Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush spoke at the levaya of his neighbor Avraham, H’yd, on Wednesday. Avraham, H’yd, a member of Israel’s security forces, lost his life battling the heinous Hamas animals in Israel’s south.
Porush, cried bitterly as he spoke, causing those present to weep along with him.
Porush spoke about Avraham’s father Chaim, saying: “Until this day, every Friday night, Chaim is mekayeim the shlichus of the Rebbe, going from shul to shul to share divrei Torah and be mechazeik us. Avraham, you saw this shlichus of your father, your mother, you were an example.”
“How terrible that on Yom Simchas Torah, the day we rejoice, this tragedy befell us on the day of Simchas Torah and you were taken from us. Moshiach should come soon but on every Simchas Torah, when we dance and rejoice with the Torah, we stop for a minute, and take a break – we say Yizkor, on the very day of simcha, we remember the kedoshim.”
“Avraham – I, Meir Porush, will always remember you. On Yom Simchas Torah, I will remember Avraham ben Chaim – Hashem Yinkom Damo. That Hashem should give you the koach. Am Yisrael was so torn and divided – apparently, there’s one thing that unites us – this terrible disaster. Hashem Yikom Damam. Hashem should send a refuah sheleimah to all the cholim.”
Just one heartrending levaya out of 1,300.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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14 Responses
All fine and good – but why, Minister Porush, do you refuse to be truly Noseh b’Ol Chaveiro??? Why do you refuse to send your own son to help defend Klal Yisrael???
Abraham HY”D’s father – and I – have sent our sons to do this – one of my sons leaving his Shtender in Yeshiva to do so. I don’t sleep nights now worrying about where he is and what may C”V happen. You, on the other hand, have no such worries – and you consider yourself a Noseh b’Ol Chaveiro???
At the very least – show a bit of embarrassment before the families of those fallen giants like Avraham, and stop relating to those who carry out the Avodas haKodesh of defending Am Yisrael as your wood-choppers and water carriers. A bit of introspection is in order here.
an Israeli Yid
My Dear fellow Jew
Let us look for the good not anything else.Genuine tears are obvious Rabbi Porush and all of us are hurting. You want to discuss policy issues ok but please not now.All we have are each other. ……אדרבה
In the Knesset no daveni
In the Kneset no davening no bies medrash no Sefer Torah no learning they talk Hebrew for all of life’s desires not a good thing when the adas korach blames simchat torah
This rat is trying to crocodile tear now
an Israeli Yid:
No one is accusing Bibi or Gallant of evading active service. Besides their ages, the actual work they are doing is clearly service for the country, and even more vital than that of a regular soldier. Even though they are not risking their lives. The same goes for the top generals, and even for logistical people who are low-level.
Learning Torah is way, way more – is not only saves, it is also PREVENTATIVE. (תורה מגנא ומצלא – both prevents danger and saves from danger.)
There was a group of philanthropists who were in the process of building a badly needed hospital, and, at a meeting headed by the Gadol HaDor, R’ Chaim Ozer Grozdinzky, each one pledged a number of beds (with the requisite, expensive, equipment). A bochur turned up to speak to the Rav, and one indignant balabos asked sarcastically, How many beds is he donating?
R’ Chaim Ozer’s reaction? – Each Bochur is pledging 50 beds (an astronomical amount). His Torah learning prevents 50 people from contracting illness and from being injured in accidents.
This is not just ‘drush’, this has halachic ramifications. According to Shulchan Oruch a talmid Chacham is exempt from paying one type of communal tax – that of the Town Security. His learning provides sufficient security for at least his share of the costs.
Whether you want to Litvishe seforim (like Nefesh Hachaim) or the Chassidishe seforim (plenty) it’s all clear – Torah brings brocho, shemira, hatzlacha etc.
Yes, there have been been thousands of Tefillos said worldwide, millions of perokim tehillim, many kabollos, shemiras Shabbos etc. but the biggest zechus and shemira is Torah.
So instead of attacking, i would suggest you go to the nearest yeshiva with coke and cake, and a note thanking all the boys who learn Torah. Maybe give a cash incentive to whoever learns during bein hasedorim. Or to whoever learns uninterrupted without stopping at all to hear the latest news.
Tell the boys how their Torah prevented an even greater tragedy. Give them the credit for all the 2000 Hamas terrorists killed (to date) and for the 100+ hostages that were successfully saved. And encourage them not to waste a minute talking (despite the huge temptation) so that not one more soldier should chas v’sholom fall in battle.
