Israel News: The limits of a Jewish Battle against evil and injustice.

This comment by a resident of Efrat is well meant, but it is missing a fundamental point in my humble opinion. The obligation to obey the rule of the state and to maintain order does not depend on whether or not a particular rabbi approves in this instance or that instance. If the settlers are part of the Zionist enterprise and recognize the state, then it is not necessary to ask a rabbi about these points, and a rabbi has no authority regarding such issues. This is true even according to Jewish religious law: Dina di Malkhuta Dina. The law of the "kingdom" is the law in non-religious matters.

Ami Isseroff

The limits of a Jewish Battle against evil and injustice.

Last week the Jerusalem Post published several articles dealing with the events in Hebron during and after the eviction of the inhabitants of Bet HaShalom in the city.

Among the things I read were remarks of some Hebron rabbi's who told the Jerusalem Post that the youth responsible for the violence and vandalism before and after the eviction, are "out of control".

Other criticism was leveled by Isi Leibler (Exorcise the rot from our midst Jerusalem Post December 8)) against the leaders of the Jewish community in Judea and Samaria for not speaking out loud and clear enough against the extremists in their midst.

Maybe the rabbi's in question do not speak enough with the media about this subject but they do speak to the general public in Judea and Samaria, like this last Shabbat when I read a number of the leaflets dealing with the Torah portion in my local synagogue denouncing the use of violence in the struggle for the survival of the Jewish community in Judea and Samaria.

However this might not convince the people involved in the use of violence, but what might convince them is what the Torah says about this subject, as conveyed by last week's story of the use of violence by Shimon and Levy, against the inhabitants of Shechem after some of them were involved in kidnapping and the rape of their sister Dinah at the outset of Jacob's aliyah to Israel.

In fact the lesson the Torah is teaching us, starts when Jacob rebukes his sons after they killed all the males in Shechem and looted the city, and the brothers respond by pointing out to the evil done to their sister.

From a closer look at the events, following Jacob's rebuke we might discover the boundaries which the Torah gives us in a battle against evil and injustice in the land of Israel.

First G'D interferes and orders Jacob to leave Shechem and to" go up to Beth-El and dwell there",

From this it is clear that G'D did not approve the events in Shechem.

But Jacob's response to G'D's command is even more telling, he orders all members of his household to discard "all alien gods in their midst" and to "clean themselves and to change clothes".

So they do, and in Beth-El which is Luz and according to our sages Jerusalem, he builds an altar again and then G'D appears to him and reconfirms that his name will be Israel from now on, it is now clear that this is the right path for Israel.

To discard all alien gods is connected to the events taking place in Shechem, the deeper meaning of which is, not to use the methods of gentiles in battle against evil and injustice.

This is defiling the nation of Israel hence they have to clean themselves, moreover it is bringing shame on the legacy of Israel, and indeed we learn from the continuing story of Levy and Shimon that they have a very reduced portion in the heritage of Israel.

Jacob's blessing to them on his death-bed is telling, and later on when Joshua divides the land of Israel among the tribes, Levy finds himself without a portion and Shimon gets the desert in the north Negev, but as a part of the heritage of Judah ,the leader of Israel who will be his guardian.

So the Torah is telling us here what will be the results of using non-Jewish battle methods in reacting to evil and injustice.

In the case of the events in Hebron it is clear that the violent and vandalistic acts committed by a group of Jewish extremists against the non-Jewish population of Hebron are acts against the Torah and will not advance the case of the Jewish presence in the ancient heartland.

Therefore the other members of the community to which they belong have to rebuke them, and to distance themselves from such methods.

It might have gone lost in the turbulence following the eviction of the Jews in Beit HaShalom, but the fact that so few from the wider community in Samaria and Judea were present in Hebron at the moment the eviction took place gives a clear indication about the support for the methods used by those "defending" the house of Peace in Hebron.

The sermon given by a rabbi in my synagogue this Shabbat and the many leaflets distributed to the synagogues in Judea and Samaria dealing with this subject in the weekly Torah reading told me the rest.

Most Rabbi's might not have spoken to the media loudly, but they were certainly speaking with a clear voice to their own community , the way of reacting to the injustice done to the Jews of Beit HaShalom was evil and un-Jewish and has damaged the cause of the Jewish community in Judea and Samaria greatly.

Yochanan Visser

Resident Efrat

Chairman Israel-Facts monitorgroup

Zayit Shemen 32-10 Efrat