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This Google Custom Search looks only in this website. A Special Interparty Group Set up to Fight for Israel's Jewish Identity
In response to the intense program of the current Israeli government to wield a blow against all that is holy and precious to the Jewish people by promoting reforms and laws to strip it of its very authentic character, an emergency meeting was held this past Monday, joining the Degel HaTorah and Shas parties to plan steps to counteract the government's schemes. This government is indeed the most threatening to Judaism since the very establishment of the State since it seeks to absolutely separate religion from state and obliterate every spark of Judaism therein.
The two parties unanimously agreed to establish a nerve center for a united battle under the banner "Do Not Destroy the Jewish State." It will include representation from both parties, and the battle will be waged together with the Religious Zionist and Likud parties.
The joint meeting of Torah Jewry and Shas, two parties representing the Jewish people vs. the Israeli population, jointly decided to establish a united front in the public struggle against the 'Hellenistic occupation' of the pernicious government and to upgrade the battle one level higher. The Knesset representatives clarified that this is not a chareidi fight per se or even a religious fight, but a war concerning the entire traditional public throughout the country. It is a battle of the Greeks, Hellenists and assimilationists versus Jewry. The Liberal terrorist hatred towards it is unlimited, and its goal is to trample and crush everything.
Two nations have been at loggerheads for the longest time on this holy ground: the Jewish nation and the secular Israeli one. The Israeli nation is 73 years old; the Jewish one dates back three thousand years. The State of Israel belongs to the Israeli people, while Eretz Yisroel belongs to the Jewish people by virtue of a Divine promise.
Unprecedented requests of such magnitude surprised even the organizers and heads of Dirshu: the registration for the upcoming 26th annual Dirshu convention in the U.S. which gathers around it thousands of Dirshu participants who come to hear, learn and teach, to fortify and be fortified under the umbrella of the biggest Torah organization in the world which aims to broaden Torah knowledge and sanctify Hashem's Name in the world.
Part I
This extensive appreciation of HaRav Chaim Shmuelevitz zt"l was first published in our English Yated in 5754 (1993-94) at the fifteenth yahrtzeit.
To "thirstily imbibe their words" is not a casual statement but a fundamental condition and requisite for Torah study. This is what R' Chaim used to preach. By what yardstick did one measure real thirst? Only if one could testify that "Torah is as dear to its scholars, day by day, as it was on the day it was given upon Mount Sinai." Torah's belovedness renews itself and is anchored in its familiarity and closeness. One's affinity to Torah becomes non quenchable.
R' Chaim used to construct entire shmuessen upon this theme, but above all, he demonstrated it with his example, in his own approach to study. Despite the fact that the entire Talmud, together with the rishonim and acharonim commentaries, fell fluently from his lips, he would repeat every saying and chidush countless times over and again. One could hear him murmuring a teaching of chazal or a halacha in Rambam consecutively, dozens of times.
This was all the more remarkable in the light of the phenomenal amount of knowledge stored in his brain. This was the very same R' Chaim whom R' Chaim Ozer Grodzensky labeled "the [human, walking] library of Yeshivas Mir," rising to his feet when he entered the room.
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