Rav Avraham Yitzchok Hakohein Kook, What Did the Gedolim Really Think of him?

To my loyal blog followers,
I am sure that some of you have been reading hateful comments on this blog about the late Tzaddik Harav AY Kook Z"L, by the Yeshivishe Ama Ratzim, who have been brainwashed in their Yeshivos.

In the last 50 years, the Roshei Yeshivos have been re-writing the biography of the great Gaon and Tzaddik Harav Avraham Yitchok Kook, Z'L to make him into a Rasha, and some have even added the words used for the Nazis, Yemach Shmo!

So I will briefly try to set the record straight, I know that this post is not doing the Rav any justice, but maybe it will slowly sink into the brains of the Yeshivishe and Chassiddishe fanatics that there was and is another side that is equally supported by Gedoilei Hador.

Just a note: Harav Kook was the Mesader Kiddushin for Harav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and Harav Elyashiv:

**********UPDATE AUG 25
Since I posted all this I have received hundreds of emails(dusiznies@aol.com), some from my own dear friends who know me very well,saying in effect that Reb Isser Zalman Meltzer, R' Mordechai Epstein and Chofetz Chayim, really didn't mean what they wrote below.

To that I say, 
that you are treading on dangerous waters, because if they are in fact lying and and not writing what they actually meant, 

then you can never believe anything these Gedoilim wrote, 
which includes the Sefer Chofetz Chayim, the Mishna Berura etc etc, because we can never be sure that they really wrote what they actually believed!

Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer and Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein writing in support and defense of Rav Kook

In 1933, religious extremists attacked the Rav for being too amicable towards the Zionists. Among those who defended the Rav's honor were two of Israel's foremost Gedolie Hador .... R' Moshe Mordechai Epstein, head of the Chevron Yeshiva, and R' Isser Zaman Meltzer.. see above letter 

Badatz Eidah Chareidis writing In support and defense of Rav Kook

Kol Korah in Support of Harav Kook, signed by all Roshei Yeshivos of Yerushalyim

Letter from Chafetz Chayim's, son-in-law, stating that the Chofetz Chayim is very upset with those messing with Harav Kook. See in above letter that those embarrassing Rav Kook have no part in Olam Habah.

Harav Kook Z"L, the first Chief Rabbi of Eretz Yisroel, ranks among Jewry's greatest Talmeide Chachomim and thinkers in recent generations. He was a multi-faceted personality, who had a complete grasp on all of the various disciplines within Jewish learning. 

On the one hand, he was at home in the domain of chassidic thought, Kabbalah and Aggadah. On the other hand, he was a formidable scholar in the realm of analytic Talmud study, Halacha and Jewish philosophy. With his wide-ranging perception, Rav Kook embraced seemingly contradictory viewpoints and principles , reconciling and blending them all into one comprehensive, harmonious whole. 

The all-inclusive concept that guided every aspect of Rav Kook's life was clearly his firm recognition that the Jewish people were at the threshold of fateful historical events which would unfold in stages.

In the first stage, the material side - a preoccupation with physical needs - would prevail. The Jewish people would seek physical tranquility and abandon lofty, spiritual needs.

Afterwards, in the second stage, a storm would come and generate a revolution, igniting the inner spark hidden within every Jew.
Then, Israel's true strength - which is based on pure faith, spiritual elevation, and sanctification of the mundane, would be revealed.

After all, Chazal taught in reference to the re-building of the Bais Hamikdash in Me'ilah 14a, 
"The [repairman] build with mundane [materials], and they sanctify it afterwards"
The same is true regarding the building of our Holy Land, asserted the Rav. 
It is now being accomplished in a secular manner, but it will be sanctified in the end.

Rav Kook was born in Grīva in the Courland Governorate of the Russian Empire in 1865

As a child he gained a reputation of being an ilui . He entered the Volozhin Yeshiva in 1884 at the age of 18, where he became close to the Rosh yeshiva, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin the Netziv. Although he stayed at the yeshiva for only a year and a half, the Netziv has been quoted as saying that if the Volozhin yeshiva had been founded just to educate Rav Kook, it would have been worthwhile.

During his time in the yeshiva, he studied by Rabbi Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Teomim, (also known as the Aderet), the rabbi of Ponevezh, who subsequently became his father-in-Law.

In 1887, at the age of 23, Kook entered his first rabbinical position as rabbi of Zaumel, Lithuania. 

 In 1904, Rav Kook moved to Ottoman Palestine to assume the rabbinical post in Jaffa, which also included responsibility for the new mostly secular Zionist agricultural settlements nearby. During these years he wrote a number of works, most published posthumously. He subsequently became Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem.

 Rav Kook was critical of the secularists on certain occasions when they violated Halacha (Jewish law), 

For example, by not observing the Sabbath or kosher laws, or ascending Har HaBayit (the temple mount). 

Rav Kook wrote rulings presenting his strong opposition to people ascending the Temple Mount, due to the Jewish Laws of impurity. He felt that Jews should wait until the coming of the Messiah, when it will be encouraged to enter the Temple Mount. 

However, he was very careful to express the fact that the Kotel and the Har Habayis were holy sites which belong to the Jews. 

Rav Kook also opposed the secular spirit of the Hatikvah anthem, and penned another anthem with a more religious theme entitled haEmunah.

 Rav Kook was apolitical. Rav Kook wrote that he was not part of any party – he simply viewed himself as follower of 

G-d and the laws of the Torah. His relationship with many different types of leaders and laymen, was a part of his general worldview – that all Jews must work together in serving G-d and bringing the redemption. 

Also, one could see from the published letters, that the "Chareidi" leadership was firm in its support of Rav Kook, and in fact had an apparent fond relationship with him. 

The vast majority of the "Chareidi" leaders publicized handwritten letters in support of Rav Kook, when a few individuals were publicly disrespectful towards him. Rav Kook embraced the support, but made clear that any insults were accepted by him without anger, for he viewed himself "as a servant of G-d," without interest in his personal honor.

Some examples of greetings in letters written by Jewish leaders to Rav Kook:

Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski : "Our friend, the gaon, our master and teacher, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Kook, shlita" and "The Glory of Honor, My Dear Friend, Ha-Rav Ha-Gaon, Ha-Gadol, the Famous One... The Prince of Torah, Our Teacher, Ha-Rav Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Cohain Kook Shlit”a..."

Rav Boruch Ber Leibowitz: "The true gaon, the beauty and glory of the generation, the tzaddik, his holiness, Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak, may his light shine, may he live for length of good days and years amen, the righteous cohen, head of the beis din [court] in Jerusalem, the holy city, may it soon be built and established"

Rav Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn of Lubavitch: "The Gaon who is renowned with splendor among the Geonim of Ya’akov, Amud HaYemini, Patish HaChazak..."

Rav Chatzkel Abramsky: "The honored man, beloved of Hashem and his nation, the rabbi, the gaon, great and well-known, with breadth of knowledge, the glory of the generation, etc., etc., our master Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hacohen Kook, shlita, Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel and the head of the Beis Din in the holy city of Jerusalem"

Rav Yitzchok Hutner: "The glorious honor of our master, our teacher and rabbi, the great gaon, the crown and sanctity of Israel, Maran [our master] Rabbi Avraham Yitzchak Hacohen Kook, shlita!"

Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer and Rav Moshe Mordechai Epstein: "Our honored friend, the great gaon and glory of the generation, our master and teacher, Avraham Yitzchak Hacohen, shlita"

1. The Praises of the Netziv

The Netziv – Rosh Yeshiva of the Volozhin Yeshiva - said about Maran Ha-Rav Kook: "He is equal to everyone else [in the Volozhin Yeshiva]", "There was never a student like this in Volozhin" and "If the Volozhin Yeshiva was established only for this great student – it would have been enough." 

