A Country Rejoices and Weeps
The top news story this week, without a doubt, is the release of the hostages from Hamas captivity. On Sunday, the entire country held its breath and anxiously waited to see if Hamas would actually live up to its commitment to release three female hostages. There were delays, and Hamas dragged its feet before even handing over the list of hostages to be freed, but it finally happened on Sunday evening. The three released hostages were 24-year-old Romi Gonen, 18-year-old Emily Damari of Kfar Azza, and 31-year-old Doron Steinbrecher, also of Kfar Azza. Emily’s hand was bandaged, and it was revealed that she lost two fingers on her left hand when she was wounded in Kfar Azza. A well-known Arabic channel aired a live broadcast showing the three girls as they were transferred from a Hamas vehicle to a Red Cross car within Gaza and then were driven to Israel. It was sad to see the terrorists holding on to them until the last possible second, while hundreds of Gazans, some of them armed, stood around the cars cheering raucously. Israel is paying a heavy price for the freedom of the hostages in the current deal, which calls for the release of 734 murderous terrorists from Israeli prisoners, many of whom have actually murdered Israelis. Of course, there is great fear that the terrorists will kill again.
Just to give you an idea of the magnitude of Israel’s concessions, here are some details on some of the terrorists who are being freed and the heinous acts that placed them behind bars.
Ahmed Barghouti is a close aide and cousin of Marwan Barghouti and was handed 13 life sentences for heading a terror apparatus that was behind numerous terror attacks that murdered 12 Israelis, including the suicide attack at the Seafood Market restaurant in Tel Aviv. Wael Kassem, the leader of a terror cell, along with Wissam Abbasi and Mohammed Odeh, are members of the Silwan terror cell of Hamas, which was responsible for terror attacks that murdered 35 Israelis, including the bombing of the Moment Café in Yerushalayim, where 11 Israelis were killed, the attack on the Sheffield Club in Rishon L’Tzion that killed 15 Israelis, and the attack on the Frank Sinatra Cafeteria in Hebrew University, in which nine Israelis were murdered. Zakariya Zubeidi, the commander of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in Jenin, was responsible for a series of terror attacks, including the attack on the Likud branch in Beit Shean in which six Israelis were killed. He was also one of the terrorists who escaped from Gilboa Prison in 2021. Since he wasn’t actually convicted of murder and was imprisoned on other charges, Zubeidi will not be deported from the country, and he is expected to return to Yehuda and the Shomron. Abdallah Sharabati, Majdi Zaatari, and Samar Alatrash are members of the terror cell that was responsible for the attack on the Number 2 bus line in Yerushalayim in 2003, which murdered 23 Israelis, including seven children. They also dispatched the suicide bomber to the Number 6 bus in French Hill, in an attack that killed seven Israelis and wounded twenty others, and they planned many other terror attacks as well. Mohammed Amoudi was responsible for sending a suicide bomber to a shwarma stand in Tel Aviv in 2006, in an attack that murdered eleven people. Mahmoud Abu Varda was responsible for dispatching suicide bombers to attack the Number 18 bus in Yerushalayim in the year 1996; the bombings that he orchestrated took the lives of 45 Israelis, and he was sentenced to 48 life sentences in Israeli prisons. Nur Jabbar is a terrorist responsible for the murders of 16 Israelis; he masterminded an ambush in Chevron in 2002 in which 12 Israelis were murdered, including Colonel Dror Weinberg, as well as a terror attack in Otniel in 2002 that saw four Israelis killed. Finally, Sami Jaradat was one of the terrorists behind the bombing at the Maxim restaurant in Haifa in the year 2003, in which 21 Israelis were killed.
