ר"ע תיתד תונויצל ינויערה גוחה ,םולשו זוע
During the past few weeks we have witnessed a number of related events:
1. The death of Minister of Education Zevulun Hammer, which brought the Mafdal (National Religious Party) to a greater level of extremism than existed before his death. Now the Madfal will be a national haredi movement and not a national religious one. This is quite unfortunate, since the foundation of religious Zionism was the combination of the living Torah and living democracy, statehood, and society. Madfal is now led by MK Rabbi Yitzhak Levi, and it will become merely a branch of Shas, dressed in the clothing of religious Zionism but in essence a haredi party. Mafdal will be directed by its rabbis, headed by Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, an active right-winger who will not hesitate to put his right-wing messianic views into action. Rabbi Eliyahu has not changed, but rather the Mafdal has changed greatly, and this is quite unfortunate.
2. There are new tensions between Iraq and the free world, and again we Israelis have found ourselves under the fearful threat of biological or chemical attack. The situation is very serious, because we do not have a wise and balanced Prime Minister who understands how to handle these issues, how to prevent increased entanglements. We are in a situation in which the extreme right in Israel will determine what will occur. This is not a little frightening - it is very frightening. It is also a known fact that the Mafdal is not a moderate party but an extreme right-wing messianic one. There is a danger of creating fear and panic through the improper use of force, someting that will likely force us to pay a very dear price in the near future.
3. The right-wing messianism of Mafdal, is not limited to the cloudy judgement mentioned above, but is also causing and will cause a great rift between world Jewry and the state of Israel. It is necessary to say clearly to all the Jews of the world and to the Jews of Israel in particular: the Reform are religious, and the Conservative are religious, just as the haredim are religious. If one does not agree with the path of the haredim, or with that of the Conservative, or with that of the Reform, then what? Then they are not religious? No! It is necessary to repeat clearly and emphatically - nobody has a monopoly on Judaism or a monopoly on halacha.
4. Given the current situation, it is necessary to place an emphasis on education towards pluralism and tolerance. We, as a religious Zionist movement, we want to work on behalf of the people of Israel. We call to Jews all over the world, Jews who greatly disappointed - and rightly so - in what is going on in Israel, to help support Netivot Shalom - Oz VeShalom. We are working in Israel in order to find common ground shared by all Jews of the world. We are working in Israel in order to find a way to make peace between us and the Palestinians on the basis of territorial compromise. We are working in Israel with a strong voice to find common ground between the religious and the secular. It is clear to everyone that we will not be able to find common ground with the small haredi minority, because this minority wants to separate itself from the rest of the nation. Thus we cannot allow this smallest of small minorities, several tens of thousands of people, out of millions of Jews - we cannot allow them to dictate what Judaism is and what halacha is. We respect the haredim only so long as they respect us. If they do not know how to respect us, we must ignore them and not give them the strength and the freedom to dictate to the entire Jewish world.
5. The borders of the Land of Israel are the borders of the Bible. The borders of the State of Israel are the borders of compromise and necessity.
6. If you think as we do, please support us so that we will be able to fight for the principles that we all believe in, which are:
A. Our priorities are: the welfare of the people of Israel, then the continuation and flourishing of the Jewish tradition, and then the land of Israel. When these values come into conflict (for example, that possession of the land conflicts with either the welfare of the people of Israel or with the teachings of Torah, most notably those of peace, justice, and human dignity), then the value of the land of Israel is subordinated to the others.
B. The people of Israel includes anyone whose mother is Jewish or who has been converted abroad by a rabbi of any denomination of Judaism. Furthermore, we support efforts such as those of the Ne’eman Commission to find a solution so that rabbis of all denominations will be able to perform conversions in Israel.
C. The Torah of Israel is not of one denomination or another, but rather belongs to the entire Jewish people and all of its denominations.
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OZ veSHALOM - NETIVOT SHALOM
P.O. Box 4433, Jerusalem, 91043 Israel
Tel: 02-5664218, for Shabbat Shalom only call 053-920206
ozshalom@netvision.net.il
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