New Chief Rabbis

I just wanted to write a very quick blog post about the newly elected Chief Rabbis - Rabbi David Lau and Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef.


Firstly, I am so glad that the elections are over. It has been an embarrassing chilul Hashem for the past several months as Rabbi engaged in politics and horse-trading. It should never have happened.

On the radio (and internet) this morning people were speaking about the election of chareidim as a defeat for the dati le'umi community, and a clear sign that the rabbanut does not want to move forward into the 21st century.

My thoughts (for what they are worth).

I do not identify with the chareidi community. But I do think that these two choices are excellent for Israel. Even though their fathers' were also Chief Rabbis, each of them deserves it in their own right, and was not elected because of their father.

I know Rabbi Lau a little bit (my brother knows him much better because he lives in Modi'in). Rabbi Lau is open, modern and concerned with the welfare of all Jews (and non-Jews) of every denomination. Notwithstanding what is being written about him, he cares deeply about people, knows Torah and halacha, and has been a tireless worker for the people of Modi'in for the past several years.

I know nothing about Rabbi Yosef as a person, but his books of Yalkut Yosef are tremendous. Clearly written, straight forward halacha for both Sefardim and Ashkenazim, and never erring on the side of chumra.

But as pleased as I am for both of these Rabbis, the Rabbanut and the State of Israel, I must say that it wasn't as much that these two won, but that the opposition lost. It seems to me that Bayit Yehudi is out of touch with the real world (based on the candidates they put forward). Rabbi David Stav is a forward thinking person (who wears a kippa seruga). But he has been exceptionally controversial in his rulings and actions (in terms of challenging the status quo). I think that Tzohar is an excellent organisation and has changed the way things are done. But to put forward such a radical contender for the office of Chief Rabbi was always risky. Tzohar operates well because it is outside of the system. I am yet to be convinced that it would work as the system.

And Rav Shmuel Eliyahu, who I'm sure is a great talmid chacham (though I have not been completely impressed with his halachic rulings on the weekly parsha pages, nor when I've heard him on the radio) and a great activist for the Jews of the world, is nevertheless a very controversial character. I disagree with the legal system getting involved in the elections - the Attorney General should never have allowed him to be called in - but nonetheless, his election would have been dragged through the courts and would have created an even bigger chilul Hashem. And those who feel disenfranchised by the election of Chareidim are possibly also the ones who would feel disenfrachised by a Rabbi who wrote a haskama to a book advocating killing Arabs.

If the dati le'umi community want to put up a serious contender for Chief Rabbi (and they should start planning now for 10 years time) they will have to find someone who is very knowledgable in Halacha, is not too radical, and can be accepted by most of the Jewish people of Israel. In the past they have had Chief Rabbis who filled most of those criteria - Rabbi Shapiro, Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu, Rabbi Goren, etc. At the moment I don't see those kinds of people leading the dati le'umi community. Don't get me wrong - there are many great dati le'umi Rabbis, but many of them are either more chareidi than the chareidim, or radical in either their political or racial views.

Ten years is not a long time. They had better get moving. (Of course what they will probably do is change the electoral system or do away with the office of Chief Rabbi - which would be a pity, but more importantly would be an admission that they cannot compete on a level playing field.

Rabbanut Monopoly on Weddings

Yizhar Hess wrote an article complaining about a nice Tzohar Rabbi who performed at a wedding of a nice young non-religious couple. Everything was fine, until the groom told the Rabbi that he wanted to use his army commander as a witness on the ketuba. The Tzohar Rabbi, nice as he was, refused to allow this person to be a witness, on the grounds that he does not keep Shabbat.

There are a few points in this article that are worth discussing:

1. One of the problems of the law in Israel requiring every Jewish person to get married through the Orthodox Rabbanut is that many (most) of them are not committed to halacha. And some will end up divorced without giving a 'get'. This creates a problem that any subsequent children born to the divorcee are considered mamzerim in halacha.
One solution which I have heard (quoted in the name of an anonymous godol) is to use non-kosher witnesses for any wedding when the officiating Rabbi is concerned that the marriage will eventually be disolved without a get (which according to some means the majority of non-religious weddings). This theoretically solves the mamzer problem, but causes many other sins by both the couple (living together without a chuppa etc) and the Rabbi (dishonesty and not providing the service he was employed to provide).
Rav Bakshi-Doron (Techumin 25 p. 100) writes strongly against this custom.
So in fact, the Tzohar Rabbi was being both honest and trusting in insisting on only using kosher witnesses. (Even though I understand the emotional trauma this caused). For this reason, when I was a Rabbi I had a rule that the Chazan and I were the witnesses at every wedding we performed. In this way nobody was embarrassed or questioned about their observance. Of course, in Britain there are also witnesses for the civil documents, which can be signed by anyone, so the couple can give their friends a special part in the wedding ceremony. There is no equivalent 'kibud' in Israeli weddings.

