Thursday, April 23, 2015
Israeli Flag Flies Above Ponovezh Yeshiva in Bnei Brak on Israeli Independence Day
Some still have Hakoras Hatoiv! There is hope!
Warren Weinstein killed by botched rescue attempt approved by Obama
An American and an Italian held hostage by al-Qaida, as well as two Americans working with the terror group, were inadvertently killed in U.S. counterterrorism operations earlier this year, the White House said Thursday.
The White House said that Warren Weinstein, an American held by al-Qaida since 2011, and Giovanni Lo Porto, an Italian held since 2012, were killed in a January operation in the border region of Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The operation targeted an al-Qaida-associated compound and there was no reason to believe either hostage was present, the White House said.
In addition, the U.S. believes that Ahmed Farouq, an American who the White House says was an al-Qaida leader, was killed in the same operation. U.S. officials have also concluded that Adam Gadahn, an American who had served as a spokesman for the terror network, was killed in a separate operation in January.
The White House said Farouq and Gadhan were not specifically targeted in the operations, nor did the U.S. have information indicating their presence at the sites.
President Barack Obama was to appear in the White House briefing room at midmorning to make a statement on the incidents.
The White House said Obama takes “full responsibility for these operations and believes it is important to provide the American people with as much information as possible about our counterterrorism operations, particularly when they take the lives of fellow citizens. ”
The White House said that while it believes the operations were lawful, the U.S. is conducting an independent review to understand what happened.
Wednesday, April 22, 2015
Yom Hazikaron (Memorial Day) for the Fallen Soldiers of the IDF! What's the Halacha?
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Rabbi Eliezer Melamed
The writer is Head of Yeshivat Har Bracha and a prolific author on Jewish Law, whose works include the series on Jewish law "Pininei Halacha" and a popular weekly column "Revivim" in the Besheva newspaper. His books "The Laws of Prayer" "The Laws of Passover" and "Nation, Land, Army" are presently being translated into English.
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From a halakhic standpoint, there is no need to institute a general memorial day for the holy soldiers who were killed in battle. Instead, one should do what the Jewish people do for anyone who has passed away: on the anniversary of death (yahrtzeit), a memorial prayer is said, and the deceased’s sons or relatives say Kaddish, study Torah, and give charity to elevate their loved one’s soul.
Those who are more meticulous hold a memorial service and organize Torah lectures to elevate the deceased’s soul.
We have fought many wars throughout our long history, often losing more soldiers in one war than Tzahal (IDF) has lost in all of its battles put together. Nevertheless, we do not find that our Sages ever instituted a memorial day for those killed in battle. When we won, we celebrated, and when we lost, we mourned individually.
The only battle for which the Sages instituted public mourning, in the form of selichot prayers and fast days, is over the destruction of Jerusalem and the Beit HaMikdash (Holy Temple) , which was a spiritual and national catastrophe for the Jews. Indeed, the destruction, churban, is the source of all the troubles, evil decrees, and bloodshed that our nation has suffered throughout the exile.
Even the Fast of Gedalyah was instituted in commemoration of the churban, not because Gedalyah was such a great tzaddik that all of Israel needs to mourn his death. Rather, his assassination extinguished the last ember of hope for the Jews who remained in the Land after the destruction of the First Temple.
Moreover, just a few years before the State of Israel was born, six million Jews were murdered in a dreadfully cruel manner. They are our brothers no less than the Israeli soldiers who fell in battle, and they are more than three hundred times the number of soldiers who have died in all of Israel’s wars.
How, then, can we establish a day of mourning for the soldiers, on the same scale as for the six million?
If there is any allowance for a memorial day, it is on condition that we dedicate the day to educating the public about the essence and purpose of the Jewish nation, and about the value of self-sacrifice for our people, Klal Yisrael. Many people mistakenly believe that the more we bow our heads in grief and portray our pain over the fallen soldiers in somber hues, the more we honor their memories.
The opposite, however, is true.
We should view the slain as holy souls, whose entire lives were refined and sanctified through their self-sacrifice for the people and Land of Israel. About such heroes our Sages, Chazal, say, “No one can dwell in the section of Gan Eden where those who were killed by the kingdom dwell” (Pesachim 50a).
A nonbeliever thinks that they are dead in comparison with the living, but a believing Jew knows that they are more alive than all the rest. They died young in this world, but they are very alive in the everlasting world, the World to Come. They are much more alive than we are. They are holy, and our Sages say, “What is holy exists forever” (Sanhedrin 92a).
