Rabbi Daniel Stavsky, who participated in the radical right-wing wedding
Why is the government afraid of coward rabbis?
Op-ed: A country which has sent a former president, prime minister, ministers and Knesset members to prison has never had the courage to act against religious leaders who instigate masses and are bringing all of us closer to the edge of abyss.
1. Sour grapes fed by parents have left a bitter taste in the mouths of their children: First of all, I must ask the forgiveness of the writer and of what is written in the Books of Ezekiel and Jeremiah, for distorting the saying that every Jewish kid knows by heart. Forgiveness is also required for changing the interpretation of those words.
It's important to pay attention to the fact that since the beginning of the settlement in the territories in 1974, all Israeli government, both Likud- and Labor-led, have not had the courage to arrest and prosecute the Halacha teachers, the rabbis, whose orders are followed almost exclusively by thousands, who comprehend the hints from within their sparkling eyes and their words which only few people understand.
I am referring, of course, to the group of reckless youth and their parents and friends and partners and lawyers that is now crying out against the Shin Bet, which we all have to thank for our life in this land. According to their belief, we live here thanks to God. But even He sometimes needs Y. and N. and G. and all other letters of the alphabet in order to do his job. After all, it's hard being God all alone.
Enemy Within
Ben-Dror Yemini
Op-ed: The ultra-right extremists have become a problem that can't be ignored any longer. It's not enough to condemn. It's too easy. It's time to do something.
A country which has sent a president, ministers and Knesset members to prison, and is about to send a former prime minister there too, has never dared - and these are the right words to use - to act against rabbis like Yitzhak Ginsburg and the likes of him, who instigate masses and are bringing all of us closer to the edge of abyss.
Right-wing activists stabbing murdererd Palestinian baby's picture during wedding. Rabbis are sending their frantic followers into the fire
There is practically only one reason: The images of the Holocaust. Although none of today's decision makers were around during those horrible days, the Holocaust is engraved in everyone's memory - the images of ultra-Orthodox Jews cutting off their beards on the streets and rabbis walking to their death with Torah scrolls in their hands.
All decision makers in all governments are physically afraid of them. One prime minister who wasn't afraid (and even helped them out of sight) was murdered by one of their believers.
Those rabbis, who excel in respectable majestic appearance and sweet talk, who use hints to send their frantic followers into the fire, are cowards hiding behind their audience and whining about the loss of faith in the country, about the authorities (which help them), about the Shin Bet and the police, about the army which goes out of its way to defend them.
Everyone is to blame apart from them. They are the ones who fed sour grapes and left a bitter taste in the mouths of the children who believed everything they said.
2. Brutalization: Here's a suggestion for those speaking and writing on behalf of themselves and on behalf of the State: Don't mock Donald Trump, who is taking giants steps towards becoming the Republican Party's presidential candidate. He may still become president of the world's biggest power.
If that happens, God forbid, he and thousands of his government workers will likely settle the score with the leaders who mocked him publicly and behind his back. You're saying it's impossible? Well, I'm saying it is possible. Unbelievable? Believable. Is there anyone among the readers who ever imagined that… (fill in the blanks) would become a Knesset member in Israel? A CEO? A director-general?
Donald Trump. May still become president of the world's biggest power (Photo: AFP)
What is happening in the United States these days points to a process which has been taking place in the entire world in recent years: The brutalization, the shallowness, the successful marketing of false slogans, thinking for two seconds and voting in one second. The millions of voters don’t even care about the policy and platform.
The importance of external appearance, the speaking skills, the polished and empty words, even if there is zero action hiding behind them. It seems that apart from, perhaps, Angela Merkel from Germany, there is not single outstanding leader today who is also inspirational.
It's not unworthy leaders' fault; it's the fault of those who vote for them, who have no time or energy or interest in looking into things and who follow false prophets, while it doesn’t even occur to them that they are also betting on their lives in those few seconds they stand behind the screen at the polling station.
After reading this article again, I clap my hands and cry out: What have I done? I too have mocked Trump. Well, I guess my name will be erased from the White House guest list. I've never been there anyway.