2. In the article Hess writes about 'Gur' (the non kosher witness):

How absurd. Gur could have been a tax evader, an abusive employer, or even a rapist, but the rabbi didn’t care about any of that. He wouldn’t have bothered to ask about his character. A good Jew, one who is fit to be a witness, can only be someone who observes the Sabbath (in the Orthodox manner). A secular Jew, no matter if he is one of the righteous few, a talmid chacham, or a bona fide Jewish hero, is unfit. Women, by the way, even if they are Sabbath observers, are considered unfit to be witnesses from the outset, simply because they are women.

Really? Who says that a tax evader, rapist or other criminal is a kosher witness for a ketuba? Unfortunately there is an assumption that if someone dresses the part they also follow all the rules. But it is clear that a thief may not be a witness. And witnesses should do teshuva from any sin before signing the form. Perhaps if we could somehow change the perception that Orthodox Jews are tolerant of theft, tax avoidance, abuse and rape, we could avoid a lot of chilul Hashem.

3. Rav Bakshi-Doron (ibid.) writes in conclusion:

The issue of Orthodox marriages, to our sorrow, is not only not desired by a large segment of society, but has become a symbol of thsoe who hate Torah. They have made it into a shovel to dig against everything holy, claiming religious coercion. The question remains: Is it not better to do away with the law forcing Orthodox marriage, in order that the concept be not degraded? The greatest degradation is that enormous pressure is brought on Dayanim and Rabbis to permit that which is forbidden, or to convert people who do not want to be Jewish. Also the issue of annulling marriages to avoid mamzering causes desecration of the Torah, when we rejoice at finding invalid marraiges this avoiding the problem of adultery (and mamzerim).

This was written 8 years ago. The hatred of Orthodox has only increased since then. The numbers of questionable conversions and dodgy marriages continues to increase daily. The halachic problems and chilul Hashem caused by forcing Orthodox marriages are surely greater than allowing people the option of a civil marriage.

If the government forced people to marry through the Orthodox Rabbinate, it must also force the Rabbinate to convert people for marriage (which is forbidden by the Shulchan Aruch). Allowing civil marriage will do away with insincere (and potentially invalid) conversions, and will greatly lessen chilul Hashem in Israel.

If it were up to me, I would advise the government (and the Rabbinate) to allow civil marriages. But in exchange, conversions and divorce should remain firmly in the hands of the Rabbinate, without political pressure. (As to the question of Agunot - that is for another post. But things are slowly improving there due to sensible use of government legislation).

Who Would Rabbeinu Tam Vote For

In the recent election campaign, one of the parties (who were not elected to Knesset) ran a campaign asking who Rambam would vote for. The implications of the ad were:
1. Rambam is in favour of learning Torah AND working (and by extension serving the country/army/being a productive member of society)
2. (Not stated but implied) Other Rishonim disagree with Rambam, and he is therefore perhaps a minority opinion.

Rambam writes:

כל המשים על ליבו שיעסוק בתורה ולא יעשה מלאכה, ויתפרנס מן הצדקה--הרי זה חילל את השם, וביזה את התורה, וכיבה מאור הדת, וגרם רעה לעצמו, ונטל חייו מן העולם הבא: לפי שאסור ליהנות בדברי תורה, בעולם הזה.

אמרו חכמים, כל הנהנה מדברי תורה, נטל חייו מן העולם. ועוד ציוו ואמרו, לא תעשם עטרה להתגדל בהם, ולא קורדום לחפור בהם. ועוד ציוו ואמרו, אהוב את המלאכה, ושנוא את הרבנות. וכל תורה שאין עימה מלאכה, סופה בטילה; וסוף אדם זה, שיהא מלסטס את הברייות.
מעלה גדולה היא למי שהוא מתפרנס ממעשה ידיו, ומידת חסידים הראשונים היא; ובזה זוכה לכל כבוד וטובה שבעולם הזה, ולעולם הבא: שנאמר "יגיע כפיך, כי תאכל; אשריך, וטוב לך" (תהילים קכח,ב)--"אשריך" בעולם הזה, "וטוב לך" לעולם הבא שכולו טוב.

Or in English

Anybody who undertakes to learn Torah all the time, not work, and support himself from charity is desecrating God's Name, disgracing the Torah, extinguishes his Jewish spark, causes bad to befall him and destroys his life in the World To Come, for it is forbidden to benefit from Torah matters in this world. The Sages said that anyone who does benefit from Torah matters is destroying his life, and they further commanded one not to make a garland with which to glorify oneself, nor an axe with which to dig. Furthermore, one should like one's work and dislike being a rabbi. Any Torah which one studies without working at is worthless, and causes punishment. A man who acts like this will become a bandit.