By giving their lives in sanctification of God’s Name, they rose above the personal existence of an individual Jew to the comprehensive level of the holiness of Klal Yisrael. By sacrificing their lives for Klal Yisrael, they were elevated to the stature of Klal Yisrael, and they are more connected to HaKadosh Baruch Hu, Hashem, the source of life. Therefore, they added great light and blessing in both the World of Truth and this world when they died. Moreover, we live here today in their merit, and all of our accomplishments belong to them.
Sadly, people with little faith, who do not understand Klal Yisrael’s past and ongoing mission, have seized control of the State of Israel’s media and cultural life. In the beginning, the secularists still had an inkling of what Judaism was all about, based on what they heard in their parents’ home, but over time, their alienation from Torah values took its toll, and they turned Yom Hazikaron into a day of weakness and defeatism.
Instead of honoring the holy memories of the fallen, trying to understand the essence of Am Yisrael, and investing meaning into the soldiers’ self-sacrifice, they emphasize the pain, despair, and destruction, sometimes even portraying the deaths of these soldiers as meaningless. They appear to be honoring the fallen, but in reality, there is no greater affront to the honor of these holy souls than the inappropriate character that these people have attached to Yom Hazikaron– the fundamental flaw being a disregard for the sacred Jewish national destiny of Klal Yisrael for whose sake the soldiers sacrificed their lives.
If we nonetheless observe Yom Hazikaron, we must underscore the soldiers’ self-sacrifice in sanctifying God’s Name. We must emphasize how they demonstrated to us that the prophecy of the ingathering of the exiles and the rebirth of the Jewish nation in its [ancient] Homeland is so great that it is worthwhile to give up one’s life in this world for its sake. This will strengthen us and inspire us to follow their lead.
The children we bear and raise exist in their merit; the settlements we establish flourish because of them; the Torah we learn is theirs; the ethical Jewish society we want to build here, as the prophets foretold, is theirs also. If we remember this, and exert a great deal of effort, we will be able to continue in their path, the path of self-sacrifice for Klal Yisrael. Then we will truly honor them, as holy and pure souls, illuminating and shining like the glow of the heavens.
This is also what we must say to the bereaved families in whose midst these holy warriors sprouted: Do not surrender to death; continue to live by their strength. Do not bow your heads; rather, stand up straight and tall in their honor. Lift your eyes beyond the ordinary horizon and look towards the vision of the redemption and the End of Days. And even if there are tears in your eyes, let them be tears of grandeur.
This essay appears in Rabbi Melamed’s “Peninei Halakha: Z’manim”, and can be read in full at: http://ph.yhb.org.il/en/category/zemanim/
Yom Ha'Zikoron! Holy Words from Maran Ovadia Yossef z"l
היום הוא יום זכרון לחללי מערכות ישראל, והנה אנו מפרסמים דברים אלו (בתוספת נופך), שנאמרו מפי מרן רבינו הקדוש רבי עובדיה יוסף זצ"ל, בכינוס יום הזכרון לפני קרוב לארבעים שנה, ויפים הדברים להאמר גם עתה.
אמרו בגמרא (בבא בתרא י:), הרוגי "לוד", אין כל בריה יכולה לעמוד במחיצתם. ופירוש הרוגי לוד, הם האחים פפוס ולוליינוס, במעשה שהיה, שבתו (הבת של) של המלך נמצאה הרוגה, וחשדו הגויים שמישהו מישראל הרג אותה, וגזרו גזירה על כל העם, להשמיד להרוג ולאבד, ועמדו פפוס ולוליינוס, ופדו בנפשם את ישראל, שאמרו, אנחנו הרגנוה, והמלך הרג אותם לבדם, ונשארו כל ישראל לפליטה. ועליהם אמרו רבותיו, כי אין כל בריה יכולה לעמוד במחיצתם, לרוב גודל השכר שיש להם לעולם הבא.
אין ספק שדברים אלה כוחם יפה גם לגבי חללי צה"ל הקבורים בארץ ישראל, אשר חרפו נפשם במערכות ישראל על גאולתינו ועל פדות נפשינו, מנשרים קלו מאריות גברו, תהי נשמתם צרורה בצרור החיים.