Ha-Rav Reuven Bengis – Av Beit Din of the Edah Charedit – similarly said that the most important [student] in the Yeshiva is the son-in-law of the Rav of Ponevezh (Ha-Rav Eliyahu David Rabinowitz-Te'omim, Ha-Aderet – Maran Ha-Rav Kook's father-in-law).
[Tal Ha-Re'eiyah pp. 59-60, Shivchei Ha-Re'eiyah p. 45 and Be-Derech Ha-Torah Ha-Goelet p. 189]


2. The Chafetz Chaim: Know that he is holy and pure and anyone who impinges on his honor will not go unpunished.

The Chafetz Chaim once came to Ponovezh in his effort to organize Torah scholars who were Cohanim to learn matters relating to "Kodashim" (the sacrifices in the Temple), since the Temple would soon be built and therefore there would be a need to know the practical Halachah. He turned to Maran Ha-Rav, who was a Cohain (and who was stayed in his father-in-law's house), and asked him to focus on the laws relating to the Temple and sacrifices. A few days later, Maran Ha-Rav visited the Chafetz Chaim in the place where he was staying. The Chafetz Chaim said to him: "I have a request of you, but promise me from the outset that you will fulfill it." Maran Ha-Rav responded: "Since I trust that his honor will not request anything which is inappropriate from me, I promise to fulfill your request." "This is my request" – said the Chafetz Chaim – "When a Rabbinic offer comes before you do not refuse to accept it." Maran Ha-Rav, who had decided not to involve himself with the Rabbinate, found himself in a difficult position, and wanted to free himself and said: "In order to accept a Rabbinic position I would have to involve myself with the halachic authorities who discuss the issues involved, and I already promised his honor to involve myself with 'Kodashim.'" Chafetz Chaim thought hard and said: "I give up on your first promise, your Rabbinate is more important"…

[Bisdeh Ha-Re'eiyah p. 218, Sichot Ha-Re'eiyah p. 122, Tal Ha-Re'eiyah p. 90, Moadei Ha-Re'eiyah p. 231 and 550, Bein Shenei Cohanim Gedolim pp. 32-33 and mentioned in Bishelosha Be-Elul vol. 1 p. 35]


After Maran Ha-Rav Kook had served a while in the Rabbinate in one of the holy communities in the Exile, he received an invitation from the Chafetz Chaim to help him prepare a work on the service of the Cohanim when the Temple is standing. Maran Ha-Rav replied: If his honor permits me to remove the yoke of the Rabbinate which is upon me, I can fulfill the request which is extremely dear to me. The Chafetz Chaim answered: I have not found an individual as talented as you in administering a Rabbinate in Israel!...
[Ha-Re'eiyah Kook ztzvk"l of Ha-Rav Shmuel Baruch Shulman p. 36]

At a huge Rabbinical Conference in Vienna in 5683, one of the Rabbis made disparaging remarks about Maran Ha-Rav, the Chafetz Chaim (who was sitting at the dais) stood up shocked and said: "You insulted the Mara De-Atra (Rabbinic authority) of Eretz Yisrael." He left the conference and decided not to return to it. The Chafetz Chaim waited in his hotel to return to his city, and many people came to visit him or receive a blessing. When the members of delegation from Eretz Yisrael wanted to enter, he said: "I will not say 'Shalom' to those who caused dispute with the Rav of Yerushalayim (Maran Ha-Rav)!" And he added: "Know that he is holy and pure and anyone who impinges on his honor will not go unpunished."

[Bisdeh Ha-Re'eiyah p. 225-228, Sichot Ha-Re'eiyah p. 26-127, Malachim Bivnei Adam p. 211 and for additional information on the subject see Sichot Ha-Re'eiyah chap. 11 and Bein Shenei Cohanim Gedolim chap. 4]

In the year 5681, our Rabbi, Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah Ha-Cohain Kook (Maran Ha-Rav's son) traveled to Poland to meet with Rabbis and Chasidic Rebbes to convince them to join the "Degel Yerushalayim" movement which Maran Ha-Rav established to infuse the Zionist movement with Torah and holiness. At that time, the Chafetz Chaim came to Warsaw, and our Rabbi, who yearned to see the splendor of the most righteous person of the generation, went to where he was staying. He found him surrounded by people. After over an hour, our Rabbi approached to take leave from him. The Chafetz Chaim asked: "Are you a local?" Our Rabbi responded: "No, from Jerusalem," and he added: "Your honor was close with Reb Eliyahu David (the Aderet), father-in-law of my father." When the Chafetz Chaim heard whose son was standing before him, his face lit up and he joyfully said: "Your honor is the son of the Rav of Zimel, the Rav of Boisk, the Rav of Yafo, the Rav of Jerusalem? Then why does he speak about his grandfather? Tell me about your father! How is he? We are long-time, dear friends."

[Bisdei Ha-Re'eiyah p. 221, Sichot Ha-Re'eiyah p. 126, Shivchei Ha-Re'eiyah pp. 157-158, Be-Derech Ha-Torah Ha-Goelet p. 97, Tzvi Kodesh p. 146 and Bein Shenei Cohanim Gedolim pp. 36-37]

See Bisdei Ha-Re'eiyah pp. 217-231, Sichot Ha-Re'eiyah pp. 120-133 and the book "Bein Shenei Cohanim Gedolim" which discuss the special relationship between the Chafetz Chaim and Maran Ha-Rav Kook.


3. Ha-Rav Yosef Chaim Sonenfeld: A Blessing to be the Cohain Gadol

On Shavuot morning after davening Vatikin, Maran Ha-Rav Kook was walking in one of the alleyways near the Kotel and met Ha-Rav Yosef Chaim Sonenfeld. Ha-Rav Sonenfeld blessed him that he should merit serving as the Cohain Gadol in the Temple.
[Moadei Ha-Re'eiyah pp. 303-304 and see another blessing of Ha-Rav Sonenfeld to Maran Ha-Rav ibid.]

It once happened that Ha-Sonenfeld was honored to be a Mohel at a Brit Milah and Maran Ha-Rav was honored to act as the Sandak. The two Rabbis met at the door of the apartment where the Brit Milah would occur. After they exchanged friendly greetings, a problem arose: Who would enter the house first? Maran Ha-Rav respectfully suggested that Ha-Rav Sonenfeld enter first. But he responded: "His honor is a Cohain and the Chief Rabbi [of Jerusalem] – and the basic halachah is that he should enter first." Maran Ha-Rav humbly answered: "But his honor is greater in Torah than I am." They stood at the door without a decision as to who should enter first. The older houses in Jerusalem were built in such a way that there were two doors in each doorway – the left one was bolted closed and the right one opened and closed, allowing one person to pass through it. Maran Ha-Rav approached the opened door, struck his arm through it and unbolted the left door – and both of them entered at once!
[Melachim Kivnei Adam p. 64]


4. Ha-Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski: A Eulogy for Maran Ha-Rav at a Wedding

When the Chazon Ish left Vilna to make aliyah, Rav Chaim Ozer sent a letter to Maran Ha-Rav requesting his assistance. He began the letter: "The Glory of Honor, My Dear Friend, Ha-Rav Ha-Gaon, Ha-Gadol, the Famous One… The Prince of Torah, Our Teacher, Ha-Rav Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Cohain Kook Shlit"a…"
[Bisdeh Ha-Re'eiyah p. 236, Chayei Ha-Re'eiyah pp. 388-389, Igrot Le-Re'eiyah #316 and Melachim Kivnei Adam pp. 106-107. Maran Ha-Rav's response is found in Shut Da'at Cohain #223]

There was a wedding in Elul 5696 in which Rav Chaim Ozer, Ha-Rav Shimon Shkop and many other great Rabbis attended. When news arrived that Maran Ha-Rav had died, Rav Chaim Ozer instructed Ha-Rav Shmuel Markowitz, Av Beit Din of Turatz to eulogize him. And this is what was done.
[This is quoted by Ha-Rav Tzvi Markowitz in Kovetz "Achiezer" #2 from the year 5628 and Davar Le-Dor – Kovetz Hespedim Al Rav Kook ztz"l p. 89]

See Igrot Le-Re'eiyah where there are tens of letters by Rav Chaim Ozer to Maran Ha-Rav with great respect and honor, and where it is possible to see the close relationship which existed between them.


