In a week when tens of thousands of Torah students began their winter break in yeshivahs and kollels, their public representatives opened the winter session with a great storm.
It wasn't easy for our representative during the break, they held back for a long time, there were also the terrible days in the background and it's not nice to spoil the atmosphere, so they still tried to maintain restraint and not make inflammatory statements.
True, there were the elections for the Jerusalem rabbinate that provided them with some adrenaline when they awarded points to the greatest of the generation, but finally the opening of the winter session arrived, and they allowed themselves to let loose and settle accounts with their political opponents.
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Anyone who watched the heated debates in the committees and in the Knesset plenum this week between the representatives of the Jewish Home and the Haredi representatives was certain that this was a debate between two parties representing completely different religions. What wasn't there? 'Anti-Semites', 'religionists', 'robbers' and countless other harsh accusations and expressions. A person who accidentally stumbled into the arena might have been convinced that this was a debate about one of the principles of Judaism. He was convinced that before him stood a group that wanted to convert Jews to their religion and baptize them into Christianity, facing a group that was fighting for the future of the Jewish people and was sacrificing its life to save Jews from assimilation. How disappointing it was to discover that these wars were waged around the issue of political appointments.
It's no secret that every party that reaches a key position consolidates its power by appointing its people to various centers of power.
For years, members of the Jewish Home claimed that Shas was concerned with the appointment of its cronies to religious councils and in the world of the rabbinate. They claimed that they were being censored, that they were being taken over, and that they were being excluded from key positions. Today, the wheel has turned. Shas is making the same claims about the Jewish Home, again: 'They are excluding us, only taking care of the cronies, depriving us.' Then it was the Jewish Home. Today it is Shas, the same lady in a new dress.
It was amusing to see Shas and United Torah Judaism MKs attack Deputy Minister Ben Dahan for undermining the status of the rabbis, for only caring about the appointments of his party members, and for only distributing jobs, and he passionately replies to them that he only cares about the future of the rabbinate and the restoration of the religious councils.
It's funny because they behaved exactly like this in the previous round and will behave exactly like this in the next round when they receive the keys, as the Tanna in Avot says, "I will cover you with my dewdrops, and the end of your drops will be covered with dewdrops.".
It would have been easy to entertain these thoughts if it weren't for Hilo.To the great God caused by these expressions and slanders.
I once asked myself why the public representatives of Torah-observant Israel can't unite? Why, because we are so busy quarreling among ourselves, don't we notice that we are being bitten from the outside? Why are there so many factions in religious politics that only harm each other instead of cooperating together?
The answer to this is simple: everyone thinks they are the best, everyone is sure that their way is right, and everyone believes that their way will only win if they trample on the other's way.
Painful, sad, but true.
But if we look for a moment at this week's Torah, we will discover that the measure of success is actually accepting the other, not rejecting him. The Holy One, blessed be He, turns to our forefather Abraham and tells him, "Go from your country, from your native land, and from your father's house." Leave the way of your ancestors and your erring neighbors, separate yourself from them, and go to your land, and there I will make you into a great nation.
Our father Abraham had every reason to be racist and arrogant. The Creator of the world even told him that He chose him to be the father of many nations, so surely all other creatures are just rejected and inferior next to Him.
But Abraham did not take this as a place of foolish personal pride but as a place of moral responsibility. He took it upon himself to make Judaism accessible to the entire world.
He immediately established the standard of hospitality, erected a tent with four doors and hosted all passersby, not only yeshiva students, not only great rabbis, but also passersby, ordinary people, Ishmaelites and Arabs. He brought them all into the tent, fed them, gave them water, and took care of all their needs. Only when they came to thank him did he tell them about the reality of God and the confession that should be made only to him.
This is the way of the Father of the Nation, this is the way of Judaism.
If you are sure that you are the chosen one, and your path is righteous, do not prove it by being arrogant towards everyone around you, but only by drawing them closer to you with a cheerful countenance.
The more you hurt those around you and try to prove to everyone that only you are right, the more everyone will understand that the truth lies with you.
Our public representatives apparently didn't understand this, so the Creator of the world sent the heads of government to teach them this the hard way...
