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“…מצאתי לחובתי להביע דעתי גלוי’, כיון שהי’ נוגע לפועל… כי עצם היחס שלי לכל המוסד דרבנות הראשית – הריהו מבוסס על יסוד יחס כל גדולי ישראל שקדמונו – דענין כהנ”ל שלילי הוא… והטעמים ידועים, ובאם הי’ ספק בנוגע לחשש שלהם… הרי המציאות… הוכיחה, אשר החששות צדקו במילואם ועוד יותר. אלא שבעוה”ר, כפי המצב בהוה – הנה ביטול כל הענין… אם כי בגדר הטוב הוא, אבל לע”ע לא בגדר האפשרי… למרות שאלו שכיהנו במשרה זו כוונתם היתה רצוי’… ובינינו לבין עצמינו, לא תמיד עמדו בנסיון”.

הנה צילום מתוך ספר אגרות קודש (כרך כ’, איגרת ז’תעד) שנשלח אל הרב ניסן טלושקין:

A one-act play, somewhere in Kharg, 5787

Reb Meilech:

US Army, 82nd Airborne. Satmar. Drenched woolen tzitzis under flak jacket.

Rav Yonatan:

IDF liaison, embedded. Dati Leumi. IDF Temple Patch.

Current news: Congress reinstated the mandatory draft!

A concrete foxhole. Distant explosions.

Yonatan: Shalom, I am here for defend the Jews from missiles. And the mikdash. What are you here for?

Meilech: An apikores! You mean using goyish weapons to defend the kofrim in the medinah hatemei’ah so they can carry on being מתגרה באומות?! I’m here to defend the Jews — and maybe goyim — of the United States of America, mamesh a democratic malchus shel chessed. Where Hashem wants us to be until He brings us back to Har Hakodesh with Moshiach and Eliyahu.

Yonatan: But… Hashem did bring us back. He did that! And dina demalchuta dina, no?

Meilech: No! That was Maaseh Satan! The Heilege Rebbe zt”l (pointing to his helmet band) forbade fighting for Jewish lives in Eretz Hakodesh. We say Tehillim that their lives are somehow spared and the regime changes — perhaps a peaceful Muslim government — with no Jewish bloodshed.

Yonatan: stunned You fighting for America’s “Middle-East interests”, yallah, that means the State of Israel doesn’t disappear. Indirectly, you doing what I am doing, except without the intention. But I am here in a milchemes…

Meilech: Gevald, Yishuv Eretz Yisroel is not a mitzva for the community bezman hazeh! Don’t you even know about the “gezeiras hagiyus” going on over there?!

— a mortar lands 40 metres away. Neither Jew looks up —

Yonatan: So… Iran taking over Israel, this is fine for you?! Jews living under non-Jewish rule again, including the Satmarim?

Meilech: It would at least not be the chillul Hashem of a supposedly-Jewish army of shmad violating kashrus and…!

Yonatan: But why are you shooting to stop Iran from “changing Israel’s government”? Not to mention suspending your own heimish kashrut (OU?). If that’s the desired outcome, why are you here?

Meilech: Because I am mamesh an American! And I obey commands. President Mamdani, I mean Tucker, no no, I mean Trump said go, we go! Hakoras hatov! And obviously, Dina demalchusa dina.

Yonatan: I think Iran already has forced “giyus” also for Jews, and logically, if they take over Eretz… wait a second, just like the Americans! My whole family ran to kravi (I mean combat). You go into army for hakarat hatov, or is it a “gezeirah”?

Meilech: No, just a law, why are you calling it a gezeireh? Our shtadlan takeh failed to get me off, shockingly. feeling weird Look at my draft notice…

Yonatan: OK, so you fight war for a goy to protect a Jewish state you say should not exist (as illustrated by גזירת הגיוס), against a regime change you support, while your chaverim say Tehillim that the reshai’m you’re shooting at with “nochri” weapons somehow succeed anyway… but only without Jewish casualties? Right? אני שואל באמת.

Meilech: silence You’re twisting my words. raising voice Victory wouldn’t be a chillul Hashem since the nissim would lead to an American victory, nothing to do with Tziyonim at all! Alternatively, עתידה רומי שתפול ביד פרס. Ah, that’s probably after Moshiach comes.

Yonatan: deadpan Sorry, my English not so good. Maybe you explain to me again?

— Sergeant Beaumont crashes into the foxhole. “We got INCOMING”. Both ignore him entirely —

Meilech: Nebach. Does your wife even cover her head?

Yonatan: Yes, betach. My wife, she covers. No wig, chalila.

Meilech: What’s wrong with a partial sheitel?! Feh, I’ll bet the vahb (I mean woman) doesn’t even shave off her hair.

(Credit: with AI)

Find a good overview on the Treasures of Ashkenaz blog here…

Excerpts from a recent gem on McSweeney’s:

I’m confused, maybe someone can help me. This is like the third assassination attempt on Julius Caesar, but things are going great in Rome. The value of silver is strong, the liberti/bad homines immigration is under control, and we’ve bounced back from the bubonic pandemic.

I heard one person say it’s because he’s trying to seize power from the Senate and become an all-powerful dictator, but like, just because he refused to concede power when his term as governor ended and then sent his military across the Rubicon, essentially doing an insurrection on Rome, doesn’t indicate any of that. If that were the case, wouldn’t the Senate say something? Haven’t heard anything from Brutus or Cassius yet, so that’s a non-starter.

Some are also pointing to the preemptive strike on Carthage and how it doesn’t seem to have clearly defined objectives or a coherent exit strategy, and could potentially ignite Punic War III. But taking out an adversary’s enriched trebuchet program and stockpile of intercontinental ballista munitions is imperative to the safety of the entire world, so even though Caesar seems to be making it up as he goes along as an excuse to blow stuff up, we should still just trust our Commander in Chief. He wouldn’t lie to us, even though he constantly lies to us.

Sure, one could also make the economic argument. Inflation is devaluing silver, he’s gutting finance to healers and apothecaries, his corrupt policies only help his aristocrat friends, his tariffs on the Silk Road are backfiring and pushing the expenses down to local agora merchants and traders, and his corruption is creating extreme poverty among the lower and middle castes as well as low global confidence in our Republic, but that’s just how this stuff works. We should trust him on economic issues; he’s a businessman…

Read the rest here…

Disclaimer: 

Hyehudi.org does not condone harm toward any holder of the purple ש”ט. Any tales of violence Roman or Republic serve strictly for illustrative effect.