An Unprecedented Clash
There is no question regarding what should be today’s top story. The biggest development of this week is undoubtedly Prime Minister Netanyahu’s decision to fire Ronen Bar, head of the Shin Bet. Netanyahu and Bar met on Sunday for less than 15 minutes, and the prime minister informed the Shin Bet chief of his decision during that time. The impetus for the decision was the prime minister’s complete lack of trust in the Shin Bet director. In addition, Netanyahu accused Bar of threatening him. “When did I threaten you?” Bar asked. Netanyahu reportedly answered, “In Yediot Acharonot.” Indeed, a correspondent for Yediot Acharonot recently wrote that Ronen Bar is in possession of certain materials that would incriminate Netanyahu and his family, and that he is prepared to publish those materials if he is left with no alternative. That is pure extortion. Ronen Bar claimed that he wasn’t responsible for the report.
As the media put it, according to people close to him, Bar was “stunned” by the decision to dismiss him. There are several versions of what happened next. According to one account, Bar announced that he would not leave his position even if the prime minister fires him. He later issued a clarification that walked back his aggressive stance, claiming that he would certainly step down if the government dismisses him. But in the interim, Bar has emerged from this situation looking very bad. The government, for its part, scheduled a meeting to discuss the issue. In any event, the clash between the prime minister and the head of the Shin Bet is unprecedented.
The question now is what the law has to say about this situation. The government presumably has the legal authority to fire the director of the Shin Bet before the end of his term, just as they had the authority to appoint him in the first place. Ronen Bar’s term is scheduled to end in October 2026. At this point, two things must be kept in mind. First, Netanyahu recently asked Bar to step down, and Bar refused. That alone is a strike against him. In addition, most of the officials who were responsible for the events of October 7 are no longer in office; they have either been fired or resigned. Bar is the only one who is still holding on to his position. Moreover, Bar denounced Netanyahu for demanding his personal loyalty. “I am not supposed to be loyal to Netanyahu; I owe my allegiance to the Shin Bet and the state,” he said. The people of Israel were not pleased with this statement.
As everyone expected, Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara hurried to inject herself to impede the process of removing the Shin Bet director from office. In a brief letter, she informed the prime minister that he is not legally empowered to dismiss Bar from his position. “I must inform you,” she wrote, “with regard to your decision to convene the cabinet this week to discuss ending the term of the director of the Shin Bet, that you are not permitted to begin that process until the factual and legal framework underlying your decision is fully clarified and your legal ability to deal with this issue has been determined. This is due to the unusual sensitivity of the matter, its unprecedented nature, and the concern that the process might be tainted by illegality and conflict of interest, as well as the fact that the position of head of the General Security Service does not require personal loyalty to the prime minister.”
The problem is that the attorney general herself is in a conflict of interest, since Netanyahu has already notified her that the government has begun the process of impeaching her. This entire situation is therefore very complicated.
Ronen Bar’s Reaction Backfires
Laying out the reasons for Bar’s dismissal, Netanyahu announced, “Due to my ongoing lack of trust, I have decided to present the government with a proposal to end the term of the director of the Shin Bet. Citizens of Israel,” he continued, “we are in the middle of a war for our very existence, a war on seven fronts. At any time, but especially during an existential war like this one, there must be full trust between the prime minister and the head of the Shin Bet. Unfortunately, the situation is the opposite: I do not have that trust. I have ongoing distrust of the Shin Bet director, distrust that is growing over time. I want to make it clear that I am full of appreciation for the men and women of the Shin Bet. They perform important, dedicated work for the security of all of us. As the prime minister, with authority over the Shin Bet, I am certain that this step is essential for rehabilitating the agency, achieving all the goals of this war, and preventing the next tragedy.”
Ronen Bar responded, “As someone who was heading the Shin Bet on October 7, I took responsibility for the agency’s role and I stated clearly that I intended to act on it before the end of my term. That is what was expected of everyone. Therefore, it is clear that the motive for firing me has nothing to do with October 7. The prime minister made it clear that the decision stemmed from his claim that there is ongoing distrust between us. Under my leadership, the Shin Bet has carried out a thorough investigation that pointed to intelligence and internal process failures on October 7, which have already begun to be repaired. At the same time, the investigation also pointed to policies that were maintained for years, especially during the year before the massacre, by the government and its head. The investigation has revealed that the political echelon deliberately ignored the agency’s warnings for a long time.
