to it’s own ideals? Where are the respected Talmidey Chachomim in that community who are self supporting TODAY? Why do laymen of that very community with all their talk about the value for being self supporting and not taking from others also contact elder planning lawyers to make sure it isn’t their assets that are drained if they end up in nursing homes?
Are there ANY members of that community who actually follow the Rambam of working only three hours a day and learning the rest? How about even even the oppisite? LEARNING three hours a day and working the rest? I do agree that if someone could make a living in three hours a day and learn the rest it would be better than learning and being supported or taking government assistance for most people. But as the early Achronim point out on the Rambam , in real life almost no one actually does or has the realistic theoretical ability to do so?
This would depend on where the shul is located and what is the nature of the shul. If it is an area that has other shuls , is not a minyan factory and was made for people who very much value a certain decorum during tefilah then it is their shul and they have the right to want a certain atmosphere during tefila. They are correct to say that if that is too difficult for someone then this is not the right shul for them. Begrudging them of that right is also not loving and accepting other Jews.
Without responding to everything the OP said, unlike the opinion of his wife, the Beis Hamikdash and even the Har HaBayis also had a dress code that they were VERY strict about. So if anything it would prove the opposite.
That said, I’m happy to see any Jew enter my shul. I even miss the days of when completely and obviously secular Jews would come to shul for Yizkor or to say Kaddish. Unless there is a policy against it please come to shul no matter how you are capable of dressing. I’ve davened in the frummest and most kanoish of places and seen people come in all forms of dress. No one ever says anything. Unless you are dressed offensive it’s safe to assume no one will.
“Even the classic “proofs” for Orthodox Judaism a la Rabbis Kelemen, Gottlieb, and Mechanic are passe. As an article in the Jewish Action a few months ago put it” “Proofs for the Torah?! That is so 90’s!””
I don’t know that they were even a good idea in the 90’s. I think they’re more stuck in the 60’s and 70’s when there were socially liberal, hippie baalei teshuva. That’s over. If they want to have any success today, I need to go after the weird kid with no friends who gets made fun of for wearing a MAGA hat in public. B’zman hazeh, those are the only people who are going to give up a secular life for an extremely rigid religion.It would be more accurate to say that people aren’t giving up hedonistic lifestyles no matter how much you try to reason with them. I googled this alleged recent Jewish Action article but could not find it on their website. If it does exist I’m confident it was not written in the same context as presented here The argument of “proofs of Torah don’t work” is not stuck in the 60s and 70s . That mindset is about as old as Judaism itself. Ever since then in free societies like the US people claimed that Orthodox Judaism has no answers so as truth seekers who did their own independent research they can not avoid coming to the conclusion that whatever was believed by the intelligentsia in the time and place they happened to have been was the ultimate truth. It made no difference what that belief actually was and what nonsense it is considered today. In not free societies they joined activist political and social movements who falsely promised the world will be a utopia when they take over
>>>Kiruv workers are paid. Can we follow the money?
It’s very rare for anyone to make a parnosha off Kiruv. No kollel yungerman would consider being a Kiruv worker as a future career option. Best case scenario it is a part time job. The few who do make a parnosha off Kiruv are very talented people who would have a let easier ways of making money without it . I know two children of people who were major figures in the Kiruv world. Neither of them are are in Kiruv themselves as Kiruv is not an industry you can hire your children in and anyway there isn’t enough business for them anymore . Their father’s institutions are largely defunct today. Neither of these people are known to be more talented than their fathers are. Both are mega millionaires. One of them started such a successful business that he was once featured on the cover of a major business magazine.
Most people who claim to be Jewish but aren’t halachically Jewish aren’t interested in Kiruv organizations to begin with. In general the Kiruv movement no longer has as many interested customers as they once did because secular American Jews younger than forty don’t identify as being Jewish like they did in the heyday of the Kiruv movement. Or if they do identify as being Jewish, their “Judaism” is little more than the official position of the Democratic party (that they call tikkun olam) with some holidays thrown in. Their focus and success even in the US is mostly with Israeli immigrants. The Kiruv groups also use techniques to ensure the people they are dealing with are halachically Jewish. They do not take everyone claiming to be Jewish at their word. Of sad and ironic note is that if someone claims to be Jewish and has a Jewish name like Goldberg they assume the person is NOT halachically Jewish until further verification whereas if the person has a clearly non-Jewish last name like Hendricks there is a larger likelihood the person is in fact halachically Jewish.
