Now on to the hot topic. EXCITING!! CONTROVERSY!!!!
I copy from a piece on a website written by someone who - for various reasons - has a heavy bias against Charedim:
One of the most popular maggidei shiurim in the Mir Yeshivah is Rav ---- -----. I used to know him, and I always found him to be a very nice and down-to-earth person. Over at Torah Musings, R. Joel Rich posted a link to a recording of a lecture that Rav ----- gave. R. Joel introduced the link by describing it as "A must listen for those who think that the reports of Chareidi Yeshivot/chinuch antipathy towards the government of Israel is overstated." Indeed. In the lecture, Rav ----- reports the view of Rav Steinman, widely considered the leader of the Litvishe charedi world (except by those who find him too moderate). Starting at 36:50, Rav ----- says as follows:
On Shabbos I spoke to my kids, and I said that Rav Steinman spoke that lemayseh, we have today Haman and Amalek, all this [Israeli] government, and really the way is to take knives and to kill them, just as with the Yevanim. This is what Rav Steinman said. You have to take a sword and to kill them. So why are we not doing it? Because, he said, I don't know yet who is the [suitable replacement] general who could run the war. But if I would know who's the general, we'd go out with knives. This is what Rav Steinman said. There's a war against religion... I explained this to my kids... then, in the middle of the meal, my kid, five years old, says, "Aba, we don't have a sword in the house, I'm looking... maybe a hammer is also good?" I was very happy, I gave him a kiss... I was so proud of my son, he's looking for a sword to kill all these government ministers...
End quote.
Firstly - perspective. No Charedi EVER kills anybody. No Charedi killed Shulamit Aloni, Tommy Lapid, Yossi Sarid etc. etc. all avowed, outspoken enemies of Torah and Judaism. If there are a very small number of Charedim in jail for violent crimes it is because they are mentally imbalanced but not as a result of their Charedi education. [The assassin of Yitzchak Rabin was not a product of a Charedi yeshiva and didn't act with rabbinic approval]. If you go to any yeshiva, the mussar shmuesen are about increasing Ahavas Yisrael and the sfarim learned are replete with sources imploring every Jew to try to bring others back to teshuva with love, that there is hope for every Jewish soul etc. etc. If you watch youtube videos from mosques you will see their religous leaders exhorting the masses to kill and maim innocent Jews. If you go to ANY shul not only do they not talk about killing fellow Jews but frankly, there is not even talk of killing Arabs. We are not a killing people. Historically, we have always been the victims and not the aggressors. [There are exceptions which would require much explanation]. Even the IDF is the Israeli "Defense" Forces. We don't WANT an army!! Army is bi-dieved. We need it for protection but if only we didn't have so many enemies from whom to protect ourselves.
A Charedi wants one thing - to sit and learn Torah and to serve Hashem with simcha. The Rambam says that we don't want Moshiach to come in order to take revenge against our enemies! We have no such mitzvos. We want Moshiach so that we can finally serve Hashem in peace [and me personally to solve my financial woes...:-)]. We hate Nazis but revenge is for Hashem - אל נקמות השם. The pasuk says ורחמיו על כל מעשיו - Hashem has mercy for ALL of his creations and so must we. The Baal Hatanya says that even the reshaim whom we must hate - the hatred isn't complete. We hate the evil within them and we love the good.
There is a famous gemara that Rebbe Meir davened that some reshaim should die [note: he davened but didn't touch them] and his wife Bruria [named after the school] proved from a pasuk that we must pray instead that they do tshuva and not that they die. This is a gemara that everybody knows.
The many Charedi organizations that are devoted to chesed will perform the chesed for religious and secular alike. The average Charedi is not interested in "killing" anybody. It is not on his radar. I live amongst Charedim and have been for over 25 years and despite their human failings [as all people have], they are very far from being violent people [besides a few imbalanced hotheads - but why talk about the exceptions]. Every day thousands of thousands of immodestly dressed women pass by Charedim and 99.99999999 percent of the time they do and say nothing - despite the religious offense they [and I] take. The 0.00000000001 percent of the times that a Charedi reacts violently makes it to the newspapers.