“It is incumbent on me to fulfill my personal commitment and the commitment of my agency to bring the hostages home, to complete a number of sensitive investigations, and to prepare the two candidates for my replacement, who will be chosen by the prime minister,” Bar added. “This is necessitated by my official position and the special sensitivity of the Shin Bet, due to its purpose and the law that endows it with broad and especially sensitive powers. In my previous meeting, I notified the prime minister that I intend to complete the aforementioned tasks in coordination with him before I step down from my position. This was due to my responsibility to the public, to the security of the state, and to the functioning of the Shin Bet for the benefit of the State of Israel.”
Bar’s mention of an ongoing investigation appears to touch on a major issue that might lie at the heart of his clash with Netanyahu: The Shin Bet is currently investigating two of the prime minister’s aides, who worked for the Qatari government in the past. Netanyahu considers this a politically motivated move on the agency’s part, and Bar was obliquely suggesting that he was being fired because of that investigation. Where does the truth lie? In all likelihood, Netanyahu is right. Ronen Bar seems to be a leftist, possibly even a radical leftist, and it is logical to presume that he is deliberately working to harm Netanyahu.
Likud Ministers Applaud the Dismissal
Netanyahu’s decision to dismiss Bar triggered an outpouring of criticism from the left. Haaretz ran a massive headline that read, “Netanyahu Is Acting Like a Dictator Run Amok.” Yair Lapid wrote, “Netanyahu is firing Ronen Bar for only one reason: the Qatar-gate investigation. For a year and a half, he saw no reason to dismiss him; it was only when the Shin Bet began investigating Qatar’s infiltration of his office and the money transferred to his closest aides that it suddenly became urgent for him to fire Bar immediately. Ronen Bar has said many times that he will step down from his position and will take responsibility for his part in the October 7 disaster after the hostages return home. He is the senior professional in the negotiations, and firing him now shows a lack of responsibility and a lack of commitment to the hostages’ fate.” The problem with this argument is that Lapid is factually wrong. Ronen Bar was removed long ago from any involvement in the negotiations over the hostages.
The Movement for Quality Government threw in its own two cents, declaring that “the dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet is a declaration of war on the rule of law. Netanyahu’s arbitrary decision to fire Shin Bet chief Ronen Bar, in the middle of an investigation into his office and his staff, is a transparent and blatant attempt to torpedo the Qatar-gate investigation and to intimidate the guardians of the law. It is a mafia-like move that must not be supported.”
Yair Golan, the chairman of the Democrats party (previously known as the Labor party), added, “Netanyahu has declared war on the State of Israel. The dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet is a desperate attempt by a man accused of crimes to rid himself of someone who is loyal to Israel and is investigating Netanyahu and his associates for serious crimes that he is not willing to cover up…. The dismissal of the Shin Bet director will not be allowed to pass as if nothing had happened. There will be fierce opposition; we will fight with great force and will not allow Netanyahu to turn the State of Israel into a dictatorship run by a corrupt person.”
MK Benny Gantz added, “The dismissal of the head of the Shin Bet is a direct attack on the security of the state and a move that undermines the unity of Israeli society for personal and political reasons.”
On the other end of the spectrum, ministers from the Likud and other parties announced that Bar should have been fired long ago. Betzalel Smotrich wrote, “Ronen Bar should have been dismissed immediately after the events of October 7. What normal country needs a special reason to dismiss the head of its intelligence service if he was personally responsible for the horrific intelligence lapse that led to the greatest tragedy in the history of the state? Every day that he has remained in office since that time is a terrible moral failing and an awful breach of national security.”
Justice Minister Yariv Levin added, “The law states explicitly that the government is permitted to dismiss the head of the Shin Bet before the end of his term. The attorney general should be familiar with this law as well. In case someone is confused, let it be understood that Israel is a democracy and that everyone in the country, including the attorney general, is subject to the law…. The time has come for a democratic Israel where decisions are made by elected officials, not by jurists who hold themselves above the nation.”
