Monsters Exist: Judaism’s Cognizance of Evil

“To most of us nothing is so invisible as an unpleasant truth. Though it is held before our eyes, pushed under our noses, rammed down our throats-we know it not.”-Eric Hoffer, “The Passionate State of Mind, and Other Aphorisms (1955)

“The soul that has conceived one wickedness, can nurse no good thereafter.”-Sophocles

The Moral Lies We Tell

Torah is truth personified. Yet some truths cannot be said. We recognize that lying is odious. Yet some lies are permitted, such as the lies we tell to shield people from embarrassment or to protect the innocent. When we occasionally lie to our children to insulate them from things that no child should know about, we do so with a clear conscience. Lies of omission, lies of calculation. All for the good of the child.

To assuage their fears when they are very young, we assure them that there are no such things as childhood monsters with horns, fur, and teeth. In time, we teach them that while there are indeed wild creatures in this world with teeth and hearty appetites, civilized societies don’t have predatory animals roaming about. But what about the true monsters in this world, the human monsters who exist? How do we broach these topics?

We don’t. We avoid the question of those products of nature and nurture who commit acts as terrifying as any imaginary construct. The developing child approaches us with their ever expanding brains and the consequential concerns. We counter their inquiries. They bring it to us. No normal rational parent introduces these concepts.

Children first have a notion of robbers, and this often becomes the first anxiety relating to the real world. The killers, the rapists, the human predators, these are extensions of the first fear. The man who enters the home. The man who creeps about in the night while we sleep. When this first fear is articulated, we evade difficult questions with comforting solutions, to assure them of their safety, and help them mature into functional people, without the handicap of excessive anxiety. We pray to G-d that they will never meet such people, neither in childhood nor their adult lives. We tell them lies. We protect them as best we can. But life can be ugly.

Monsters in Our Midst

“You gave me a present and now I am returning it to you.”-Hallel’s mother Rena Ariel; at her murdered daughter’s funeral

A teenage girl’s bedroom should be the safest place in the world for her, a haven of privacy and seclusion. And in the normal world, it usually is. But not in Kiryat Arba, where the Jewish populace is surrounded by Arab barbarians. Home may be a man’s castle in his mind, but unguarded castles are easily stormed. Even within the illusion of gated communities, and electronic fences, and security patrols, these measures are only as good as the people maintaining them.

And when the mythology of security is shattered it is devastating. An insane image, impossible to fathom: a child’s bedroom drenched in her own blood. Portrait of Hallel Yaffa Ariel’s bedroom on June 30, 2016, courtesy of a 17-year-old Arab monster named Muhammad Tarayrah, who climbed through her bedroom window and stabbed her to death as she slept.

May G-d avenge Hallel’s blood. And may Hashem teach the Arabs of Kiryat Arba, the environs, and of Greater Israel the justice of the ancient city of Shchem.

Outside the realm of hasbara fantasy, most Israelis are unarmed and vulnerable, and although many people oppose the draconian laws which permit only the elite to obtain a legal weapon to protect themselves, many are not even bothered. In such a society, the terminally enlightened concern themselves with “restraint,” the rights of murderers, and perpetuating the system of apprehending terrorists. Such a society breeds weakness, because it denies the common man the most basic right of all, the right to live. The kind of society where the worst of humankind terrorize the innocent.

Whether maimed or murdered, or damned to witness the former, when people encounter human monsters their lives are ruined. In the same way that no one who survived the Holocaust can truly ever be “normal,” how can one who saw his parents gunned down or stabbed to death or hacked to bits, ever know normalcy? Can a society forced to endure endless Arab atrocities even appreciate the concept of normalcy?

There is no dearth of monsters in Israel. Man-beasts who resemble man but act less human than carnivores. Men who cast away their humanity and choose the evil. Arabs nursed on ideations of suicide/homicide martyrdom and are given every opportunity to actualize their madness. Arabs who stab babies in cribs and detonate themselves in the marketplace to attain said “martyrdom” and the depraved fantasies of Islam’s sexual pathology. Those Arab “passion-plays”, obscene Arabs theater featuring school children who reenact the slaughter of Jews. And Arabs who stab teenage girls in their bedrooms.