5. Ha-Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer: We are Gedolim until we reach his doorknob

Ha-Rav Isser Zalman Meltzer, Rosh Yeshiva of Eitz Chaim in Jerusalem, said: "I was young when I arrived in Volozhin, and I looked with great respect at the greater students who sat on the eastern wall, and among them were prodigies who would become Gedolei Yisrael. But I remember well that looking at him [Maran Ha-Rav Kook] was completely different - even among the special he was distinguished by his uniqueness!"
[Tal Ha-Re'eiyah p. 71, Shivchei Ha-Re'eiyah p. 101 and the booklet "Az Nebabru Yirei Hashem" p. 13]

Ha-Rav Meltzer once visited Ha-Rav Chaim Ozer Grodzinski, and Ha-Rav Meltzer said about Maran Ha-Rav: "We are Gedolim until we reach his doorknob."
[Mi-Toch Ha-Torah Ha-Goelet vol. 2 p. 170, Le-Shelosha Be-Elul vol. 2 p. 101, Shivchei Ha-Re'eiah p. 202, Bisadeh Ha-Re'eiyah vol. 274, Malachim Kivnei Adam p. 430 and the booklet "Az Nebabru Yirei Hashem" p. 22]

Ha-Rav Meltzer said many times: "If only I could daven during Ne'eilah on Yom Kippur, with awe of holiness and feeling, like Ha-Rav [Kook] davens during weekday Minchah."
[Sichot Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehudah #51, Le-Shelosha Be-Elul vol. 2 p. 102, Orot Ha-Tefillah of Ha-Rav Y. Epstein (student of Ha-Rav Meltzer) p. 26, Shivchei Ha-Re'eiyah p. 200, Malachim Kivnei Adam p. 256 and the booklet "Az Nebabru Yirei Hashem" p. 29]

In the eulogy which Ha-Rav Meltzer delivered for Maran Ha-Rav in the Churva Synagogue in the Old City of Jerusalem, he said: "The True Torah was in his mouth" and "With the passing of Ha-Rav – the spine of Klal Yisrael is broken."
[Moadei Ha-Re'eiyah vol. 12, Le-Shelosha Be-Elul vol 2 p. 101, Shivchei Ha-Re'eiyah p. 15, Bisadeh Ha-Re'eiyah vol. 275 and Malachim Kivnei Adam p. 430]


See the booklet "Az Nebabru Yirei Hashem" from Amichai Kinerati for the close relationship between Ha-Rav Meltzer and Maran Ha-Rav.


6. The Chazon Ish Stands During the Entire Lengthy Speech of Maran Ha-Rav Kook

As related by the founder of the city of Bnei Brak, Rabbi Yitzchak Gershtenkorn: In the year 5694, Ha-Rav Kook was invited to the foundation stone laying ceremony for Yeshivat Beit Yosef (Novardok) in Bnei Brak, and he agreed to attend. During the celebration, in which the Chazon Ish also participated, Ha-Rav [Kook] gave a lengthy speech, with great passion regarding the Torah and Chasidut in Bnei Brak. During the entire time that Ha-Rav Kook spoke, those who attended sat comfortably in their places, while the Chazon Ish remained on his feet and listened intently to Ha-Rav Kook. Only when Ha-Rav Kook finished and sat down did the Chazon Ish sit in his seat. The matter was a wonder in the eyes of those present. Ha-Rav Tzvi Kagan, who was also there, added that when the speech of Ha-Rav Kook became lengthy, they suggested to the Chazon Ish to sit down, but he refused, saying: "The Torah is standing!"
[Pe'er Ha-Dor vol. 2 p. 32, Malachim Kivnei Adam pp. 340-341, Bisadeh Ha-Re'eiyah p. 247, Moadei Ha-Re'eiyah pp. 217-218 and Likutei Ha-Re'eiyah pp. 417-419]

Immediately upon arrival in Eretz Yisrael, the Chazon Ish turned to Maran Ha-Rav with a postcard asking him to clarify the correct procedure for redeeming "Ma'aser Sheni" (The tithe which would be brought to be eaten in Jerusalem). He began: "The Glory of the Honor of our Master Shlit"a".
[Igrot Le-Re'eiyah #310, bisadeh Ha-Re'eiyah p. 35, Chayei Ha-Re'eiyah pp. 119-120 and Moadei Ha-Re'eiyah pp. 217-218. Maran Ha-Rav's response is printed in Shut Mishpat Cohain #53-54 and see Pe'er Ha-Dor vol. 4 pp. 222-223]

The Chazon Ish encouraged his most gifted students to learn the halachic works of Maran Ha-Rav, and he would say: "Ha-Rav's way of learning and clarification of the Halachah is the truth of Torah."
[Re'eiyah Ve-chazon p. 10 and Bisadeh Ha-Re'eiyah p. 145]

See Bisadeh Ha-Re'eiyah pp. 233-248 where there are letters concerning Halachah and filled with respect and honor between Maran Ha-Rav and the Chazon Ish.


7. Ha-Rav Yitzchak Ze'ev Soloveitchik: 

The Glory of the Generation

The Brisker Rav wrote to Maran Ha-Rav Kook requesting help for a yeshiva student beginning with these words: "Great blessing for the honor of Ha-Rav Ha-Gaon, Ha-Gadol, the Famous One, the Glory of the Generation… The Prince of Torah, Our Teacher, Ha-Rav R' Avraham Yitzchak Ha-Cohain Shlit"a Kook. The Chief Rabbi in Jerusalem…" And Ha-Griz ended the letter: "I conclude with a blessing for all goodness for the glory of his genius Shlit"a, I respect and cherish the exalted nature of the glory of his genius with all feelings of respect and value."

Ha-Rav Yosha Ber (Ha-Rav Berel Soloveitchik), Ha-Griz's son and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Brisk following his father, once spoke harshly against Zionism. He was asked: And what about Ha-Rav Kook? He answered: "He is a Gadol." (from Ha-Rav Zalman Baruch Melamed).
[Ha-Rav Eliezer Melamed in the article "Ha-Rav Kook and Beit Brisk" which appeared in the newspaper "Be-Sheva" 5767 and Igrot Le-Re'eiyah #373]


8. Ha-Rav Moshe Feinstein: He was the Gaon of Geonim!

Ha-Rav Shabatai Rapaport, Ha-Rav Feinstein's grandson, related that in the year 5739, during Sukkot in Monsey, NY, Ha-Rav Feinstein was involved with writing a contrary view to a responsa of Ha-Rav Eliezer Waldenberg (Tzitz Eliezer). Ha-Rav Rapaport showed his grandfather a statement from Maran Ha-Rav Kook (relating to the issue) which Ha-Rav Rapaport found amazing. Ha-Rav Feinstein responded: "What is surprising, he was the Gaon of Geonim!"
[Likutei Ha-Re'eiyah p. 59]

Ha-Rav Nisan Alpert, Rosh Yeshiva at Yeshiva University, Rabbi of Agudat Yisrael, author of "Limudei Nisan" and Ha-Rav Feinstein's student for forty years, was one of those who eulogized his Rav in New York. He also spoke at a memorial evening for Ha-Rav Kook, on the 50th anniversary of his passing. When he was asked about the connection between his Rav and Ha-Rav Kook, he answered that Ha-Rav Feinstein was a "Chasid" of Ha-Rav Kook. Ha-Rav Feinstein said to learn his books and one will find great things. He also added, rhetorically, that he did not understand what people wanted from Ha-Rav Kook ztz"l.
[Likutei Ha-Re'eiyah p. 60]


9. Ha-Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach: I only use the term 'Der Rov', Maran, for Ha-Rav Kook.

Maran Ha-Rav Kook was the Mesader Kiddushin at the wedding of Ha-Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach. Ha-Rav Auerbach's brother-in-law, R' Shemuel Zelig, recalls how Maran Ha-Rav was honored with officiating at the wedding in the Jerusalem neighborhood of "Sha'arei Chesed." Although there were zealots who did not look upon this kindly, the groom's father – Ha-Rav Chaim Leib Auerbach – did not give in, because of the close relationship and deep respect between them.
[Ha-Torah Ha-Mesamachat p. 41 and Sefer Rabbenu p. 140 from the newspaper "Ha-Tzofeh"]


Ha-Rav S.Z. Auerbach said: If I say to you 'Maran' in Yiddish [Der Rov – Ha-Rav], know that I am referring to Ha-Rav Kook zt"l. I only use the term 'Der Rov', Maran, for Ha-Rav Kook.
[Sefer Rabbenu ibid. and the booklet "Or Shlomo" p. 24 and see note 34 where various testimonies to this fact are quoted]

Ha-Rav Auerbach honored Maran Ha-Rav with being the Sandek at the Brit Milah of his eldest son, R' Shmuel, who today serves as the Rosh Yeshiva of "Maalot Ha-Torah" in Jerusalem.
[The booklet "Or Shlomo" p. 21]

Maran Ha-Rav's picture hung together with pictures of other Gedolei Yisrael in Ha-Rav Auerbach's sukkah.
[The booklet "Or Shlomo" p. 28]

Ha-Rav Chaim Shteiner related that someone once published a book about Ha-Rav Yitzchak Elchanan Spector which also included disgraceful words about Ha-Rav Kook. Ha-Rav Auerbach said that it is forbidden to buy this book until it is corrected, and he also wrote a letter to the author asking him to fix it. He also met the author a few times and would always ask if the book was being fixed.