Was Netanyahu Inspired by Trump?
Before I move on to other topics, let me make two comments related to the Ronen Bar affair. First, there is another investigation taking place at this time, which is under a strict gag order; however, some of the details were leaked to the press. Based on those leaked reports, it seems that someone who was responsible for the personal security of government officials took advantage of his position to transmit information on Netanyahu’s whereabouts to the leaders of the anti-government protests. This is a major security breach resulting from the actions of a high-ranking official who is obviously part of the Shin Bet, which includes the Protective Security Department, which is responsible for providing bodyguards for high-ranking officials. It has now become clear how the protestors always knew where to find Netanyahu; they even knew the location of the cottage in the north where he spent his vacation. This betrayal of the prime minister is a very serious crime.
Now that the case has come to light, other government ministers have begun to recall that they, too, suspected that someone was tipping off protestors about their destinations. Several of them believed that the bodyguards provided to them by the Shin Bet were to blame, and the latest investigation seems to lend credence to those suspicions. And if the Shin Bet is truly abetting the anti-government protestors, that alone should be a good enough reason for the agency’s director to be immediately fired.
My next comment has a connection to America. Many Israelis believe that Netanyahu’s tough attitude in recent days was inspired by the sweeping changes that President Trump is making in the United States. Some believe that this topic was even discussed by Netanyahu and Trump in their meeting last month. As soon as the meeting ended, an anonymous source related that the US president and the Israeli prime minister had talked about the “Israeli deep state” and “the absurdity of dragging the prime minister to court hearings three times a week while he is in the middle of overseeing a war that will change the face of the Middle East.” Ever since Netanyahu’s meeting with Trump, there has been much more talk among his associates about the judicial system and the deep state.
In fact, you may recall that the prime minister decried the judicial double standard in a speech to the Knesset. “The criminal leaks by Gilad Kariv from a secret session of the Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, Yair Golan’s calls for refusal to serve in the army, and the film from Sde Teiman that slandered our soldiers—none of these things are being investigated,” he declared. “What are they investigating instead? Fabricated accusations against me and my close associates. This lowly collaboration between the officials of the deep state and the media is undemocratic and will not succeed, because the people are smart and I will not be deterred,” Netanyahu declared.
Since his return from Washington, Netanyahu seems to have gained some audacity. For instance, when Ronen Bar asked to attend a cabinet session, Netanyahu told him that he was not invited. The prime minister also announced that he has begun the process of impeaching the attorney general. In short, he seems to have been encouraged by the example set by President Trump.
A Former Shin Bet Chief Threatens Netanyahu
Ronen Bar’s predecessor as the head of the Shin Bet was a man named Nadav Argaman. Last week, Argaman was interviewed on television. At one point during that long conversation, the interviewer said to him, “It seems to me that you are not saying everything you know. That much is clear. But what is preventing you from telling us everything?”
Argaman replied, “The intimate relationship between the head of the Shin Bet and the prime minister is very important, and I do not believe that it is correct to violate that intimacy. Privacy must be maintained for the purpose of guaranteeing the proper relations, the working partnership, and the transparency that must exist between them. That is the reason that I am currently remaining silent about everything that took place in private between the prime minister and me. True, I possess a large amount of information that I could use, but I am not using it, for the reasons that I mentioned.”
“When would you use it?” the interviewer pressed.
At that point, Argaman gave the following shocking response: “If the State of Israel thinks, or if I conclude, that the prime minister has decided that he is going to violate the law, then I will have no choice and I will say everything that I know and have refrained from revealing until today, to preserve the important relationship between the prime minister and the head of the Shin Bet.”
It sounded like a threat, and that is exactly what it was. And it turned out to reflect very poorly on the Shin Bet. Argaman intended to harm Netanyahu, but he ended up harming himself, the Shin Bet, and Ronen Bar. The interview thus played very nicely into Netanyahu’s hands. Netanyahu filed a complaint with the police, accusing Argaman of blackmailing him, and the police announced that the former Shin Bet director would be summoned for questioning. Interestingly, the police did not ask the attorney general for permission to open an investigation, since they believe that after Argaman ended his active service and became an ordinary civilian, they are no longer required to seek the attorney general’s permission to investigate him. Even the police seem to understand that the attorney general is politicized and will reflexively shoot down any initiative that might benefit the prime minister.
