Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau & Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau & Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh Unity and opposites in Israel’s settler movement: Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau & Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh Tessa Dawn Satherley Submitted in total fulfilment of the requirements of the degree of Doctor of Philosophy August 2015 School of Historical and Philosophical Studies The University of Melbourne Produced on archival quality paper. 1 Abstract The thesis is motivated by the central question: can deep engagement with the nuances of contemporary settler religious discourse guide a more effective approach to negotiations with and about this group, especially regarding the future of “Judea and Samaria,” or “the occupied territories”? To address this, I investigate two key religious thinkers. The first is Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau, a major religious Zionist intellectual and head of the leading mamlakhti1 yeshiva Har Ha-Mor, known for his calls for restraint in the face of anti-settlement policies. The second is Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh of Od Yosef Chai, often accused of inciting racism and encouraging aggressive protest tactics, and whose students have been at the vanguard of anti-Arab vigilante violence and the “price tag” campaign of recent years. This investigation reveals Tau’s predominantly monistic worldview, anchored in the “unity of opposites” paradigm at the heart of Avraham Kook’s teachings, and Ginsburgh’s relatively dualistic worldview, anchored in a dualistic interpretation of lurianic Kabbalah. These distinct symbolic worlds help explain the divergent political– historical interpretations, ethics, and political tactics among the rabbis’ adherents. Moreover, the analysis indicated which pro-negotiation arguments may be most persuasive among these different sectors—and which may be useless or disastrous. I show how Tau argues that settlements are a mere detail in Gush Emunim’s project, identifies Jewish unity as a supreme value, and calls for educational outreach in lieu of protests. The thesis contextualizes this stance in Tau’s monistic theosophy, his narrative of geulah (redemption) as a slow, natural process with temporary setbacks (with dialectic roles), and his kabbalistic understanding of Israel as a unified collective entity. Tau’s negative teachings on Palestinians, however, struggle to avoid dualism. I also analyze Tau’s innovative identification of consciousness as the medium through which Jews must advance redemption, which underpins his call for education campaigns. Ginsburgh is a point of contrast. I present a detailed history of public controversies around his Od Yosef Chai yeshiva, and then explore dimensions of his kabbalistic 1 “Statist.” Loosely: committed ideologically to the State of Israel’s sacred value. 2 worldview, in which evil is understood as an active force of impurity, expressed on the earthly plane through the Gentile nations vs. Jewish embodiment of the divine. This leads to his profound devaluation of Gentile life. Moreover, he argues that the expulsion of Gentiles and establishment of theocratic government by a Sanhedrin are prerequisites for the arrival of the messiah. Ginsburgh also presents elaborate kabbalistic justifications of impulsive revenge attacks against Gentiles to “defend” Jewish life and honor. This most likely lowers the self-restraint of his Hilltop Youth followers. This leads to the conclusion that Jewish security and unity are the most effective frames through which to encourage reluctant toleration of Israeli–Palestinian negotiations across these sectors. The value and authority of the democratic state may also be an effective frame within the mamlakhti sector, as might human rights discourse. By contrast, arguments focused on economic benefits, Israel’s acceptance in the international community, and the Palestinian right to self-determination lack traction. 3 Declaration This is to certify that i) the thesis comprises only my original work towards the PhD except where indicated in the Preface, ii) due acknowledgement has been made in the text to all other material used, iii) the thesis is fewer than 100,000 words in length, exclusive of tables, maps, bibliographies and appendices. Signed: 4 Preface Chapters 5 and 6 of the thesis are a slightly amended version of a monograph: Satherley, Tessa. “‘The Simple Jew’: The ‘Price Tag’ Phenomenon, Vigilantism, and Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh’s Political Kabbalah.” Melilah 10 (2013): 57–91. While no prior work is directly incorporated, the literature review in Chapter 1 was informed by research for undergraduate assignments completed at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in 2008–09. 