|
Translated from the NRG website
Nissan, 5768
April, ‘08
 "If you do not let my people go," says
Moses to Pharaoh, "I will turn all your water into blood."
"Nonsense!" Pharaoh retorts, claps his hands and his magicians also turn the
water to blood.
"If you do not let my people go," Moses continues, "all of Egypt will be
filled with frogs."
"Nonsense!" Pharaoh snorts, claps his hand and his wizards add their own
frogs to Moses' croaking chorus.
It sounds strange, doesn't it? It is like if in reaction to Kassams on
Sderot, Israel would also bomb the town.
What we must understand is that the plagues did not threaten Pharaoh. What
threatened his regime was the concept. The entire Pharaonic regime was based
on idol worship. It was the power source of the regime and the foundation of
Egypt's societal order. According to Pharaoh's logic, as long as his wizards
could perform the same wonders as Moses, everything was under control. The
plagues were just a technical difficulty that he would somehow deal with.
When we see Olmert hell-bent on dividing Jerusalem, surrendering the Golan,
expelling the Jews and doing more and more of what has already caused us so
much anguish, we can see that Pharaoh still lives; the current regime is not
at all interested in the nation that it is supposed to be leading. It is
interested in just one thing; its own survival - even if that comes at the
expense of the nation's survival.
Has anybody seen, for example, our government halting arms distribution to
the Arabs just because they use those guns to kill Jews? Does anybody think
that Israel will stop supplying the Arabs in Gaza with armored personnel
carriers after the Arabs used a shiny new carrier in a recent terror attack?
We all understand that the madness will continue - for the same reason that
Pharaoh remained stubborn in face of the plagues. An entire tyrannical elite
has built itself on the Oslo rationale. What did we think? That after the
first bus exploded Peres, Beilin and all the journalists, professors, army
officers, secret service agents and Yossi Ginosars with fat profits from the
new order would say, "Sorry, we made a mistake," bury their faces in shame,
apologize and resign?
It is difficult for the average citizen to accept the fact that his fate
does not really interest his leaders. But that is the reality. The art of
good governance is to create a situation in which the leadership and the
citizens share the same interest. But here in Israel - at least since the
Oslo Accords were signed, the interests of the two sides have become
diametrically opposed. That is why the people of Israel absorb blow after
blow while the Accords continue to provide well for a very particular group
of personalities. The most prominent among them is President Peres. It is
just what Sharon's former assistant from the 101 unit, Shlomo Baum of
blessed memory once told me: "Shimon Peres doesn't care if the entire
country turns into a heap of ashes - as long as he is standing at the top of
the heap."
This week we commemorate Holocaust Memorial Day. We all feel that the state
is rapidly turning into a heap of ashes. Somehow, all the modern traffic
interchanges, all the high-tech, economy and glitter do not cajole the
nation out of its chronic state of depression. Everyone more or less feels
the pervading despair; that everything in Israel is temporary and that we
are living here on borrowed time. Israel's leaders will do whatever they
must to retain their own interests - even if those interests contradict the
nation's interests.
An elderly man once told me how on the Shabbat of his bar-mitzvah in Hungary
a strange, ghost-like figure suddenly burst into the synagogue, ran up to
the stage and began to shout, "I escaped from Auschwitz to warn you, my
Jewish brothers. Run away!!! Run away or they will burn you!!!"
"Within moments," the elderly man continued, "the caretakers of the
synagogue took the poor man by the arms and removed him from the synagogue.
When they dragged him out, he accidentally touched me. I still remember how
my entire body shook. Not long afterwards, I was also deported to
Auschwitz."
What can I tell you, dear readers? What you see and what you hear and what
you feel is the exact truth. The State of Israel really is turning into a
heap of ashes. In your hearts you know it. That is why you do not mange to
rejoice on Independence Day and all the 60 year celebrations seem to you
more like the grand finale. Don't believe a word that the caretakers tell
you. Get rid of them and follow those people who have liberated themselves
from the idols of peace and Oslo. Follow those people who love you and
believe in you. Follow those people who sacrifice themselves for you, the
people who cling to this land and to our G-d - the people who the caretakers
always throw out of the synagogue.
Keep up to date with our latest articles and audio updates
Visit
our "What's New" Webpage
|
|
On Pesach, Moshe
Feiglin was interviewed (Hebrew) by (leftist) journalist Ben Caspit on
his television show. The interview was not about Arabs, not about Left and
Right, not about security and not about settlements. It was about religion,
culture and Pesach. The fact that Moshe was interviewed on this topic is a
breakthrough in public awareness of Manhigut Yehudit's positions.
The following is a translation of Moshe Feiglin's article about the
Chametz law that inspired the interview. The article appeared on Israel's
popular NRG website.
Nissan, 5768
April, ‘08
 All I could think of as my plane landed
last week, was how I was going to get home, take a shower and go to sleep.
But even before I got off the plane, I turned on my cell phone and my plans
changed. Instead of going home, I was to drive straight to the Channel 2
television studio for an interview about my US visit with Jonathan Pollard.
At my side sat the first interviewee, an attorney whose ‘item' opened the
show. That is how I found out about the Chametz law that had created
quite a stir while I was away.
