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Bostoner Rebbe Speaks Out Against Disengagement
Outspoken Critic Of Land For Peace Dies At 88
Dec 5, 2009
Bostoner Rebbe Passes Away at 88 The Bostoner Rebbe, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Horowitz, passed away at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital on Sabbath. Funeral at 9:30 pm.
By Gil Ronen

The Bostoner Rebbe, Rabbi Levi Yitzchak Horowitz, passed away at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem on Sabbath. The funeral will leave his study hall at Har Nof in Jerusalem at 9:30 pm Saturday evening.

He was 88. In the past week, his sons were called to Israel after his health deteriorated. His followers held numerous prayers for his health in the past few days.

The Bostoner Rebbe visited Gush Katif before the expulsion of the Jews who lived there. At the time he came out strongly against the plan to destroy and abandon Gush Katif, saying that “it is unthinkable that a nation that has been through the Holocaust and survived as an ember saved from the fire, will have to suffer an additional burden of edicts that weigh down heavily upon the citizen, or do him actual harm in his own country – edicts that say determine where he may not settle.”

He joined other rabbis in determining that the Torah forbids uprooting a Jew from his land. “The transfer will lead to an increase in the Arabs' 'appetite' and these steps could bring more disasters upon Israel,” he warned.

In BaKehila Magazine, he was asked about the connection between the Disengagement and the Second Lebanon War. “This guilt is doubled,” he said. “We see today the damage brought about by our exit from Gaza. If Gaza were in our hands today, the army would have more possibilities and it could defeat terror more easily. Now they are fighting against us from two fronts, north and south. Something absurd and infuriating happened here. With our own hands we prepared the ground for a situation in which the enemies of Israel would have the upper hand. We went and gave the Gaza although they did not want it. They said in advance that they would continue to fight Israel even after the retreat. This is complete madness that cannot be understood.” Click Here To Read Original Article

Bostoner Rebbe Leads Solidarity Mission to Gush Katif

Bostoner Rebbe Stands With Gush Katif
By Yechiel Spira
July 7, 2005
The Bostoner Rebbe, Grand Rabbi Levi Yitzhak Horowitz [pictured] arrived in the Gush Katif town N'vei Dekalim on Monday afternoon accompanied by three busloads of congregants and supporters. As the Rebbe's bulletproof van arrived in front of the town's central synagogue, dozens of local residents began making their way to greet the Rebbe, a member of the Council of Torah Sages of Israel and the United States.

The visit, at this time, by a prominent member of the hareidi Torah community sends a unique message to Gush Katif leaders, residents and the government, that support for a continued Jewish presence in Gush Katif and Gaza communities is far-reaching, extending outside the National Religious community to other sectors of Torah Jewry as well.

The Rebbe addressed the crowd inside the synagogue, speaking of the Jewish People's acquisition of the Land of Israel. The Rebbe expressed a prayer that together, the Jewish People will remain in Gush Katif area communities in the future, continuing to build and grow for many years.

Following the Rebbe's remarks, Rabbi Label Groner spoke. Rabbi Groner served for decades as the secretary of the late Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson. Following the teachings of Rabbi Schneerson, Rabbi Groner spoke of the need to continue efforts to reverse the decree of the disengagement, citing numerous examples from modern history when the Jewish People witnessed G-d's intervention, saving the residents of Israel from tragedy.

Rabbi Groner called for increased diligence in the observance of Torah and mitzvoth, explaining that with our actions and mesirut nefesh -- self sacrifice, the Jewish People can reverse the decree of the government's expulsion plan.

The Bostoner Rebbe and his followers proceeded to the Maoz Yam Hotel which was evacuated last week by the army and currently serves as an army base. From there, the group visited Kfar Darom, meeting with leaders and residents before returning to Jerusalem. Click Here To Read Original Article

Yehuda Zvi Kook

Giving Away Israel's Land Violates Positive Commandment To Settle The Land
By Etta Bick
Spring 2007 Issue of Business Week Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook: No Withdrawal

Any analysis of the current debate among religious Zionist rabbis regarding the state, settlements, and disengagement must include the ideas of Rabbi Zvi Yehuda Kook (1891-1981), who was the mentor of "messianic Zionism" and the settlement movement Gush Emunim after 1967.
While the settler movement did not consist solely of religious people, many of the leaders of Gush Emunim and the founders of the settlements see themselves as his disciples. After his death in 1981, Rabbi Z. Y. Kook's speeches and writings joined the legacy of his father and became the guide for his students.