5 Acknowledgments Warm thanks to Dr Dvir Abramovich and Dr Ziva Shavitksky, my supervisors at the University of Melbourne, for their whole-hearted support over the course of my candidature—and especially for helping me navigate the system with so little pain. Also, this project would never have been started without the accidental inspiration of Rabbi Dr Eliezer Shore at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. I thank Dr Shore for allowing me to write a lengthy political essay for a ‘short’ assignment on Jewish spirituality in his class, as it established my abiding interest in spirituality, theosophy, and politics in the settler movement. Dr Shore’s curiosity in my early work, incisive feedback, and reading recommendations have been immensely valuable. Thanks also go to Dr Alick Isaacs and Dr Avinoam Rosenak for fruitful discussions during my research visit to Israel in 2013–14, which helped inspire the final structure of the thesis focusing on the two intriguing thinkers chosen. Thanks are also due to my unofficial editorial team. Thanks to Dad, for reading the whole darn thing and helping me squash it into the word count—just like old times. Thanks to my dear friend Tammy Elashvili for many happy hours together in the photocopying room of the National Library; that tech assistant knows far too much family gossip. Thanks to Nadav Barton for putting his epic reference-formatting skills to use as self-appointed “king of bibliography-land.” I will honor the debt of cookies. And thanks to Angus McInnes for meticulous proof-reading assistance on several chapters; who’d have guessed coding skills would be so useful in Jewish Studies? My deepest thanks, however, go to the people who were there for me throughout my studies, especially the last year of my PhD candidature. Thanks to my generous mother, for looking out for me and for always being just a phone call away, literally any time of the day or night or it’s-so-early-I-don’t-even-know. I’ve been so grateful for the peace of mind you give. Thanks also to Dad and my sister, Dr Shannon Satherley, for their encouragement and inspiration. My gratitude and blessings also go to the dear friends who carried me—or danced with with me—through 2014. I thank the Barton family, for feeding my stomach and soul. I also thank my ever-supportive friends Nadav Barton, 6 Dr Cathy Sutton, Cassandra Avram, Shaanan Cohney, Tammy Elashvili, Toby Trachtman, Matt Adams, Daniel Thompson, Campbell Brice, Ron Hoenig, Evan Eames, the students of Graduate House, and all the 2014–15 GCALL cohort (especially the ‘GTA5!’). I also thank Angus McInnes, for teshuvah and for intensive encouragement, support, and a reliable supply of free dinners over the last and most stressful months of thesis preparation. You turned a balagan into a blessing. Thanks to Rabbi Alison Conyer, for being full of stubborn encouragement. Thanks to Medley Hall and Newman College for providing such wonderful havens for intellectual and personal growth over the years—and the best food to be had on campus. At Medley, special thanks to Uncle Pete and Aunty Josie Ng; you are family. And at Newman, special thanks to Justin Glyn, for interfaith dialogue or “then the rabbi said to the nun” jokes during meals. Lastly, I may never have discovered this interest were it not for the financial support of Rotary International, who enabled an undergraduate exchange year in Israel as a Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar in 2008–09. Further thanks to the adoptive family who welcomed me into their lives at that time (Ruth, Sara, Eliezer, Yoni, and Haim), and to the teaching and administrative staff of the Rothberg School, who helped me squeeze the last possible drop of learning and insight from the experience. 7 Table of Contents Front matter …………………………………..…………………………………………... 1 Title page .......................................................................................................................... 1 Abstract ............................................................................................................................. 2 Declaration ........................................................................................................................ 4 Preface .............................................................................................................................. 5 Acknowledgments ............................................................................................................ 6 Table of Contents.............................................................................................................. 8 Chapter 1 — Introduction ........................................................................................... 14 Genesis and goal of the research .................................................................................... 14 Framing the mitnachalim: Critical review of literature on the settlers ........................... 18 Negotiating across cultures and realities .......................................................................