This should be enough information to make it clear why the Israelis are horrified by the terms of this deal. But I will mention a few more terrorists who are slated to be released as well, if only to paint an even more horrific picture. Ali Safori is a senior figure in the Islamic Jihad who is responsible for murdering nine Israelis and wounding over 100 in a series of terror attacks, including a car bombing at the Central Bus Station in Hadera that wounded 45 Israelis, a shooting attack at a market in Hadera that took the lives of four Israelis, and a suicide attack at the Checkpost Junction in which 29 civilians were wounded. Omar Alzaben, one of the leaders of the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, was similarly responsible for a long list of terror attacks that murdered 27 Israelis and has been serving 27 life sentences in Israeli prison. Ramadan Mashara was one of the terrorists involved in the suicide bombing in the neighborhood of Gilo in 2002, in which 19 Israeli civilians were killed. Shadi Amori was one of the masterminds of a car bombing in Megiddo in 2002 that murdered 17 Israelis. Thabet Mardawi, one of the senior figures in Islamic Jihad, was responsible for a series of attacks during the Second Intifada in which 21 Israelis were murdered and close to 200 were injured. He was responsible for over a dozen terror attacks, including deadly suicide bombings at a train station in Binyamina, in Kibbutz Shluchot, and on the 823 bus in the vicinity of Afula. He was captured by the IDF during Operation Defensive Shield.
Everyone’s great fear, of course, is that many of these loathsome murderers, after receiving a hero’s welcome upon their release from prison, will return to committing acts of terror. Their lives are dedicated to mayhem and murder, and there is certainly precedent for such an eventuality. May Hashem protect us!
The Prisoner Swap Equation
You may be astonished by the large number of terrorists being freed, but that was the key to this deal. What we saw on Sunday was the first step: The ceasefire came into effect with the release of the three Israeli hostages and the concurrent freeing of 90 murderous terrorists. (Since the ceasefire took effect only when the hostages were freed, Israel took advantage of the moments before the ceasefire to eliminate a few more terrorists in Gaza.) On the seventh day—Shabbos, the 25th of January—Israel is supposed to release another group of terrorists in exchange for another four living Israeli hostages. Beginning on the fourteenth day of the process—Shabbos, the 1st of February—more terrorists are due to be freed every seven days, up to and including the fifth week of this phase of the agreement. The prisoners will be released in exchange for three Israeli hostages at a time, living or dead. From the second week through the fifth week, there are supposed to be three prisoner exchanges carried out. During the sixth week, Israel will release more terrorists, provided that the remainder of the 33 hostages on the list are freed, alive or dead. At the end of the six weeks of the first phase, there will be a second and third phase of the agreement, although the details of those remaining stages have not been publicized.
The agreement between Israel and Hamas is based on an equation. For every living female Israeli hostage or Israeli child under the age of 19, Israel will release 30 Palestinian women or children currently behind bars in the country. For every living adult male Israeli hostage who is released (at the age of 50 or above), 30 Palestinian adults above the age of 50 will be released from Israeli prisons. In exchange for the nine sick or injured Israeli hostages who are not soldiers, 110 Palestinian prisoners will be freed. And every living Israeli female soldier will be freed in exchange for 50 Palestinian prisoners.
But the deal does not end there. To secure the release of Avera Mengistu and Hisham Al-Sayed, who have been held by Hamas for about a decade, thirty prisoners will be freed in exchange for each of them, in addition to 47 prisoners previously released in the Shalit deal, who will be transferred to Hamas in exchange for both of them together. In exchange for releasing the bodies of Israelis currently being held by Hamas, Israel will release a proportional number of women and juveniles (below the age of 19) from Gaza who are being detained by the IDF and Shin Bet and who were not involved in the October 7 attacks, who constitute a group of a thousand Gazan detainees. In addition, terrorists who were convicted of murder, manufacturing weapons that were used for murders, or dispatching other terrorists to commit lethal attacks will be released only on the condition that they are deported to the Gaza Strip or other countries. These terrorists are to be barred from the State of Israel for at least three years and, in some cases, permanently. But the bottom line is that thousands of terrorists will be returning to the street.
