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Many of us have publicly protested the toeva in writing, and some in person, and hopefully that serves to nullify any Heavenly prosecutors.
(Here's one of mine: With the Invasion of Ugly Tumah, We Need to Increase Beautiful Taharah.)
Many people ask why those who care don't protest now.
I heard one reason is because the toeva extremists speak, dress, and behave in a way that's forbidden to see – and it's a particularly deprαved type of forbidden sight/sound.
However, some counter that by saying there are places to stand which do not see or hear the deprαved extremists.
I don't have an answer.
To assume that the true Gedolim (who have proved themselves very proactive and caring and courageous and outspoken on several other issues) suddenly do not care or suddenly lack courage – that doesn't make sense to me.
I feel like they must have a reason (in light of their courage, outspokenness, and caring on other important issues), but I don't know what it is or how to find out.
In the past, I sometimes got miffed at something, and couldn't imagine the reason why it was that way, then later discovered a legitimate reason that never occurred to me.
That's why I'm not willing to condemn them for a lack of protest now. (Or a lack of publicized protest. Could it be they're protesting in some way, but it's not being reported for some reason?)
So I'm just waiting until the answer shows up (which has worked for me in the past).
In the meantime, here it is:
If you already subscribe to another email subscription [email protected], then you've already seen the following address.
Many of us have publicly protested the toeva in writing, and some in person, and hopefully that serves to nullify any Heavenly prosecutors.
(Here's one of mine: With the Invasion of Ugly Tumah, We Need to Increase Beautiful Taharah.)
Many people ask why those who care don't protest now.
I heard one reason is because the toeva extremists speak, dress, and behave in a way that's forbidden to see – and it's a particularly deprαved type of forbidden sight/sound.
However, some counter that by saying there are places to stand which do not see or hear the deprαved extremists.
I don't have an answer.
To assume that the true Gedolim (who have proved themselves very proactive and caring and courageous and outspoken on several other issues) suddenly do not care or suddenly lack courage – that doesn't make sense to me.
I feel like they must have a reason (in light of their courage, outspokenness, and caring on other important issues), but I don't know what it is or how to find out.
In the past, I sometimes got miffed at something, and couldn't imagine the reason why it was that way, then later discovered a legitimate reason that never occurred to me.
That's why I'm not willing to condemn them for a lack of protest now. (Or a lack of publicized protest. Could it be they're protesting in some way, but it's not being reported for some reason?)
So I'm just waiting until the answer shows up (which has worked for me in the past).
In the meantime, here it is:
ISRAELI TOEVA EVENT: A TERRIBLE DANGER
Courtesy of [email protected]
This is the time of year that a to’eiva parade takes place in Yerushalayim, and this year they are hosting “the Middle East's largest ever festival” to celebrate their pride at their to’eiva at the Dead Sea.
The following are excerpts from Rav Sternbuch’s speeches at gatherings protesting the parades in Yerushalayim 15 and 17 years ago.
It is a fundamental principle that when the Divine name is being publicly desecrated, we are obligated to protest.
If we do not protest, we are held accountable for the sins of our coreligionists, since all Jews are responsible for each other. (Thus, Rav Moshe Schneider suggested in the middle of the Holocaust that righteous people were being killed because they had not sufficiently protested the iniquities of the wicked).
On the other hand, if we do protest the desecration of Hashem’s name and the sanctity of His country and of Yerushalayim, Ir Hakodseh, we silence the prosecutors in Heaven.
Some say that one should not talk about these matters, but we have a tradition that nothing harmful can result from performing a mitzvah (in this case the mitzvah of protesting for Hashem’s honor), only good.
In fact, protesting only serves to protect us.
Others say that we are a small, insignificant group.
However, the tribe of Levi was also the smallest in number, and a small amount of light dispels a lot of darkness.
Yet others argue that this issue is no concern of ours, and we should rather be concentrating on our own Avodas Hashem and that of our children, but they are terribly mistaken.
The public actions of these sinners in the Palace of the King create vast quantities of tumah, and if we simply ignore them, they will affect our thought, speech and actions, whether we like it or not.
After all, the immoral actions of the Dor HaMabul affected even the behaviour of animals.
By protesting their actions with dedication, we have the ability to not only counter the tumah created by their actions, but even to reduce the power of tumah in the world as a whole.
After the righteous convert Potocki was burnt at the stake sanctifying the Divine name, the Vilna Gaon said that one could feel how the powers of tumah in our world no longer possess the same potency which they possessed before his act of mesirus nefesh
(Ed.: for possible halachic ramifications of this, see Teshuvos Vehanhogos V: 256 and Ishei Yisroel, Ch. 2, end of footnote 17).
The Satan has a special interest in tumah increasing in Yerushalayim.
Hashem is waiting to see how we react.
We are obligated to participate in the sorrow of the Shechinah and to dissociate ourselves from these sinners who publicly and proudly make a mockery of Hashem and His Torah.
These sinners’ behaviour is utterly Amalekite.
Amalek obtains its power when our Torah learning becomes attenuated; not when we do not learn, but when we do not learn with sufficient intensity and enthusiasm.
We should therefore be concentrating on the quality and quantity of our Torah learning. In addition, we should also be focusing on issues of modesty, such as long wigs, which pollute Yerushalayim and Eretz Yisroel.
People are worried about Iran and atom bombs (Ed.: Rav Sternbuch is saying this already back in 2010), but what we should really be worried about is Hashem’s anger and His potential removal of the Shechinah, so that it will not protect us chas vesholom.
We possess the power of speech, the power to pray and to protest.
We are all agents of the Jewish nation.
May Hashem hearken to the rabbanim and all the people gathered here, and not hold the nation responsible for the sins of those who seek to contaminate themselves, the entire nation, and everything holy, and may we welcome Moshiach easily and speedily.
Postscript:
Before the outbreak of the Gaza War, Rav Sternbuch warned about the possible dire consequences of our failure to sufficiently protest the actions of anti-religious militant elements, and after the outbreak of the war he could be heard beseeching the Creator not to listen to the accusations of the Satan, who argues that the whole nation should not be held responsible for the actions of a small minority: see Part I, Chapter 1 of “War and Redemption”.
If we do our bit by protesting what needs to be protested, for example the feverish attempts to recruit Yeshiva students to the army, the Satan’s claims will have no ground to stand on.
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