Recommended publications
  • Complete List of Books in Library Acc No Author Title of Book Subject Publisher Year R.No
    Complete List of Books in Library Acc No Author Title of book Subject Publisher Year R.No. 1 Satkari Mookerjee The Jaina Philosophy of PHIL Bharat Jaina Parisat 8/A1 Non-Absolutism 3 Swami Nikilananda Ramakrishna PER/BIO Rider & Co. 17/B2 4 Selwyn Gurney Champion Readings From World ECO `Watts & Co., London 14/B2 & Dorothy Short Religion 6 Bhupendra Datta Swami Vivekananda PER/BIO Nababharat Pub., 17/A3 Calcutta 7 H.D. Lewis The Principal Upanisads PHIL George Allen & Unwin 8/A1 14 Jawaherlal Nehru Buddhist Texts PHIL Bruno Cassirer 8/A1 15 Bhagwat Saran Women In Rgveda PHIL Nada Kishore & Bros., 8/A1 Benares. 15 Bhagwat Saran Upadhya Women in Rgveda LIT 9/B1 16 A.P. Karmarkar The Religions of India PHIL Mira Publishing Lonavla 8/A1 House 17 Shri Krishna Menon Atma-Darshan PHIL Sri Vidya Samiti 8/A1 Atmananda 20 Henri de Lubac S.J. Aspects of Budhism PHIL sheed & ward 8/A1 21 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad Bhagabatam PHIL Dhirendra Nath Bose 8/A2 22 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 Bhagabatam VolI 23 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 Bhagabatam Vo.l III 24 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad Bhagabatam PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 25 J.M. Sanyal The Shrimad PHIL Oriental Pub. 8/A2 Bhagabatam Vol.V 26 Mahadev Desai The Gospel of Selfless G/REL Navijvan Press 14/B2 Action 28 Shankar Shankar's Children Art FIC/NOV Yamuna Shankar 2/A2 Number Volume 28 29 Nil The Adyar Library Bulletin LIT The Adyar Library and 9/B2 Research Centre 30 Fraser & Edwards Life And Teaching of PER/BIO Christian Literature 17/A3 Tukaram Society for India 40 Monier Williams Hinduism PHIL Susil Gupta (India) Ltd.
    [Show full text]
  • Open Seders Will Open Hearts
    ב“ה :THIS WEEK’S TOPIC ערב פסח, י׳׳ד ניסן, תש״פ ISSUE The Rebbe’s meetings with 378 Erev Pesach, April 8, 2020 the chief rabbis of Israel For more on the topic, visit 70years.com HERE’S my STORY OPEN SEDERS WILL Generously OPEN HEARTS sponsored by the RABBI YAAKOV SHAPIRA they spoke about activities of the Israeli Rabbinate and the state of Yiddishkeit in Israel; and they discussed the prophecies concerning the coming of the Mashiach and the Final Redemption. They went from topic to topic, without pause, and their conversations were recorded, transcribed and later published. During the first visit in 1983, the Rebbe asked the chief rabbis how they felt being outside of Israel. My father said that he had never left the Holy Land before, and that the time away was very difficult for him. To bring him comfort, the Rebbe expounded on the Torah verse, “Jacob lifted his feet and went to the land of the people of the East,” pointing out that while Jacob’s departure from the Land of Israel was a spiritual descent, y father, Rabbi Avraham Shapira, served as the later it turned out that this descent was for the sake of a MAshkenazi chief rabbi of Israel from 1983 until 1993, greater ascent. All Jacob’s sons — who would give rise to while Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu served as the Sephardic the Twelve Tribes of Israel — were born outside the Land. chief rabbi. During their tenure they traveled to the United This is why the great 11th century Torah commentator, States three times for the purpose of visiting the central Rashi, reads the phrase “lifted his feet” as meaning Jacob Jewish communities in America and getting to know their “moved with ease” because G-d had promised to protect leaders.