And still the left and clueless governments continue to perpetuate the myth of good Arabs. Of reasonable Arabs. Of Arabs who want to live in peace with Jews. These same politicians have the nerve to attend Jewish funerals and pay shiva calls. They speak of protecting Jews and yet Jews are sitting ducks in Israel. On many roads, Jews are targets for Arab snipers or cinder blocks. Or firebombs to burn his wife and children to death or destroy a little girl’s face. Even crossing the street in Jerusalem or buying milk can become an ordeal, should the Arab knife frenzy return, or the Arabs rediscover their predilection for crushing Jews with automobiles.

The government never calls for vengeance. Social media outlets for military and government speak of the murdered “of blessed memory”, the tamest of words suggesting that a murdered Jew slipped away in the night from old age. “May G-d avenge her blood” is considered the refrain of extremists. Netanyahu blasts Abbas and the “PA” for incitement. If as the sages of old taught us, the wise man is one who foresees the future, then the fool pokes out his own eyes and sees nothing. What on G-d’s earth did Bibi think he would accomplish? Compel Abbas to repent?

Thank G-d the latest Arab terror attack in Jerusalem was thwarted. But in Israel, the positive is laced with negative. Averted bloodshed doesn’t preclude the possibility of future bloodshed. On the contrary. Israel’s ethic of “do-the-least harm was on display. The terrorist was apprehended rather than having his head blown off. He will sit for a time, and as sure as the day is long, he will be part of a future prisoner release, as one with ‘no blood on his hands’. And when he is released, he will attempt to rectify his failure.

In Israel, the uncompromising warrior is often treated like a fiend, or a lawless vigilante. A soldier such as Elor Azaria who kills an Arab terrorist is a hero, and any "Jewish" government that punishes such a warrior is reprehensible. I don't care if the creature was trussed up like a Thanksgiving Turkey. Or whether or not the ghoul had an explosive. A bullet to the head is the Jewish response. You can bet your last shekel that King David would have agreed. The witch-hunt against Azaria shrieks of Jewish degradation. Such actions are the antidote to Jewish funerals.

The double standard is jarring. The Left gets away with incitement to murder. Academics, journalists, activists, etc. They can say anything on twitter, Facebook or in a prominent paper. Military men can compare Israeli society to the society that birthed the disease of Nazism. Without any consequence. All during a “right-wing” government. Several months ago, the morally defective leftist editor of Walla News Roy Baharir Perl called for Arab terrorists to attack a “right-wing” Jewish concert. While this incitement was spread all over social media, our government tortured and imprisoned innocent Jews, on a witch-hunt to seek out supposed "Jewish terrorists". If Perl was a right-winger, he would have been hanging upside down within the hour while Shabak agents pummeled him.

A government who refuses to protect the Nation and imprisons those who do, sends a message that 1) Jewish lives aren’t valued. 2) Jewish deaths are acceptable if the threshold of “acceptable losses” doesn’t remarkably change the status quo. 3) that Rabin’s perverse notion of “karbanot” for an impossible peace is pragmatic. A government and a society which spurns the gift of Jewish strength and holds its fire has blood on its hands. Jewish history will recall these sins born of weakness and self-loathing, whose consequences destroy lives and those of the survivors. Orphans and widows and parents who bury their young. Of sons and daughters who shriek “Abba”, as their beloved father is interred into the earth. Of a mother who one day drove her girl to dance class, and the next day spills tears stands over her murdered corpse.

Given Israel’s torturous form of government where a hodgepodge of groups usually forms a coalition, the question remains: How precisely to coordinate and implement the proper framework for genuine change? There are no easy answers, since yesterday’s best tactics are not necessarily feasible and today's are useless. We need to use the best resources of our age. However, short of an undeserved miracle, nothing short of mass civil disobedience will make a dent in the government's armor. When society wakes up and takes to the streets in unprecedented numbers, we will see the possibility for change. Articles and videos will not bring about change, no matter how provocative, powerful, or reasoned. They may cause people to think. They may inspire people, but nothing short of authentic societal grassroots effort on the ground, can rehabilitate our collective Jewish soul.