In a letter to police chief Dani Levi, Netanyahu wrote, “I am contacting you with a request to open an investigation after every red line was crossed when the former director of the Shin Bet, Nadav Argaman, decided to use threats and blackmail against a sitting prime minister.”
Itamar Ben-Gvir, who served until recently as the national security minister and was therefore responsible for the police force, wrote in response to the move, “I welcome the decision of the police force to open an investigation against former Shin Bet director Nadav Argaman. This is a very important step, since the practice of using threats and intimidation to blackmail political officials must be stopped. I would also advise the prime minister to demand that the attorney general not be involved in this case. She is in a conflict of interest, and it would not be correct for her to be involved in it.”
And all of this happened in the week of Purim….
Heavy Purim Traffic Takes Everyone by Surprise
We all waited eagerly for Purim meshulash, and we tried to make the most of every moment of the holiday. I am sure that you know about the laws of Purim meshulash, but you would have to be in Yerushalayim to truly appreciate the experience. We read the megillah on Thursday night and Friday morning, and we gave matanos la’evyonim on Friday. On Shabbos, we recited Al Hanissim and leined the parshah about Amalek’s attack, and on Sunday, the people of Yerushalayim celebrated the Purim seudah and delivered mishloach manos. The holiday of Purim was stretched across a period of three days rather than a single day. What could be better than that?
I could easily write endlessly about the festivities of Purim—the groups of ebullient bochurim who arrive at our doors to collect money, the endless flow of divrei Torah, and the festive commotion in the streets. I imagine that you have similar experiences in America, but I think that the traffic congestion in Yerushalayim is unique. Beginning at 1:00 in the afternoon this Sunday, when large numbers of visitors began arriving from Bnei Brak, Kiryat Sefer, and other cities, the traffic on the streets of Yerushalayim came to a standstill. The trip from Givat Shaul to Rechov Sorotzkin, for instance, usually takes about ten minutes, but on the afternoon of Purim it required a three-hour drive. I am not exaggerating!
The sole entrance to the city of Kiryat Sefer was likewise choked by traffic. A yungerman from Kiryat Sefer told me that he left the city at 1:00 in the afternoon to join his parents in Yerushalayim at their Purim seudah, and he arrived at 6:00 in the evening, after the sun had set. A drive that usually takes no more than 40 minutes ended up costing him a full five hours. This was an unfortunate experience that was shared by many other motorists and their families, who found themselves spending three or four hours on the road leading out of Kiryat Sefer. Some of them simply decided to return home on foot rather than continuing their journeys. And that wasn’t the end of the situation; when Purim was over, of course, everyone wanted to return home, whether to Kiryat Sefer, to Bnei Brak, or elsewhere. Some of them traveled by car while others traveled by bus, and thousands of people once again crowded the bus stops or found themselves mired in traffic jams while trying to get out of Yerushalayim. Naturally, this chaotic situation became the talk of the day, and many people expressed anger at the Ministry of Transportation, which never seems to anticipate these problems in advance and to prepare for the situations. Such is the nature of life in Israel; the country always seems to be taken by surprise, even when the first rains of the year arrive and cause major flooding. In this case, though, the Transportation Ministry pointed out that when millions of people and tens of thousands of cars converge on Yerushalayim, intense congestion occurs on the roads.
On Sunday, I remained in shul after Shacharis until the first minyan for Mincha and then returned home, had a proper seudah and then went to sleep. I have no idea who came to my door after 3:00 in the afternoon, although I was told that there were many visitors. I apologize to anyone who tried to visit me and was disappointed, or to anyone to whom I did not reciprocate for their mishloach manos. I also note that someone sent us a meat platter from a new company known as Meat Me. According to my family, the meat was devoured by the participants in my seudah. The only problem is that we have no idea who sent it to us. Since Chazal tell us that a person who sends a gift should notify the recipient of his identity, I would like to ask the individual who sent that gift to me to please let me know whom I can thank for it.