Rabbi Zvi Yehuda ruled that giving away part of the territory of the Land of Israel to non-Jews clearly violates the positive commandment to settle the land. For that reason, he had opposed the return of territory to Syria and Egypt in 1975, as part of the Disengagement Agreements and to the Camp David Accords in 1979. He had also disavowed the right of the Rabin government to restrict settlement activity in Samaria in the 1970s.

Although he believed that the state was an integral part of the messianic redemption, as did his father, Rabbi Z. Y. Kook had an instrumental view of the state apparatus. State sovereignty and authority facilitated Jewish rule over Eretz Yisrael and, as such, had special value, even holiness. The state served a necessary and integral role in the messianic process. In the hierarchy of priorities, however, the Land and the People of Israel take precedence over the state. If the state were to turn against the Land (for example, giving land to the Palestinians) and adopt policies against the inherent will of the people, it would not be legitimate If a minority were to impose its will on the majority of the Jewish people, it would not be legitimate either.

During his lifetime, Rabbi Z. Y. Kook made several far-reaching statements related to the legitimacy of government decisions to relinquish territory. In a speech to his students on Israel Independence Day in 1974, Rabbi Kook said:

... and you will inherit the land and settle in it" means that the land will be in our hands "and we will not leave it in the hand of the nations".... It is a positive commandment of the Torah, clear and absolute, that obligates all Jews ... We are obligated to sacrifice ourselves (meserut nefesh) for this land, for all of its boundaries. If because of political blunders by Gentiles or (God forbid) by Jews we will be compelled (to leave the land), we are all obligated to be killed and not to transgress! On Judea and Samaria, and on the Golan Heights--it will not happen without war. (17)

He repeated this warning again in a letter to Shimon Peres, then minister of defense:

As I had warned Moshe Dayan at the time, I want to remind you again that all territorial concessions are null and void; they will not take place Over Judea and Samaria there will be internal war, and when the entire nation will rise up against this government, I will naturally join the people, taking a stand for the word of God ... the government is for the people and not the people for the government. (18)

Rabbi Kook's call for dedication and sacrifice inspired thousands to move to the hills of Judea and Samaria in the last three decades, in the vanguard of settlement. His students studied his ideas and cited them as precedents in their own rulings. But were his words regarding civil war to be taken literally? Did he mean a real war or a war of words?

The movement to stop the disengagement used these quotations from Rabbi Z. Y. Kook in its public relations campaign. Thousands of posters with the visage of the late rabbi were mounted throughout Judea and Samaria and in religious neighborhoods in Israel's cities. They called on all citizens, rabbis and laymen alike to oppose the disengagement and cited his ruling forbidding any withdrawal from the territories. Some posters called on soldiers, recruits and reservists alike to inform their superiors that they will not obey if ordered to evacuate settlements.

Click Here To Read Original Article

Footnotes
(17.) Eretz Hazvi siman 10, quoted in Yaakov Zisberg, "Yehareg uval yaavor b'mavak al Eretz Yisrael: shitat Rabbi Zvi Yehuda," in Tsohar 14, 19.
(18.) Ibid, Eretz Hazvi siman, 4.