In yeshivos there is no violence [unlike secular schools in Israel]. The only wars are "wars" of Torah.
I don't know what Rav Shteinman really said but it is veeeeryyy hard to believe that he really means that we should kill the government ministers. If he did, he wouldn't say "We don't have a general to lead the war, so we can't kill them." If the halacha is to kill them, we don't look for generals. Who needs a general to kill a handful of government ministers? It is clear to me that if I would go to Bnei Brak with a machine gun, and go to Rav Shteinman's house and say "Rebbi - I am going to the Knesset now and in order to fulfill the psak of the Rosh Yeshiva [i.e. Rav Shteinman], I am going to open fire against the anti-religious ministers", I am convinced he would call me a meshugene [and he would be right].
The language used in the religious world is often extreme. The sfarim talk about how every person has Amalek in them. Does that really mean we should kill them?? The answer is that he is not REALLLYYY Amalek. Even if he was, we wouldn't be allowed to kill another person besides the Amalek, there is also a great deal of good [only Amalek is pure Amalek]. Even secular people have good in them. He can't really mean it. [ומפורסם בחזון איש ועוד פוסקים שכל המושג של מורידין ולא מעלין לגבי פושעי ישראל אינו שייך בזמן הזה].
IF he does really mean it [despite my serious reservations], then his opinion is not accepted. No Charedi newspaper [even the most extreme] preaches murder against the enemies of Torah. No Rosh Yeshiva is telling his talmidim - "Boys - no seder today. We are going to the Knesset to liquidate the enemies of Torah. מי לה' אלי!!" NOBODY is saying that.
What Charedim ARE doing is davening a lot that they should be able to continue their lifestyle with financial security. Many Charedim learned extra over bein hazmanim as a zchus. But killing the bad guys?? Chas Vi-shalom.
I do think that the Rabbi from the Mir exercised poor judgement [at least he exercised. Many Charedim don't exercise enough] by publicly saying what he said. Bad public relations [even if he believed it to be true]. In general, Charedim suffer from bad PR. They are really very very fine people, filled with Torah and goodness. They educate their children to have good middos and that is far more important to them than financial success.
Read any Artscroll biography and you see that the heroes are the loving, sensitive, caring people. Whether all the stories told are true is less relevant than the fact that the stories told are about acts of kindness and not, chas vi-shalom, violence or enmity. It shows what they believe in.
To summarize: Either Rav Shteinman didn't mean it literally and if he did it is not the prevalent opinion in the Charedi world. Even though he is one of the leaders of the Litvishe world - in this matter his opinion [if that is his opinion] is not accepted.
Please sweetest friends - I am zoche to be close to someone whom I consider a tzadik gamur. I know so many things about him personally that I witnessed with my own eyes or heard first hand that nobody has ever even MADE UP about other people, they are so unbelievable. There are other tzadikim in Klal Yisrael as well, filled with love, light and compassion, ready to help anyone in any way. Get close to such people. Reading "rationalist Judaism" type blogs might make you more of a rationalist but it will also make you bitter and suspicious of holy people. The imperfections are accentuated and all of the pure and holy are absent. I can tell you first hand - the Charedim are generally good people. To portray them as violent is a gross misrepresentation [my great grandparents' family name was "Gross" so I know what I am talking about]. Their leaders have always been beyond good. Read about the Chazon Ish and Rav Aryeh Levine [Rav Eliyashiv's father in law] and Rav Chaim Shmuelevitz and the many other luminaries of the recent generations. They are the heroes of the Charedi world.
We are all in mourning for the 24,000 talmidim of Rebbe Akiva who dies not because they were "mean" to each other but because they didn't show each other the proper respect. Let us stop looking at what is wrong with everybody else and fix ourselves. The world will be a much better place as a result.
Love and blessings:-):-)!
PS - You may spread this if you think it beneficial.