The pernicious effect of havlaga can only be cleansed with Jewish strength and unrelenting power. There is no place on earth for mercy with the Arabs. Truly, they are the Am Lak-a nation that laps Jewish blood. The company of man-eating lions is preferable. When Arabs kill Jews it is perverse to celebrate our humanity with assurances that “we love while they hate”. Of course we are not like them. And that is precisely why the Torah demands that we destroy the wicked. The failure to do so, results in OUR slaughter. It is time to scream and demand that our government deals with the Arabs once and for all, before the next round of Jewish funerals.

Those terrible funerals. Those horrifying images of parents clinging and shrieking over the small inanimate bodies of their children all dressed in shrouds, awaiting the final journey. I prefer the funerals of my enemies. And every Arab funeral where the blood-crazed jinn celebrate their shahid is a G-d given opportunity to bomb them to smithereens. Whole villages of Arab terror can be obliterated this way.

When Moshiach arrives, he will be pressed to identify Amalek. I am convinced that this most noble of men (may we see the redemption in our times) will open his eyes wide with puzzlement: “Are you serious”, he will say? “They are all around you!”

“Pour out YOUR wrath against the nations, who know YOU not.” During the joy of the Passover seder, we call for vengeance against the evil nations. Some distorted modern commentaries try to minimize the significance of this powerful refrain in the Haggadah. It is significant and provocative. Unabashed and unapologetic. The wicked deserve punishment, and unlike petty revenge against a fellow Jew which is forbidden, this is something we long to see. Jewish outrage as a counter to apathy and indifference. Strength and dignity to repair the degradation, and self-respect for Torah and Halacha, rather than a systematic attempt to explain away halachic obligations. With such a mindset, we can finally deal with the Arabs.

We need more of the teachings of torat Moshe Rabbeinu, and less of the arrogance of Moshe Dayan. More of the glory of King David and less of David Ben Gurion’s Ghandi-esque havlaga. And truth be told, we need more of Shimon and Levi whose righteous zeal for their sister brought the city of Shchem to its knees. And lastly, we need more of Shimshon Hagibor, who terrified and terrorized the Philistine enemy. 

Rabbi Haskel Lookstien's Terrible Decision (video)

Integrity, where art thou?

Reflections on Rabbi Haskel Lookstein's sudden decision to withdraw from the RNC, where he was initially scheduled to deliver a prayer at the behest of Ivanka Trump. After tremendous pressure from Hillary Clinton supporting Jews in his circle, he caved in. It speaks volumes about the leftist positions of many "modern orthodox" Jews who support a criminal incompetent Jew-hater like Hillary Clinton, and demonize Donald Trump. Fear of those who pay his salary I suppose. These misfits weren't outraged when Lookstein attended America hating Obama's inauguration in the National Church several years ago. I wonder why?

Shameful and weak.

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The Jewish People: Zero Commonality With Indians

Contrary to the ill-informed claims of self-appointed "hasbara" indigenous rights activists, "native-Americans" have little (if any) commonality with Jews. The analogy is ridiculous, and only one devoid of knowledge of Jewish history and Torah would ever make the comparison.

There is a  reason "Indian rights" activists align with Arabs and their war with Israel. As angry malcontents with no future and no reasonable demands, they have an interest in disseminating myth as history and living the fantasy of a revolution that will never happen. And they have embraced antisemitism for self-interest:

