“The outcry by Knesset members reminds me of Eli HaCohen, who falls only after he hears the aron was taken.”
This is the text message that my friend, Rabbi Yehoshua Hershberg, sent me earlier today.
His words are absolutely on target - almost frighteningly so.
In the fourth chapter of Shmuel Alef, Eli HaCohen, who was singularly devoted to the Mishkan in the city of Shiloh, anxiously awaited news from the battlefield where the Pelishtim were fighting the Israelite army:
The Pelishtim waged war and Israel was defeated; and they fled, each man to his tents. The blow was very great, and thirty thousand men from Israel fell. The ark of God was taken, and the two sons of Eli, Chofni and Pinchas, died. A man from Binyamin ran from the battlefield and came to Shiloh on that day; his clothes were torn and there was dirt on his head. He came, and there was Eli sitting in the chair by the side of the road, for his heart trembled over the ark of God. The man came to tell the city [what had happened], and the entire city cried out. Eli heard the sound of the cry and said, “What is this confused sound?” And the man raced, and came and told Eli. (Eli was ninety eight years old, and his eyes had dimmed and he could not see.) The man said to Eli, “I came from the battlefield, and I ran away from the battlefield today.” [Eli] said, “What thing happened, my son?” The man who brought the news answered, “Israel fled before the Pelishtim, and also there was a great slaughter in the nation, and also your two sons, Chofni and Pinchas died, and the ark of God was taken.” And when he mentioned the ark of God, [Eli] fell from his chair backwards, near the opening of the gate, and his neck broke and he died… (Shmuel Alef 4:10-18)
Eli’s dedication to the Mishkan and the ark of God was absolute - but, as Rabbi Amnon Bazak explains, “It was not the fall of Israel that terrified Eli and caused his death; it was not even the death of his sons… The taking of the ark - the external sign, that which was only the symbolic expression of the indwelling of the divine presence - is what caused [his death]. One can respect his dedication to the ark, the taking of which touched his heart more than the death of his sons; but in this description a criticism of Eli is presented, whose attention was focused entirely on the ark.”1 As Rabbi Bazak mentioned earlier in the same context, “The book of Shmuel wanted to emphasize that even in the framework of the worship of God it is possible to reach idolatrous perspectives”2 - and being more concerned with the Mishkan and the ark than the deaths of Israelite soldiers exemplifies this idolatrous attitude.
Early this morning, the Or Habib synagogue in Jerusalem was vandalized; according to the Times of Israel, “The synagogue suffered minor damage due to the fire, and holy books were burned, including some authored by [Rabbi Yitzchak] Yosef and his late father, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. A chair specifically designated for Yosef was also badly burnt in the incident.” The former Sephardic chief rabbi, Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, regularly prays in this synagogue; and politicians from across the political spectrum rushed to condemn this despicable act.
Because Rabbi Yosef has been at the forefront of demanding that Chareidim not be drafted into the Israeli army - he suggested that even ultra Orthodox Jews who are not in yeshivot should ignore enlistment orders, that if Chareidim are arrested for avoiding the draft the community should move en masse outside of Israel, and that MK Yuli Edelstein, who is in charge of drafting a new law regarding Chareidi conscription, is “wicked” and his soul is “an abomination” - many assumed that the attempted destruction of the synagogue was motivated by anger at Rabbi Yosef’s attitude towards the army.
This attempted arson was terrible. Those who condemned it were absolutely right to condemn it. But the story does not end there.
On Friday, we learned the names of two soldiers who were killed by a Hamas explosive device. On Motzaei Shabbat, we learned the names of two other soldiers who were killed in the same explosion, as well.
Yet Minister Aryeh Deri’s broken heart was reserved for the burned but-still-intact synagogue. He said, “There is no greater hate crime than this. To come and burn a synagogue - this is an unforgivable act… We saw the burned holy books, and it’s a great miracle that the Holy Ark and Torah scrolls were spared. It breaks the heart.” And MK Yisrael Eichler blamed the vandalism on “antisemitic incitement,” saying, “The antisemitic incitement in the media and the government persecution of the holy ones of Israel, Torah students and the observant must immediately cease.” Of course, by “antisemitic incitement” and “persecution of the holy ones of Israel” he is referring to the common complaints that Chareidim should serve in the army rather than allowing all other sectors of the Jewish population to fight and die while they sit and watch. (One cannot help but wonder why calling Edelstein - a former Prisoner of Zion who spent three years in Siberia for the crime of applying for an exit visa so he could move to Israel - “wicked” is not antisemitic incitement, as well.)
When was the last time we heard Chareidi politicians mourn the deaths of soldiers with language even somewhat approximating their horror at the burning of a synagogue?
These leaders are right to condemn the burning of a synagogue. Just as Eli was right to experience horror at the loss of the ark of God.
Yet Eli’s priorities were wildly misplaced, and the Tanach condemns the fact that he cared more about the ark than about the children of Israel.
And that’s why my friend Yehoshua’s plaint that “The outcry by Knesset members reminds me of Eli HaCohen, who falls only after he hears the aron was taken,” is absolutely correct.
Caring more about a building than about people… essentially forcing everyone else to fight while absolving an entire community of all responsibility… turning the tables and claiming that criticizing this obviously selfish attitude is antisemitic incitement… We are witnessing idolatrous perspectives in real time.
Eli HaCohen was the most “frum” person in ancient Israel - yet his frum attitude stands in stark contrast to authentic Torah values. The lessons of the Bible ring as true today as they did thousands of years ago.
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Shmuel Alef: Melech B’Yisrael (Hebrew), p. 62.
Ibid. p.60.
