A BIG *SIGH* here.
I wondered how long it would take for some religious zealot to explain why the 3 Israeli Yeshivah students were kidnapped by terrorists; yup it is 'divine punishment'. Yep! It is either because Israel recently passed a draft for Haredi OR because Israel has been passing 'anti-religious (read chipping away at Haredi dominance of the Israeli Rabbincate) & is willing to provide land for peace ! Why not go ahead and blame gays, women's education & tzniut ?!?
Well, I'm not the best scholar in the world, nor am I the worst. But this I do know: the age of Jewish Prophets is over (which is why, incidentally, Jews rejected Mo, but that's a different story). So no-one has the right to claim the G-d is punishing Israel for whatever reason and I believe that is well within Halakhah to give up land for peace. Furthermore I would argue that the ultimate Mitzvot, save the exceptional circumstances when we must Yehareg ve'al ya'avor,is -Pikuach Nefesh, the preservation of life. A peace treaty with the Arabs is essential in the long term, but it is a matter of timing and context that will determine this, though. I'm not G-d, so I'm not even going to give any possible spiritual answer as to why these things happen. In the same respect, when people ask me about the Shoah. I'll be honest. I don't have any words, any glibness, no hidden spiritual insight. As a famous Sephardi Rabbi [Judah ha-Levi] once said "If I understood Him, I would be Him". What I do know is that we can do our upmost to Daven[pray] for the return of these boys, alongside the practical actions that the IDF and others are doing . Furthermore, what needs to happen now is to put in place practical ways which will prevent further kidnappings.
As for the reasons given -
Well studying Torah academically is good, but if you really grasp it you'd realise that there is a life outside it and that is the real thrust of Judaism, besides which, ah you've heard me enough to know my views on this one, but I will turn to it in greater depth in another post ... & I can't see exactly what is damaging about the various issues mention in the article about the current Israeli government being 'anti-religious', e.g. the change to the conversion process, I will write about this at greater length another time, but I think there does need to be more leniency here.I read an article a couple of months back about how a famous Israeli actress wanted to convert- she had a Jewish father, not a mother- and stuck to all of the modesty rules, dietary rules and they apparently ended the conversion process because she was an actress, doh !!!
So if you are a self-righteous nutter or follower of a conclave of Mullah type Rabbis, who think they can interpret the divine will, turn this into a disgraceful political statement to suite your own needs, then go ahead. No-one else wants to know, we are too busy praying and being practical in our efforts to bring back our boys.
Thank you.
'Amidst everything we do, we say Hashem, please help our soldiers bring our boys back home.'
UPDATE (1 hour later) - I have the privilege of reading through my sister's notes for her book. She passionately expresses in her notes much of my feelings, so I will not need to discuss further the issues I said I would above.
