1.
Eleven serious men, clad in black robes, sit in a half-circle on high chairs around an elegant wooden table. Their voices are deep and authoritative, their faces are covered with masks, the state emblem on their heads. The eyes of the entire nation are on them. Hall C of the Supreme Court is at the height of its glory.
But this time, as a precedent, ordinary people can follow the proceedings of the debate live. To hear not only the bottom line, the final ruling, but the questions, the comments, the interruptions. We can witness with our own eyes the body language. The arrogance, the superiority.
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
The word "honor" in its various inflections is repeated over and over again. "Your Honor," "Your Honor," "Your Honor." And in their court, everyone says honor all the time. But this status is the essence of disrespect. Disrespect for anyone who does not hold to their extreme worldview of honor.
2.
And the debate drags on, and the air fills with abstract concepts that I don't exactly understand, as my mind drifts through memories both near and far. Here, in this hall, in such a large and impressive forum, the final verdict of Gush Katif on thousands of its settlers, the living and the dead, is being passed. "The implementation of the disengagement cuts off the evacuated Israeli from his home, his surroundings, his synagogue, and the cemetery where his dead are buried. The forced evacuation of Israelis violates their human dignity," the judges wrote, but they ruled by a huge majority of only ten to one, which is nevertheless "constitutional" and "proportionate.".
Why? Because it "is in keeping with the Zionist values of the state. It is intended for a proper purpose - the political, national and security objectives on which the disengagement is based are intended to fulfill a vital and essential need... in light of the compensation guaranteed by law... the harm is not excessive.".
Of all the blunt texts from the left that have been said about the desert bloomers from Gush Katif, this is one of the most vicious: "The harm does not exceed what is necessary.".
This is also where a series of rulings came from that tie the hands of the IDF in the war on terror and endanger the lives of our soldiers. This is where, just a few days ago, the decision came from that in the Jewish state, not only can any visitor bring chametz into hospitals - something that will harm tens of thousands of patients, religious and secular, who are hospitalized in hospitals in Israel and are kept from eating chametz on Passover - but also "it is forbidden to address hospital visitors with any comment, instruction or attention regarding bringing food in during the holiday of Passover.".
And the list, of course, is long, long. A series of rulings, each of which harms a different side of the equation: sometimes a ruling against the Land of Israel, sometimes against the people of Israel, and sometimes against the Torah of Israel. So that this three-pronged thread will soon be severed.
3.
And now the large and impressive forum of the people with the black robes and the deep, authoritative voices is gathering again, and they are discussing with the utmost seriousness and seriousness the issue of whether my vote, yours, and that of about three million other Israelis in the last elections, for nearly 80 seats in total - was appropriate. You may be reading this column after their honors have already published the decision, but it doesn't matter. The discussion itself is shocking.
Three times a day, in the Shemona-Eserah prayer, we ask for countless things that need correction in our lives: wisdom, healing, redemption, the gathering of the exiles, the building of Jerusalem. But only with one request do we really sigh. "Restore our judges as at first, and our counselors as at the beginning, and remove from him sorrow and sighing." To that extent? Sorrow and sighing? Hello, this is not "healing" us here, why are you sighing like that? It's all the Ministry of Justice, the High Court of Justice, the Attorney General's Office.
I don't have a clever excuse to say or some strong rant. The answer is probably: Yes, when the legal system is distorted, it hurts a lot, and it's very upsetting. It's a piece of grief and a sigh.
4.
And hence to a completely different matter: Lag BaOmer in the shadow of the Corona virus. First of all, I so hope that there will be a full curfew on Lag BaOmer night. What did the Prime Minister say at the time about the Seder night? "We don't want Passover to be Purim.".
After all the improvement in the situation and the recent easing, it is impossible to take the risk with another holiday that will, God forbid, cause mass infection. Lag BaOmer must not be Purim. And if not a nationwide lockdown, then at least the Meron area should be hermetically sealed.