עמנו למוד סבל ורווי דמעות, על נהרי נחלי דמי אחינו שנשפך כמים, לא שלותי ולא שקטתי ולא נחתי ויבא רוגז, ומאז חורבן בית קדשינו ותפארתינו, וגלות ישראל מעל אדמתו, נשפך דם ישראל כמים, אמרו לכו ונכחידם מגוי ולא יזכר שם ישראל עוד. ובת קול ממררת בבכי שלוש פעמים ביום ואומרת, "אוי לי שהחרבתי את ביתי ושרפתי את היכלי והגלתי את בני לבין אומות העולם". תמיד היינו מטרה לשנאת הגויים, שנאת עולם לעם עולם, שבכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלותינו, כמה מאות קהלות נרצחו באכזריות במסעי הצלב והאינקויזיציה, והאחרון הכביד, בשואה האחרונה אשר נהרגו כששה מליון יהודים ובתוכם גדולי ישראל צדיקים יסודי עולם, ועד עתה, בפרעות שעושים כנגדינו שכינינו הערבים הפלשטינאים, הפוגעים לא אחת בחיילינו. וכבר אמרו במסכת ראש השנה (כג.), אוי להם לאומות העולם שאין להם תקנה.
ואמרו חז"ל (ילקוט שמעוני פרשת מטות), שכל אותם שנרצחו ביד אומות העולם הרשעים, הקדוש ברוך הוא טובל דמם על בגד שלובש עד שנעשה צבעו רווי דם, וכשיגיע יום הדין, אל קנא ונוקם מתעטף באותו הבגד, ורואה את כל גופות הנרצחים ביד בני עוולה, והיה צדק אזור מתניו, לעשות נקמה בגויים תוכחות בלאומים, לאסור מלכיהם בזיקים ונכבדיהם בכבלי ברזל, וכמו שנאמר "ידין בגויים מלא גויות".
יום הזכרון צריך לשמש לנו לא רק כיום אבל על אבדן חללינו, שקשה סילוקם של בחורים כחורבן בית המקדש, אלא גם יום חשבון נפש, עלינו להתאמץ לחזור למסורת אבותינו, לשוב לתורה ולמעשים טובים, ולחנך את בנינו לתורה, וכמאמר הכתוב, שובו אלי ואשובה אליכם. והרי כמה וכמה מהאובדים על קדושת ה' לא נהרגו ולא נרצחו אלא בכדי שימשיך עמינו להתקיים בתורתו, וכמה וכמה נהרגו ממש על קדושת ה', שלא רצו להמיר דתם, ואם כן בודאי שבמותם ציוו לנו החיים, חיי התורה, וכמאמרו של רבינו סעדיה גאון, כי אין אומתינו אומה אלא בתורתה.
זכותם של חללי צה"ל מגיני ארץ קדשינו יחד עם כל קדושי עם ישראל תעמוד לעד להגן אלף המגן על משפחותיהם, ויעמדו בתפילה לפני כסא כבודו על כל עם ישראל לבל נוסיף לדאבה עוד, וכמו שנאמר, לא יבא עוד שמשך וירחך לא יאסף כי ה' יהיה לך לאור עולם ושלמו ימי אבלך, ויקויים בנו מקרא שכתוב, ושמתי מקום לעמי לישראל, ונטעתיו ושכן תחתיו, ולא יוסיפו בני עולה לענותו כאשר בראשונה. וקראת ישועה חומותינו ושערנו תהלה, ותחזינה עינינו בבנין בית מקדשינו אהל בל יצען, בל יסע יתדותיו לנצח, וכל חבליו בל ינתקו, וכבר נאמר, כי יום נקם בלבי ושנת גאולי באה, מי יתן מציון ישועת ישראל בשוב ה' שבות עמו יגל יעקב ישמח ישראל. ואת רוח הטומאה יעביר מן הארץ ובא לציון גואל במהרה בימינו. אמן.
אמרו בגמרא (בבא בתרא י:), הרוגי "לוד", אין כל בריה יכולה לעמוד במחיצתם. ופירוש הרוגי לוד, הם האחים פפוס ולוליינוס, במעשה שהיה, שבתו (הבת של) של המלך נמצאה הרוגה, וחשדו הגויים שמישהו מישראל הרג אותה, וגזרו גזירה על כל העם, להשמיד להרוג ולאבד, ועמדו פפוס ולוליינוס, ופדו בנפשם את ישראל, שאמרו, אנחנו הרגנוה, והמלך הרג אותם לבדם, ונשארו כל ישראל לפליטה. ועליהם אמרו רבותיו, כי אין כל בריה יכולה לעמוד במחיצתם, לרוב גודל השכר שיש להם לעולם הבא.