It is certainly true that the Kesef Mishna disagrees strongly with Rambam (See Hilchot Talmud Torah 3:10)

However, Rambam's view is not only the view of the Talmud, but also of many other Rishonim.

Perhaps the Rishon who is the furthest from Rambam in terms of science/philosophy is Rabbeinu Tam (probably all of the baalei Tosefot, but Rabbeinu Tam is the architect of that school). So, who would he vote for?

23. Tosefot Yeshanim Yoma 85b s.v. Teshuva (bottom of the page of Gemara, second line)
מה שרגיל רבינו יעקב לומר דתלמוד תורה טפל לגבי דרך ארץ מדקתני יפה תלמוד תורה עם דרך ארץ (אבות ב:ב) אלמא דרך ארץ עיקר.
What Rabbeinu Yaakov used to always say, that Torah study is secondary to derech eretz, since it says "Torah study is nice with derech eretz (Avot 2:2) which implies that derech eretz is primary.

"Rabbeinu Yaakov" mentioned here is none other than Rabbeinu Tam himself (if you don't believe me, look at Hagahot Maimoniot on Hilchot Talmud Torah 3:10)

And what does Derech Eretz mean? Certainly it means making a constructive contribution to society, and probably means working (Rabbeinu Tam himself made his living from lending money to non-Jews with interest and dealing in wine)
So, who would Rabbeinu Tam vote for?

The End of Chareidi Power

This looks to me as though it is the end for the Chareidi parties and their power in the government.

In a surprise move, Prime Minister Netanyahu announced at 2:00am that he is withdrawing the bill for early elections, and instead forming an alliance with Shaul Mofaz and his Kadima party.

This move has been branded 'cowardly', 'dirty' and 'shady' by the left and has made new opposition leader Shelly Yechimovich very angry, but to me it seems a brilliant 'win-win' situation for everyone except the Chareidim and Tommy Lapid.

Bibi wins, because he now has a way out of the dilemma posed to him by the revoking of the Tal law. Before he was unable to do away with the army exemption for Yeshiva boys because he needed the support of the Chareidi parties to keep the government. He was unable to keep the law both because of a High Court ruling, and because Avigdor Lieberman had threatened to vote against the government if they didn't do something about it.
Netanyahu is now on course to become the first Prime Minister in decades (or perhaps ever) to stay in his post for the full term, without early elections.

Shaul Mofaz wins, because if the country had gone to elections he would have been the least popular candidate, and his Kadima party would have gone from being the biggest party in the current Knesset to either third or fourth place, becoming insignificant in the process. Now he become deputy Prime Minister and Minister of something-or-other (technically Minister without portfolio - i.e. he gets the car and the staff, but without having any responsibility). The only downsides for him are that it makes him seem to be a two-faced liar (because 2 months ago he promised he would never join a unity government) and Kadima may completely disappear and be swallowed up by Likud - which is where most of the members came from in the first place.

The country wins, because we don't have to spend millions of shekels on a new election, and the country has more stability than it has had for a long time. Sure, we also lose, because we are stuck with Barak for a while longer (though he won't be able to do very much on his own) and because there is no real opposition any more (the government now consists of 96 out of 120 seats I think - leaving a random assortment of Labour and Arabs in opposition). But we haven't had a serious opposition for the past 3 years anyway. We also win big time because Tommy Lapid had timed his entry into politics perfectly, but now he'll have to wait for a year. A year is a long time in politics, and by then most people may have forgotten all about him.

The leftist parties (i.e. Tommy Lapid) and the right wing parties (National Union) lose because they don't get another chance in the polls right now. on the other hand, there was no guarantee that they would have done any better than they have at the moment, so they did not really lose anything.

BUT the chareidim are going to lose big time. I'm sure in the end some deal will be worked out that will continue to give them army exemptions. But the reality is that by the end of July Kadima and Likud have promised to work out an alternative to the Tal Law which will ensure that everyone does some kind of National Service. The Chareidi parties now have no power in the government, and if they threaten to leave the coalition they are welcome to walk out the door.

The reality is that the biggest WINNERS of all this will be the Chareidim in the long term, because once they do some kind of national service (and it won't necessarily be firing guns or driving around in tanks) they will be able to integrate into Israeli society. They will have the choice to either continue learning Torah full-time, or get a job, or go to higher academic studies, or any combination of those. They will no longer be the bogey-man to the rest of Israeli society, and they will gradually move out of the poverty zone that so many of them live in at the moment.

The rest of the Jewish world will win, because they will not have to give so much money in tzedakah to support the kollelim and chareidi life-style. Instead they will be able to use their charity money to develop Israel and make it even greater than it is already.

I know - this is all wishful thinking right? But sometimes the glass really is half full. And sometimes you just need a new glass.