May we all see yeshuos and nechomos b’korov mamash.
aIY, neither you nor Rabbi Porush “send” your sons anywhere. They are adults and decide where they will go. Only your son can decide where he truly belongs, but it seems to me that if he was truly learning all day, and is capable of continuing to do so in the current circumstances, then he has no business abandoning his shtender to do some other service. משורר ששיער בשל חבירו במיתה. He has to decide whether he’s a משורר or a שוער, but whichever one he is he has to stick to. Likewise with Rabbi Porush’s son.
Excuses, excuses, excuses. There is NO HETTER to avoid fighting a Milchemes Mitzva – which, per the Rambam and just about all Rishonim, is what a fight to protect Jewish lives (and property, by the way) is.
I do not question the genuineness of MK Porush’s feelings – but what I do question is his intellectual honesty. I spend my time these days not bringing cake and soda to Yeshivos, but doing what I can to help soldiers – whether it is transporting them, donating and delivering supplies, or in any other way. “Torah Magina uMatzila” is all well and good, but I don’t see the Chareidi Yeshivos rushing to set up shop in Kibutz Be’eri and Sderot to provide them with Migun.
Don’t get me wrong – there absolutely is value beyond what we are capable of understanding to Torah learning, and it I agree with providing support to those truly learning – but it is very much not fine to say “I’m patur from defending Klal Yisrael because I chose to sit in Yeshiva”. It would be great if it was possible for all who wish to sit in Yeshiva and not need to go to war – but so long as there is a need to defend ourselves, there is NO HETTER for a self-selecting group of hypocrites to shirk their responsibility. “Osim ma’aseh Zimri, u’mevakshim secharo shel Pinchas.”
an Israeli Yid
aIy, when you say there is “NO HETER” you are LYING. On the contrary, there is no heter for someone whose place is at the gemara to abandon it and go fight. Again, משורר ששיער בשל חבירו במיתה.
Dovid Hamelech did not fight; he sent Yoav to fight while he learned Torah, and it was his Torah, NOT Yoav’s fighting, that brought success. It is the yeshivah bochurim who are genuinely learning, not batteling, who are your only defense; the soldiers are merely the physical means by which that defense comes about.
How many learners do we need? Fifty percent of the total defense force. In other words we need as many learners as there are fighters.
Bear in mind that even in the army, most people are not fighters; they are support staff. The old tooth-to-tail ratio. For every combat soldier there are several support soldiers. TORAH LEARNERS ARE SUPPORT SOLDIERS. Their contribution is at least as valuable and necessary as that of military cooks and medics, truck drivers and computer programmers, journalists and lawyers, etc. If you don’t ask a JAG why he’s not carrying a rifle, then you have no business asking the same question of a yeshiva bochur.
If it were up to me, the military would have official yeshivos where bochurim and avreichim learn in uniform, under military discipline; coming late to seder would be treated the same as reporting late for sentry duty.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, addressing a group of combat troops, told them that they should not feel bad that they are not the true defenders of the people, because they have an advantage over the true defenders: They have the mitzvah of mesirus nefesh bepo’el, which the Torah learners don’t have. The yeshua comes in the zechus of the Torah being learned, but the mitzvah of mesirus nefesh is something that the learners can’t aspire to.
aIY. If you want to talk about what is mutter, and what is chiyuv, ie you want to speak Halachic terms, then you should ask the poskim, the same ones who pasken Hilchos Shabbos, Hilchos Agunos, gittin, hilchos etc. etc. etc. The ones we go to for brochos and chizuk.
Don’t start preaching. I am all for helping soldiers (I myself sent many items, as well as a letter (see below) for families and soldiers. And i also brought a Yeshiva a big kugel and offered (another) Yeshiva ice cream cones. Keep up your good work but don’t forget what the main Koach of Yisroel is, b’peh.
Yeshivos do not need to relocate to Be’eri. They are just as effective in their respective locations. And thousands of bochurim cut their bein hazemanim short, and resumes learning after Succos. (these are boys who don’t have a five day week, they are generally learning 3 sedorim a day, and only have a weekend off every few weeks. However they know and realize that Torah is what we need right now.
Letter written last week:
לכבוד אחי יקירי וידידי !
קשה לכתוב. אין מילים.
אבל עוד יותר קשה שלא לכתוב.