>>>So the zionists who scream and yell at those who disagree or dont support zionism, thrive on conflict (the holocaust and Oct 7), and curse NK, we are supposed to not hate them,
This is just another NK caricature of a made up enemy. “Zionists” do not run around screaming and yelling at non-Zionists. They do not look to attend anti-Zionist events to fight with anti-Zionist. etc. They do not thrive off the holocaust and Oct 7 (I’m not even sure what that is supposed to mean) I will not respond further to someone who is so consumed by hate that he is removed from reality.
If you have specific common incidents of “zionists” looking to stir up hate similar to the way the NK speaks at their pro Hamas rallies then I will address them if you tell me that you are looking for an answer and not just an excuse to spew more accusation about the “zionists”
Another general point to realize is that (like Chazal say about Hashem himself) people are much more accepting of the faults of people who are humble and mind their own business than people who are arrogant, self righteous, always angry, always looking to bad mouth others who thrive on conflict, aggression and incitement etc. The latter describes the NK. That is part of why they are hated so much.
The Neturei Karta and co are reshaim because they very openly rile up anti-semitic crowds and use their “Judaism” to give a hechser on people like Sinwar and their behavior. It isn’t hard to find them speaking out in support and praise of groups and people that even in the non-Jewish world are considered mass murders. They preach a new Torah that Palestinian Nationalism is Judaism. And unlike most IDF soldiers they can not even claim to be tinokos s’nisba. Although Rav Yaakov Kamenetzky said the NK is Rodfim over forty years ago, as someone who grew up reading their literature they weren’t anywhere nearly as radical back then.
>>>the Torah that kosher Jews learn protects Jews but does not protect rashayim.
Uh…. There are at least two pesukim in the Torah that say otherwise. By Sedom and the Meraglim . But that is just another part of Torah that doesn’t fit with the religion the extreme anti-Zionists preach. It is far from the only one
Not informing Hezbollah about Israel’s strike that killed Nasrallah is hardly something to give credit or thanks for. It also needs to be mentioned that Israel gave the US very short notice over concerns that the US would ruin the plan
Whatever Trump will do he won’t talking about and certainly not actually refusing to SELL arms to Israel like Biden and Harris do.
Putting that aside Trump didn’t just decide to drop Ukraine, Firstly Trump was probably right years ago when he said that Ukraine would not be in a war to begin with had they not been talking about joining NATO and that in the absence of any actual conflict moving hostile soldiers closer to a countries borders (like NATO was doing to Russia) is far more likely to cause a war than prevent one. Secondly Zelensky should have had a little more sechel and not ran around campaigning for Democrats in Pennsylvania, told the the The New yorker magazine that JD Vance is too radical etc. and then think that Trump (of all people!) is not going to go after him for it. Israel is unlikely to make the same mistakes.
As an aside the Democrats impeach Trump over a Ukraine phone call but then have the gall to bring Zelensky to essentially campaign for Harris and co in swing state Pennsylvania
>>>Calling Hezbollah a “terrorist” organization is a mistake. It is a formal armed force that is under Iran’s de facto command. They are no more terrorists the Israeli artillery or air force units – the only difference is Hezbollah primarily targets civilians,
Targeting civilians is what makes a group a terrorist group. While the far left likes to the only difference between a terrorist and a freedom fighter is which side you are on, the actual differences are that (1) terrorists target civilians , freedom fighters target the opposing military (2)freedom fighters have a very clear freedom oriented demand, terrorists are more vague about what peace terms (if any) they would expect and look at everything as part of an ongoing struggle (3)terrorists do not envision a state that gives freedom to everyone who isn’t looking to opposes them . By all those definitions Hezbollah is a terrorist group
>>>Is Ukraine asking non-Jews not to come to Ukraine, too? Or only Jews?
Do you know of any non-Jewish groups looking to make a mass pilgrimage to Ukraine? Or only Jews?
To clarify my comment above. The question of listening to Gedoley Torah even when they are wrong is about halacha or Torah haskafa issues .There would be very few sources if any to listen to contemporary gedolim in the non halachic or haskfic political or social context that listening to gedolim is sometimes used these days. Let alone when you KNOW they are wrong.
