We do not come to gloat or to score political points. On the
contrary, we identify with the pain of the wounded and
deplore the violence of the authorities. But there is a
serious crisis of values that we feel it is important to
write about.
There are very few public issues that Maran HaRav Shach
zt"l spoke and wrote about as many times as the
approach of Eretz Yisroel Hasheleimoh. It was one of
the themes that he returned to at almost every opportunity,
even when it did not seem to be a central concern of the
audience at hand — not to mention that his expressed
concerns seemed remote. For example, even at the Kenness
Hayesod at the founding of Degel Hatorah in Tishrei 5749,
Maran declared that one of the purposes of the incipient
Torah movement was to warn against and distance the Torah
world from the approach of Eretz Yisroel
Hasheleimoh.
An incident that seems stunning in retrospect was published
in a memorial issue to HaRav Shach on the occasion of his
first yahrtzeit. After one of his fiery public
speeches directed against the ideological errors of the
settlement movement, a prominent talmid chochom told
him that he had heard from some settlers that they were very
hurt by the remarks. Maran answered, "Listen well. It is
clear that they are precious people. But there will come a
time when it will be necessary to evacuate settlements. And
since they make their entire relationship to Judaism focus on
this, the crisis will cause them, choliloh, to
question their Judaism. I want them to remember that there
was an old man who cried out that this is not the main thing
in Judaism!"
To be sure, HaRav Shach's vision was that of a chochom
who understood and forecast the general trend and he had no
inkling of the shape that it ultimately took, but in those
days the suggestion seemed fantastic and the concern
exaggerated. However Maran's perspective truly embraced every
Jew and he did what he could to lessen the dangers that he
foresaw.
What he anticipated is now staring us all in the face and no
one should deny or ignore it. Who could imagine that a Jewish
teenager could descend to the view that destroying an
unoccupied house is a worse crime than smashing another Jew's
skull with a thrown rock? Who would have believed that love
of Eretz Yisroel could have ever been twisted into
such a conclusion?
Those who stockpiled boulders and cinderblocks on the
rooftops of Amona, and then hurled them without regard to the
fact that they could easily kill some other Jew —
friend or foe — were not street bums looking for some
action who tried to amuse themselves by dabbling in a little
violence, like the bored children of Israeli secular society.
These were not a few marginal types who could have arisen in
any modern group. No. These were the best and brightest of
the national-religious youth who went straight from their
studies in the best yeshivas and ulpanas that religious
Zionism has to offer.
They do not care what their rebbes and mechanchim tell
them about how to protest. They do what they think needs to
be done.
For years the weakness of the national-religious
chinuch has been a topic of discussion in their public
forums, but up until now the challenge was from the "left:"
far too many left the fold and became chiloni despite
the intensive efforts and education of the best educators.
This is the first time that the committed students, the pride
of the movement, have defied the principles of their
education.
Even in Gush Katif, aside from the basic and important human
issues of dislocation that had nothing to do with yishuv
Eretz Yisroel, the core issues were murky. What they
called "expulsion" (geirush) was really a gathering
in. And the people were not asked to give up yishuv Eretz
Yisroel but only to settle in another part of the Holy
Land that is certainly no less holy than Gaza.
But in Amona the entire issue was unoccupied buildings. The
despicable and disgusting behavior of the police —
which is all-too-familiar from many past incidents —
does not excuse or even minimize the horror of the conduct of
youth who are or should be far above them in terms of ideals
and values.
We are not talking about politics but about fundamental
values that should be basic to any Jew. The affair
constitutes a sad demonstration of our truth that the pure
Torah way is the only way to preserve one's humanity in a
morally hostile world.