Rabbi Shapiro: Call For Insubordination

Chief Rabbi of Israel: It is illegal for soldiers to be asked to remove Jews from the land
By Etta Bick
Spring 2007 Issue of Business Week
Rabbi Avraham Shapira: A Call for Insubordination

The former chief rabbis of Israel, Rabbis Avraham Shapira and Mordechai Eliyahu, posed a serious challenge to the government's legitimacy and disengagement policy. As spiritual leaders of a significant segment of the religious Zionist community, their outspoken stand against the Sharon disengagement plan represented a volatile mix of religion and right-wing ideology. Our discussion will focus primarily on Rabbi Shapira for two reasons: first, Rabbi Shapira had significantly more influence over many of the rabbis and laymen living in Judea and Samaria in particular, and in the religious Zionist community in general, than Rabbi Eliyahu. He has stood at the helm of the Merkaz Harav Yeshiva for the last twenty-four years; hundreds regard him as their ultimate halakhic authority. Many of his former students teach in yeshivas or serve as rabbis of communities. Second, as the day of the evacuation neared, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu issued statements that appeared to back down from his earlier ruling, which had put him in clear agreement with Rabbi Shapira. (19)

Like Rabbi Z. Y. Kook before him, Rabbi Shapira believes Jewish law forbids giving away any part of the land of Israel to non-Jews. In response to the government's disengagement plan, Rabbi Shapira categorically prohibited soldiers from carrying out the order to evacuate the settlements. In an interview in the Israeli daily Yediot Achronot, in October 2004, the rabbi stated unequivocally:

It [the removal of settlements] is a transgression, it is prohibited. They [the soldiers] must inform their commanders that it is prohibited just like the desecration of the Sabbath, or eating non-kosher food. (nevelot and treifot) ... It is not only forbidden for a soldier to uproot settlements but also to assist those who are doing it.

Rabbi Shapira failed to mention that there are other opinions on the issue or to suggest that the issue is complex. When asked if he was not concerned that mass disobedience will impair the armed forces, an argument used by Rabbi Aviner (below) and others to oppose disobedience, the rabbi dismissed the problem out of hand: "No, the army won't disintegrate.... That is the commanders' business, not ours. We know what is permissible and what is prohibited.... Truth is truth and with the truth we don't play around." Rabbi Shapira explained that he was issuing his ruling in October 2004, months before the planned withdrawal, for tactical reasons: in order to deter the government from adopting the plan. He explained:

This must be published ... the army has to know this ... the soldiers must inform them ... our innovation here is that we are notifying them before, so that anyone (Sharon) who wants to do this (policy) ... will know that he will have difficulties and then he will not do it. (20)

Rabbi Shapira's strategy was clear, although misguided. He apparently had hoped that Prime Minister Sharon would decide to cancel the plan while still in its early stages, rather than risk a mutiny in the armed forces. Sharon, however, did not call off the plan. He responded by instructing the army command to inform all units in no uncertain terms that disobedience would not be tolerated and carried severe consequences. In the following months, Sharon showed unwavering determination to implement the policy, despite nationalist and religious Zionist opposition. He fired recalcitrant ministers from his own party, created a new coalition with Labour, and refused a compromise proposal by the embattled minority to put the issue to test in a national referendum.

Rabbi Shapira's ruling posed a serious dilemma for many religious Zionist soldiers. He presented the issue as one of Halakha, which left a soldier with little choice if the soldier regarded Rabbi Shapira as his rabbinical authority. By transmuting his ideological worldview into a halakhic directive, Rabbi Shapira put hundreds of religious soldiers in the unconscionable position of having to choose between obedience to their military commanders and obedience to the Halakha. He also put into question sacred values of religious Zionism, such as the partnership with secular Israelis in nation-building, loyalty to the state and its institutions, and most of all, the shared burden of army service. (21)

One hundred and fifty rabbis of communities and teachers in yeshivas of higher learning signed a petition, published in the national press, calling on soldiers to disobey orders in concurrence with Rabbi Shapira's ruling. Many of the signers were the spiritual leaders of religious Zionist communities throughout the country and teachers in yeshivas, which are Merkaz Harav affiliates. The Council of Rabbis of Yesha (Judea, Samaria and Gaza), led by Rabbis Dov Lior, chief rabbi of Kiryat Arba, Eliezer Melamed, rabbi of the settlement Hat Bracha, Zalman Melamed, head of the yeshiva in Belt El and Elyakim Levanon, head of the hesder yeshiva (22) in Alon Moreh, issued its wholehearted endorsement as well.