    [Show full text]
  • Israel's National Religious and the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict
    Leap of Faith: Israel’s National Religious and the Israeli- Palestinian Conflict Middle East Report N°147 | 21 November 2013 International Crisis Group Headquarters Avenue Louise 149 1050 Brussels, Belgium Tel: +32 2 502 90 38 Fax: +32 2 502 50 38 [email protected] Table of Contents Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... i Recommendations..................................................................................................................... iv I. Introduction ..................................................................................................................... 1 II. Religious Zionism: From Ascendance to Fragmentation ................................................ 5 A. 1973: A Turning Point ................................................................................................ 5 B. 1980s and 1990s: Polarisation ................................................................................... 7 C. The Gaza Disengagement and its Aftermath ............................................................. 11 III. Settling the Land .............................................................................................................. 14 A. Bargaining with the State: The Kookists ................................................................... 15 B. Defying the State: The Hilltop Youth ........................................................................ 17 IV. From the Hills to the State ..............................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Faith and Conflict in the Holy Land: Peacemaking Among Jews, Christians, and Muslims
    ANNUAL FALL McGINLEY LECTURE Faith and Conflict in the Holy Land: Peacemaking Among Jews, Christians, and Muslims The Reverend Patrick J. Ryan, S.J. Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society RESPONDENTS Abraham Unger, Ph.D. Associate Professor Department of Government and Politics Wagner College Ebru Turan, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of History Fordham University Tuesday, November 12, 2019 | Lincoln Center Campus Wednesday, November 13, 2019 | Rose Hill Campus 3 Faith and Conflict in the Holy Land: Peacemaking Among Jews, Christians, and Muslims The Reverend Patrick J. Ryan, S.J. Laurence J. McGinley Professor of Religion and Society Let me begin on holy ground, Ireland. In 1931 William Butler Yeats concluded his short poem, “Remorse for Intemperate Speech,” with a stanza that speaks to me as the person I am, for better or for worse: Out of Ireland have we come. Great hatred, little room, Maimed us at the start. I carry from my mother’s womb A fanatic heart. Ireland is, indeed, a small place, and it has seen great fanaticism and hatred, although the temperature of Ireland as a whole has subsided dramatically since the Good Friday Agreement of 1998, despite Boris Johnson. The whole island of Ireland today occupies 32,599 square miles. British-administered Northern Ireland includes 5,340 of those square miles. Combined Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland approximate the size of Indiana. The total population of the island of Ireland is 6.7 million people, about a half a million more than the population of Indiana. There is another place of “great hatred, little room” that I wish to discuss this evening: the Holy Land, made up today of the State of Israel and the Palestinian autonomous regions of the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
    [Show full text]
  • The Fifth Passover Cup and Magical Pairs: Isaac Baer Levinsohn and the Babylonian Talmud
    European Journal of Jewish Studies 15 (2021) 84–103 brill.com/ejjs The Fifth Passover Cup and Magical Pairs: Isaac Baer Levinsohn and the Babylonian Talmud Leor Jacobi Abstract The Fifth Passover Cup is mentioned in a textual variant of a baraita in Tractate Pesaḥim of the Babylonian Talmud (118a), attributed to Rabbi Ṭarfon and another anonymous Palestinian tanna. Scholars have demonstrated that the variant is primary in talmu- dic manuscripts and among the Babylonian Geonim. Following a nineteenth-century proposition of Isaac Baer Levinsohn, it is argued that the fifth cup was instituted in Babylonia due to concern for magical evil spirits aroused by even-numbered events [zugot]. Objections to Levinsohn’s theory can be allayed by critical source analysis: the Talmud’s attribution of the fifth cup to the Palestinian tanna Rabbi Ṭarfon in a baraita is pseudoepigraphic, based upon Rabbi Ṭarfon’s teaching regarding the recitation of Hallel ha-Gadol in Mishnah Ta‘anit 3:9. A special appendix is devoted to Levinsohn’s separate study on zugot in the ancient and medieval world. Keywords Talmud – Passover – magic – Haskalah – source criticism – Halakhah – Levinsohn – magical pairs © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, 2020 | doi:10.1163/1872471X-bja10020.0102883/ 3..8.31893: The Fifth Passover Cup and Magical Pairs 85 1 Introduction1 If the four Passover cups were created during the six days of creation, then the fifth was conjured up at twilight on the eve of the Sabbath.2 The saga of the mysterious fifth cup stretches from its origins in a phantom talmudic tex- tual variant to its alleged metamorphosis into the ubiquitous “cup of Elijah” to latter-day messianic revival attempts incorporating the visual arts.