Ha-Rav Avigdor Neventzal related that Ha-Rav Auerbach would not hear the rulings of a particular Torah scholar because he besmirched Ha-Rav Kook's honor.
[Ha-Torah Ha-Mesamachat p. 308 and the booklet "Or Shlomo" p. 30]

Ha-Rav A. Yehoshua Zuckerman related that when someone mentioned in a talk about the horrible behavior of certain individuals against Maran Ha-Rav Kook, Ha-Rav Auerbach responded with great distress: I recommend that those who were brazen and dishonored Ha-Rav should go to his grave and ask forgiveness.
[Ve-Alehu Lo Vibol vol. 1 p. 83 and the booklet "Or Shlomo" p. 30]

And see further in the booklet "Or Shlomo" by Amichai Kinerati for the close relationship between Ha-Rav Auerbach and Maran Ha-Rav.


10. Ha-Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv Shlit"a: 

Ha-Rav Kook was greater than us!

R' Aryeh Levin, who often visited Ha-Rav Shlomo Eliyashuv, the author of "Leshem Shevo Ve-Achlama," met the latter's young grandson there – R' Yosef Shalom. Even then, R' Areyh recognized the unique greatness of R' Yosef Shalom. R' Aryeh once spoke with Maran Ha-Rav Kook about his sorrow that there was a wonderful, righteous, young Torah scholar who would a great match for his (R' Aryeh's) daughter, but the young man did not respond favorably to his suggestion (either because he thought he had better options or he was not ready to marry). Maran Ha-Rav asked for the identity of the young man, and told that is was R' Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. Maran Ha-Rav called for the young man and spoke to him. The younger R. Eliyashuv then accepted the proposal and the couple married. Maran Ha-Rav Kook served as the Mesader Kiddushin. When Maran Ha-Rav's name comes up, Ha-Rav Elyashiv often said that he was honored that Maran Ha-Rav performed his wedding.
[Parashah Sheet "Shevet Ha-Re'eiyah #31]


Ha-Rav Yosef Buxbaum, the director of the journal "Moriah” and student of Ha-Rav Shlomo Zalman Auerbach related:
It once happened that one of the editors of the "Otzar Mefarshei Ha-Talmud" (Treasury of Talmudic Commentators) included a ruling of Maran Ha-Rav Kook, but another editor removed it. I asked him why he removed the ruling: was it because he raised a difficultly with it and it required further study? He answered: "I didn't even look into the issue. I just think that a ruling of Ha-Rav Kook is not appropriate for 'Otzar Mefarsehi Ha-Talmud.'" I said to him: "From this moment, you are fired!" The editor did not accept his decision, and they went to Ha-Gaon Ha-Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. Ha-Rav Elyashiv was shocked and said to the editor: "Did you know Ha-Rav Kook?! You should know – he was holy. He did not belong to our generation, and in his generation, they did not properly understand him. Reb Yosef was certainly permitted to fire you. I would have done the same thing."
[Weekly parashah sheet "Shevet Ha-Re'eiyah #31 and #50]


It is related that Rabbanit Elyashiv once heard words which impinged upon Maran Ha-Rav's honor, and it caused her so much pain that she physically suffered from it for many days.
[Tzadik Yesod Olam p. 232 and Parashah Sheet "Shevet Ha-Re'eiyah #50]


Ha-Rav Elyashiv once wrote a halachic ruling, and after he finished someone showed him a different opinion which Maran Ha-Rav had written on the subject. Ha-Rav Elyashiv immediately ripped up his ruling and changed his opinion to that of Maran Ha-Rav.
[Parashah Sheet "Shevet Ha-Re'eiyah #50]


Ha-Rav Elyashiv once mentioned a particular teaching of Maran Ha-Rav. Someone who was present said that Rabbi so-and-so, one of the greatest Rabbis of the generation, sayid otherwise. Ha-Rav Elyashiv simply responded: Ha-Rav Kook was greater than us!
[Parashah Sheet "Shevet Ha-Re'eiyah #50]

Yeshiva Bochur From Lakewood Learning In Yerushalayim Missing Since Friday In Jerusalem Forest

Choppers were in the sky and volunteers took part in the search for 23-year-old talmid yeshiva Aaron Sofer the entire Shabbos. 

 He was walking with a friend but the two lost sight of one another going down an incline in the Jerusalem Forests. 

 Zaka and Ichud Hatzalah assisted police in the search over Shabbos.
The friend notified police at 6 PM and police phoned Zaka at 1:45 Friday night. Zaka commander Rav Bentzi Oring turned to rabbonim and the word was give to launch a search in the Beit Zayit area of the Jerusalem Forest.

Aaron is a resident of Lakewood, and is currently learning by Rav Tzvi Kaplan. He was last seen at noon on erev Shabbos in the Jerusalem Forest. Anyone with any information is urged to contact 02-539-1520 or 100.

Massive Rocket Barrage Fire At Towards Southern & Central Israel: One Child R"L Killed In Shaar Hanegev

A 4 year old child was killed when a mortar fired from Gaza hit the vehicle he was in. The attack occurred in Shar Hangev, a few miles away from Gaza. According to initial reports, the mortar hit the vehicle, critically injuring the boy, who later died of his wounds. The boy would be the fourth civilian in Israel to be killed in an attack from the coastal territory since the outbreak of conflict on July 8, and the first Israeli death since an Egyptian-brokered truce broke down earlier this week.  Baruch Dayan Ha’emmes….. 

What They Didn’t Tell You About That Wedding of Israeli Jew to a Muslim

You may have seen the Reuters or AFP articles about an Israeli Jewish woman who married a Palestinian Muslim Arab. The media coverage on this–there are articles on every major news site–is replete with usual, robotic narrative descriptions of “right wing Jews” who protested and other negative descriptions regarding the Jewish reactions. The woman is an idiot–much like the stupid White (and Black) women who marry these men in America.

But here’s what the article didn’t tell you:

1) The wedding happened in Rishon LeTzion, Israel, where it was allowed to take place peacefully and with absolutely no violence. 

How many weddings between a Jewish man and a Muslim woman would take place in Gaza City or Ramallah with the bridge and groom living to tell about it?
Answer: NONE. 
On the day that hell freezes over and that happens, then that will actually merit a news story. In fact, Muslims and Islam do NOT allow a Muslim woman to marry out of the faith. And we all know of the many honor killings that Muslim fathers, brothers, and mothers commit against their daughters merely for dating non-Muslim men in the West.

2) The Israeli Jewish woman converted to Islam, which she was required to do to marry the Palestinian Muslim man. If a Muslim woman converted to Judaism to marry a Jewish man, then you would not just see protests, you would see death fatwas from Muslims and their clerics on the life of the woman and her new husband. In fact, Islam and Muslims allow a Jew (or Christian) to convert to Islam to marry a Muslim, but the opposite is punishable by death. 

Again, if that happened, you would not see protests, you would see a river of blood and dead bodies. This is the stuff honor killings are made of. 
And, yet, did the Jews honor kill this idiotic Israeli woman? Nope. 

She and the hubby will be able to go back to live in peace in their Jaffa, Israel apartment. But a Jewish couple in which one of the spouses had converted from Islam to Judaism would not be able to return to an apartment anywhere in the Muslim world and survive the night.

3) The Palestinian Muslim groom worked overtime to try to stifle the free speech of demonstrators who opposed the wedding, going to court to try to silence protesters. But he failed. This is also another stark difference with the wedding taking place in Israel, where a liberal democracy respects the speech and other civil rights of its citizens (though Israel often goes overboard to protect Muslims from being offended, and a woman was put in prison for years for putting a picture of Mohammed as a pig in her window–an outrageously repressive case).

If the wedding had taken place in Gaza City or Ramallah, there would be no protests and those protesting would be tortured to death and cut up into pieces like slaughtered halal chickens (and, yes, Muslims take great pains to slaughter humans so that it is the halal way–slashing them in an Eastern way toward Mecca).