A petition signed by 10,000 soldiers, reservists, and pre-army students expressing refusal to participate in the dismantling of settlements if ordered to do so, reflected Rabbi Shapira's ruling. The initiative was organized by Noam Livnat, a yeshiva student identified with the radical right, who distributed the petition among soldiers and set up a website to encourage disobedience. (23) The Army Central Command was concerned that the refusal of religious soldiers to serve would impair the IDF's ability to carry out the withdrawal and seriously damage army discipline and morale. It warned the soldiers and reservists of zero tolerance for any acts of insubordination. Any instances of refusal would be dealt with accordingly. Allowances would be made only in cases when the soldier had close relatives residing in the settlements designated for destruction or was himself a resident. (24)

As the date of the disengagement neared, Rabbi Shapira extended his ruling to soldiers posted at the checkpoints and to the area around the Gush Katif settlement bloc. Rabbi Shapira ruled that because it is forbidden to give away land to non-Jews, it is also prohibited to assist those engaged in that transgression. It is therefore forbidden to man a roadblock reading to Gush Katif or assist in the expulsion of Jews from their homes in any other manner. Likewise, he ruled that soldiers in the reserves should not report for duty if their service will free others to take part in the "transgression." (25)

Army rabbis came under heavy pressure not to cooperate with the withdrawal plan. Protesters demonstrated outside the homes of Lieutenant Colonel Yehuda Vizner, rabbi of the Central Command. Rabbi Dov Lior, head of the Council of Rabbis of Yesha, charged Army Chief Rabbi Brigadier General Yisrael Weiss with collaborating with the government "in an act of coercion against religion." Rabbi Weiss deflected the charges in an interview, but admitted in an unguarded moment, that if Rabbi Shapira himself would order him to resign his post, he would have no choice but to do so. He later retracted the statement after being reprimanded by his army superiors. His admission demonstrates the enormous respect commanded by Rabbi Shapira and of the predicament of Rabbi Weiss and other IDF rabbis. (26)

RABBI SHAPIRA'S RULING: A "TEMPEST IN A TEAPOT?"
What effect did the rabbis' rulings have on the behavior of religious soldiers during the evacuation? Was there mass disobedience by religious soldiers as called for by Rabbi Avraham Shapira and the Council of Rabbis in Yesha (Judea,Samaria and Gaza) or was it merely a "tempest in a teapot?"

According to government figures, 63 cases of soldiers who refused to carry out orders during the disengagement were brought to trial. Another 131 soldiers informed their officers in advance that they would refuse to serve if ordered to evacuate settlers. In a punitive measure, the army expelled twenty soldiers from the hesder program and ordered them to do three years of regular service, not in combat units. (43) There were almost no cases of an organized refusal to serve, despite the 10,000 who signed the petition. Click Here To Read Original Article

Footnotes
(19.) Haaretz, 6 September 2005.
(20.) Yediot Achronot, 14 October 2004.
(21.) This is in contradistinction to the ultra-orthodox who have chosen to separate from the majority, to live in isolated neighborhoods and most importantly, refuse to do any form of army service or national service.
(22.) Hesder yeshivas are post-secondary religious schools that are part of an "arrangement" made with the army that orthodox boys could choose to enter a five-year program that entails a shortened service in the IDF (eighteen months) and Torah study. The soldiers enter the army as a group facilitating their greater observance of rituals and prayer in a quorum while in the army.
(23.) Haaretz, 2 February 2005. Noam Livnat is the brother of Likud Minister Lilnor Livnat.
(24.) Hagit Rotenberg, "Hayu seruvim veyiyu seruvim," Besheva 158, 1 September 2005.
(25.) 2nd Day in Av, 5765 (7 August 2005).
(26.) Nadav Shragai, Haaretz, 8 December 2004.
(43.) Besheva, 15 September 2005. According to statistics gathered by BeSheva, altogether 130 soldiers were put on trial on charges "relating to the expulsion," among them twelve officers, five cadets, six reservists, four female soldiers, and twenty-six students serving in the hesder yeshiva program.