Saar and Elkin Snag Spots on the Likud List
Now it’s time for a bit of political news. The Likud party and the United Right party (headed by Gideon Saar) signed an agreement last Thursday that includes a merger of the two parties. As a result, they will submit a joint slate in the next election. The United Right was led by Gideon Saar and Zeev Elkin, who previously belonged to the Likud and left the party in a huff, hurling bitter accusations at Netanyahu. Well, it seems that the tide has turned and they have decided to partner with Netanyahu again. This is especially important for the prime minister since he will need their votes for the Knesset to approve the state budget, especially now that Ben-Gvir is threatening to vote against it or to abstain from the vote, and Goldknopf is similarly threatening to vote against the budget due to the government’s failure to pass a draft law. The agreement between the two parties guarantees that Saar and Elkin will receive positions on the list come election time. Since the polls show that their party wouldn’t make it across the electoral threshold if they run independently, Saar and Elkin seem to have made an excellent deal. From the Likud party’s perspective, it can be considered a bad deal but a product of necessity.
Gideon Saar, the current foreign minister, made the following argument to explain his decision: “October 7 and the historic events that followed it should have led to sweeping changes in the political system and the priorities and political strategies of our elected officials and our parties. Not everyone understood that, but that is what I have done. The differences between us, from a historic perspective, will seem like unimportant nuances in the face of our enemies’ intentions to destroy us and the major challenges that lie ahead of us. Our job is to safeguard the future of Israel for generations. That is why I joined the government, and that is why I made the decision to return to the party that was my political home for most of my adult life and my career in public service—namely, the Likud party. Together with my colleagues, who have made this arduous and challenging journey with me, but who have never abandoned their right-wing worldview, I am convinced that we have strengthened the State of Israel at a decisive time in history. In this way, I also believe that we will strengthen the nationalist camp, which is the only one capable of leading Israel today in the face of its challenges. I am thankful to Prime Minister and Likud chairman Binyomin Netanyahu for setting aside our past differences, just as I have done, and working to include me in the government and to unify our forces.”
Saar went on to quote Menachem Begin, who once said, “If there are a few bleeding hearts who decided to turn up their noses, then all that will happen is that they will have upturned noses.”
Despite his claims that his intentions were noble and grandiose, no one can doubt that Gideon Saar had only one real consideration in mind: his own personal interests.
Politics in the School System
Another interesting issue that has been making waves in the country is the curious mix of politics and education. A number of academic leaders announced that if the government continues its assault on democracy (in their view) then they will place their schools on strike. That is a somewhat brazen move for people who are in charge of government-funded academic institutions. In fact, even the students have begun speaking out against the decisions of these administrators.
Zev Degani, the principal of the Herzliya Gymnasium in Tel Aviv, was one of the school administrators who jumped on this bandwagon; this week he announced that classes will be called off on Wednesday so that the faculty and students of the school can travel to Yerushalayim to participate in a planned protest against the government. “Our students and teachers will show solidarity with those who are fighting for freedom and democracy in Israeli society,” he declared. The principal told his faculty, “We have a prime minister who is doing dangerous things and turning this country into a dictatorship at an alarming rate. Due to the severity of the situation, I am permitting myself to make political statements.”
In response to the principal’s statements, Education Minister Yoav Kisch threatened to cut off government funding to the school altogether if the principal carries out his intentions. “Zev Degani is a criminal,” Kisch wrote. “His decision to cancel classes and to send his students to a political demonstration is a direct and severe violation of the Compulsory Education Law. The school system is not lawless, and we will not allow the schools to be turned into arenas for political conflict.” Kisch announced that the principal and the board of directors of the Herzliya Gymnasium had been summoned for an urgent hearing on Wednesday, and if the school cancels classes on that day, its funding from the Education Ministry will be cut off immediately.
Degani was not cowed by the education minister’s response; instead, he responded strongly. “The minister of education cannot threaten to withhold our funding; we are not violating any laws,” he said. “The minister of education does not have the authority to halt our funding. Expressing concern isn’t a crime. I would like to see the minister pull funding from a school that is concerned about the future of this state. I would like to see a minister who wants to put the brakes on teachers and students who show concern for their country. Instead of worrying about education, he is threatening us.”
