Today on the 29th of Sivan, of the Hebrew year 5684 (June 30th 1924), Yaakov Yisrael De-Han (Jacob Israël de Haan, December 31, 1881 – June 30, 1924) was murdered in cold blood by a fellow Jew after davening Maariv in the Holy City of Yerushalayim.
The murder was ordered by the leadership of the Hagenah (apparently Yitzchok Ben-Zvi).
It was the first politically motivated murder of a Jew by a Jew in the 20th century.
Indeed, one can classify the murder as an act terror, as the murderers no doubt wanted to intimidate, indeed, terrorize those who held of the opposition view which Yaakov Yisrael De-Han represented.
This is bad; very bad.
Mind you I am not an advocate or even a supporter of many of the views embrace by Mr. De-Han.
Most probably if I would have met him we would have engaged in passionate and spirited dispute.
However, I hope and believe it would have ended with our agreement to disagree and not in bloodshed.
Mr. De- Han was murdered by Jews who felt justified in killing an unarmed Jew in cold blood.
In the words of his confessed killer- who despite his association with a Zionist group, he would eventually leave the land of Israel and settle in Honk Kong - in an interview towards the end of his life (he dies in 1990 at the nice old age of 87) he openly and unabashedly stated: "I have done what the Hagenah decided had to be done. And nothing was done without the order of Yitzhak Ben-Zvi (who later became the second president of Israel 1952-1963)… I have no regrets because he (de Haan) wanted to destroy our whole idea of Zionism"
A Jew orders another Jew to kill an unarmed Jew in cold blood and the Jew who commits the murder calmly comments in the serenity of his Hong Kong dwelling: I have no regrets because he (de Haan) wanted to destroy our whole idea of Zionism". {Interview with Avraham Tehomi (1903–1990), a businessman living in Hong Kong}
A Jew living peacefully in Hong Kong is not destroying the ‘whole idea of Zionism’ while a Jew leaving a Shul in Yerushalayim after davening Maariv in which we declare, “Hashem is an “Oheiv Amo Yisroel” (Hashem is a lover of all of His Jewish people) is considered one who ‘wanted to destroy our whole idea of Zionism’?
Something doesn’t add up.
Friends, the point of this Vort is (as I mentioned) not to advocate for one ideology over another.
And as I stated I have no doubts that there are many aspects De-Han’s ideology which I would find unacceptable, as I would with Mr. Tehomi’s ideology.
However, when disagreement leads to bloodshed and when differences of opinion lead to violence then nothing positive can be accomplished and we have ceased being a people of civility and have fallen into the abyss of resorting to terror and intimidation to settle our disputes and this is terrible for all.
So today is a sad day in the history of our people.
Today is a day when violence trumped dialogue and bloodshed undermined civility.
There are no streets in Israel named for Jacob De-Han and there is no public display of remorse or introspection in the country.
My hunch tells me that few if any Israelis have ever heard of Yakov De-Han and those that have heard of him do not know that today- the 29th of Sivan- is his Yahrtzeit.
His Yahrtzeit always falls around Parshas Shelach, a Parsha in which we learn that unchecked rancor and malice towards the land of Israel caused us much suffering and pain.
Imagine how much more suffering is caused when rancor and acrimony lead to one Jew attacking another Jew?
May Hashem heal the wounds which divide us.