4) Various top officials of the Israeli government, including its President and Justice Minister, went out of their way to denounce the protesters and gush over this silly and, frankly, tragic wedding. 

A member of Binyamin Netanyahu’s cabinet attended this politically-correct “celebration.” If a Muslim converted to Judaism to marry a Jew, you would see NO Muslim leader either in attendance or gushing over this. In fact, they would strongly condemn it.

And, really, the Israeli government had no business budding in and commenting about the wedding, much less attending it. Since Israel is a Jewish State, they know better. We Jews view conversion to another religion and/or marriage to someone outside the faith as a cause for mourning the Jewish transgressor’s death. 

No, unlike Muslims we don’t kill anyone or go on violent rampages. We are civilized. But we see that this Jew is tragically abandoning his or her faith, and a whole world of descendants is lost to our religion. That is why I join the father of this stupid Israeli Jewish woman–thinking with her vagina above all reason–in mourning her death, but especially the death of her brain.

The bride, Morel Malka (some reports say she is Maral Malka–but soon she will be Hamida or Fatima or some other such slave name), wore a sleeveless, strapless, overstuffed wedding gown with her zaftig chest falling out. 

She’d better get used to being covered up as Mrs. Mahmud Mansur (some reports say he’s Mahmoud Mansur, as most of her her relatives were entirely covered up, including wearing the Muslim female headscarves of oppression and subjugation. 

The Jews left slavery thousands of years ago. And she must not know that, since she just rejoined the ranks of the enslaved. Her maiden surname, Malka, means “queen,” and so it is fitting that she leaves it behind as she lowers herself to join this religion of savage Jew-haters.

Finally, I don’t exactly understand why this particular story made the news (other than to use it to make Jews look far more extreme and intolerant than the actually far more extremist and intolerant Muslims around the world). This is, sadly, not the first Israeli Jewish woman who foolishly and dangerously chose to convert to Islam and marry a Muslim Palestinian Arab man. 
There have, unfortunately, been many of those.

But, eventually, a number of these women wake up, after they’ve become badly beaten and battered and abused wives. Sadly, it is always too late at that point because they’ve had children with the Muslim men and are not allowed to take the children with them as they try to escape. The children are enslaved in Islam forever, and that is exactly why we Jews mourn the deaths of the women who do this: they’ve abandoned Judaism forever. And even when they realize that was a mistake, they leave a whole world of their descendants behind to the oppression and tyranny that is life in Islam.

Three Israeli teenagers were just murdered by these people, and you’re gonna marry one? Moron-ette if there ever was one.
Morel Malka Mansur will learn that soon enough. And, again, it will be too late, no thanks to the Israeli government officials who praise this union with an evil totalitarian lifestyle.


The bell of jihad cannot be unrung.

James Foley Just Like Daniel Pearl: Another Pan-Jihadist Who Was Murdered by ‘em Anyway

James Wright Foley, beheaded yesterday in an ISIS/ISIL/IS video, is a lot like Daniel Pearl. 

Like Pearl, he thought he knew better than the rest of us–that these Muslims were decent guys who would be nice to you if only you were nice to them. And like Daniel Pearl, who championed the causes of the most extremist Muslims–Islamic terrorists–in his “reporting,” Foley was beheaded and slaughtered like a halal dinner. 

Foley wasn’t new to this game, either, and should have known better because this almost happened to him before.

This wasn’t the first time he was kidnapped by his Muslim buddies, whose extremism he championed. And not the first time they killed a fellow pro-jihad journalist in his midst. 

In 2011, Foley was kidnapped and nearly executed by other Islamic terrorists he championed against Qaddafi in Libya. He was kept in captivity by them for 44 days, and at least one other journalist–a photographer–was executed by them. Yet, he continued to champion their cause anyway. Because, again, he “knew better” than logic would dictate. 

You’d think that after being imprisoned and nearly killed by Muslim “freedom fighters,” he’d face the music and go home. But, no, he found a new group of even more brutal Mohammedan “liberal democrats” who finally finished him off.

Foley, like most of the other “journalists” who went to Syria, was there to champion the cause of the Syrian rebels. He wanted American taxpayers and NATO to finance, arm, and train them against Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, the same thing Foley championed in Libya (and how did that turn out?).

He, like Obama, McCain, Romney, and Paul Ryan, wanted us to side with these guys, insisting that the Free Syrian Army–a very tiny part of the Syrian rebel amalgam–was “moderate” and that by giving them arms, money, and training, we would impose HAMAS/Hezbo-style “democracy” on Syria, instead of keeping these people with the brutal dictator that most Muslims really need in spite of–and because of–themselves. 

Hedy Epstein: Meet the Fake “Holocaust Survivor,” HAMAS Fan Arrested in Ferguson

You may have heard about the “Holocaust survivor” who was arrested while marching with the rioting protesters in Ferguson, Missouri, Monday. 

But Hedy Epstein–also a well known anti-Israel, self-hating Jew who tried to be on the HAMAS flotilla–is a fake. She “survived the Holocaust” as much as Harry Truman did because she was, unfortunately, spirited away from Germany in the kindertransport and spent the years of the Holocaust in the safety of England and never saw the insides of a concentration camp. Not even close.

At age 90, Epstein is Exhibit #855,297,543 of the Billy Joel “Only the Good Die Young” corollary.

Though Hedy Epstein was never a Holocaust survivor, she constantly walks all over the dead bodies of the six million Jews who perished, as a platform for her far-left, self-hating, anti-Semitic, whack job politics. 

And usually those politics are openly anti-Israel and pro-HAMAS. Epstein is part of the terrorist group ISM (International Solidarity Movement), which was caught giving shelter to Islamic Jihad terrorists. ISM also gave shelter and a place to stay to British Al-Qaeda terrorists the night before they blew up Mike’s Bar in Tel Aviv. 

Epstein traveled to the West Bank to help ISM in its terrorist activities, and she should be permanently behind bars just for that. 

The Three Oaths "Sholosh Shevuois" Explained

Because of the deluge of people e-mailing me to explain the Sholosh Shevuois, I have decided to dedicate an entire post to this explosive topic, and hopefully put this controversy to rest, at least on my blog!

Normally, I allow people to dissent in the comments, but I will not allow it with this post; I will delete them, because the other side has numerous venues and opportunities to voice their opinions. 
For example, they can voice their side on Der Yid, Der Blatt, Dee Zeitung, Ami Magazine, Hamodia, Hapeles (Auerbach's rag), Der Sturmer, Al-Jazeera, Reuters, & New York Times, naming just a few!
They can also start their own blog and spew their hate and Loshon Hara against the majority of the Jewish people, over there! 

I cannot allow space to be given to Apikorsim, Koifrem, Meraglim, haters of the State of Israel, and people who base their entire Chassidus, hating other Jews!

Now, the Yeshivas have taken the cause of anti-Zionism, fueled by the fanatical rants and shmoozzes of their Roshei Yeshivois, who are control freaks and are terrified of losing their grip and power over their sheep.

In this week's edition of Der Yid, the editor boasts and admits that they finally succeeded in changing the Litvishers' view of the State of Israel. They write that it took 50 years to get the Yeshivishe velt to turn away from being pro-Zionistic to the Satmar view!
They write, that in the past, except for the Briskar Rav and some other Litvishe Yechidim, the Satmar Rebbe was the sole person to see "the State for what it really is." 

The reason that the Litvishe Roshei Yeshivah guys, joined Satmar in speaking Loshon Harah and deciding that hating The State, was good policy was for only one reason, and one reason only...
since they refuse to work and refuse to join the army,  taking on the "shita" in effect gives them the excuse of not being part of a productive society!
Of course, this will be unsustainable, both in Israel and in the USA!

In secret, the Roshei Yeshiva are all pro the State, since they constantly advocate  Litvishe parents, to send their children to Israel to learn.
They are also on the take, practically all Yeshivas in the State of Israel take money from the Zionist entity, making the Zionists the largest Baalei Tzedaka in the entire Jewish world. And this even after the massive cuts from the Government!


The following Midrash is the source of the "sholosh shevuois" ... 

It begins on Ketubot 110b and continues on 111a (where the Three Oaths or sholosh shevuois are plainly conveyed). 

