[COMMUNICATED]
Sacred and rare. A halachic ruling concerning inheritance and the appointment of guardians for orphans, issued in the Beis Din of the renowned gaon, “the father of hora’ah upon whom all of Klal Yisrael relies”, Rabbi Yosef Teumim, author of Pri Megadim, signed with his holy handwritten signature.
Former minister Meir Porush addressed the political turmoil surrounding the failure to pass the draft law for bnei yeshivos, insisting that when his own actions are judged, “if I stand before the Heavenly Court, I have what to answer.” At the same time, he placed part of the responsibility on other chareidi politicians, noting that “not always can a public official do everything he thinks should be done, because it has very broad consequences.”
Porush’s comments came during a conversation at his protest tent outside the office of Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara in Yerushalayim, where he has set up a makeshift office.
When asked directly whether he believed the chareidi politicians had failed in advancing the draft law, Porush responded: “First of all, it’s not a draft law, it’s a law to regulate the status of yeshiva students. As for myself, if I stand before the Heavenly Court, I have what to answer about what I did and what I thought should be done. A public official cannot always act exactly as he wants because it has very wide implications. But if it had been handled differently, maybe we would be in another place today.”
The veteran politician also referred to the arrests of yeshiva students for learning Torah: “Now is not the time to argue about what was, how it was, who’s at fault, and what was done. My hope is that now, if we all stand together in the difficult battle before us, then even though in human terms I don’t see how this is resolved, if we show resolve, do not surrender, and certainly do not blink, perhaps something good will emerge.”
Porush was then asked if the rift between the chareidi public and the state has ever been this deep. He answered: “I don’t remember that chareidi Jewry, in the 77 years since the state was founded, has ever endured such a blow, such a crisis, regarding life itself and our way of life. We’ve never had anything like this.”
Addressing why the chareidim continue to align themselves with the right-wing bloc, Porush explained: “If you measure it by our absolute alliance with the right, understand that we lived 25 years in the opposition with the left because we could not get close to them. Only when Likud came along did Gedolei Yisroel agree to form a coalition.”
He added: “You need to know that on the left there are all sorts of wicked people that we are ashamed to stand next to. Their agenda from the outset includes public Shabbos desecration and other matters forbidden by the Torah. So I am not seeking connections with them. But I will say I am very disappointed there is no law regulating the status of yeshiva students. Let’s hope that perhaps now we can bring this to a positive conclusion.”
Just a week and a half ago, Porush, who is the chairman of Shlomei Emunim, gave a fiery interview from his protest encampment outside the Attorney General’s office in Yerushalayim, where he announced a hunger strike.
“I’m not entering into an argument with her,” Porush said of Baharav-Miara. “She says there should be 35% of the chareidi public serving in the army. That’s her judgment. Out of the 84,000 who received draft notices, how many showed up? Not one. That means they want a fight with the chareidi public. Let the attorney general admit that she erred in her judgment.”
Porush went on to argue: “There’s no law automatically exempting Arabs, yet the draft office doesn’t call them up. Why doesn’t she use her authority there?”
He then issued a warning about what could happen if yeshiva students continue to be arrested: “You are talking about tens of thousands of believers for whom Torah is life itself. I don’t see any state that can cope with hundreds of thousands of citizens who are devoted to a way of life and the state tries to crush them. The state will collapse, it will become dysfunctional, and people will not be able to live this way. You cannot go to war with a million and a quarter chareidi citizens who want to live a certain lifestyle. It’s impossible.”
Porush cautioned that the crisis could spiral out of control: “This will develop and swell, and no one will be able to stop it. Maybe now something can still be done, but later? It will be too late. The message will be clear: people will begin to be afraid. No one will be able to take responsibility for what might happen when fathers see their sons being arrested. You can’t predict what will happen here. You saw how the Kaplan protesters could disrupt when they wanted to. Here too, we could disrupt.”
{Matzav.com Israel}
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., sharply criticized President Donald Trump on Monday over his push to eliminate mail-in voting in U.S. elections.
“Two facts: Donald Trump lost the 2020 election, and vote by mail is safe, secure, and reliable,” Schumer said in a statement. “Let’s be clear — this is not based in fact or reality, but it is yet another way for Trump to silence Americans from using their voice in the democratic process and implement Jim Crow laws across America.”
Schumer added that “Senate Democrats will make sure that any and every measure that would make it even more difficult for Americans to vote will be dead on arrival in the Senate and will continue to fight to protect our democracy.”
Earlier in the day, Trump declared that he intends to “lead a movement” to abolish mail-in ballots and issue an executive order “to help bring honesty” to the upcoming midterm elections, acknowledging that his efforts “will be strongly opposed by Democrats.”
“I am going to lead a movement to get rid of MAIL-IN BALLOTS, and also, while we’re at it, Highly ‘Inaccurate,’ Very Expensive, and Seriously Controversial VOTING MACHINES, which cost Ten Times more than accurate and sophisticated Watermark Paper, which is faster, and leaves NO DOUBT, at the end of the evening, as to who WON, and who LOST, the Election,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “With their HORRIBLE Radical Left policies, like Open Borders, Men Playing in Women’s Sports, Transgender and ‘WOKE’ for everyone, and so much more, Democrats are virtually Unelectable without using this completely disproven Mail-In SCAM.”
Trump also argued that other nations have abandoned mail-in voting because of what he called “massive voter fraud.” He added that states should follow the president’s example “for the good of the country.”
{Matzav.com}
Former Israel Sefardic Chief Rabbi and nosi of Shas’s Moetzet Chachmei Hatorah, Rav Yitzchak Yosef, held a meeting on Monday with Baruch Yitzchakov, a yeshiva bochur who was recently released from military prison after refusing IDF service.
During the conversation, Rav Yosef sharply criticized Prime Minister Binyomin Netanyahu for past remarks about his father, Rav Ovadia Yosef zt”l. “Netanyahu is chutzpadik. He said my father was a politician after my father told him he was sorry about the plight of the yeshiva bochurim. How can he belittle him like that?” Rav Yosef asked.
Turning to Yitzchakov directly, the Chief Rabbi gave him clear guidance. “Get a deferment. Torah is above everything. Do everything you can to be freed from this, but at the same time, strengthen yourself to become greater in Torah, with more diligence.”
Rav Yosef also recalled a personal incident from his own youth, when a Knesset query was submitted by Shulamit Aloni over his receiving a teaching stipend at Yeshivas Olam Va’ed despite his student status.
He described how then-Defense Minister Moshe Dayan came to his father, who was serving as Chief Rabbi at the time, seeking clarification. “My father said he would look into it. I took a paper from the Vaad Hayeshivos confirming that I was a yeshiva student, and Moshe Dayan read it aloud in the Knesset. That was the end of it. If I had been afraid, I would have gone to the army. What would I have become? The Chief Rabbi of the IDF? Chas v’shalom. There is nothing like Torah.”
{Matzav.com Israel}
China declared on Monday that it is prepared to make every possible effort to achieve a peaceful “reunification” with Taiwan, according to a statement from its foreign ministry. The remarks came in response to comments made by President Donald Trump during a recent interview.
In an interview with Fox News on Friday, Trump revealed that Chinese President Xi Jinping had assured him in a phone call that China would not move against Taiwan while Trump is in office.
Foreign ministry spokesperson Mao Ning told reporters at a regular press conference that China would not permit “anyone or any force to separate Taiwan from China in any way.”
{Matzav.com}
