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3 Adar I 5760 - February 9, 2000 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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Opinion & Comment
Doing the Duty of Yated Ne'eman

by Rabbi Nosson Zeev Grossman

Israel's budget for the year 2000, which was finally passed by the Knesset at the end of the secular year after a long political crisis, focused the media spotlights on Minister of Education Yossi Sarid of Meretz and how his office would budget the expenses for education. Political correspondents described the negotiations: Yossi Sarid, a senior representative of a Leftist party with extreme secular views, against the dati and chareidi representatives fighting for education allocations.

Eventually, as we all know, most of the demands that the dati and chareidi parties presented were accepted. United Torah Jewry, which is not part of the coalition government, managed, at a relatively early stage, to prevent financial harm to chareidi educational institutions. Commentators explained that this was part of the tactics of the coalition heads to isolate Shas which was the main issue. The demands of Shas, which remains a full partner in the coalition, were accepted much later at the last minute, and then only after a coalition crisis.

Ultimately everyone was satisfied.

And this is the problem!

Although we must be thankful for what the Torah observant have gained, we must be wary that it should not influence our feelings towards the government. After our financial requirements were met, here and there in chareidi circles you could hear people praising the Minister of Education. "He is actually not such a bad guy!" "Who would have believed that a Meretz Minister of Education would have such a positive attitude towards funding Torah institutions and chareidi education?" "With him `you can do business' and `close deals.'" "Although Sarid is from Meretz you can persuade him to behave decently with us."

Everyone knows that Yossi Sarid is the leader of a radical Leftist, anti-religious party. After the results of the budget negotiations, some began to feel that even Sarid and his political and ideological colleagues can "understand" the needs of chareidi education and can be persuaded to adopt a "constructive approach."

This is nothing more than a dangerous delusion. A fierce war is being waged between the Torah-loyal and those wanting to uproot the Torah. This is an endless war that will continue until we merit the coming of Moshiach and evil disappears from the earth as all of mankind accepts Hashem's kingdom.

A la guerre comme a la guerre, in war we must fight the war. The first rule of war is to know your enemy.

We must realize, and not forget for a minute, that we face a belligerent adversary who strives to eradicate Judaism, to smother any spark of Torah and Judaism and to convert the image of am Yisroel. The Minister of Education and his associates do not usually conceal their shameful goal. Sometimes they simply refrain from carrying out their designs because of political pressure. We should, however, not delude ourselves into thinking that a positive response in one situation shows a fundamental change in attitude. We dare not be apathetic on the other occasions when these heretic circles endeavor, chas vesholom, to uproot Torah and disseminate atheism.

Doubtless, Torah education is our foremost interest. They too realize that "without kids there are no goats" (Bereishis Rabbah 42:3). The entire future of the Jewish Nation, either for better or, cholila, for worse is dependent upon the education we offer our children. This is not a new idea.

In the Igros Maran HaRav Chaim Ozer Grodzensky ztvk'l, we find the following excerpt from a letter he wrote about the Keren HaTorah of those days. After Maran describes the havoc caused by World War I, he writes: "In this oppressing condition, leaders of the organized Leftist parties spread their net to capture the innocent and guileless. They founded secular schools and removed the kodesh from the homes. Their entire aim is to eradicate all that is kodesh and to strengthen and open more [heretical] schools. The Leftist parties want to transform religious communities into secular ones and to change schools that study Torah into secular ones. The traditional way of Judaism and the Torah is alien to them and they do not accept that His Torah and His religion is His neshomo, the secret of our existence and foundation of our nationalism. They consider the importance of the whole Torah to be the Yiddish or Hebrew language without any Jewish content. There is a great danger to religious education from these enemies and destroyers from inside and outside."

Indeed if they had their way they would leave no remnant of religious education in general and of chareidi education in particular. Legitimate democratic demands and political pressures force them to wait and not carry out their plans. It is certain that the Torah-loyal, despite the fact that they sit on the opposition benches, were allocated their part in the budget because of political considerations. It was very evident that the allocations that Shas and the National Religious Party received from the very government in which they are full partners, were furnished with much gnashing of teeth and only after they had no choice.

Sarid and his partners are definitely not fools. If they must fund our education needs, they reason, why should they not explain they are doing so because they "understand us" and follow an "egalitarian approach?"

As mentioned, we dare not delude ourselves about what caused these developments nor about their true motives. We should not forget that Torah Jewry was never an active part of a government in which personalities from the Left occupy such sensitive positions as the Ministry of Education. In this tenure too, UTJ was never a partner in the coalition and never held any government positions. The cooperation with the coalition in parliamentary votes when the government was first formed was only to prevent the gezeira of drafting yeshiva students. Maranan and rabanan shlita explicitly guided us to act so.