1. As Jews we have a legacy and a mandate of bringing the knowledge of the One true G-d to the world. Indians were animistic pagans.
2. Jewish law is predicated on the sanctity of human life. Biblical wars (and halachic wars were necessarily brutal) offered the enemy an opportunity to repent. They had a limited window to do so and to extricate themselves from the fate of their people. Native Americans were masters of collective mass slaughter, torture, rape, all sorts of depredations, physical, sexual assault, etc. A code of barbarism and savagery.
3. Indians fled their origins in Siberia to find a new place to live- out of necessity. G-d GAVE us our land. And Jews have always yearned for the one place sacred to us, Eretz Yisrael.
4. Jewish tribes were mandated to maintain unity and brotherhood, despite the unfortunate reality of factionalism that existed throughout the history of the monarchies. Indians were defined by their brutal violence towards each other long before any European came to the land.
5. Judaism appreciates nature as the creation of G-d. Indians venerated and worshiped nature. And contrary to the mythos of the ecological native, many tribes were destructive to nature. Judaism has a balance where man must conserve the world but still retain dominion over it.
6. Indian society was cruel by any standard, and the violence they often meted out towards the ill and infirm was shocking. Judaism repudiates the cruel personality.
7. Judaism is intellectual. Our halachic system is based on logic. Indians were creatures of impulse, even if it was contrary to their best interests. 
8. Judaism has never shied from documenting our less than stellar moments in history. The Torah and Talmud often record events that portray as us sinful, ungrateful, and generally belligerent to Hashem. Truth is never sanitized. Indian history is defined by pseudo-history and her advocates all have one narrative. White raping exploitative Europeans. Good noble Indians.
9. While the Indians certainly contributed to our knowledge of fauna, flora, agriculture, building, hunting, their contributions pale to the contributions of the Jewish people, both in the realm of the sacred knowledge of Torah and individual contributions of Jews in general to medicine, education, arts.
10. The Indian world is gone. The Jewish people will live forever.

There is one important commonality. Neither Jews, nor Indians, nor any people's, are indigenous to anywhere in the world, since people are not frogs or plants. People are not indigenous. People conquer or they are conquered. People migrate. Like "native American" who came from Siberia. As Jews we differ because our conquests were Divine mandated and that is our claim to Israel. 

Some people get upset because religious arguments offend them. The lowest of these shills have made a career selling these exotic stories of "indigenous Jewry".  They never engage in discussion because theirs is not a rational claim. So they pout and scream and hurl obscenities. Too damn bad. Those self-serving arrogant hasbarites who don't like it, can go beat on a tom-tom to mollify their frustration or take some peyote and go on a lonesome vision quest.

Indigenous rights activists have nothing to say to Jews about identity. They know nothing of Torah and thus they are irrelevant to any Jew who believes in Divine claims. The essence of Judaism is the rejection of the primitive and the pagan. Native American culture embraced and cultivated these things. The Am Kadosh has no commonality whatsoever with those who worshiped nature. And it is perverse to make this foolish comparison.

We have Torah, they have totems.

Guest Post: Nathaniel Feingold - "On Korach"

Guest Post: Nathaniel Feingold's thoughts on Korach. Thank you Nathaniel, for allowing me to feature it here. 

Korah belonged to Am Yisrael, which was set apart from the rest of the peoples of the world.

Korah belonged to the tribe of Levi, which was set apart from the rest of the tribes of Yisrael.

Korah belonged to the family of Kehat, which was set apart from the rest of the families of Levi.

But none of this satisfied Korah, the son of Kehat's second son, Yitzhar.

Moshe was the youngest son of Kehat's firstborn son, Amram. He was chosen by God to be leader of the entire people of Yisrael. He was the closest thing Yisrael had to a human king at the time.

Aharon was the firstborn son of Kehat's firstborn son, Amram. He was chosen by God to be the Kohen Gadol, and for his sons and descendents to be Kohanim.

Elitzafan was the middle son of Kehat's youngest son, Uziel. He was appointed Nasi of the families of Kehat.

While Moshe and Aharon were the sons of Kehat's firstborn son, Elitzafan was a son of Kehat's youngest son.

Perhaps one could argue that Korah might have been satisfied not to lead Yisrael or to be Kohen Gadol if he had just been made Nasi of Kehat.

Perhaps it would not have been so unreasonable to Korah that the sons of the firstborn son of Kehat receive the first two offices, but to skip over him for the office of Nesi Kehat? Maybe this contributed to his discontent?

Yet Korah was already a Yisrael, he was already a Levi, he was already a Kehati, all special in their own way, and none of that satisfied him.

What reason is there to think that being Nesi Kehat would have satisfied him? Or being Kohen Gadol? Or even leading the entire nation?

What can possible satisfy someone who already has so much, and is nonetheless ready to rebel and attempt to overthrow the whole system over what he does not have?