    [Show full text]
  • Privatizing Religion: the Transformation of Israel's
    Privatizing religion: The transformation of Israel’s Religious- Zionist community BY Yair ETTINGER The Brookings Institution is a nonprofit organization devoted to independent research and policy solutions. Its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations for policymakers and the public. The conclusions and recommendations of any Brookings publication are solely those of its author(s), and do not reflect the views of the Institution, its management, or its other scholars. This paper is part of a series on Imagining Israel’s Future, made possible by support from the Morningstar Philanthropic Fund. The views expressed in this report are those of its author and do not represent the views of the Morningstar Philanthropic Fund, their officers, or employees. Copyright © 2017 Brookings Institution 1775 Massachusetts Avenue, NW Washington, D.C. 20036 U.S.A. www.brookings.edu Table of Contents 1 The Author 2 Acknowlegements 3 Introduction 4 The Religious Zionist tribe 5 Bennett, the Jewish Home, and religious privatization 7 New disputes 10 Implications 12 Conclusion: The Bennett era 14 The Center for Middle East Policy 1 | Privatizing religion: The transformation of Israel’s Religious-Zionist community The Author air Ettinger has served as a journalist with Haaretz since 1997. His work primarily fo- cuses on the internal dynamics and process- Yes within Haredi communities. Previously, he cov- ered issues relating to Palestinian citizens of Israel and was a foreign affairs correspondent in Paris. Et- tinger studied Middle Eastern affairs at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and is currently writing a book on Jewish Modern Orthodoxy.
    [Show full text]
  • Noahidism Or B'nai Noah—Sons of Noah—Refers To, Arguably, a Family
    Noahidism or B’nai Noah—sons of Noah—refers to, arguably, a family of watered–down versions of Orthodox Judaism. A majority of Orthodox Jews, and most members of the broad spectrum of Jewish movements overall, do not proselytize or, borrowing Christian terminology, “evangelize” or “witness.” In the U.S., an even larger number of Jews, as with this writer’s own family of orientation or origin, never affiliated with any Jewish movement. Noahidism may have given some groups of Orthodox Jews a method, arguably an excuse, to bypass the custom of nonconversion. Those Orthodox Jews are, in any event, simply breaking with convention, not with a scriptural ordinance. Although Noahidism is based ,MP3], Tạləmūḏ]תַּלְמּוד ,upon the Talmud (Hebrew “instruction”), not the Bible, the text itself does not explicitly call for a Noahidism per se. Numerous commandments supposedly mandated for the sons of Noah or heathen are considered within the context of a rabbinical conversation. Two only partially overlapping enumerations of seven “precepts” are provided. Furthermore, additional precepts, not incorporated into either list, are mentioned. The frequently referenced “seven laws of the sons of Noah” are, therefore, misleading and, indeed, arithmetically incorrect. By my count, precisely a dozen are specified. Although I, honestly, fail to understand why individuals would self–identify with a faith which labels them as “heathen,” that is their business, not mine. The translations will follow a series of quotations pertinent to this monotheistic and ,MP3], tạləmūḏiy]תַּלְמּודִ י ,talmudic (Hebrew “instructive”) new religious movement (NRM). Indeed, the first passage quoted below was excerpted from the translated source text for Noahidism: Our Rabbis taught: [Any man that curseth his God, shall bear his sin.