Shabbos and a Brazen Lie
The cabinet convened on Friday morning to discuss the hostage deal. After the deal was approved by the cabinet, a meeting of the government was required to ratify it, but the exact timing of that meeting was fraught with difficulty due to the approach of Shabbos. The chareidi ministers signed voting slips in advance, registering their votes in favor of the deal, and then left to return home in time for Shabbos. The ministers of Otzma Yehudit, meanwhile, remained at the meeting, which continued into Shabbos, and then voted against the deal and left the premises on foot, walking to a hotel on Rechov King George.
When the media first reported the upcoming government meeting, Yair Lapid hastened to announce that the approval of the deal would be delayed due to Shabbos, which he asserted would lead to a corresponding delay in the release of the three hostages. This was a complete lie. In fact, it was later revealed that if a delay took place, it would be due to the Supreme Court, which does not meet on Shabbos. Since there was a clause requiring the implementation of the deal to be delayed long enough for petitions to be filed with the Supreme Court, it was possible that the court’s weekend would cause the prisoner swap to be postponed. However, the judges ultimately announced that the court would remain active that Shabbos. In essence, this means that if the deal had been delayed on account of Shabbos, it would have been due to the judges rather than the chareidim. But the pesky facts didn’t stop Lapid from seizing the opportunity for a few more lines of incitement.
Speaking of Lapid, I have heard him mention on several occasions that he would like to pass a law requiring the government to serve for a set term. In one recent interview with the media, Lapid was asked if it would be good for the State of Israel to go to elections at this time. He responded with his typical conceit: “An election would be very bad for Israel now. Of course it would be bad. Do you think we should have elections every two years? I am going to submit a bill for governmental stability, which would allow elections to be held only once every four years. The country shouldn’t be dragged into an election every time someone has a whim.”
This would be amusing if the man weren’t a member of the Knesset. Yair Lapid is the leader of the opposition, which is constantly striving to drag the country into an immediate election. So the “someone” whose whim might bring down the government is none other than Lapid himself. His own party, Yesh Atid, submits a motion of no confidence in the government every week, and Lapid personally presented the party’s motion just this past week. What, then, is he thinking? Would his proposed law override the result of a no-confidence vote in the Knesset? Would Lapid insist on the Knesset serving out its term in the face of his own motion to dissolve it? The true whimsical move, in this case, is that of a man who doesn’t bother checking the facts before he speaks.
As for the proposal that Lapid mentioned, I checked the Knesset database and did not find such a bill attributed to him. Lapid has signed numerous bills, but he has authored only six. Of course, those proposals include a law that he copied from the Meretz party, which would encourage public transportation to operate on Shabbos, and a bill calling for the draft of bnei yeshivos, which is actually much more moderate than the draft law that is currently on the table. None of those bills, however, has anything to do with governmental stability, a phrase that does not seem to appear in the database at all.
The Child Refugee Who Became a Rov
I did not write about the recent passing of Rav Yosef Glicksberg, but a few words about him are definitely in order. Rav Glicksberg was an extraordinary individual, a very intelligent and interesting man, one of the most senior municipal rabbonim in Israel and a highly accomplished figure. His life story is closely intertwined with the history of the Holocaust and the early development of Israel in the following years. Rav Glicksberg was one of the Tehran Children, an orphan who was cared for by the Ponovezher Rov, and a figure who came to symbolize the victory of the Jewish spirit over the Nazi beasts. He served in the rabbinate in Givatayim since the year 1967.
Rav Glicksberg was born in Poland and was deported to Siberia with his parents. He was ultimately brought to Israel with the group of refugees known as the Tehran Children. Most of those children were sent to secular kibbutzim in a bid to transform them into “enlightened” secular Israelis, but Rav Glicksberg insisted, despite his young age, on being sent to a place of Torah. This brought him to Botei Avos and the Ponovezh Yeshiva, and he later moved on to the Yeshiva of Chevron in Yerushalayim, where he received semicha from the roshei yeshiva. He was active in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil, and in Yeshivas Hadarom in Rechovot for a short period of time before he was appointed to a rabbinic position in Givatayim. While serving as the chief rabbi of Givatayim, he was repeatedly elected to the Chief Rabbinical Council of Israel, in which he was involved in several areas of rabbinic endeavor. He was a unique individual who was universally loved and respected.