Moshe, on the other hand, refused on at least two occasions for he and his descendants to be made "le-goy gadol" at the cost of the destruction of the rest of Am Yisrael.

One has to look very hard and carefully (Divrei HaYamim A' 23:14-17, 26:24-28) even to find out that Moshe's sons went on to make up two of the twenty-four divisions of the Levi'im.

And how easy would it have been for Aharon to assert that, being the firstborn of Amram, he should be leading the nation of Yisrael instead of his younger brother, Moshe?

We see shades of the rebellion of Korah later, in the days of Yarovam ben-Nevat.

While the tribes may have had legitimate gripes about the kingdom under Shelomo and Rehavam, Yarovam used their support as an opportunity to usurp the kingship from David, the priesthood from Aharon, the services from Levi, and the capital and chosen place from Yerushalayim and the Mikdash. And all of Yisrael who followed and supported him and his successors suffered from it.

How "fair" and "equal" of Yarovam to open up the kingship, priesthood, and service of the Levi'im up to any Yisreelite.

Yet it was God Who commanded the Levi'im to be set apart and carry out their services. Who decreed that Aharon and his sons be set apart as Kohanim and Kohanim Gedolim and to carry out their services. Who chose David and his descendents to be the legitimate kings of Yisrael. Who chose Yerushalayim and the Mikdash to place His name and for offerings to be brought.

Moshe did not choose himself to lead Yisrael. Moshe did not choose Aharon to be Kohen Gadol. Moshe did not choose the tribe of Levi. Just as David did not choose himself to be king of Yisrael.

What individual or group can decide what is "more fair" or "more equal" in Yisrael than the God, Who formed Yisrael and decreed these things? Everyone has their mission to carry out.

Korah had a mission to carry out within Am Yisrael, but he was not content to be Korah, and to do what Korah was meant to do for Am Yisrael.

Korah's descendant Shemuel HaNavi, on the other hand, spent his entire life serving HaShem and following His commands.

As Shemuel, the descendant of Korah, said when addressing all of Yisrael when they made Shaul king of Yisrael: "It is HaShem Who made Moshe and Aharon, and Who brought your fathers out of the land of Mitzrayim."

Guest Post!- Dr. Moshe Schwartz, "Hasbarite Syndrome Part II: What if they got real jobs?"

The leading expert today on dissecting the mentality of the hasbarite activist is surely Dr. Moshe Schwartz. He was kind enough to submit this follow-up article to "The Judean Hammer Blog":

I decided to write a Part II on the subject of hasbara and the hasbarite personality, since Part I included a lot of descriptions, and it’s important to go topic by topic to understand this syndrome. So sit back, grab your favorite beverage, and pontificate on this.

There are those who post and vent on social media during their spare time with the recognition that they will not change the world. This is not pessimism, but accepting reality. But many people on social media, including many career hasbarites, are living out a fantasy. The fantasy is this: I am the general of an army, or a sort of Terminator taking out all the enemies.

Reality:  They avoid real work and holding down a real job.   Their “work” is primarily attending social engagements, gathering a crowd to applaud them, and shamelessly shnorrering donations so they don’t have to worry about providing an income for themselves. Some of these shameless career activists shout out, “be at this protest, or be at this event or you can’t possibly care about Israel as much as I do!” What a weak self-serving battle cry! 

How about this for a reality check? Many of these people don’t take care of a family. Most of these loud hasbarites are funded by other people. Most of these hasbarites are without shame or dignity, as they hustle for the next opportunity to promote their egos. It easy to give a battle cry out like that when you have pimped people to fund you. 

Those who don’t answer this battle cry, work and take care of their families. Many are active in their communities in Israel. Many don’t not need a camera or video but do the most “zionistic” thing possible. They live in Israel and raise families, and fight the battles which have no glory. Most have real jobs and actually help Jews silently. Many advocate with dignity and Jewish strength. These people will never answer the battle cry of “be at this protest or be at this event or you can’t possibly care about Israel as much as I do!” They actually have Zionist things to do.