    [Show full text]
  • Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13864-3 — the Israeli Settler Movement Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler , Cas Mudde Index More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-13864-3 — The Israeli Settler Movement Sivan Hirsch-Hoefler , Cas Mudde Index More Information Index 1948 Arab–Israeli War, the, 2 Ariel, Uri, 76, 116 1949 Armistice Agreements, the, 2 Arutz Sheva, 120–121, 154, 205 1956 Sinai campaign, the, 60 Ashkenazi, 42, 64, 200 1979 peace agreement, the, 57 Association for Retired People, 23 Australia, 138 Abrams, Eliott, 59 Aviner, Shlomo, 65, 115, 212 Academic Council for National, the. See Professors for a Strong Israel B’Sheva, 120 action B’Tselem, 36, 122 connective, 26 Barak, Ehud, 50–51, 95, 98, 147, 235 extreme, 16 Bar-Ilan University, 50, 187 radical, 16 Bar-Siman-Tov, Yaacov, 194, 216 tactical, 34 Bat Ayin Underground, the, 159 activism BDS. See Boycott, Divestment and moderate, 15–16 Sanctions transnational, 30–31 Begin, Manahem, 47, 48, 118–119, Adelson, Sheldon, 179, 190 157, 172 Airbnb, 136 Beit El, 105 Al Aqsa Mosque, the, 146 Beit HaArava, 45 Al-Aqsa Intifada. See the Second Intifada Beitar Illit, 67, 70, 99 Alfei Menashe, 100 Beitar Ironi Ariel, 170 Allon, Yigal, 45–46 Belafonte, Harry, 14 Alon Shvut, 88, 190 Ben Ari, Michael, 184 Aloni, Shulamit, 182 Bendaña, Alejandro, 24 Altshuler, Amos, 189 Ben-Gurion, David, 46 Amana, 76–77, 89, 113, 148, 153–154, 201 Ben-Gvir, Itamar, 184 American Friends of Ariel, 179–180 Benn, Menachem, 164 American Studies Association, 136 Bennett, Naftali, 76, 116, 140, 148, Amnesty International, 24 153, 190 Amona, 79, 83, 153, 157, 162, 250, Benvenisti, Meron, 1 251 Ben-Zimra, Gadi, 205 Amrousi, Emily, 67, 84 Ben-Zion,
    [Show full text]
  • THE SERMON on the MOUNT According to VEDANTA Other MENTOR Titles of Related Interest
    \" < 'y \ A MENTOR BOOK 1 ,wami \ « r a m A |a fascinating Digitized by the Internet Archive in 2017 with funding from Public.Resource.Org https://archive.org/details/sermononmountaccOOprab 66Like Krishna and Buddha, Christ did not preach a mere ethical or social gos¬ pel hut an uncompromisingly spiritual one. He declared that God can be seen, that divine perfection can be achieved. In order that men might attain this su¬ preme goal of existence, he taught the renunciation of worldliness, the con¬ templation of God, and the purification of the heart through the love of God. These simple and profound truths, stated repeatedly in the Sermon on the Mount, constitute its underlying theme9 as I shall try to show in the pages to followr —from the Introduction by Swami Prabhavananda THE SERMON ON THE MOUNT according to VEDANTA Other MENTOR Titles of Related Interest □ SHAN KARA'S CREST-JEWEL OF DISCRIMINA¬ TION translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Ssherwood. The philosophy of the great Indian philosopher and saint, Shankara. Its implications for the man of today are sought out in the Introduction, (#MY1054—$1.25) □ THE SONG OF GOD: RHAGAVAD-GITA translated by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isher- wood. A distinguished translation of the Gospel of Hinduism, one of the great religious classics of the world. Introduction by Aldous Huxley. Appen¬ dices. (#MY1425—$1.25) □ THE UPAN5SHAD8: BREATH OF THE ETERNAL translated by Swam! Prabhavananda and Freder¬ ick Manchester. Here is the wisdom of the Hindu mystics in principal texts selected and translated from the original Sanskrit. (#MY1424—$1.25) □ HOW TO KNOW GOD: THE YOGA APHORISMS OF PATANJALI translated with Commentary by Swami Prabhavananda and Christopher Isher- wood.
    [Show full text]
  • Ultraorthodox Jews in Israel – Epidemic As a Measure of Challenges Marek Matusiak
    OSW Commentary CENTRE FOR EASTERN STUDIES NUMBER 341 23.06.2020 www.osw.waw.pl Ultraorthodox Jews in Israel – epidemic as a measure of challenges Marek Matusiak In Israel as in other countries, when the COVID-19 epidemic surfaced it exacerbated the existing divi- sions and tensions in society. A group that came under severe attack from the public was the Jewish Ultraorthodox population (the Haredi). This was due to disregard on the part of certain ultraorthodox groups of the restrictions imposed in response to the epidemic and an exceptionally high infection rate in that community – as much as 70% of cases recorded from February until May this year affected members of that community.1 This non-conformity with the regulations by some Haredi (in fact a distinct minority) resonated broadly because it was an element of a decades-long heated dispute over the state’s approach towards the group and its place in Israeli society. Over the years, the issue has repeatedly caused severe shockwaves (including collapse of government coalitions). The stance adopted by the Haredi during the initial phase of the epidemic provided critics of the Haredi with new arguments that they are de facto a law unto themselves, and as a result are becoming increasingly socially and politically problematic. While COVID-19 cannot be expected to significantly change the subjects under debate, the arguments used in the debate, or the balance of power, it will make the dispute even more complex than before the epidemic and lead to greater polarisation. This will further complicate Israel’s efforts to meet challenges posed by the rapid increase in the community’s population.