The Gemara quotes R. Yossi ben R. Chanina:


?ג' שבועות הללו למה,

אחת שלא יעלו ישראל בחומה

ואחת שהשביע הקדוש ברוך הוא את ישראל שלא ימרדו באומות העולם 

ואחת שהשביע הקדוש ברוך הוא את אומות העולם שלא
 ישתעבדו בהן בישראל יותר מדאי.

"What are these Three Oaths?

One, that Israel should not storm the wall {RashI interprets: Together forcefully}.

Two, the Holy One adjured Israel not to rebel against the nations of the world. 

Three, the Holy One adjured the nations that they would not oppress Israel too much".


The Midrash is in large part an exegetical analysis of three separate Pesukim in  Shir HaShirim, and naturally reflects the traditional interpretation, which sees the entire Shir HaShirim as an allegory for the relationship between the Ribono Shel Olam  and the Jewish people.

One should take note, that Ezra Hasofer, lived over 500 years before R' Yossi ben Chanina, and he urged the Jews living in Bavel to make Aliyah, He went up with approximately 5,000 Jews, the largest one time Aliyah in the History of the Jewish people since Yehoshua. Apparently, he wasn't aware of the Sholosh Shevuois, or if he did, he ignored it and considered it null and void!
 He chastised those who remained in Bavel.
He was successful in building the Second Bais Hamikdash!


*Reish Lakish said to Rabbah bar bar Chanah, "By G-d, I hate you. (Rashi
explains: 'I hate...all Babylonians, because they did not ascend to Eretz Yisrael at
the time of Ezra. They prevented the Shechinah from returning to rest upon the
Second Temple.') It is thus written, If she be a wall, we will build upon her a
battlement of silver; and if she be a door, we will enclose her with a cedar board
(Shir HaShirim 8:9): Had you made yourselves like a wall and ascended all together
to Eretz Yisrael at the time of Ezra, you would have been compared to silver which
does not decay (and the redemption would have been complete). Now that you
went up like doors,123 you were compared to cedar which decays (meaning, the
edifice was destroyed)." (Yoma 9b)

The Ya'avetz (Siddur Beit Ya'akov, Sullam Beit El, p. 14b.) explains [the homiletic
passage in which Eliyahu] appears to R. Chiya as a fiery bear (Bava Metzia 85b):
For he [the angelic minister of Persia, who appears as a bear] prosecutes against
the Babylonian Jews who did not ascend when Cyrus, king of Persia, gave them
permission to do so. Had they ascended during that divine visitation, [their efforts]
would not have decayed and the redemption would have been complete...
Therefore, there is room to prosecute, because the Babylonians caused the exile to
be lengthened.

The Rambam cited the Sholosh Shevuois in his famous  Iggeret Teiman, which was written around 1172 in reply to an inquiry concerning the crisis the Yemenite Jews were then going through. A decree of forced conversion to Islam which had thrown the Jews into panic. 

Coupled with this crisis, was the rise of a Messianic movement started by a native of Yemen who claimed he was Meshiach which served to further increase the confusion within the Jewish community. 

In the course of the Rambam's attempt to strengthen the morale of the Yemenite Jews. he states in his letter:

ולפי שידע שלמה ע"ה ברוח הקדש שהאומה הזו כאשר תלכד בגלות תיזום להתעורר שלא בזמן הראוי ויאבדו בכך וישיגום 
הצרות הזהיר מכך והשביע עליו על דרך המשל
 ואמר השבעתי אתכם בנות ירושלים וכו

"Shlomo, of blessed memory, foresaw with Divine inspiration, that the prolonged duration of the exile would incite some of our people to seek to terminate it before the proper time, 
and as a consequence they would perish or meet with disaster. 
Therefore he warned them (to desist) from it and adjured them in metaphorical language"

Rabbi Chaim Walkin points out in his sefer, Da'at Chaim, that the Rambam discussed the Sholosh Shevuois only in the letter to Yemen, but not in his Halachic work, the Mishne Torah.

 R. Walkin postulates that this is due to the fact that while the Rambam saw these oaths as important, he did not consider them to be legally binding as Halacha, only that they serve as “warnings that these actions would be unsuccessful

I,(DIN) humbly believe, that if one wants to make the case that Shlomo Hamelech was making a Nevuah that Jews should not "terminate the [Galus] before the proper time", and consider the Sholosh Shevuois a prophecy, then he was talking of Galus Bavel exclusively. In fact during the time of Achashveirosh, the Galus Jews miscalculated the 70 years that they were in exile and hence the almost annihilation of the Jews in Bavel  and Persia; hence the warning of Shlomo Hamelech!

The 70 years of exile were known to all Jews in Bavel, they just miscalculated! 

Not addressed by the Gemara or any Rishonim or for that matter Achronim, is the third oath, the oath to the goyim that  "they would not oppress Israel too much".

Which Goyim were told? Where were they told?
Who informed them? What did they say to the one who informed them?
What does "too much" mean? Were they told, how much they could oppress? 
Is murdering and torturing 6 million Jews, "too much"?

The present Galus has no end in sight, and there isn't any prophecy that predicts its conclusion. 
We have The State of Israel, and it is a fact B'H, and it is close to 70 years old; has survived B"H even though it is surrounded by Arab Wolves; we see Nissim V'Nifloas every second.

We are all witness watching the State of Israel being rebuilt, we see that the  State of Israel has the most Torah being learnt since Mattan Torah. 
We see the magnificent infrastructure of Israel, 
We see beautiful orchids filled with the most beautiful fruits and vegetables etc etc

We can only see what is happening..... 

and what is happening is the Nevuah that we say 3 times a day in Shemonah Esrei which we see with our very own eyes:

"V'kabztieinu Yachad Me'arba Kanfos Haaretz"

Says Hashem:

"I will gather you from the 4 corners of the earth"

We see Jews coming to the State of Israel from all corners of the globe.... we see Antisemitism all over Europe that is directly causing Jews to finally see that Hashem wants us only in Israel...

not in Monsey, Boro-park, Williamsburg, Monroe, New square, Flatbush, Kensington, South Fallsburg, Miami, London, Paris etc

but in Israel!

Gedolie Yisroel (Lubavitcher Rebbe ,see later in this post) suggest that in Rambam's  letter to Yemen, he explicitly interprets the oaths metaphorically, and not literally. 

As it states there “Therefore he admonished and adjured them in metaphorical language

 (דרך המשל, lit. by way of metaphor) to desist.” 

Therefore, they maintain, that the Rambam did not consider them to be Halachically binding.

The Ramban did not explicitly discuss the Sholosh Shevuois, however he did maintain that it is incumbent upon Jews in every generation as a positive commandment, Mitzvas Esseh to attempt to conquer the Land of Israel. 

In his glosses (Hashmatot) to Rambam's Sefer HaMitzvot on Positive Commandment #4 he wrote:

"That we are commanded to take possession of the Land which the Almighty, Blessed Be He, gave to our forefathers, to Avraham, toYitzchak, and to Yaakov; and not to abandon it to other nations, or to leave it desolate, as He said to them, You shall dispossess the inhabitants of the Land and dwell in it, for I have given the Land to you to possess it, (Numbers, 33:53) and he said, further, 

To Inherit the Land which I swore to your forefathers, (to give them,) behold, we are commanded with the conquest of the land in every generation."

Ramban's' position here is untenable if he maintains that the Sholosh Shevuois are Halachically binding. 

Accordingly it would appear that the Ramban implicitly rejects the Sholosh Shevuois as Halachically binding, and that to treat it as such would be to effectively nullify a Mitzvahs Esseh M'doirisah!

The Ramban continues to write:

"Chazal made many other such emphatic statements regarding this positive commandment that we are commanded to possess the Land and settle it. It is therefore an eternal positive command, obligating every single individual even during the time of Exile as is known from the Gemarrah in many places"

The Maharal discussed the Sholosh Shevuois in two different locations, in his work Netzach Yisrael and in his commentary to Tractate Ketubos. 