אנחנו אתך כ”כ בלב ונפש וחייבים לשתף אותך באותם הרגשות.
חייבים להתחבר איכשהו, אם לא פנים אל פנים, לפחות דרך נייר ודיו.
חייבים להביע תמיכתנו ותודתנו.
חייבים לשתף הערכתנו, וגם דאגתנו.
וחייבים להודיע מה שאתה בטח כבר יודע: שאנחנו מתפללים עליכם [ועל השבויים ועל הפצועים] ללא הרף. אלפי אלפי ספרי תהילים נאמרו בכל ערי ישראל ובעולם. רבבות רבבות תפילות, תחינות ובקשות מול פני הבורא יתברך שהוא באמת המחליט היחידי בכל דבר גדול וקטן. האב הרחמן שבשמים. שישמור עליך ועל כל חבירך וכל יהודי ויהודי באשר הוא שם, וכל א’ שפועל למען עם ישראל.
שישמור ויגן ויציל ויושיע בכל מצב ובכל רגע. שלא יפול אפילו שערה אחת או צפורן אחד מכל אחי היקרים. שכולם יחזרו לביתם ולמשפחתם שלימים בגוף נפש ונשמה.
ושיעזור ויסמוך ויתמוך בכל פעולה ובכל תנועה. שתצליחו בכל משימה ומבצע ושתנחלו נצחון מול אויבי ישראל ואויבי הקב”ה. יתקדש שם שמים על ידיכם ותחזרו מחוזקים.
אנחנו בל”נ נמשיך לזכור אותך ואת חבריך, נמשיך להתפלל ולהתחנן, נמשיך ללמוד תורה ולצבור זכויות וכמובן נמשיך לשלוח חבילות של אוכל ומוצרים, ובעיקר, של אהבה.
ויהי רצון שישראל ישכון לבטח בשלום ושלוה ותזכו לראות בנים ובני בנים, דורי דורות ותרוו נחת מהם במנוחת הנפש והרחבת הדעת בלי טרדות ובלי דאגות מתוך אושר ועושר לאורך ימים ושנים עד שבא הגאולה השלימה בקרוב.
המאחל ומברך בחום,
I have spoken with many, many Poskim – and reiterate that there is NO HETTER for ANYONE to avoid a Milchemes Mitzvah.
There are those who twist themselves into intellectual pretzels to try to explain why the defense of Jews in Eretz Yisrael may not be a Milchemes Mitzvah – but that is contrary to the Pashtus of the Rishonim, and is an intellectually dishonest attempt to treat Drush as Pshat.
When you have your own sons on the front lines, perhaps I’ll listen to you. For now, just go away – you are NOT Noseh b’Ol Chaveiro, and have not learned the lesson Moshe taught the B’nei Gad and B’nei Reuven regarding responsibility for your fellow Jew. You are Oseh ma’aseh Zimri, u’mevakshim secharo shel Pinchas.
Go, give your precious Yeshiva Bochurim some more Kugel and ice cream – you’re really being Moser Nefesh for Klal Yisrael with that. I, on the other hand, spent today driving yet another son down to the south to face Hamas – so who’s the one being Moser Nefesh here???
an Israeli Yid
@anIsraeliYid,
who exactly are these MANY poskim you have spoken to?
Do they exist even?
Or are they [if they actually do exist] just a bunch of wild mizrachi settlers who make up their yidishkeit as they go along to fit their national-zionist joke of a religion, who have no hater hora’ah, or anything near to it??
@JewGutless – wow – you just dismissed an entire sector of Klal Yisrael – congratulations! FWIW, I discussed this with a number of American Yeshivish and Israeli Chareidi Rabbanim, ALL of whom agreed that there is NO HETTER to not fight in a Milchemes Mitzvah. Most then tried to explain why fighting to protect the portion of.Am.Yisrael that lives.in.Eretz Yisrael via serving in the army is not a Milchemes Mitzvah – but.the baseline point remains.
Now go away and fool yourself some more with your pathetic self-righteousness – you and all the others who strongly resemble the four-fifths of Klal Yisrael who didn’t make it out of Mitzrayim.
an Israeli Yid
Just to clarify – what they tried to explain was why joining the Israeli army in a time of (relative) peace was not considered participating in or preparation for a Milchemes Mitzvah. During a time of war, though, when there is active threats to lives, even they had a much harder time trying to come up with reasons as to why there’d be a HETTER to not serve.
an Israeli Yid