Rav Glicksberg was especially well known for his kind and congenial attitude toward everyone he met, which earned him admiration and fondness from everyone who encountered him, including secular Israelis. He was highly adept at explaining the most complex issues, and he mastered the ability to present the religious viewpoint on contentious issues in a way that satisfied our secular brethren. Perhaps that was the reason that he received awards for tolerance and good citizenship from a secular movement and from the municipality of Givatayim, which is one of the most secularized cities in the country.
Justice Minister Keeps Up the Fight
There is another interesting issue that I have barely discussed in this column, even though it has been accompanying us for a long time already. I presume that you are familiar with Justice Minister Yariv Levin, the man who launched the battle for judicial reform that sparked massive protests and political conflicts within the coalition. One might say that the original plan has been scrapped, and Levin is currently trying to make some “minor” changes in the judiciary instead of his sweeping overhaul. One of his goals is to prevent Justice Yitzchok Amit, a staunch leftist, from being elected to the position of chief justice of the Supreme Court. The chief justice is usually chosen on the basis of seniority, which would make Amit automatically entitled to the position as the most senior judge on the court. However, Levin does not accept this method for selecting the chief justice, which is not anchored in law and is not compulsory; he would prefer to see the Judicial Selection Committee appoint a more moderate or conservative justice to the position. At first, the judges of the Supreme Court were unwilling to nominate a different candidate, but one of the judges, Yosef Elron, ultimately submitted his own candidacy. This has developed into a long, bitter feud between Levin and Amit. Levin did manage to put the brakes on the process of appointing a chief justice and announced that the committee would examine the arguments against Amit. He also invited the public to submit challenges to Amit’s appointment, and hundreds of such petitions were received. At the same time, the Supreme Court received petitions against Levin’s delay of the appointment of a new chief justice. The judges ruled in favor of the petitioners (no surprise there) and ordered the minister of justice to appoint the new chief justice—namely, Yitzchok Amit—immediately. Levin wasn’t particularly fazed by their ruling. In any event, this demonstrates that the feud between the two men has grown deeply passionate.
Last week brought us an entirely new development, when a news report revealed that Yitzchok Amit was guilty of some problematic conduct. In light of this revelation, Yariv Levin decided that the allegations would have to be examined, and he called off the committee meeting at which Amit would have been finally appointed to the position of chief justice. This triggered another petition to the Supreme Court, and the judges ruled that the committee should convene after a ten-day postponement—i.e., by the beginning of next week. Levin, for his part, argued that the new development constituted a “significant change of circumstances” of which the Supreme Court was not aware when the judges ruled in December that a new chief justice must be elected by January 16. Levin argued, “In order to make it possible for the relevant authorities to conduct a thorough examination and investigation into the relevant facts regarding the allegations about the conduct of Justice Amit, it is not possible at this stage, before the critical facts have been determined, for the Judicial Selection Committee to discuss the matter of appointing a chief justice for the Supreme Court.” Levin also wrote to the Supreme Court, “Under the circumstances, there is no choice but to delay the committee’s appointment of a chief justice of the Supreme Court. Before the committee convenes, it is necessary to carry out a complete and thorough investigation of all the allegations. After this investigation, it will be possible to reexamine how to proceed.”
There is much to write about this entire story—not only the conflict surrounding Yitzchok Amit’s candidacy for the position of chief justice, but also Yariv Levin’s overall effort to see to it that the committee appoints more conservative judges. Everyone acknowledges that the judicial system is the dominant governing force in this country. The judges believe strongly in the credo that everything is subject to judicial review, and that the courts are empowered even to overturn laws passed by the Knesset and decisions made by the government and even the prime minister. The Supreme Court even received petitions concerning the hostage deal (both in favor of the deal and against it), and the judges did not reject the petitions outright. Instead, they discussed the issue and ultimately ruled that it is not a matter for the court. But they did not, in principle, reject the idea that the issue lies within their purview.
