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Over the ages of Jewish history there have always been differences over rabbinic power and identity, differing societal norms and customs and general attitudes towards the outside non-Jewish world and culture. The societal norms of the Jews in the Middle Ages in Spain were not those of the Jews in Germany and Central Europe and the norms of Jewish society in Renaissance Italy certainly did not resemble those of the Eastern European shtetel. What unified all of these diverse parts of Jewry were Torah and halacha with all of its allowances for differing nuances while preserving the basic whole of traditional Jewish law and life. With the advent of Chasidus in the eighteenth century new and differing societal norms were introduced into Eastern European Jewish life. But again these new mores were in the main restricted to societal behavior. And since in the Exile the Jews lived in far removed places one from the other these societal differences were tolerated and rarely were the cause of continuing friction amongst the different societies of Jews. This luxury of being able to be separate one from the other has been seriously reduced here currently in the Land of Israel. Here we are all thrown together so that the societal mores of one group clash daily and regularly with those of other groups. The only way therefore to justify one’s societal mores over those of others is to elevate them to the status of halacha. This is a terribly damaging process for all concerned.
The struggle for turf, political and economic power, influence and direction of the Jewish world has been the hallmark of internal Jewish life for the past two centuries. The erroneous hopes and unfulfilled expectations of secularism, Enlightenment, nationalism, Marxism, humanism, etc. all of which captured much Jewish support over the past centuries have as a result created a climate of separatism, us against them, in much of the observant religious society. Feeling threatened and constantly on the defensive much of religious society has wrapped the Torah about itself unwilling and unable to share it intelligently with others. Walling out the outside world to the best of its ability this grouping allows its societal norms not to be seen as that but rather as halacha from Moshe on Sinai. This only serves to further the frictions and deepen the differences between Jews. Thinking that one’s societal norms are those that are best for everyone smacks of arrogance and weakness at one and the same time. A system of education that teaches that one’s societal norms are paramount even to halacha only reinforces the difficulties that our religious society already faces in a world of instant communication and multiculturalism. Once we agree that the Torah is for everyone and that it operates very effectively in different places and differing societies we will be on the way to the balanced view of life that the Torah truly demands from us.
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Hosha'ana Rabba FLYDUBAI & HOSHANA RABBA- ANI VAHU HOSHIA NA- I & HIM SAVE US
"Ani vaHu Hoshia Na", "I and Him, Save Us". We don't just pray to Him, but we also pray to and for ourselves that we should emulate and educate our children to have that instinctive altruism with which He created the world. President Trump seemed amused about Yaniv Hayon, our PLUMBER who confidently worked with G-d like Superman (he learned from a pilot on a TV show!) to save 174 lives on the Dubai hijacking, but we in Israel are totally accustomed already 78 years to our plumbers, teachers, garbage-men, rabbis, farmers & doctors being Hashem's shlichim! This is what Zionism is about.
Moreshet Shaul Hashem Is your Shadow – part I
Based on Siach Shaul, Pirkei Machshava V’Hadracha p. 420 – an address from 1941
P'ninat Mishpat A Non-Contractor in Changing Times – part I
(based on ruling 85128 of the Eretz Hemdah-Gazit Rabbinical Courts)
Moreshet Shaul Our King on Rosh Hashana, Our Father on Yom Kippur.
Based on Aroch Siach, p. 221 (Rav Shaul Yisraeli)
