The Midrash says not to kill non-Jews!

I grew up, as I'm sure you did, believing that Moshe Rabeinu was correct and justified in killing the Egyptian taskmaster.  More, we live in a time where many, many "frum" people think it's a great thing to hunt down Palestinian Arabs to kill...and too high a percentage of the rest of the frum people are silent.

Now I learn, from Rav Riskin's weekly video blog, that the Midrash says Moshe should NOT have killed the Egyptian without due process!  And that is the ultimate reason that Moshe was told to stop asking for permission to enter the land!

(Note there is some problem with the YouTube video...it cuts away once and then a part repeats and it seems like some is missing...but ignore that and watch it anyway.)

The purpose of Midrash is to teach us a lesson from Chazal.  I don't think this one needs any additional elucidation.  But especially now, in the hopeful time after Tisha B'Av, we should pay heed to it if we want to speed the Geula.

Tisha B'Av 5777

Like last year, when I got home from shul this morning I was able to listen to the live webcast of the end of Kinot at the Yeshiva University Jerusalem Campus, with Rav Dovid Gottlieb.  One of the things he spoke about was honesty, even with non-Jews.

He quoted from the SMa"G (Sefer Mitzvot Gedolot) who said the way to end the Galut is to cling to Hashems 'signature,' which is Emet, truth, EVEN when it's technically permitted to lie (as in certain dealings with non-Jews.)  He quotes the Navi Tz'fania (3:13), "The remnant of Israel does not do iniquity or speak lies, and a deceitful tongue cannot be found in their mouths..."  He goes on to say that if we are honest in all our dealings, when the Geula comes the world will say that Hashem did justly.  On the other hand, if we are not, and at some point Hashem saves us anyway, the world will say that Hashem chose for His portion thieves and liars.

The SMa"G also quotes that the reason for the mabul is chamas, which is robbery and violence.  On the other side, he quotes one of the stories from Chazal about non-Jews praising Hashem because Jews were honest with them.  (Rav Gottlieb added the most well-known one, of Shimon ben Shetach and the donkey with the jewel.)

The emphasis of Tisha B'Av, as I have repeated over and over, is that we have no one to blame but ourselves.  The answer is t'shuva...not davening longer or making sure to supersize your k'zayit of matza on Pesach, but bein adam l'chavero.  And here we have a reminder...truth is the guiding light for all of us to follow.  If we can all do that, we can truly bring us closer to Mashiach.

Dishonoring the Memory of Rav Kook ZT"L

It was all over the news a little over a month ago...bowing to pressures from the Hareidi community, Prime Minister Netanyahu cancelled the agreements for a mixed-gender prayer space at the Kotel.  At the same time, a Hareidi-backed bill to give the Chief Rabbinate a total monopoly on conversions was approved for consideration by the Knesset.

Both of these things are, in and of themselves, rampant examples of the sinat chinam that continues to prevent the coming of Mashiach, and therefore appropriate topics for today, Tisha B'Av.  But there was something that bothered me more, a few days later.

As reported in the Jerusalem Post, A group of Rabbis from the "conservative wing of the national-religious community" wrote an open letter to Netanyahu supporting the decisions and calling them "courageous!"

The guiding light of the National Religious (or dati leumi or Religious Zionist) movement is the teachings of HaRav Avraham Yitzhak HaKohen Kook, ZT"L.

Rav Kook was an inclusionist. He worked with the Hareidim, the Dati Leumi, the non-religious, and even the vehemently anti-religious.  No, he didn't necessarily approve of some of their lifestyles...but his emphasis was on spreading Torah and bringing people closer...not pushing them away.

In fact, he was extremely upset by Hareidi exclusionism.  In the Chizuk & Idud article by Rav Yerachmiel Roness in the Parshat Pinchas issue of Torah Tidbits this year, he tells of Rav Kook's visit to America in 1924, where he met with the Aguda.  One of the American Rabbis told him that instead of outreach towards the 'blasphemous sinners', Rav Kook should emulate Pinchas...which presumably meant going around killing chalutzim.

Rav Kook got tears in his eyes and said, "Eliyahu HaNavi thought he too could be like Pinchas - did you learn from what happened to him?"  The explanation in the article, from Rav Zev Gold, is that Eliyahu felt he was all alone, like Pinchas, and in so doing he accused all B'nei Yisrael...and HaShem immediately told him to appoint Elisha as his replacement.

The actions of the Rabbanut are exclusionary, reeking with sinat chinam, and not in accordance or sometimes in direct violation of Halacha.  The statements made by them and some of their supporters against non-religious Jews are in direct violation of the principle "Af al pi she'chata, Yisrael hu."  Even though he sins, he is still a Jew.

Rav Kook would NOT approve.  And if someone who says he is a follower of Rav Kook supports those actions of the Rabbanut, they are dishonoring his memory, and they are no longer Dati Leumi in my eyes.