אין ספק שדברים אלה כוחם יפה גם לגבי חללי צה"ל הקבורים בארץ ישראל, אשר חרפו נפשם במערכות ישראל על גאולתינו ועל פדות נפשינו, מנשרים קלו מאריות גברו, תהי נשמתם צרורה בצרור החיים.
עמנו למוד סבל ורווי דמעות, על נהרי נחלי דמי אחינו שנשפך כמים, לא שלותי ולא שקטתי ולא נחתי ויבא רוגז, ומאז חורבן בית קדשינו ותפארתינו, וגלות ישראל מעל אדמתו, נשפך דם ישראל כמים, אמרו לכו ונכחידם מגוי ולא יזכר שם ישראל עוד. ובת קול ממררת בבכי שלוש פעמים ביום ואומרת, "אוי לי שהחרבתי את ביתי ושרפתי את היכלי והגלתי את בני לבין אומות העולם". תמיד היינו מטרה לשנאת הגויים, שנאת עולם לעם עולם, שבכל דור ודור עומדים עלינו לכלותינו, כמה מאות קהלות נרצחו באכזריות במסעי הצלב והאינקויזיציה, והאחרון הכביד, בשואה האחרונה אשר נהרגו כששה מליון יהודים ובתוכם גדולי ישראל צדיקים יסודי עולם, ועד עתה, בפרעות שעושים כנגדינו שכינינו הערבים הפלשטינאים, הפוגעים לא אחת בחיילינו. וכבר אמרו במסכת ראש השנה (כג.), אוי להם לאומות העולם שאין להם תקנה.
ואמרו חז"ל (ילקוט שמעוני פרשת מטות), שכל אותם שנרצחו ביד אומות העולם הרשעים, הקדוש ברוך הוא טובל דמם על בגד שלובש עד שנעשה צבעו רווי דם, וכשיגיע יום הדין, אל קנא ונוקם מתעטף באותו הבגד, ורואה את כל גופות הנרצחים ביד בני עוולה, והיה צדק אזור מתניו, לעשות נקמה בגויים תוכחות בלאומים, לאסור מלכיהם בזיקים ונכבדיהם בכבלי ברזל, וכמו שנאמר "ידין בגויים מלא גויות".
יום הזכרון צריך לשמש לנו לא רק כיום אבל על אבדן חללינו, שקשה סילוקם של בחורים כחורבן בית המקדש, אלא גם יום חשבון נפש, עלינו להתאמץ לחזור למסורת אבותינו, לשוב לתורה ולמעשים טובים, ולחנך את בנינו לתורה, וכמאמר הכתוב, שובו אלי ואשובה אליכם. והרי כמה וכמה מהאובדים על קדושת ה' לא נהרגו ולא נרצחו אלא בכדי שימשיך עמינו להתקיים בתורתו, וכמה וכמה נהרגו ממש על קדושת ה', שלא רצו להמיר דתם, ואם כן בודאי שבמותם ציוו לנו החיים, חיי התורה, וכמאמרו של רבינו סעדיה גאון, כי אין אומתינו אומה אלא בתורתה.
זכותם של חללי צה"ל מגיני ארץ קדשינו יחד עם כל קדושי עם ישראל תעמוד לעד להגן אלף המגן על משפחותיהם, ויעמדו בתפילה לפני כסא כבודו על כל עם ישראל לבל נוסיף לדאבה עוד, וכמו שנאמר, לא יבא עוד שמשך וירחך לא יאסף כי ה' יהיה לך לאור עולם ושלמו ימי אבלך, ויקויים בנו מקרא שכתוב, ושמתי מקום לעמי לישראל, ונטעתיו ושכן תחתיו, ולא יוסיפו בני עולה לענותו כאשר בראשונה. וקראת ישועה חומותינו ושערנו תהלה, ותחזינה עינינו בבנין בית מקדשינו אהל בל יצען, בל יסע יתדותיו לנצח, וכל חבליו בל ינתקו, וכבר נאמר, כי יום נקם בלבי ושנת גאולי באה, מי יתן מציון ישועת ישראל בשוב ה' שבות עמו יגל יעקב ישמח ישראל. ואת רוח הטומאה יעביר מן הארץ ובא לציון גואל במהרה בימינו. אמן.
Rabbi Mendel Epstein found guilty!
Three Orthodox Jewish rabbis were convicted in New Jersey on Tuesday of conspiracy to commit kidnapping in a scheme to force men to grant divorces to their unhappy wives under Jewish law.