The Education Ministry flatly dismissed his comments. “Zev Degani has turned his school into a tool for political propaganda,” the ministry staff wrote in an official statement. “His call to shut down the school for a day and attend a protest is a violation of the Law of Compulsory Education. Anyone who uses a school as a platform to advance political agendas is not fit to teach in our educational system. The board of the Herzliya Gymnasium has been summoned for an urgent hearing, and any school directors who act in a similar fashion will find themselves facing legal proceedings and fines.”
As you can see, there is no shortage of excitement in this country.
The Press Searches for Chareidi Faults
The recent cuts to government subsidies for day care for chareidi children have given the media a new excuse to hound the chareidi community. The financial newspapers in Israel seem to be competing with each other in an effort to find parents who are trying to retain their children’s subsidies through underhanded methods. Even some ludicrous proposals floated as Purim satire have been picked up by the general media as evidence of chareidi subterfuge. In their eyes, all chareidim are thieves and tricksters. One newspaper even reported that 50,000 requests for subsidies from chareidim were rejected after their claims were found to be false. This would be a serious accusation indeed, except for the fact that it has turned out to be a lie.
Last week, Minister of Labor Yoav Ben-Tzur, who oversees the government subsidies for day care, stood at the Knesset podium and declared, “I would like to announce that I am proud to be chareidi. I am proud of my community, and I take pride in the enormous chessed that they perform on a purely volunteer basis for any person in need. I am proud of our hundreds of chessed organizations, of the tens of thousands of principled, altruistic people who inspire us all with their kindness. I am proud of the determined, uncompromising efforts we have made in the State of Israel to reach high positions in the government, in employment, and in all centers of power. It distresses me that even in the year 2025, there are still members of the Knesset who choose to slander the chareidi community even with their professional parliamentary queries, without bothering to look into the facts. One does not have to be especially perceptive to discern the blatant hatred for chareidim that seeps out between the lines. The truth is proven in black and white by the real facts about the requests for subsidized day care that were submitted to the Ministry of Labor for the current school year. Based on a comparison with the records of the National Insurance Institute, it has been determined that only about 2000 parents of children who are remaining in day care have seen an unusual change in their employment circumstances since the previous year. This stands in contrast to the unverified claims that 50,000 requests were rejected. The Ministry of Labor has rejected only 7000 claims altogether. According to the ministry’s records, as of February 26, there were 104,805 requests for subsidies in day care centers and babysitting services, of which 93,501 have already been processed. Out of those requests, 50,090 were given a set subsidy for the entire school year based on information received from the National Insurance Institute, and 36,258 files are in the process of collecting additional documentation and were assigned temporary subsidies. In addition, about 7000 families were found to be ineligible for subsidies, as I mentioned before, due to their per capita income exceeding the maximum. The newspaper report, which claims that 50,000 requests for subsidies were rejected, is untrue. Those requests were not rejected; the families were merely asked to provide additional documents, which happens every year. The false accusations leveled against the chareidi community are nothing but fake news.”
The same financial newspaper, which is known for its relentless harassment of chareidim, features a “war diary,” which is apparently written by a member of its staff who was sent to fight in the north. The personal accounts in this column are actually quite fascinating and stirring. The writer mentioned this week that after some of his friends were wounded or killed, another member of his unit asked rhetorically, “How can the government see what is happening here and continue to oppose the draft of chareidim?” Another soldier, who had voted for a coalition party, responded, “Why don’t you ask the same question about the leftists in Tel Aviv who evade the draft?”
This brings us to the relevant portion of the column. “There are some who feel that the government must pay for the inequality that it consciously encourages,” the writer remarks. “Requests to a fund that supports reservists are becoming increasingly common, even from people who don’t truly need it. One person pretends that his phone has broken, and another asks to be reimbursed when a plumber visits his home to repair something that broke before the war began. Above all, however, there is the ploy known as ‘babysitter fraud.’ It’s a very simple trick: The reservist changes the name of one of his friends in his phone to a generic name accompanied by the word ‘babysitter’ and then transfers hundreds of shekels to him, which are immediately returned. He then sends a screenshot of the bank transfer to the fund and asks for supplemental income to cover the 2000 shekels supposedly paid to a babysitter.”