I know that there are Jews for whom not being with Rabbi Shimon on Lag BaOmer is as difficult as having a Seder without their children and grandchildren, but this year we are destined to meet Rabbi Shimon not in his Zion, but in his books, his Torah, his articles on the Gemara. It is a bit challenging. It may be easier to travel to Meron and stand in traffic jams and with the Rabbi inside, than to connect with the legacy of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai.
So here's a wonderful idea I read in the 'Then Let's Talk' newsletter, a strong point that can be taken from the author of the hilula for these days.
Rabbi Shmuel Pollak tells how last Shabbat he prayed in the entrance of a residential building in Haifa, and was a little depressed. He felt, like all of us in recent weeks, as if God had thrown him out of his home.
""I'm still thinking," he recalls, "and I was blessed with a 'delivery of food' from some pigeon that just flew over me... and then I completely broke down. I said: Not only did the Lord of the universe throw me out of the house of study, is he also expelling me from here?""
But then he remembered the famous story of Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who fled with his son from the Romans. The Gemara in Tractate Shabbat describes his escape route. In the early days, "He and Beria were exhausted, and they left me in the study." That is, he and his son Elazar hid in the study hall. But then, "because the decree was too strong," as the Gemara says, he was forced to leave the study hall and flee to a cave.
What is "because the decree is strict"? This is what we have experienced in the last month and a half (until the easing a few days ago, God bless). Every day the decrees became stricter. Every evening the Prime Minister and the heads of the health system appeared and announced new "decrees." I write "decrees" in quotation marks, because these are of course not "decrees" of the evil Romans, but strict instructions intended to save our lives.
But yes, the decrees became stricter day by day: at first we couldn't gather in large numbers, but we could still pray in synagogues, and after that we were thrown out of there too, and then even in open spaces it was forbidden to pray.
5.
Back to Rabbi Shimon: At first, as mentioned, he fled to the Beit Midrash, but he was thrown out of there too. Well, what is he supposed to do now in the cave? Feel distant. Walk with his head down and say: God threw me out. So that's not it. Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai is a disciple of Rabbi Akiva. The same Rabbi Akiva who throughout his life regretted the verse "You loved the Lord your God," when will it come to me and I will fulfill it. In other words, Rabbi Akiva is essentially saying: It's not enough for me that God shows love towards me, I also want to show love to God.
True, if God smiles at me and shows me how happy He is with my prayers and my study, then I feel good. I feel like a beloved child, as it is said, "Father, I need to know that you love me, just like that, a good father." But if God does not show love, but on the contrary, distance, he throws me out of the synagogue, there is a hiding of face - what then? Rabbi Akiva educated his students that in such a situation there is an opportunity to love God with all their soul.
Therefore, when Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai was thrown out of the synagogue like us, he did not make a pitiful face. On the contrary, he stormed into the cave, and it was there that he began to engage in Torah and serve God with greater intensity and strength. Pay attention to the words that we will sing (at home!) this week: "Bar Yochai, a good seat you sat on, the day you fled, the day you fled, in the cave of the forts where you stood - there you bought your honor and the way.".
Where does all the glory and glory of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai come from? Precisely from the difficult days in the cave, from the period of isolation and quarantine, from praying alone, without reading from the Torah, from the night of the Seder that he performed without the whole family.
""He had every reason in the world to be sad," writes Rabbi Pollak, "and even more in the name of Yiddishness. Lord of the universe, you threw me away, you don't want my prayers in the synagogue, you don't want my Torah study in the Beit Midrash. But no. Rashbi jumped at the opportunity. If God doesn't show me love, then it's my turn to show him love. There, precisely there, you earned your honor and the path. So it's true, it's true that it's impossible to ignore the chain of reprimands we received from heaven. We were removed from the Beit Midrash, from the minyan, from reading the Torah. But we need to know that with proper thinking and self-work - we can take our honor and glory from this challenging period for a lifetime.".
• The column is published in the newspaper 'Bisheva''