Two of the rabbis were convicted as well of attempted kidnapping in federal court in Trenton, New Jersey, according to the office of one of the defense attorneys.
The case before U.S. District Judge Freda Wolfson hinged in part on the testimony of an undercover FBI agent who posed as an Orthodox Jewish wife seeking a divorce.
Orthodox Jewish women cannot get a divorce unless their husbands consent through a document known as a “get.”
Prosecutors said the rabbis operated a ring that kidnapped or tried to kidnap men and tortured them with beatings and stun guns until they agreed to divorce.
Rabbis Mendel Epstein, 68, Jay Goldstein, 60, and Binyamin Stimler, 38, were found guilty of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, according to the office of lawyer Aidan O’Connor, who represented Goldstein.
Goldstein and Stimler also were convicted of attempted kidnapping.
Epstein’s son, David, 39, was charged but found not guilty of conspiracy and kidnapping.
The jury began deliberating on April 15.
The ring operated from 2009 to 2013, prosecutors said.
Although a wife can skip seeking a get and settle for a civil divorce, the separation without the husband’s consent can result in her being cast out of family and social circles.
Experts say such kidnapping schemes are responses to so-called get abuse, in which husbands demand an unreasonably large share of the couple’s communal property before granting the divorce.
The convictions come about three months after 56-year-old Rabbi Martin Wolmark pleaded guilty in the same case to conspiracy to travel in interstate commerce to commit extortion.
Sentencing is set for July 15. Epstein, Goldstein and Stimler face up to life in prison.
Tuesday, April 21, 2015
The Miracle of The State of Israel & FDR
by Rabbi Benjamin Blech
This week we commemorate the 67th anniversary of the birth of the modern day state of Israel. This momentous event almost didn’t take place without very special divine intervention.
At the time almost no one knew the story. It was not until much later that the secret correspondence between Franklin Delano Roosevelt and the Saudi King surfaced. But now we know what transpired behind the scene that would surely have derailed recognition of Israel as a member state of the United Nations – and we can once again stand in awe of the mysterious ways in which G-d plays a role in directing the turning points of history.
I have just now become privileged to see copies of the original letters between Abdul Aziz bin Abdur Rahman al Faisal al Saud and the then president of the United States. It was in March 1945 that the Saudi King, aware of the imminent end of the Second World War, wrote to FDR of his fear that the Jewish remnant of the Holocaust might push for a return to their ancient homeland of Palestine. Saud was particularly concerned that there might be some American support for this on humanitarian grounds, especially in light of the revelations about the extent of Jewish suffering.
The Saudi King was undiplomatically direct in his opposition to this possibility:
“This right [of the Arabs] men now seek to destroy by injustice unparalleled and unequaled in history. Such is the right of the Arabs in Palestine which the spokesmen of Jewish Zionism wish to scorn and abolish by the use of various forms of lying propaganda, invented, concealed and employed by them throughout the world.… They are preparing to create a form of Nazi fascism within sight and hearing of the democracies and in the midst of the Arab countries as well as in their very heart and in the heart of the East which has proved itself loyal to the Allied cause in these critical times….. We state frankly and plainly that to help Zionism in Palestine not only means to endanger Palestine but all neighboring countries.”
Leaving aside the incredible reference to the Arab world having proven itself “loyal to the Allied cause” in spite of its powerful links to Hitler and the Nazis, the Saudi King seemed quite confident he would secure a positive response from FDR which would make the creation of a Jewish state impossible.
In fact he was not disappointed.
On April 5, FDR responded with an extremely warm note. In it he offered the king a firm commitment.
“Your Majesty will doubtless recall that on previous occasions I communicated to you that I would take no action in my capacity as chief of the executive branch of this government which might prove hostile to the Arab people.”
As long as he continued to serve as President, he made clear that the dream of the Jewish people of return to their homeland would not be fulfilled. Those were his words.
It was on April 12, a mere seven days after the date of FDR’s commitment to the Saudi King, that FDR passed away.
America mourned mightily at the death of their leader who had guided them through the previous years of horror. Jews, as grateful citizens of a land that had offered them so many blessings, were in the forefront of those overwhelmed by grief. We can now see divine fingerprints in the replacement of FDR with Harry S Truman, a man who previously enjoyed a friendly business relationship with a Jew and found himself in the unique position of being able to make possible the creation of the state of Israel which his predecessor pledged never to allow.