A Judge with a Conflict of Interest
Let me add a few words about the recent revelations about Justice Amit, whose conduct is supposed to be unimpeachable. Amit’s questionable dealings came to light when a journalist named Netael Bandel revealed that Justice Amit has been involved in legal proceedings in recent years concerning a property that he owns in Tel Aviv. The problem is that his name appears on the court papers as Goldfriend, his previous surname, and the court administration was not notified about the legal case, seemingly in violation of standard protocol. In addition, throughout the period of his own legal case, Yitzchok Amit presided over cases presented to the Supreme Court by the lawyers who were representing him in his own legal proceedings with the Tel Aviv municipality, which filed an indictment against him. He was also found to have been involved in promoting a judge who dealt with a case concerning a potential construction project on his property. Naturally, there is a conflict of interest here that should have led Amit to recuse himself from these cases. The judiciary claimed in response that Amit had given power of attorney to his brother, who signed his name on the legal documents, and that the judge was not aware of the legal proceedings at all. Amit also issued a personal letter to the public in which he provided detailed explanations of the journalist’s findings.
Yariv Levin pounced on the opportunity to delay Amit’s appointment as chief justice. His lawyers wrote to the Supreme Court that Bandel’s report created the suspicion that Amit had acted in a conflict of interest, had hidden information or failed to deliver required information to the courts, and had failed to properly report his status, all of which indicated the need for a thorough investigation of the claims. Levin’s lawyers noted his request to Justice Amit for explanations, Amit’s response, and the fact that the material was handed over to Leah Rakover, the legal advisor of the Ministry of Justice, for thorough review. Levin added that Rakover had contacted him the night before and had asked for additional materials for her investigation, which were not in his possession, that she had informed him earlier that day that “additional time is needed for further clarification and to formulate the conclusions that will be presented to the Judicial Selection Committee,” and that she would be unable to respond to him in time for the committee’s session the following day. In addition, Levin said, Bandel’s article had led to a police inquiry, and the decision as to whether a criminal case or a disciplinary case should be opened against Amit would be made by the head of the Intelligence and Investigations Department and, if necessary, the attorney general to the government. In light of the situation, Levin informed the court that it was necessary to delay the committee’s selection of a chief justice until the charges can be thoroughly examined.
But don’t make the mistake of thinking that this will make a difference. The police have already responded, with lightning speed, that they looked into the matter and decided that there were no criminal acts and there is no basis for an investigation. Of course, the Israeli public attaches no value to this response from the police, but the judges have no concern for public opinion. And Attorney General Baharav-Miara also announced that the minister of justice is acting in an unlawful manner.
As of now, the Judicial Selection Committee is scheduled to meet within ten days of the originally determined date, as per the Supreme Court’s ruling. My guess is that Amit will indeed be appointed to the position of chief justice. The judges are an elitist group who have no regard for the rest of the world and will do as they please even if it infuriates the entire country, so I don’t expect even this outrageous situation to make a real difference.
Eighty Years Since the Liberation of Auschwitz
It has been eighty years since the Auschwitz death camp was liberated, and the Polish government is planning an official ceremony on International Holocaust Remembrance Day (January 27), which will be attended by many heads of state. Prime Minister Netanyahu was originally scheduled to attend the event, but his travel plans have been scrapped. This has nothing to do with the international arrest warrants issued against him; it is simply because his health does not permit him to attend.
Of course, the occasion has deep emotional meaning for the people of Israel. Today, the public figure who is most closely associated with the liberation of Auschwitz is Rav Yisroel Meir Lau, whose personal story has become known throughout the world. If I am not mistaken, Rav Lau is scheduled to be the guest of honor at several events in Europe.