Somehow, this deception doesn’t garner outrage when it is perpetrated by people who are not chareidi.
A Spiritual Revolution Is Underway
A spirit of purity and awakening is spreading through the people of Israel. After the Six Day War, when a similar phenomenon took place, Rav Shlomo Wolbe published a number of articles calling on the Jewish people to take advantage of the opportunity. In that spirit, Lev L’Achim, the famous kiruv organization, is considering launching a new campaign titled “B’Derech Emunah.” If the current opportunity for awakening is missed, they argue, we will all have failed ourselves and the many Jews who need nothing more than to be given a chance to return to their roots. As I mentioned in the past, a recent political cartoon neatly captured the current situation: It is a picture that shows Israeli hostages being prodded into a tunnel at gunpoint, only to emerge on the other side with tefillin on their heads. The returning hostages have all related that their experiences have bolstered their emunah and infused them with a desire to return to Yiddishkeit. In fact, some of the returning hostages, including Agam Berger and Omer Shem-Tov, participated in various Purim events and spoke about emunah, leaving their audiences deeply moved.
I recently became aware of two places where we can see that we are living through a historic time of religious awakening. The first is the rehabilitation ward in Tel Hashomer Medical Center, where the yungeleit of Kollel Ohel Yiska, headed by Rav Moshe Pincus, have adopted the wounded soldiers as their personal cause. The number of wounded soldiers actually exceeds the number of yungeleit by far, and every soldier possesses a holy yet wounded soul. I have been invited to several of the events held with the soldiers in the facility, although I haven’t yet had the time to attend them. But I have heard that the events move everyone to tears.
The other institution is Midreshet Ahavas HaTorah in Beer Yaakov, which was founded by Rav Moishy Berdichevski. This institution serves young men and boys who thirst for the Word of Hashem. It isn’t a new phenomenon, but its accomplishments are extraordinary. And anything with a connection to Beer Yaakov tends to inspire me.
Shul Arsons Ignored by Police
In the year 5779, the Siach Yisroel shul in the neighborhood of Kiryat Yovel in Yerushalayim was torched. It was a traumatic event that drew sharp reactions from many public figures, including Prime Minister Netanyahu (who declared, “I am appalled; the police must find the perpetrators immediately!”), the chief rabbis, the minister of education (a post held by Naftoli Bennett at the time), the chareidi representatives in the Knesset, the city council, and, of course Moshe Leon. Now, what do you think has happened since that time? Have you heard about anyone who was handed a stiff prison sentence for their role in this incident? Unfortunately, all that has happened is that the phenomenon of attacks on shuls in the State of Israel has continued. Two weeks ago, MK Simon Moshiashvili brought up this issue in a motion titled, “A protest and a demand for action: Shuls in Israel are being ransacked and looted, and sifrei Torah are desecrated.” As Moshiashvili aptly pointed out, it is incumbent on everyone to protest the deplorable phenomenon of vandalism in shuls, as well as the authorities’ indifference to these horrific occurrences.
“Over the past two years,” Moshiashvili said, “there have been at least five incidents in which shuls in Israel were desecrated, their sifrei Torah were destroyed, religious articles were smashed, tzedokah boxes were stolen, and doors were broken down. The holiest places have become sites of crime and destruction. And what was the response? Silence, disdain, and indifference. Mr. Minister, this situation cannot be allowed to continue. We demand a strong hand, uncompromising enforcement, and penalties for the perpetrators. Anyone who dares to desecrate things that are sacred to the Jewish people must recognize that he will pay a heavy price for that crime…. Sifrei Torah were torn and thrown on the floor,” Moshiashvili added. “This is a very worrying phenomenon. I am disturbed by what seems like negligence—the dangerous message that anyone can desecrate a shul, break into its premises, steal its valuables and destroy its contents, and no one will be brought to justice. In how many of these cases were the criminals actually brought to justice?”
Simon Moshiashvili is generally refined and pleasant, but he spoke with passion and vehemence. “We are discussing anti-Semitic crimes in the heart of the State of Israel,” he declared. “This state cannot take such crimes lightly. Anyone who is silent is abetting these criminals. The time has come to put an end to this weakness and to ensure that the perpetrators are judged with the full severity of the law.”
