העורך Editor

Quoting an aperçu by Marc Shapiro:

According to the Steipler, R. Isaac Zev Soloveitchik (the Brisker Rav) also wanted to leave Israel during the 1948 war, and even traveled to Haifa to receive his exit permit. In the end, he was prevented from leaving for reasons beyond his control, and didn’t continue his efforts in this regard. The Steipler explained that his desire to leave Israel was not because he was afraid but because he thought that the halakhah requires one to leave a place of danger to life.

[A. Horowitz, Orhot Rabbenu, vol. 5, p. 74.]

Marc Shapiro adds:

I have difficulty understanding this view, as it would mean that all the Jews in Israel would have been required to leave. Presumably, R. Velvel’s point was that one who has no civilian or military role has to leave, since there is no justification for such a person to put his life in danger as he is not in any way contributing to the military cause.

Myself, I doubt Rabbi Soloveitchik would allow even soldiers to do soldiering. But a myopic perspective ignoring the importance of the home front (unless they were saying Tehillim) sounds exactly like the unearthly, reality-denying nonsense one would expect out of him!

Following this logic, why didn’t the Brisker defeatists run away during the Gulf War (as rumor has it of S. Helbrantz, cult leader of “Lev Tahor”), eh?! Or similar “sakanah” situations?

Indeed, we once quoted the Brisker Rav as saying: “… every Jew dwelling in the land of Israel is guilty of Zionism“.

Shedding new light, perhaps Rabbi Soloveitchik meant that even his own students didn’t inherit his deficit of true (!) Bitachon in Hashem and in the special Divine providence over the Jews in Eretz Yisrael promised in the Torah.

(See a similar cause for hope here.)

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Reprinted with permission.

ובמקום להקל בדיני אבלות הספירה, אמר: שמא ראוי היה לקובעו לתענית!

מקור: ספר מעשה איש ח”א דף רלב.

Breishis 43:12 (Mikeitz):

ויאמר אלהם ישראל אביהם אם כן אפוא זאת עשו קחו מזמרת הארץ בכליכם והורידו לאיש מנחה מעט צרי ומעט דבש נכאת ולט בטנים ושקדים. וכסף משנה קחו בידכם ואת הכסף המושב בפי אמתחתיכם תשיבו בידכם אולי משגה הוא. ואת אחיכם קחו וקומו שובו אל האיש. ואל שדי יתן לכם רחמים לפני האיש ושלח לכם את אחיכם אחר ואת בנימין ואני כאשר שכלתי שכלתי.

Despite everything, it could still be a mistake (Note: I didn’t call it “innocent“!).

The Egyptian ruler is not within earshot here. And this isn’t prudence on Yaakov’s part, either (Bava ben Buta didn’t curse, but didn’t say anything nice about Herod, either: מאי אעביד ליה, Bava Basra 4a).

The peshat is correct: Central planning is often planned chaos.

Yishaya 8:12: “Don’t call everything a conspiracy!“

Insincere Disclaimer: Any resemblance to the Unnatural Elites and the Corona Response is accidental and unintentional.

(From Chananya Weissman‘s newsletter.)

Example One (Bava Kama 92B):

אמר ליה רבא לרבה בר מרי מנא הא מילתא דאמרי אינשי אי דלית דורא דלינא ואי לא לא דלינא אמר ליה דכתיב (שופטים ד:ח) ויאמר אליה ברק אם תלכי עמי והלכתי ואם לא תלכי עמי לא אלך

Rava said to Rabba bar Mari, From where is it that people say, ‘If you lift the burden with me, I will lift it, and if not, I won’t lift it’? He said to him, as it is written (Shoftim 4:8) “And Barak said to her [Devora], ‘If you go with me I will go, and if you won’t go with me I won’t go.’

Example Two (Bava Kama 85A on the laws of monetary restitution for injuring someone):

ואי א“ל אסייך אנא א“ל דמית עלי כאריא ארבא

If he tells him ‘I am a doctor’ [and I will treat you myself] he can say ‘You seem to me like a lion lying in wait.’

ואי א“ל מייתינא אסיא דמגן במגן א“ל אסיא דמגן מגן מגן שוה

And if he tells him ‘I will bring a doctor who heals for nothing’ he can say ‘A doctor who heals for nothing is worth nothing.’

ואי אמר מייתינא לך אסיא רחיקא אמר ליה אסיא רחיקא עינא עוירא

And if he says ‘I will bring you a doctor from a distant place’ [who will heal you for less money] he can say ‘A doctor from a distant place will blind an eye’ [he will go on his way and not be concerned about consequences if he harms me].

Enough said.