After only a few months a credibility crisis with Barak's government arose because of their flagrant public chillul Shabbos when they insisted on transporting major components of an electricity generator on Shabbos, and also in connection with their dragging their feet in forming the Tal Committee to legitimize the deferment of yeshiva students from the army. Because of these difficulties our gedolei Torah instructed us to leave the coalition. Nevertheless, there never was, at any stage, an essential change in our attitude to them. We were always convinced of the correct attitude towards them and their movements that attempt to spread heresy and wipe out observing Judaism.

It is necessary for us to refresh our memories and cite briefly what the rishonim write about the required attitude towards such minim and apikorsim.

The Rambam at the beginning of Hilchos Tefillah writes about the bircas haminim in the tefillah of Shemoneh Esrei: "During the time of Rabban Gamliel there were many apikorsim who oppressed the Jews and seduced them to forsake Hashem. Since he saw that this is the greatest need of men, he and his beis din initiated a brocho in which we beseech Hashem to destroy the apikorsim. [Rabban Gamliel] placed it in [Shemoneh Esrei] so that everyone would be accustomed to say it."

The need to obliterate apikorsim who attempt to seduce Jews from worshiping Hashem is "the greatest need of men" according to the Rambam. It was essential to initiate a special brocho in Shemoneh Esrei to request from the Creator to abolish them "so that everyone would be accustomed to say it."

The danger apikorsim pose is so great that the Torah commands us to burn even a sefer Torah that a min has written. It is important to emphasize that the basis for this halocho is not because we fear that the apikores wrote the sefer Torah with mistakes and infiltrated his spurious views. Even if the apikores wrote a perfect sefer Torah, even if he did not change one letter, we are obliged to burn it "so we should not leave over any remnant to apikorsim and what they have done" (Rambam, Hilchos Yesodei HaTorah 6:8).

To understand this better we can illustrate it as follows: If followers of Meretz would write a perfect sefer Torah perhaps we would hear people praising their positive act, as actually something much more positive than all their fine words on the need to be "just and professional" with regard to funding chareidi institutions. The Torah, however, requires us to burn this sefer Torah precisely for this reason: "So we should not leave over any remnant of the apikorsim and what they have done."

When a meisis tries to lead Jews astray, to persuade them to leave their emunah in HaKodosh Boruch Hu and His Torah, the Torah commands: "You shall not consent to him, nor hearken to him; nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare, nor shall you conceal him" (Devorim 13:9). The Torah is telling us that it is forbidden to defend a meisis, as is written, "Nor shall you spare him." The Rambam writes in Sefer HaMitzvos (lo sa'aseih 20) "that even if you know of any way to defend what he did, you are not permitted to mention it." On the contrary, we are obliged to accuse him of doing evil--"If you know how to impeach him you are not allowed to remain quiet" (ibid., 21).

The halocho is that lechatchila we try to prevent others from pitying the meisis "since cruelty for those misleading the nation after vanity is actually compassion, as is written, `that Hashem may turn from the fierceness of His anger and show you mercy' (Devorim 13:18).

Yated Ne'eman feels it as one of its primary duties to be on the alert about these matters. We have a tradition from our Torah Sages ztvk'l and ylct'a Maranan Verabonon shlita in our generation, led by Maran the Rosh Yeshiva shlita, that this is one of the central aims of this periodical that represents daas Torah.

By doing so, the newspaper is fulfilling what the Rambam has taught us in his commentary on Mishnayos (Ovos 1:15) that the type of speech beloved by Hashem includes also "degrading the depravation of the evil so their deeds and memory will be disgraced by people and others will distance themselves from them." Rabbenu Yonah writes (Sha'arei Teshuvah, Sha'ar III, 218): "We are commanded to degrade and reveal the sins of anyone about whom we are sure -- that we have studied his ways -- and know that he has no fear of Elokim and continually does evil. We must slander those who commit aveiros, so that those who hear this will be disgusted with their evil deeds."

It is therefore clear that there is no reason to defend or give any chance for such reshoim. The rishonim write that the rule of "Judge everyone favorably" (Ovos 1:6) does not apply to known reshoim. For such people even their "good deeds" must be condemned. Just as in the case of an upright person we must exert ourselves to interpret even a deed that appears negative to be not so, so with a complete rosho we must exert ourselves to interpret his "good deeds" as concealing something evil and negative.

"Even if his deed is altogether good, without any apparent aspect of sin, a person must condemn him and say he did it only to find favor but inwardly he is not like that, as is written (Mishlei 26:25), `He who hates dissembles with his lips and lays up deceit within him; when he speaks fair do not believe him for there are seven abominations in his heart' (Rabbenu Yonah, Pirkei Ovos, 1:6)."


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