Mar 3, 2015
The Bostoner Rebbe endorses Yachad, while voting UTJ, and other interesting positions
Rav Meir Horowitz, the Bostoner Rebbe in Har Nof, called for an unusual and interesting press conference yesterday.
In his press conference the Rebbe made his announcement about elections. Rav Horowitz said that he will be voting UTJ, as he always does, as he is connected to Aguda and his father was. However, Rav Horowitz said, Yachad should be considered a Haredi party , but as somebody who comes from a democratic country and believes in that method of governance, anybody who finds the issues of Torat Yisrael, Klal Yisrael, and Eretz Yisrael important but also wants to vote for a Haredi party should vote for Yachad.
source: Kikar
This is the first endorsement for Yachad that I have heard from anybody connected to the classic Haredi parties.
NRG has a little bit more of what Rav Horowitz said, and I can only wonder why Kikar left it out...
The Bostoner Rebbe also said, according to NRG, said that he is thankful that we, the haredim, do not have a majority in the Knesset. he said that he fears the day they will have 61 MKs, as he does not know how one can run a country with the responsibility of keeping the Torah - for example, in the modern world, how can you close an airport on Shabbos, and added that thank God they don't come to him asking such questions..
Another interesting and unusual talking point was a brief discussion about religious homosexuals. Rav Horowitz praised such people for being moser nefesh, fully dedicated and committed, to keeping tha Torah, as he says he has offered shidduchim that were rejected seemingly for such reasons, and that he feels the pain of the reality they live in. Rav Horowitz did suggest that such people could get married, as some women just want to have children and would be willing to be in such a relationship just for that sake.
Rav Horowitz admitted, when talking about Yachad, that there are anti-democracy people and influences in the Haredi community. Because of that many people hold their tongue and don't say what they really believe - because some people are always looking to catch somebody for somethign he said, while ignoring the intent. People are afraid of the extremists in the community who forcibly have taken control.
In his press conference the Rebbe made his announcement about elections. Rav Horowitz said that he will be voting UTJ, as he always does, as he is connected to Aguda and his father was. However, Rav Horowitz said, Yachad should be considered a Haredi party , but as somebody who comes from a democratic country and believes in that method of governance, anybody who finds the issues of Torat Yisrael, Klal Yisrael, and Eretz Yisrael important but also wants to vote for a Haredi party should vote for Yachad.
source: KikarThis is the first endorsement for Yachad that I have heard from anybody connected to the classic Haredi parties.
NRG has a little bit more of what Rav Horowitz said, and I can only wonder why Kikar left it out...
The Bostoner Rebbe also said, according to NRG, said that he is thankful that we, the haredim, do not have a majority in the Knesset. he said that he fears the day they will have 61 MKs, as he does not know how one can run a country with the responsibility of keeping the Torah - for example, in the modern world, how can you close an airport on Shabbos, and added that thank God they don't come to him asking such questions..
Another interesting and unusual talking point was a brief discussion about religious homosexuals. Rav Horowitz praised such people for being moser nefesh, fully dedicated and committed, to keeping tha Torah, as he says he has offered shidduchim that were rejected seemingly for such reasons, and that he feels the pain of the reality they live in. Rav Horowitz did suggest that such people could get married, as some women just want to have children and would be willing to be in such a relationship just for that sake.
Rav Horowitz admitted, when talking about Yachad, that there are anti-democracy people and influences in the Haredi community. Because of that many people hold their tongue and don't say what they really believe - because some people are always looking to catch somebody for somethign he said, while ignoring the intent. People are afraid of the extremists in the community who forcibly have taken control.
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MHO this is a major indictment against Charedi Judaism, it doesn't work in the real world. It can work when Charedim are a small minority, but as the Rebbe states a state of Charedim doesn't work. The Charedi poskim don't even try to make a modern society work. The Torah is supposed to be a blueprint for society, and yet here we have a prominent Chasidic Rebbe state openly that he doesn't know how to make a Torah society work today. The RZ Rabbonim on the other hand are at least trying to deal with these problems and have published many seforim on these types of issues.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, his example of the airport closing on Shabbos is the least of the problems. I would place things like running power plants, police, army, etc. as much more important and problematic with regards to Shabbos. Additionally, he left out all of the economic issues, modern day economies run on credit and interest, which is an issue d'oraysa.
Think the Rebbe here says he wouldn't know how to make a modern society work according to Torah is because at this point in time where you have about 8 million people (Jew & non-Jews) living in the State of Israel who are so programmed to the modern world, how would they possibly adjust to Torah laws and would almost be impossible to implement. That's why the medinah, and with every year deteriorating in Yiddishkeit, can only be saved as a Torah society (and will, hopefully, soon be) only after the coming of Moshiach tzdkeinu! Unfortunately, the medinah started out as secular and purposely made more secular with each decade. Hopefully, we see an increase in teshuvah, but with all the external influences, the Rebbe is right.
ReplyDeleteYou are so wrong. Anybody can see that the Medinah is growing in Yiddishkeit with every year. Even today I would say that the majority of Jews living here are religious or traditional and is becoming more religious day by day. The task for all us religious Jews and especially the poskim and rabanim is to implement the Torah and halacha in our modern society (as the Rabanut and most Rabanim are doing) and not to just say that you can't run a government/army/hospital/society in today's modern world.
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