In honor of the occasion, the Holocaust Survivors’ Rights Authority, a department in the Prime Minister’s Office, released a number of statistics. Uri Maklev, who serves as a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and heads the department, said, “Behind these numbers are people who have lived through exceedingly painful ordeals. From our vantage point today, we can see how they contended with the most unspeakable suffering in the past. Their message to the coming generations is about the victory of the spirit, and what we can do with the power of their faith and their great revival. The Holocaust Survivors’ Rights Authority works every day to benefit thousands of Holocaust survivors by quickly and efficiently providing medical, personal, welfare, and social services to the thousands of survivors who are so valuable to us.”
Ronit Rosen, the director of the Holocaust Survivors’ Rights Authority, said, “The survivors of the war against the Nazis are the pillar of fire that preserves the memory of heroism and the fight against evil during the Second World War. They played an active role in the victory over Nazi Germany eighty years ago. Unfortunately, their numbers are dwindling, and it is therefore incumbent on us to transmit their legacy of heroism to the next generation. That is one reason that we have decided to dedicate the international memorial ceremony this year to the topic of Jewish heroism. The authority will continue providing holistic responses to the survivors of the Holocaust, out of a sense of indebtedness and recognition of their contributions and their sacrifices.”
Let’s Daven for Dovid ben Golda
I read a relatively short article recently, but it is just as sad as it is brief. The article appeared in a newspaper that was once highly respected but has been through some difficult times. In any event, last Friday, alongside a picture of two young men (probably soldiers) eating falafel, the following text appears: “Yesterday, Operation Dugo kicked off for the tenth time, in memory of Dovid ‘Dugo’ Leitner. This year once again, hundreds of thousands of Israelis flocked to falafel stores and stands in memory of Dugo, who was on the Auschwitz death march in 1945 and promised himself that if he survived and came to Eretz Yisroel, he would eat falafel there.”
Dovid “Dugo” Leitner passed away at the age of 93 on Tisha B’Av of the year 5783/2023. He was an impressive individual who wore a yarmulka and was born in Hungary to religious parents who ran a grocery store. On March 19, 1944, the Germans invaded Hungary. On the day after Pesach, most of the Jews in his city were confined in a ghetto. Six weeks later, the Jews were deported to Auschwitz-Birkenau. Young Dugo remained in Birkenau with about 4000 other children. On January 18, 1945, he was taken on the forced death march to Mauthausen and from there to Gunskirchen, where he was finally liberated in the month of May. He moved to Israel in 1949. Dugo had a personal custom of eating falafel every year on January 18 to celebrate his survival, and he explained the reason: He was 14 years old during the death march, and he was about to give up during the grueling walk. As we know, anyone who stopped or fell out of line was shot and killed by the Nazis immediately. During those painful moments, he remembered that his mother, Golda, had told him that there were “bilkelach” growing on the trees in Eretz Yisroel. The mental image of bilkelach in Eretz Yisroel gave him the hope and strength that he needed to continue moving forward. When he arrived in Israel and observed the frying of falafel balls, he was reminded of the bilkelach he had envisioned, and his personal practice thus began.
In 2016, the kibbutz where he settled in Nir Galim launched “Operation Dugo,” in which people from all over the world participate by eating falafel on January 18 and sending pictures of themselves holding a sign in honor of the occasion. Of course, this is a charming idea, and it was very fitting to join Dugo in his celebration of his victory over the Nazis while he was alive. But now that he has passed away, I would say that it would be much more fitting to honor his memory in a way that will serve as a boost for his neshomah.
A Historic Speech
With the entire country’s attention riveted by the returning hostages, the issue of the draft law has been nudged out of center stage at least for the time being. It is possible that if the mood on the Israeli street becomes slightly calmer, then the toxic hostility to Torah learners will ebb as well. Nevertheless, there is no way to avoid the issue altogether. Something will have to be done, since the army is already sending out large numbers of draft orders. In any event, we are all waiting for the next move from Defense Minister Yisroel Katz.