In his work Netzach Yisrael he wrote:

כי פירוש 'בדורו של שמד' היינו במדה שהיה לדורו של שמד, שהיו דביקים בה דורו של שמד, ובאותה מדה השביע אותם שלא ישנו בענין הגלות. כי דורו של שמד, אף על גב שהגיע להם המיתה בגלות, לא היו משנים. ועוד פירוש 'בדורו של שמד', רוצה לומר אף אם יהיו רוצים להמית אותם בעינוי קשה, לא יהיו יוצאים ולא יהיו משנים בזה. וכן הפירוש אצל כל אחד ואחד, ויש להבין זה

"Another explanation of the Midrash’s statement (he is speaking of Shir Ha-Shirim Rabba 2:20 that begins “ורבנן אמרי השביען בדורו של שמד”) that Hashem adjured the Jewish people in a generation of Shmad (religious persecution Jews, or decrees against Jews): that even if they will threaten to kill them with difficult torture, they will not leave the Exile nor will they change their behavior in this manner"

 Most later Achronim say that the Maharal in his Pirush in Kesubois, considered the oaths to be a Divine decree, which has thus subsequently expired. 
They rely on the Maharal's commentary in Kesubois.
Because they maintain that there is a certain degree of ambiguity in what the Maharal wrote in his sefer Netzach Yisrael (quoted above) and therefore his true position must be the one what he wrote in his Kesubois commentary, for “anything to the contrary yields a contradiction within the Maharal’s own writings."

However, the Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Yoel Teitelbaum's, position in respect to whether Maharal understood the Oaths as prohibitively binding upon Jews is based upon what was written in Netzach Yisrael only, and he refused to consider and factor in Maharal’s position in his commentary on Kesubos because this Maharal didn't fit in with his hatred of the State! 
Not to explain a pshat of the Maharal on the Gemarrah that speaks about the Sholosh Shevuois  on the spot, that basically says that the Shalosh Sevuois it is no longer valid and then quote an ambiquos Netzach Yisrael, is bizarre and weird, and can only be that Satmar Rebbe decided that it doesn't fit his view.

Rav Henkin wrote the following in 1959 in response to the anti-Zionist position of the Satmar Rebbe and the Neturei Karta:


"I was shocked to read in Chomoteinu of Cheshvan 5719 the slanderous notion that we are required to give our lives (limsor nefesh) to frustrate and resist the efforts of the State of Israel in its struggle against those who would rise up against them. This was stated as a p'sak din based on what we learn that Israel is restricted from rebelling against the nations (Ketubot 111a). This opinion is clearly not in keeping with halacha [and which can result] in imminent dangers for millions of Jews....


"Now all the rabbis who were opposed to Zionism and the establishment of a state took up that position until the time that it was officially founded. Once the state was declared, anyone who plays into the hands of the nations of the world even where there is no imminent danger, is clearly a moseir and rodeif. ...to proclaim that anyone who aids the state is a rodeif, well such talk is the severest form of redifa.

Rabbi Chaim Zimmerman in his book, Torah and Existence explains:

שהשבועה שלא יעלו בחומה אין זה נגד מצות כבוש הארץ

... כי השבועה שלא יעלו בחומה היתה על אלה שגלו וישבו בבבל או בכל מקום

אחר בחו״ל, עליהם נאמר שלא יעלו בחומה ושפיר אתי הלשון שלא יעלו. 

אכל

אלה היושבים בציון עליהם לא היתה כלל השבועה שלא ילחמו

"...the difficulty in the Ramban which says that the mitzva of kibush prevails in our time against the oath, dissolves. The oath, shelo yaalu bechoma means explicitly that we cannot storm eretz-Yisrael from chutz-laaretz. 

But when the Jews are in eretz-Yisrael, there is surely a hechsher mitzva of kibbush-haaretz.. 

How can the Jews be in eretz-Yisrael without the aliyah "bechoma?" 

The answer is very simple. If many Jews came to eretz-Yisrael individually, or by permission of the nations, then once they are there, there is a command of kibbush... 

There was never an oath upon the people who were in eretz-Yisrael"

, Rabbi Chaim Vital a talmud of the Ari Hakodosh, in his introduction to his sefer Eitz Chayim, expressed the view that the Sholosh Shevuois were only binding for the first thousand years of Exile. He wrote:

‘I made you swear, daughters of Jerusalem...’ this great oath to G-d was that they should not arouse the Redemption until that love will be desired and with good will, as it is written ‘until I desire,’ and  Chazal already said that the time of this oath is a thousand years, as it is written in the Baraita of Rabbi Yishmael in Pirkei Heichalot (in a comment on Daniel 7:25)..., and similarly in the Zohar II:17a...that it is one day of the Exile of the Community of Israel.'

The Following is a conversation that the Lubavitcher Rebbe had with the Sadugere Rebbe in July 1980

Cover of transcript booklet of conversation between the Lubavitcher Rebbe and the Sadugere Rebbe

Read 8 lines from bottom:

Sadugere Rebbe: "In reference to today's situation, is there a Din of  3 Shevuois?"

Lubavitcher Rebbe: "In today's situation, there is no connection at all to the 3 Shevuois"

Read 10 lines from bottom:
Lubavitcher Rebbe:

"There is absolutely no concern or connection today to the 3 Shevuois" 

To summarize the argument, that the three Shevuois are either not relevant or null and void:

• The Three Oaths are an Aggadic Midrash, and therefore they are not Halakhically obligatory (Aggadic Midrashim, as opposed to Halachic Midrashim are not traditionally understood as a valid source for Halacha). Accordingly, Rambams' Mishne Torah, the Arba'ah Turim, the Shulchan Aruch, and other halachic sources do not cite the Three Oaths or rule accordingly. They are not found there at all.

• The United Nations resolution to declare the State of Israel fulfills the first condition of the oath to not rebel against the nations. Thus, when the United Nations told the Jews to go home, it was mandatory that they do so. Just as Cyrus instructed the Jews of Babylonia to construct the Second Temple. This position is held by Eliezer Waldenberg, the Tziz Eliezer  ציץ אליעזר, חלק ז, סימן מח and others.

• The Three Oaths simply meant that Hashem had decreed an exile for the Jewish people. The fact that the Jewish people have successfully returned to the Land of Israel, and that the State of Israel has survived, is evidence that the oath is void and the decree has ended.

• The wording of the Rambam in his Letter to Yemen specifically states that the Oaths are “metaphorical” (see Rambam above), furthermore in his Halachic work he places great value upon living in the Land of Israel, and forbids leaving it.

• Although the Three Oaths were obligatory in the past, the gentiles violated their vow by excessively persecuting the Jewish people. Therefore the validity of the two other vows has been nullified. Religious Zionists point to a specific Midrash warning that if gentile nations violated this oath, then "they cause the End of Days to come prematurely."
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• This has been interpreted to mean that Israel's re-establishment would be implemented sooner than originally intended. With atrocities against Jews throughout history, and especially after The Holocaust, the Jewish people were absolved of their part of the Oaths. Those who hold this position often rely on the Shulchan Aruch which states: "two [persons] who have taken an oath to do a thing, and one of them violates the oath, the other is exempt [from it] and does not require permission."

• As a result, the ban on mass-immigration to the Land of Israel became void, and Zionism and the State of Israel arose as a direct result of the breach by gentile nations of the Oaths.

• Religious Zionists often point to Israel's seemingly miraculous survival in the numerous Arab-Israeli wars, especially the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and Six-Day War, and interpret this as the State of Israel being preserved directly by Hashem's hand.

• The Jewish people did not return en masse to the Land of Israel, but rather through individual immigration as well as a series of five Aliyahs. Jews continue to individually immigrate to Israel today. There was never a point in history where a majority of world Jewry collectively migrated to the Land of Israel.

• It is not clearly established in either the Gemara or the Halacha what precisely would constitute permission from the nations. As such, the Balfour Declaration, San Remo conference, United Nations General Assembly Resolution 181, and the League of Nations-issued Mandate for Palestine plan of July 24, 1922 is understood as representing permission and approval from the nations of the world. Accordingly, the Jewish people cannot be considered to have rebelled against the nations. This was the opinion of Rabbi Meir Simcha of Dvinsk regarding the Balfour Declaration.

• Many authorities understand the oath of "not ascending as a wall" as only including an immigration of the entire (or at least a majority of the) nation. Some of these authorities also require that this mass immigration be one of force in order for the oath to be considered violated. Among those who hold these positions are Isaiah Achron in his Piskei Ri'az, Bezalel Ashkenazi in his Shittah Mekubetzet, the Maharal, Jonathan Eybeschutz, Yisroel ben Shmuel of Shklov and students of the Vilna Gaon, Meir Blumenfeld., and Yonah Dov Blumberg
• .
•  Similary, Baruch Epstein, in his Torah Temimah, understands the oath to only include a forceful mass immigration, and Ishtori Haparchi in his Kaftor Vaferach understands the oath to mean immigration with intent to conquer. Isaac Leon ibn Zur in his Megillat Ester on Nachmanides also understands the oath as prohibiting conquest.