The attorney represented small businesses that had sold chametz
(leavened products prohibited by Jewish law during the week of Pesach) last
year. These businessmen had been penalized by the Jerusalem municipality in
accordance with Israel's law forbidding public display of chametz on
Pesach. The attorney was being interviewed after he had won a court case for
his clients. "The court decided to interpret the law in its most narrow
sense," the attorney explained, "and authorized the sale of chametz
on Pesach."
"Don't you think that it is problematic that the court has essentially
nullified a law passed by the Knesset?" the interviewer rightfully asked the
attorney.
"I see no problem at all," the attorney answered and embarked on a
convoluted explanation to try to convince his audience that the court has
every right to override the Knesset.
I sat there, waiting for my turn to be interviewed. It was very difficult
for me to keep quiet and not comment on what the attorney was saying. But I
did not want to divert attention from the topic of Jonathan Pollard, so I
remained silent.
Later, I met the attorney in the waiting room. While we were both rubbing
the studio make-up off our faces, I said to him:
"This may come as a surprise, but I completely agree with you on the
chametz issue. However, I completely disagree with the means that you
used to achieve your goal."
"What do you mean?" the attorney asked.
"I think that the less religious laws, the better. I think that it would be
best not to have any law prohibiting chametz. From that standpoint, I
agree with your clients and not with the Jerusalem municipality.
"But," I added, "why does the court suffice itself with merely nullifying
Knesset laws? Maybe we should just let ‘Their Honors' make the laws
themselves? What do we need an elected legislative branch of government for,
anyway? Why bother with elections, campaigns and all the ugliness? Why can't
we just leave legislation to the enlightened elites in the courts?"
That was more or less the end of our conversation. He asked me where I was
going, and when I offered him a ride to my home-town of Karnei Shomron, he
courteously thanked me and left.
The attorney notwithstanding, religious legislation is a pre-determined
failure. I remember that as a child, the stores on the main street of
Rehovot were by and large closed on Shabbat. Today, forty years and twice as
many religious MKs later, many stores are open on Shabbat and Israel's
Jewish identity is flagging.
The conclusion? Less politicization and religious legislation equals more
Jewish identity for Israel. It's as easy as that. We really do not need
religious political parties. The vast majority of Israel's public defines
itself as traditional at some level. Only 20% define themselves as secular.
In other words, it is clear that the overwhelming majority of Israelis do
not want chametz publicly displayed on Pesach. The Jewish majority in
Israel wants to feel the holiday atmosphere, and if a person can't manage
without a pita, he does not feel a special urge to eat it in public. The
moment that chametz is prohibited by law, though, he feels coerced.
Now, it is "us" against the "religious." Now it is already a matter of
principle to eat pita on the sidewalk and to remind all the passers-by that
he is a free man who can eat what and where he pleases.
I do not think that there should be religious parties. That way, the
non-observant Israelis will have nobody to fight against and the
responsibility for Israel's Jewish identity will be placed firmly on their
shoulders - and not on the shoulders of the religious. I have complete
confidence in Israel's Jewish public - 80% of whom say that they are first
Jews and then Israelis. When responsibility for the Jewish identity of the
state will be transferred by the religious minority to the Jewish majority,
we will have a Jewish country.
Luckily, there is no law requiring us to stand for a moment of silence when
the Memorial Day sirens go off. If there would be a law like that, I am not
sure that I would abide. We stand during the siren because that is what our
culture dictates. We do not need a law. We must strive for a situation in
which a person who sells chametz on Pesach or opens his store on
Shabbat would feel like someone walking down Tel Aviv's Dizengoff Avenue in
the middle of the Memorial Day siren.
This is a multi-generational process. Our Judaism has to become our culture
- without laws and without coercion. For that to happen, we have to return
our state to the large Jewish majority. In the meantime, the ruling elite
running our lives uses the Supreme Court, the media and academia to keep
themselves way above democracy and the law. In this way, we have lost both
our Jewish identity and our basic democratic rights.
So strange as it may sound - the fact that it is now permissible to sell
chametz will not increase chametz sales. I believe that
ultimately, the sales will even decrease. But the fact that there is no law
prohibiting the sale of chametz will increase our liberty. And that
is what Pesach is all about, isn't it?
Manhigut
Yehudit needs your help now more than ever. You can also help create the Jewish
majority revolution. Now is the time to support Manhigut Yehudit.
Click here
for our on line secure donation
form. If you are in Israel, now is the time to volunteer to help. For more information,
call (Israel) 02-996-1123.
|
.jpg)
Rebuke, rebuke your fellow
(Leviticus 19:17)
The period that follows the holiday
of Pesach is arguably the most emotionally charged time period on the
Jewish calendar. Each year, within the space of a few days, we
collectively re-experience the horrors of the Holocaust, the
trepidation, pain and triumph of Israel's wars and the joy of her
re-birth. 
And last but not least -
Independence Day. When I first saw the billboard announcing Israel's
60th anniversary celebrations, I mistakenly thought that it was an ad
for Coca Cola. That is the first association I had with the graphics
on the illustration. It took me a few seconds to understand my
mistake. 