Moshiashvili turned to address the minister directly. “As a member of the public, I demand answers and an immediate change in policy,” he said. “The penalties for anyone who damages a shul must be stiffened. If the criminals are caught and punished severely, the correct message will be sent.” He pointed out that anti-Semites have always directed their first offensives at shuls, which are symbols of Judaism. “I am aware of an incident that happened in the city of Kutaisi, Georgia, in the year 1953,” he said. “The Communists wanted to destroy a shul in Kutaisi, which is the second largest city in Georgia, but the Jewish community did not give in. Masses of Jews gathered there, and these simple Jews lay down on the ground and said, ‘Before the bulldozer destroys the shul, it will have to roll over our bodies.’ If that was how Jews behaved in the Diaspora, under a hostile government, how is it conceivable for such a crime to be committed in the State of Israel and not receive a proper response? The authorities must act with all due force to ensure that these incidents are not repeated.”
The government’s response was delivered by Minister Avi Dichter and demonstrated that Moshiashvili was absolutely correct. “Over the past five years,” Dichter revealed, “the police have opened eighteen cases involving the theft of sifrei Torah. In five of those cases, indictments were filed…. Over the past five years, 39 cases of arson in shuls were investigated.” To be more specific, out of the 18 cases opened in the past five years, eleven were simply closed, and only three of the cases ended in a judicial decision. Two cases are still under investigation, and two others are in the hands of the prosecution. And out of the whopping 39 arson cases, which is itself a horrifying figure, 23 were dropped entirely. And while 12 of the cases ended with a judicial verdict, the charge was merely arson, despite the longstanding push for an arson attack on a shul to be considered a more severe offense than torching a kiosk or storage room. But the bottom line is that the authorities turned a deaf eye to numerous cases of arson in shuls, which should be a source of outrage for anyone.
The Hospital Visit That Ended a Feud
Rav Moshe Sechayak, a close talmid of Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman, has spent the past few years publishing his collections of Rav Shteinman’s teachings, under the title Mizkeinim Esbonan. The most recent volume in this series is dedicated to describing the path to spiritual elevation and follows on the heels of another volume on the subject of bein adam l’chaveiro. Rav Shteinman taught that one can never lose from giving in to others, and this sefer adds the other side of the coin: that any machlokes or interpersonal strife leads to loss and regret. The sefer contains numerous stories of people who harmed or offended others and found themselves suffering terribly until they made amends for their sins. One of those stories is the following chilling anecdote.
A talmid chochom once contracted a rare, serious illness. After prodigious tefillos, the immediate danger to his life was miraculously averted, but he found himself still in an intensive care unit with a question mark hanging over his future. When one of Rav Shteinman’s talmidim visited him, the patient said, “I have made a thorough reckoning of all my deeds, but I have found nothing that needs to be rectified. We know that a person is never punished unless he has sinned, but I could not come up with any sin that would warrant this suffering.”
The visitor responded, “The rosh yeshiva has taught us many times that when something bad happens to a person, he should try to determine if he ever offended or harmed someone else. People do not tend to think of this, especially since we are not dealing with sinners or cruel people who enjoy harming the feelings of others. There are people who consider themselves yirei Shomayim and who would very rarely cause pain to another person for no reason. If they did harm or offend someone, it was because they felt that there was a good reason for it, that the other person caused harm or anguish to them and they were simply reacting in a justifiable fashion. They believe that they were right and the other person was wrong, and their actions were therefore warranted.”
The patient thought for a while until he remembered an incident that fit his visitor’s description: A rebbi who taught one of his sons had taken a negative view of the child and had made it his business to give the boy a negative reputation in his school, until the principal finally decided to expel the child. The offended father launched a smear campaign against the principal and the offending rebbi, and the principal responded in kind. The city of Bnei Brak was shaken at the time by this public feud. With a sigh, the ailing talmid chochom said, “But how can I find that principal after all these years? What can I do to receive his forgiveness?”
His visitor looked him in the eye and said, “You don’t have to look far. He is hospitalized in the adjacent room!”
Hashgocha pratis had brought the two men together. The talmid chochom asked the erstwhile principal to forgive him for his actions, and both patients soon recovered and were sent home.