Egypt Urges U.S. Restraint Over Missouri Unrest

Nope this is not Gaza .... this is the USA 

Police officers stand guard as demonstrators protest the shooting death of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, USA, 18 August 2014. EPA

This is one of the most ironic situations in recent history!


Egypt on Tuesday urged U.S. authorities to exercise restraint in dealing with racially charged demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri - echoing language Washington used to caution Egypt as it cracked down on Islamist protesters last year.

U.S. foes Iran and Syria also lambasted the United States, but while they are frequent critics of Washington, it is unusual for Egypt to criticize such a major donor. It was not immediately clear why Egypt would issue such a statement.

Ties between Washington and Cairo were strained after Egyptian security forces killed hundreds of Muslim Brotherhood supporters following the army’s ousting of freely elected President Mohamed Mursi in July 2013

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry’s statement on the unrest in Ferguson read similarly to one issued by U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration in July 2013, when the White House “urged security forces to exercise maximum restraint and caution” in dealing with demonstrations by Mursi supporters.

The ministry added it was “closely following the escalation of protests” in Ferguson, unleashed by the fatal shooting of an unarmed black teenager by a white policeman on Aug. 9.

Human Rights Watch said in a report last week Egyptian security forces systematically used excessive force against Islamist protesters after Mursi was ousted. Egypt said the report was “characterized by negativity and bias”.

In a second day of Twitter messages about the disturbances in Ferguson, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei criticized the United States as “egotistical and unreliable”.
He also sought to link the unrest to Washington’s support of Israel, sworn foe of Tehran.
“Brutal treatment of black people isn’t indeed the only anti-human rights act by U.S. govt; look at US’s green light to #Israel’s crimes,” he wrote on Monday, adding Washington was the world’s “biggest violator” of human rights.

Iranian Deputy Foreign Minister for European and American Affairs Takht Ravanchi on Monday accused Washington of “racist behavior and oppression”, the Fars News Agency said.

In Syria, another U.S. adversary, a bulletin from state news agency SANA accused police in Ferguson of “racist and oppressive practices”.

Pro-government media in Turkey, where the authorities came under U.S. criticism for a heavy-handed clampdown on weeks of protests around Istanbul’s Gezi Park last year, also took a swipe.
“You were sounding off when Gezi was happening ... You crook with double standards,” wrote Ahmet Sagirli, a columnist in the Turkiye newspaper.

American lone IDF soldier missing since Sunday, found dead,

UPDATE! 8-19
Authorities have discovered the body of Givati soldier Corporal David Menachem Gordon, aged 21, who was last seen at Tzrifin, a military base in central Israel, around noon Sunday.
Gordon was found dead in a drainage pipe not far from Tzrifin base, where he was last seen on Sunday. His service rifle was found next to him, the IDF said.
Gordon’s commander initially reported him missing on Sunday and on Tuesday the authorities called on the public to help in cooperation with police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) to search for the missing IDF soldier

Corporal David Gordon, a lone soldier from America, was 21 years old. The army notified the family; and police have opened an investigation into the cause of his death

Authorities have called for the public to help locate an IDF soldier who has reportedly been missing since Sunday.

The IDF in cooperation with police and the Shin Bet (Israel Security Agency) were searching for Givati soldier David Menachem Gordon, aged 21, who was last seen at Tzrifin, a military base in central Israel, around noon Sunday.

Gordon - a lone soldier from America - was last seen dressed in his IDF uniform, bearing the Givati Brigade's purple beret.

Gordon speaks Hebrew with an American accent, police said. He was reported missing by his IDF commander.

Central District police said like any missing soldier case there is concern for his safety and the Shin Bet and army are involved in the case

They also said there is, for now, no indication that he went missing willingly.

The public is encouraged to report any information regarding the case to police operators at *100 or 08-9279244.

Obama deserts an ally in wartime

New York Post Editorial August 18, 2014

What kind of ally refuses to send you desperately needed weapons when you’re smack in the middle of a war?

Apparently, that’s what the Obama folks did with Israel, which is caught up fighting with Hamas. It’s unforgivable.

The decision came, it seems, after White House officials learned that, unbeknownst to them, Israel had gotten mortar shells and grenade-illuminating rounds from the Pentagon to use against Hamas, as The Wall Street Journal reported last week.

Officials say they were “blindsided” by the transfer. But it turns out that it was done as a matter of routine: No OK by the president or secretary of state was needed.

Still, the White House suddenly put all future transfers on hold, including a scheduled shipment of Hellfire missiles. And it ordered the Pentagon to consult with the executive branch and State Department before approving any future requests.

Obama folks downplayed the move and claims of a new tiff with Israel. They say reports that they held up missile shipments “does not indicate any change in policy.”
If true, though, what kind of a policy is it?

In any case, the animosity between President Obama and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is no secret. Just last week, the Journal reported, the men had a “particularly combative phone call.”

No doubt the White House is irked by the fact that its efforts to mediate an end to the fighting have fallen flat and that it’s been pushed to the sidelines as others, like Egypt, take up the role.
It also resents the fact that Israel insists on pursuing its right to self-defense and won’t give in to US pressure to make more concessions.

Yet none of that justifies lashing out against Israel — and holding up weapons — in the middle of a war.

If Israel suffers, and its terrorist enemies are emboldened, America’s own security interest abroad will be harmed. And if any ally still trusts us to have their back, they won’t anymore.

The president is letting his personal pique get the better of him. It’s unwise. And certainly no way treat a friend in wartime.

West Bank Coup Attempt by Hamas Thwarted, Plan Involved Mass Slaughter Of Jews

Israel’s Shin Bet security service says it has thwarted a Hamas coup attempt in the Palestinian controlled area known as the “West Bank”, though it provided few details.

The service says that it arrested more than 90 Hamas operatives in an alleged plot to carry out attacks against Jews and wrest control from Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.


It says it also confiscated weapons and more than $170,000. It says the plot was orchestrated by a senior Hamas official based in Turkey and that local officials were aware.

Hamas officials had no immediate comment to the claim.

Hamas overtook the Gaza Strip in 2007 from forces loyal to Abbas. It is currently negotiating to Cairo over a cease-fire to formally end the Gaza war.

Malka Leifer ex- Principal of Adass Israel School in Melbourne arrested over alleged sexual abuse

A FORMER principal of a Melbourne Jewish girls’ school has been arrested amid claims she sexually abused students including sisters.

Malka Leifer was arrested in Israel overnight where it is believed extradition proceedings have started in an attempt to have her returned to Melbourne.

The Attorney General’s office confirmed this morning Ms Leifer is wanted in Melbourne to face allegations of historic sexual offending against a string of girls.

The mother of eight left Australia in 2008 after she was sacked as principal at the ultra orthodox Adass Israel School in Elsternwick.

The sacking followed complaints that she had acted inappropriately with students while principal between 2001 and 2008.

Victoria Police launched an investigation into the complaints in 2011.

A police spokesman confirmed this morning that an investigation into “complaints of historical sex offences at an Elsternwick School” continued.

It is believed Ms Leifer could face dozens of charges of indecent assault and rape.

Her arrest is the latest in a string of scandals to rock Melbourne’s orthodox Jewish community.

Manny Waks, founder of sexual assault victims support group Tzedek, said Ms Leifer’s arrest was a welcome development.

“It should be seen in the greater context of the ongoing child sexual abuse scandal that has been plaguing the Australian Jewish community,” he said.

“This is further evidence that the tide is turning within our community.

“Many victims are no longer willing to remain silent, and neither is the community.”

Mr Waks said he expected the Adass Israel School would co-operate fully with the police.

“I also hope and expect that the police will examine all the circumstances surrounding Ms Leifer leaving Australia and hold to account anyone who may have acted inappropriately.”

Adass Israel School principal Prof Israel Herszberg issued a short statement in light of the arrest.

“The school has and will continue to co-operate fully with the authorities but otherwise is unable to comment further where the matters involving Mrs Leifer are before the courts.”

The school, of about 500 students, caters primarily to members of the closed ultra-orthodox Adass Israel Community in Elsternwick and Ripponlea.

In line with their strict religious beliefs students at the school are segregated on the basis of gender and have little interaction with people outside of the community.