KOL KOREI REGARDING THE ELECTIONS FOR THE WZO

[Free Translation]

The Zionist Movement was founded 125 years ago with the purpose of uprooting the foundations of Judaism and redefining the Jewish people from "a kingdom of servants of Hashem and a holy people" into a nation like all nations who are defined by a common language, culture and land. Since, in the words of Rav Saadiah Gaon, "our nation is a nation by virtue of its Torah," the gedolim of that time did battle with this movement and ruled that anyone who considers himself a Jew may not support it in any manner whatsoever. It was for this reason that they founded Agudath Israel to prevent those who keep Torah and mitzvos from joining the Zionist Movement.

Accordingly, the geonim the Chofetz Chaim, the Gerrer Rebbe, Rav Chaim of Brisk, the Chazon Ish, Rav Aharon Kotler, the Steipler, Rav Elazar Menachem Man Shach, and Rav Yosef Shalom Eliashiv, zichronam livracha, forbade joining the World Zionist Organization (WZO). The Chofetz Chaim ruled that it is forbidden to join it even if this means a third of the yeshivos will have to close. Similarly, recently, a ruling forbidding this was issued by Maran HaGaon Rav Dov Landau shlit"a.

Rabbonim and community heads in Iran were forced to participate in mass demonstrations against Israel which took place on Friday in the major cities throughout the country. The demonstrations marked the El Kuds Day commemorated in several Moslem countries as a protest calling for the liberty of Jerusalem from the hands of Zionist capture.

Representatives of the Jewish community had to attend the demonstrations in Teheran, the capital, as well as in Isfahan, Shiraz, Bushhar and other cities. In Bushhar, Rav Ynnes Hamami Lalhazar attended a rally of Moslem leaders which highlighted the "continuing suppression of the Palestinians in Gaza and the western border."

HaRav Eichenstein begins his talk:

They tell of HaRav Boruch Ber being ill during the period before Yom Kippur. His doctors told him to take a blood test to see if he would be allowed to fast. Rav Boruch Ber, who was living in Kamenitz, would have to travel to Warsaw to make the test in a laboratory and then wait for the results. He was invited to lodge by a Chassidishe Rebbe.

He waited eagerly but there were no results yet. Time passed until he realized that he would have to remain in Warsaw over Yom Kippur.

It was getting let but there were still no results forthcoming and Reb Boruch Ber was getting very edgy, not knowing what he should do. His host turned to him in surprise, "Why are you so anxious? Whatever the case, you will be doing the will of Hashem! If the results show you can fast — all is fine and you can do what the Torah requires. But even if you will not be allowed to fast, you will still be keeping the mitzvah of the Torah of self- preservation, which is also a mitzvoh of pikuach nefesh, which is equally a commandment. Why, then, be so distraught?"

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The surveys in the U.S. regarding the public backing of President Trump indicate rising support. Americans, apparently, like a strong figure who promises and keeps his word.

After so many years of Israel sitting on the defendant bench against gangs of murderers who openly declare their intention to destroy us, along comes the American president — and some maintain that he has lost his sanity or that he has no bounds — with an accepted axiom that the world is made up of the good guys and the bad ones, the oppressors and the oppressed, the murderers and their victims. In this story, the Palestinians are the bad guys while the Jews are the good ones. They have a legitimate right to their land while the Palestinians who challenge this, should up and leave.

Iran is a dangerous country, a war-mongering one, and is responsible for energizing all of its satellite agents in Gaza, Lebanon and Yemen in this war, and it is necessary to stop it in any form.

This essay was originally published in the print edition of 1996.

Part I

For Part II of this series click here.

One of the most outstanding phenomena of our generation has been taking place behind the scenes and away from the limelight. It is not a revolution of non-frum Jews but one that has taken place within the frum community itself. It can be called the chizuk bemitzvos revolution.

The posuk in Parshas Nitzovim (Devorim 30,1), predicts: "When you have endured the brochos and klolos then you will return... you will return to Hashem and listen to his voice in a manner consistent with all which I have commanded you."

The generation which preceded World War II, the churban of European Jewry, witnessed a sharp decline in shemiras hamitzvos both quantitatively as well as qualitatively. Thus many people fell prey to the Reform, the Zionist, the Communist movements, decreasing the number of Torah-true Jews.

At the same time very often even those who remained frum were not immune to alien movements either. There was a decline in the level of shemiras hamitzvos as well.

In recent years there has been a constant teshuvoh movement. Thus many people who were raised in a non-frum environment have returned to Hashem and his Torah. At the same time the frum world has become more medakdeik in mitzvos.

Examples of increased dikduk bemitzvos abound. We find mitzvos such as loshon hora which were once almost unknown that have become household words. Today many frum neighborhoods have continuing activities such as shiurim in shemiras haloshon, mishmeros of people who have accepted certain hours to be extra scrupulous in avoiding loshon hora and/or an annual loshon hora rally.

Once shatnez testing was unorganized, unreliable and uncommon. Today, who would buy a garment without checking it first with a shatnez laboratory? Boruch Hashem the list of mitzvos is quite long and still growing.

One of the mitzvos whose observance is becoming ever more widespread is chodosh — the prohibition against eating grain from the new crop before the second day of Pesach. This trend is worldwide, encompassing almost any land where frum Jews reside.

We shall see that along with the increased popularity of this mitzvah, chodosh observance has become considerably easier as well. This is not unusual. It merely illustrates what Chazal have taught us, (see Rashi to Shemos 19,5) kol hascholos koshos. In our free market economies, the more people there are doing any particular thing, the easier it gets as the market "directs" resources toward meeting the growing demand.

In this essay, we will explain the background of the prohibition against eating chodosh, as well as the halachic basis used to justify eating products that were known or suspected of being chodosh.