    [Show full text]
  • Esnoga Bet Emunah Esnoga Bet El 6970 Axis St
    Esnoga Bet Emunah Esnoga Bet El 6970 Axis St. SE 102 Broken Arrow Dr. Lacey, WA 98513 Paris TN 38242 United States of America United States of America © 2017 © 2017 http://www.betemunah.org/ http://torahfocus.com/ E-Mail: [email protected] E-Mail: [email protected] Triennial Cycle (Triennial Torah Cycle) / Septennial Cycle (Septennial Torah Cycle) Three and 1/2 year Lectionary Readings Third Year of the Triennial Reading Cycle Tebet 05, 5778 – Dec 22/23, 2017 Third Year of the Shmita Cycle Candle Lighting and Habdalah Times: Please go to the below webpage and type your city, state/province, and country to find candle lighting and Habdalah times for the place of your dwelling. See: http://www.chabad.org/calendar/candlelighting.htm Roll of Honor: His Eminence Rabbi Dr. Hillel ben David and beloved wife HH Giberet Batsheva bat Sarah His Eminence Rabbi Dr. Eliyahu ben Abraham and beloved wife HH Giberet Dr. Elisheba bat Sarah His Honor Paqid Adon David ben Abraham His Honor Paqid Adon Ezra ben Abraham and beloved wife HH Giberet Karmela bat Sarah, His Honor Paqid Adon Tsuriel ben Abraham and beloved wife HH Giberet Gibora bat Sarah Her Excellency Giberet Sarai bat Sarah & beloved family His Excellency Adon Barth Lindemann & beloved family His Excellency Adon John Batchelor & beloved wife Her Excellency Giberet Leah bat Sarah & beloved mother Her Excellency Giberet Zahavah bat Sarah & beloved family His Excellency Adon Gabriel ben Abraham and beloved wife HE Giberet Elisheba bat Sarah His Excellency Adon Yehoshua ben Abraham and beloved wife HE Giberet Rut bat Sarah His Excellency Adon Michael ben Yosef and beloved wife HE Giberet Sheba bat Sarah Her Excellency Giberet Prof.
    [Show full text]
  • Interpretation of the Book of Genesis
    INTERPRETATION OF THE BOOK OF GENESIS BY FATHER TADROS Y. MALATY Translated by Dr. George Botros 2 3 4 AUTHOR’ S NOTE: The Word of God is the food granted by the Holy Spirit to the Church of Christ, to let her live continually renovated in spiritual youth; practicing no incapacity of old age or perishability. My good Lord gave me the grace, during the last few years, to study the Word of God, as experienced by the fathers of the early Church, as Spirit and Life. I began by going through meditations and interpretations of these fathers, in the hope that we also would live with the Spirit and thought of the early Church; enjoying, by the Holy Spirit, the Word of God active in us, until it raises us up to our heavenly Groom “The divine Word”, who is to come on the clouds, to grant us the fellowship of His glories, and to enter with us into the bosom of His Father, to be eternally with Him in His heavens. If I did not commit myself, in my interpretation, to the order of succession of the books as they come in the Holy Bible; My goal was not to author a comprehensive series of interpretations, but to enter with every soul into the secret place of the Word, and to enjoy Him as an eternal Groom, who fills the heart and mind and all the inner depths. Hegomen Tadros Y. Malaty 5 AN INTRODUCTORY STUDY: AN INTRODUCTION TO THE PENTATEUCH OR THE FIRST FIVE BOOKS OF MOSES 1- Unity of the five books.
    [Show full text]