The issue is a machlokes. The Chinuch on the posuk very clearly says to listen to them even you KNOW -not just think- they are wrong. Reason being better to follow them in this one mistake than risk the many mistakes if everyone did what they thought was right. Halacha L’maaseh it is also a common shaalo .e.g If you know a piece of meat is kosher or non-kosher but a Rav or Beis Din ruled otherwise are you allowed to eat it. The Minchas Elozar even goes so far as to discuss if someone knew he was innocent but Sanhedrin paskened he is chayiv misah is he allowed to run away (he says yes due to Pikuach Nefesh) Seems to me like those who say either way have legitimate sources. But perhaps this is just another area that I’m totally mistaken for not listening to people who know a lot more than me that take a clear position on this.
I don’t even get question. How does the tragic brutal murder of these hostages change the equation and situation any more than the tragic killing of Israeli soldiers does? It is true that if Israel does not give in to Hamas’s demands more of the hostages may be murdered R’L. It is true that Israel had the option to give in to whatever Hamas wanted long ago and save some more hostages. Therefore what? It was even a lot more clear before the Israeli response to October 7th started that there would be Israeli causalities fighting Hamas. Every single neutral miliary analyst back then gave us a MUCH higher estimate of what the casualty amount would be. They also told us that Israel would accomplish far less in fighting Hamas than it did. But with the exception of the pro Hamas crowd everyone agreed that it made sense for Israel to respond despite the inevitably of Israeli soldiers getting killed fighting Hamas R’L. It was understood that not doing so will cause even more casualties R’L over the long term. How does the murder of six hostages change that equation in the slightest?
>>>Decades ago, the Satmar Rav wrote that if the Zionists actually cared about Jewish lives, then the Zionists could go to the UN (yes, that UN) and tell them that they want out, and that the UN should figure out a way to keep all the Jews safe
Can you give the exact source for where the Satmar Rav wrote that nonsense.?
Back in the days that I was faithfully believed in all the anti-Zionist rhetoric my first seeds of doubt were created when I read In one of the Satmar Rebbe’s seforim his opinion that Israel did not need to fight to the six day war because their adversaries weren’t really interested in war. But of course my real disillusionment really kicked in when I came in more contact with people like your self
>>> The Brisker Rav noted that the Zionist State is the greatest achievement of the satan since the eigel.
The Brisker Rav never said anything of the sort. I learned in Brisk for three years and never heard anyone make such a claim. It is only people who made a new religion based on their opposition to Zionism who could believe such a thing. Yeruvem Ben Navat forcing the majority of Eretz Yisroel to worship actual idols? Menashe burning every single sefer Torah in Eretz Yisroel? More recently the Soviet Union shmading three million Yidden? etc.? Nu, still not as bad as what the Zionist did. But only according to those who believe in the new religion of hating Zionists. No Torah Jew could believe such a thing. Not only that the Brisker Rav was of the opinion that the anti-Zionist view that attributes all Zionist successes to the Satan borders of kefira R’L. It believes the Sotton has independent power .
People drive dangerously and nothing happens to them either . Not every sakana ends in disaster and sometimes people lose zchoyus as the result of placing themselves in sakana.
שומר פתאים ה׳ according to some is only about a danger that isn’t apparent but known through statistical data. According to others it only applies to a danger that is COMMONLY ignored. Neither of them apply to traveling to enter a war zone. Even if that war zone is Uman.
I grew up very anti-Zionist. But as mentioned on many previous threads I became disillusioned with that haskafa years ago, partly as a result of independently coming to the same conclusion as the Chazon Ish that the extreme anti-Zionists are fighting the wrong battle (and today the wrong people) and partly due to my disgust with how confrontational and consumed by hatred the extreme anti-Zionists always are.
After October 7th my opinion about Zionism remained the same. My opposition to the more extreme anti-Zionists has grown . The more I see from them the less I think of them.
>>>Smerel,
This is why I posted this in a thread about “Unpopular opinions” It’s a MYTH people’s name changed at Ellis Island. Do you or “people you know” have any proof? I highly doubt it.Huh? It’s obvious that names were changed at Ellis Island. What more proof do you want me to give than that my grandfather had to change his family name? He had cousins who emigrated to Canada that still use their original. To pick a random name that I picked before why are there no Greenmans in Eretz Yisroel and no Greinamans in the US ?
>>>Everyone who has claimed & some still claim that “Jews (or Antisemitic officials) changed their last name at Ellis Island is very mistaken as it almost never happened
My grandfather changed his name to a more Americanized one due to the insistence of the Ellis Island officials. I know plenty of other such people.
It’s not for no reason that in Eretz Yisroel people have names like Greinaman and Shteinman while in American there are only Greenmans and Steinmans