Testimony: "Rabbi Elyashiv allowed me to take money from the Friendship Fund""

May 27, 2014   

A heated campaign is currently underway among the national-religious public against the "Friendship Foundation," headed by Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein. This follows a plan to operate summer camps, in cooperation with the foundation, promoted by the Ministry of Education, and in light of rabbis' determination that the foundation poses a danger, since its goal is to assimilate Christian values ​​into Israeli society.

The campaign began with a "statement of opinion" from the Binyamin Rabbinical Committee, prohibiting the use of budgets from the "Friendship Fund" for the purpose of operating summer activity programs - and continued with a heated battle of slander, slanderous comments, and statements for and against the "Friendship Fund." Publicists were also recruited into the heated campaign.

""This year, the Ministry of Education proposes to operate summer school programs in collaboration with the foundation, under the title 'Summer of Friendship,'" the rabbis of the Binyamin Committee wrote. "After inquiries, consultations and lengthy discussions, as well as following the statements of Rabbi Dov Lior, Rabbi Zephaniah Drori and Rabbi Shlomo Aviner on the subject, we have come to the conclusion that it is forbidden to cooperate with the foundation and that budgets should not be accepted from it, as it is 'neither a compliment nor a compliment.'".

According to them, "This prohibition on accepting gifts from church entities stands on its own, and this goes beyond the concern of increasing involvement of Christian entities in the teaching content itself. Therefore, participation in the program in its current form is prohibited, that is, as long as it has any connection to the Friendship Foundation.".

Pashkvil: The foundation is disguised as friendship

The Channel 7 website reports that as part of the protest, which is gaining momentum, tens of thousands of pashavils against the "Friendship Fund" will be distributed at "Rikodgalim" on Jerusalem Day by members of the Ariel, Ezra and Bnei Akiva youth movements. The flyer that will be distributed reads, "Are you willing to take responsibility for one Jewish child to convert to Christianity?! No? Then start taking action!!! It's in your hands, even if you think not!!!".  The flyer continues: "Although the foundation is cloaked in the guise of friendship and kindness, its actual goal is to instill Christian values ​​in us. None of us wants to cooperate with such people.".

 The Friendship Foundation said in response to Channel 7: "We regret that certain elements within the religious youth movements are trying to forcefully drag the movements into a campaign of slander against the Foundation. Among the supporters of the Friendship Foundation are dozens of organizations of Torah and mitzvot observant people, both religious and ultra-Orthodox. All of these were supported and are supported by the Foundation in light of halachic permits from the great rabbis, who examined the issue and determined that there is no problem with the Foundation's activities and support from the Foundation.

 ""The campaign being waged in recent days against the foundation by unknown parties is full of lies and distortions, and the rabbinical opinions based on it were written on the basis of this false information. Suffice it to mention that the quote from Rabbi Eckstein's book in which the rabbi supposedly says that he is 'a Jew for Jesus' is a lie and a fabrication. Rabbi Eckstein did not write these things about himself. This lie also bears witness to all the claims against the foundation.".

Chairman of the Friendship Foundation, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein

 The Secretary General of the Bnei Akiva movement, Danny Hirshberg, clarified in response to the flyer against the Friendship Fund, which is expected to be distributed, that the use of the Bnei Akiva movement's symbol was done without permission. "We did not authorize anyone to use the movement's symbol," the Secretary General of the movement said in response to the publication of the flyer anonymously.

""Rabbi Elyashiv allowed me to take money from the fund""

As part of the campaign against the Foundation for Friendship and Camps, which is jointly run with the Ministry of Education, it was claimed that the former leader of the Lithuanian community, the late Rabbi Elyashiv, also forbade receiving funds from the Foundation.

However, today the Channel 7 website reveals the words of Rabbi Shlomo Baksht, rabbi of the Haredi community in Odessa, that Rabbi Elyashiv allowed him to take money from the Friendship Fund.

""In light of the publications in his name, even during the lifetime of Rabbi Elyashiv zt"l, that there is a prohibition on taking money from the Friendship Foundation, and in light of the fact that we were supported by the foundation, I personally sent a trusted emissary on my behalf to Rabbi Elyashiv and asked him what I should do," Rabbi Baksht said in a conversation from Odessa.

He said, "After hearing the words, Rabbi Elyashiv allowed me to take money from the Friendship Fund for our community.".

Baksht emphasizes that over the many years of the foundation's support for his community, contrary to the slander about the foundation in recent days, no one at the foundation has ever tried to interfere with the content or promote missionary activity in his community, God forbid.

 Rabbi Zephaniah Drori: I feel I must stand up and cry out

לעומת זאת, רבה של קריית שמונה, הרב צפניה דרורי, ממשיך את מלחמתו בקרן לידידות ועומד מאחורי ההחלטה לקרוא לציבור שלא ללכת לקייטנות שמופעלות בסבסוד הקרן לידידות. "משרד החינוך לא כופה על אף אחד לקבל את זה ואנחנו מקווים שכל בתי הספר לא יפלו בפח הזה. אנחנו יודעים שבאותם מקומות שיש סבסוד של הקרן לידידות, יהיו בקייטנות פעולות ותכנים של מעורבות נוצרית ויהודית", אומר הבוקר הרב דרורי בראיון לערוץ 7. לדבריו כיום הנצרות פועלת בצורה מתוחכמת יותר כדי לנצר יהודים, והוא עושה את חובתו, למרות שיש מתנגדים רבים: "אני מרגיש שאני חייב לעמוד ולזעוק שאסור לקבל תמיכה מגויים, זה בדיוק מה שכתוב בחז"ל שלקראת הגאולה חולשת היהודים תעורר את הנצרות לתחייה בזכות הכספים שהיהודים יקבלו".