As the summer months approach, bringing yet another anniversary of the painful and shameful 2005 expulsion of Jews from their homes in Gush Katif and N. Shomron, many are asking the obvious, including Rabbi Bentzion Grossman Shlita, of Migdal HaEmek, who is quoted in an “SOS-Israel” publication questioning “Where was the chareidi community during Gush Katif,” when the shuls, yeshivos and study halls were bulldozed, when the graves were exhumed without protests from Atra Kadisha and others.
“Immediately following the Six Day War the Lubavitcher Rebbe warned, over 43 years ago, that each land concession will lead to additional concessions and bloodshed. He shouted in a loud voice to the chareidi parties willing to make land concessions, warning them hundreds of times that ultimately, they will hand over Yerushalayim R”L. I am in shock as to how frum Jews can take part in such awful unprecedented actions.
“Who would have believed two years ago that construction would be frozen in Ramat Shlomo or that buildings would be demolished in Modi’in Illit and building halted in Betar Illit? On the eve of elections in an interview with SOS-Israel I warned of the lurking dangers. Unfortunately, the warnings are coming true because the words of a Tzaddik of the generation like the Lubavitcher Rebbe are not empty words. What remains to be done is that all the rabbonim and askanim must get up and act to halt the talks, talks that will chas v’sholom lead to additional concessions…”
“There is no doubt that we must reflect and do a chesbon nefesh and we must realize the words of the Lubavitcher Rebbe ZT”L were truly prophetic. We must strengthen our adherence to Torah and Mitzvos… for in the end, the dangers will reach all of us”.
Amid weeks of protests and escalating violence and vandalism surrounding the bones at Barzilai, there is an innocent yet pained and angry voice that is becoming increasingly audible, seeking answers, why the chareidi world remained silent while shuls and cemeteries were destroyed.
The critics today point out that in Gush Katif there was no dispute as to the bones, with everyone aware they were the bones of Jews interred in the Holy Land, yet the rabbonim and Atra Kadisha did not concern themselves with the kovod of these remains. There were no protests at Kikar Shabbat and no trash receptacles burned on Shmuel HaNavi Street, since these were the bones of the ‘settlers’ and there may not have been political gain to be sought by protesting, some lament.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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9 Responses
Cheap Shot!
There is a vast difference!
Moving bones are permitted when it’s done for their respect! Once the Israelis decided not to stay in Kush, they were actually required to move the bones. The political choice to leave, was not what Chareidim protest for.
In the case of the Hospital, the bones are being moved out of disrespect, for the people’s own use. It’s done out of a lack of belief of life after death. It’s truly forbidden, and deserves to be protested.
There is no comparison!
Can’t believe that it will already be 5 years since this expulsion. I remember crying here in America and explaining the situation to my grandchildren. Yet, there were and still are apathetic among us that feel only affected if hit directly. Yes, there should have been more demonstations. Perhaps YWN could rerun headlines and pictures of the time and we could see if there is something in the way of teshuva we could do to help many people from Gush Katif whose whole lives and families fell apart..another form of holocaust and its’ effects.
Before someone comments here that Gush Katif was different because the graves had to be moved in order to PREVENT their desecration (by the Arabs), I would like to point out that the question here is why there were not only no protests from the charedi parties, but there was even implicit support for the entire evacuation.
For theose with a short memory, this was made possible due to money that was given them by the Sharon gov’t. The Bostoner Rebbe and anotehr chasidic Rebbe attempted to take the charedi politiicans to a Din Torah to protest the corrupt process by which they went along witht he evacuation and how they maneuvered to prevent there being a vote on the matter by the Mo’etzes Gedolei HaTorah.
I would add that Litzman was a key member of the gov’t at the time and no one heard a word from him regarding this disgraceful act.
The unfortunate reality was that the people of Gush Katif were unwilling to fight for their own survival. They instead bowed their heads to the Golden Calf of the Medina and said: “What the Medina has decreed, who are we to object?” Activists who went to Gush Katif to help in resisting the Pogrom were attacked by residents and expelled from the area. Any discussion on resistance by violent means was considered treason and those speaking of it were reported to the police.
When someone is totally unwilling to defend himself, his family and home, why should an outsider endanger himself by defending him? Why should organizations or political parties waste there resources? Even more so if the person will treat his would be defender as an enemy.
What happened in Gush Katif and the Shomron is a tragedy beyond words. But it is only the most recent of the many abominations that the Golden Calf has perpetrated and is planning to perpetrate.
Aryeh Zelasko
Beit Shemesh
i was thinking the same thing over shabbos. where were they? where they davening for their brothers and sisters as they were being thrown out of their homes? is that why they werent rallying in the street?
what would happen if the government tried to throw chareidim out of their homes elsewhere in the country? streets would be burning traffic would be stopped!!!
what about their brothers and sisters in the west bank? who help guard so they can learn in the yeshivos and not have to serve in the army?
WHERE WERE THEY?!??!?!?!?!
So so true, we have all been thinking where were the huge crowds of Eida Hacharadit when it came to purebreed Jewish bones coming to burial.
To #1 – I would call expanding and reinforcing a hospital to help save lives, a reason at least as justifiable as the political moves you cite. Especially considering that the bones are most likely non-Jewish.
Let me get this straight.
First, the chareidim are blasted from all sides for the “violent rioting”, when they block the roads to protest what they believe is wrong.
Then, the chareidim are blasted for NOT having “violent rioting” 5 years ago when the expulsion was taking place. (Not that they were so quiet when that happened, either.)
What would the chareidim have to do to make everybody happy?