It seems miracles have always played a major role in the unparalleled story of a people returning to their homeland after a hiatus of close to 2000 years. But it was not only the miracles which allowed Israel to survive the attacks of its many enemies, far superior in number, in armaments, in wealth and in friends amongst the nations of the world. No rational historian, no realistic military analyst, no cogent political commentator could possibly have predicted that after 67 years of attempts at its annihilation, Israel still stands proud and tall, secure in its achievements and confident of its continued survival.
Israel’s development through its teenage years, its growth to maturity and its present day place in the world as a technological wonder all bear the signs of divine and miraculous assistance. However this year, now that we know the full story, let us add our recognition of the miracle which made possible Israel’s birth as well.
Monday, April 20, 2015
Mike Huckabee Calls Two-State Solution ‘the Nuttiest Thing I’ve Ever Heard’
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| Mike at the Kotel |
Likely US presidential candidate Mike Huckabee said this past weekend that the widely accepted two-state solution for Israeli-Palestinian peace is a crazy idea and that the disputed West Bank territories already belong to Israel, Newsmax reported.
It’s “the nuttiest thing I’ve ever heard” the former Arkansas governor said, while addressing several hundred people at the Republican Leadership Summit in New Hampshire.
“One of those parties believes the other one should not exist,” added Huckabee. “Let’s quit pretending there is such a thing in that particular country. In the land of Judea and Samaria, there should not be a question as to whether or not that is going to belong to Israel - because it does belong to Israel.”
Speaking at the two-day event, Huckabee also said that he witnessed an Islamic State terrorist camp in Syria just two miles from where he stood during a recent visit to the Israeli Golan Heights. He added that he heard at least 10 rocket and shell explosions going off in Syria, Newsmax reported.
“We were safe where we were, and the reason we were was because Israel understands what it is to defend its borders and recognizes that it does have a right to defend itself and its people,” he explained, also noting that his first visit to Israel was 42 years ago.
Huckabee said President Obama’s failing policies in the Middle East have resulted in Israel allying itself with other nations in the region amid fears of a nuclear armed Iran. He told the crowd at the Summit, “Now, the Israelis are in a greater alliance with the Saudis, Jordanians, and Egyptians than they are with the United States - because those countries at least have the good sense to know you don’t trust the Iranians.”
“I pray our next president will have the good sense to know we don’t trust the Iranians, but we can trust our friends, the Israelis - and we can trust the leadership of other countries in the Middle East, who recognize that you cannot create peace when you chant ‘Death to America’ in the streets of your cities,” he added.
Petira Of HaGaon HaRav Aharon Lichtenstein ZT"L - Leading Dati Leumi Posek, Son In Law Of Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik
HaGaon HaRav Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein ZT”L was niftar at the age of 81. The levaya will be held on Tuesday, 2 Iyar to permit family members to arrive in Eretz Yisrael.
The rav was a leading authority in the dati leumi community around the world. While he was born in France, he was raised in the United States. He was a talmid of both HaRav Yitzchak Hutner Z”TL and Rabbi Joseph B. Soloveitchik ZT”L, eventually becoming his son-in-law.
In 1970, Rabbi Yehuda Amital invited him to serve with him as head of Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shvut, Rabbi Liechtenstein acceded to the request, and immigrated to Israel with his family in 1971, and has served as the Rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Amital along with until the death of the latter. He would not serve unless Rav Amital was co-rosh yeshiva alongside, another symbol of his absolute modesty.
Rabbi Dr. Liechtenstein received the Israel Prize for Torah literature and in English literature. He earned a BA and semicha at Yeshiva University and a PhD in English Literature at Harvard University, where he studied under Douglas Bush.
In 2006 he moved from Gush Etzion to Yerushalayim. At the end of the winter zman in 5771 he announced his retirement as rosh yeshiva, dedicating his time to his Torah study and writings.
In his words upon hearing of the petira, Rishon L’Tzion HaGaon HaRav Yitzchak Yosef stated,
הרב ליכטנשטיין שייך לשרידי דור דעה, של רבנים שידעו שאין להתפשר על קוצו של יו”ד בהלכה היהודית ובד בבד בתוך עמם הם ישבו.
He belonged to a generation of rabbonim who would not compromise one iota in halacha.
The levaya will begin at Yeshivat Har Etzion in Gush Etzion on Tuesday morning 2 Iyar at 10:00 and continue to Har Menuchos.
Shock and Emptiness – Students Eulogize Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein
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