On lunatics and Jewish law

It would seem that there has never been a Jewish religious “ruling” such as the one last week permitting settlers to fire on non-Jewish soldiers. It would appear that some irresponsible joker (or criminal saboteur) fabricated a falsehood that Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi latched onto. The settlers are frustrated. Despite attempts by representatives of this large community to explain that the settler community is not a single homogeneous group, they are get angry at the slightest suggestion that any of them just might be political criminals. So wrote Uri Elitzur in Yediot Aharonot last Friday (March 4). According to Elitzur, the fake religious edict did not result from mistaken policies on the part of the settlers, and Police Commissioner Moshe Karadi’s only mistake was to buy into the slanderous atmosphere in both the Prime Minister’s office and in the media: Sharon’s staff are out to get the settlers, as are editors and other members of the media, who go to great lengths to find stories that paint the settlers as violent. Why did the public believe the story? I have trouble believing that a senior police official would throw around accusations in order to curry favor with newspaper editors or those close to Sharon, and I do not believe that Shin Bet Chief Avi Dichter, an individual whose integrity is beyond doubt, would issue warnings about potential Jewish terrorism merely to cozy up to anyone. The main question here is: why did the general public have no trouble believing the story about the “religious edict”? One answer is that the public has become accustomed to the fanatic edicts of bearded lunatics accompanied by all sorts of fancy titles - “legal authority”, “genius” “spiritual leader of the religious community”- sometimes wise, sometimes stupid, sometimes reprehensible about matters trivial and crucial alike. Neither journalists nor readers of the general press have any idea just how large the circle of influence is of each of these rabbis, but they do know that Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox students are taught to annul their individual thoughts and moral judgment in favor of their rabbis teachings. In the “judgment day” atmosphere pervading the religious world today, not just on the periphery, but close to the mainstream, any mad man called “rabbi” can find a few followers to get out his doomsday message. 'Media smear campaign promotes anti-settler violence' In this light, the willingness of many religious people to believe in a concocted “Jewish law” permitting settlers to fire at non-Jewish soldiers during the evacuation is not exactly pure. It flows from being used to listening to foolish rabbis lacking in basic morality, or individuals with a propensity to shoot their mouths off. Is there really such a great distance between the anonymous “religious edict” allowing settlers to shoot at non-Jewish soldiers, and the ruling of Kiryat Arba Rabbi Dov Lior, head of the Judea/Samaria Rabbinical Council, that it is forbidden to donate organs to a non-Jew, but that it is permissible for Jewish people to receive organ donations from anywhere? What, exactly, is the difference between this ruling and the words of Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who says it is permissible to kill “those who have criminal thoughts about yeshiva students”? In addition, there is another answer for Elitzur. Several months ago, Elitzur, a leader of the settlement movement and a former director of the Prime Minister’s office, advocated forcibly resisting the withdrawal. True, he stopped short of saying settlers should fire on IDF soldiers, but he did not denounce rock throwing, kicking, or using children as human shields Elitzur does not deny that even the most moderate reading of his words will lead to bloodshed. Therefore, his complaint that the media smear campaign is promoting anti-settler violence is simply unsustainable. In Elitzur’s defense, he does not differentiate between the spilling of Jewish and Druze blood. At least he’s not a racist.

On lunatics and Jewish law

Bearded fanatics made last week's "religious ruling" entirely believable