Let us not forget that a tsunami of hate descended on the chareidi community a decade ago as well, when the government led by Netanyahu, Lapid, and Bennett declared war on the community. That year, the drosha delivered by Rav Yinon Yonah, the rov of the neighborhood of Givat Shaul in Yerushalayim, on Shabbos Hagadol in his bais medrash, Techeles Mordechai, made waves throughout the country. With great eloquence and at great length, Rav Yonah explained how to respond to the chareidi community’s detractors and, even more importantly, how the average person should relate to the issue for himself. After quoting Chazal, he declared, “We must announce loudly and without fear that the soldiers are not the ones who are protecting us; it is the bnei yeshivos who protect the soldiers.” He went on to quote the Nefesh Hachaim’s statement that if the world were ever to be empty of Torah learning for even a split second, the entire universe would cease to exist. “Take a look,” he added, “and you will see that whenever there is an attempt to draft bnei yeshivos, the Arabs sharpen their swords.” This drosha was later published and made a powerful impact on the country.
Every chapter of that book resonates with significance. Rav Yonah spoke about the miracles of the Six Day War and pointed out that the arrogance with which Israel took credit for its victory led to the Yom Kippur War. He decried the calls for “equality in bearing the burden,” pointing out that secular Israelis do not understand the concept of sharing the burdens of others. “These cruel, wicked people think that they are going to teach us the meaning of ahavas Yisroel!” he scoffed. He went on to tell an incredible story: “After I was appointed as the rov of Givat Shaul, I went to receive a brocha from Rav Meir Abuchatzeirah. When I began my audience with him, he said to me, ‘From now on, when you daven Shemoneh Esrei and reach the brocha of hashiveinu avinu l’Sorasecha, you should have the residents of Givat Shaul in mind. At the brocha of Selach Lonu, you should be thinking about all the people of Givat Shaul, and the same is true for the brocha of Refoeinu.’ Since that time,” Rav Yonah added, “I have felt a significant weight of responsibility.” He also quoted the Zohar’s statement that “the day will come when the eirev rav will become leaders of the people, and the posuk states regarding them, ‘Her enemies became leaders.’” And he vehemently rejected the argument that there is nothing wrong with drafting yeshiva bochurim who aren’t particularly diligent. “I personally know many outstanding, renowned talmidei chochomim who accomplish incredible things today but barely opened a sefer for years when they were in yeshiva. When they married and began building their own homes, these men suddenly caught themselves and began learning with tremendous hasmodah. Today, they can be described as gedolei Torah. I am speaking about people who are my age, who sat together with me in yeshiva. Had they been drafted, can you imagine how much the Jewish people would have lost?”
Hoping for the Best with a New President
There are many other things that I could report to you about. On Motzoei Shabbos, there was a stabbing attack in Tel Aviv that left the Jewish victim seriously injured. Meanwhile, Otzma Yehudit has resigned from the government and the coalition. These are two of many important stories that deserve further attention, but I am just about out of space.
Before I end this week’s column, though, I would just like to touch on the subject of the new president of the United States. I have a few friends who were invited to his inauguration in Washington; they received invitations to the indoor event, not just to stand outside and watch the screens. Personally, I would not have made the trip from Yerushalayim (or Modiin Illit) to Washington for this purpose, but I hope they enjoyed themselves. Here in Eretz Yisroel, we are davening to have four wonderful years with him, and we hope that he will not turn against us at some point.
On that note, the following thought occurred to me. It was extremely foolish of the Democrats to remove Biden from the running and cast him aside in shame. Had he remained in the race, it isn’t hard to imagine that he would have beaten Trump—especially if he managed to hold his tongue—even if only by a margin of a few electoral votes. Once he was safely installed as the president once again, his advanced dementia would likely have led him to resign fairly quickly, and the presidency would have been handed to Mrs. Harris on a silver platter. This is not a farfetched scenario at all, but Hashem plans the movements of every person. And there is much to learn from the way these events actually unfolded.