My message to these hasbarites. Talk is really cheap. Back it up by deeds and not just when there are cameras and police barricades to protect you from real confrontation. Trust me, the “normal” Israeli Jew that vents and advocates does their part with dignity.

Maybe the reason these people made being a Hasbarite their career, is because they could not travel as much with a regular job? Perhaps their egos need the attention they could not get with a real job? Maybe if they had to work an honest job even as a hamburger flipper, it would not satisfy their egos? (Now let me be clear. A hamburger flipper at least has dignity to provide his or her own paycheck.) Maybe they are lazy sloths.

 If you want to speak out against the enemies of Israel by all means do so. If you wish to travel to go to protests by all means do it. But two things. Have the dignity to work a real job while you are doing these things, and pay your own way.  Don’t suck up money that can actually go to needy communities in Israel. You aren’t worth it.

And make sure you advocate from a Jewish perspective with Jewish strength and dignity, without resorting to using “multicultural tokens” to please political correctness. Be real people. Be genuine. Don’t pimp yourselves out and don’t let yourselves be pimped. And if you have the ability to advocate for Israel make sure you advocate for a Jewish Israel.

Sa

petition: Demand That Christian Evangelicals/Missionaries Leave Israel!

petition: Demand That Christian Evangelicals/Missionaries Leave Israel!:



'via Blog this'

The War For Halachic Judaism

Disclaimer: I don’t like labels as it pertains to Torah identity. I don’t love the term “orthodox Jew”, modern-orthodox, etc. Personally, I would prefer the term halachic Jew, but some of the most aggressive religious innovators insist that they are acting in an halachic manner. On the other hand, I have zero patience for those who nit-pick with ridiculous semantics. In this article I use the term orthodox Jew, because sometimes terms become deep-rooted in a communal identity, and the desire to shake the root free is both wasteful, unnecessary, and sometimes counter-productive. I use the term when referring to religious rabbis who believe in the absolute Divine nature of Torah, and the mass revelation at Sinai.

Once upon a time, there were giants of Torah. Men with wisdom to combat the modern idols of secularization. Men who defended the integrity of the Jewish synagogue and the Jewish family from goyish modernization. Men who spoke with deep wisdom in defense of the deepest truths. Men who understood that modern definitions of feminism, woman’s rights, and similar minded ideologies spoke more of the faulty psychology of their respective advocates, than of any new-age modern revelation designed to liberate women from being women. Once upon a time, great men of Torah fought for yahadut.

Today, there are few if any prominent vocal voices. And so, whenever the new radical voices in the Torah community (who speak in the name of Torah) speak violence to the system, there is deafening silence. On issues that should transcend all labels and factions, and appeal to everyone concerned with protecting Halachah, one hears the void.

Ironically, some of the most blatant outrages occur in Israel, where unbridled Jewish messianic fervor renders many Jews vulnerable to aberrant belief systems. Consider the spectacle of orthodox rabbis giving a kosher seal to evangelicals and missionaries in Israel because of a distorted notion of achalta de'geula. Consider how one prominent Rabbi in the heartland of liberated Samaria opened up his community to evangelicals in order to benefit from their free labor. Today, these evangelicals have transitioned from living in tents to dwelling in cottages.

Consider that Tommy Waller, the leader of these evangelicals from the volunteer group "Hayovel", once infamously admitted in a promotional video that such opportunities will give him a chance to missionize (video):

"As we're working with these people, we'll be able to share with them this...this Jesus that we know." 

Further on in the video, a family member elaborated:

"Our family has begun a ministry called Hayovel. The vision of Hayovel is to develop a network of individual, families, and congregations who are ready to labor side by side with the people of Israel. To bless them, to stand with them, to share with them a passion for the soon coming jubilee in yeshua messiah. We extend the invitation to you, to join us."

Interfaith-Dialogue

And what of the growing number of religious rabbis who swim in the dangerous waters of interfaith dialogue? Perhaps most outrageous of all is that easily the most prominent individual involved in this lunacy repeatedly treads upon his deceased Rabbi’s famous stringent halachic ruling which prohibited such actions. (See Rav Soloveitchik's famous essay "Confrontation" and follow-up Addendum.)

On a more general level, how is orthodoxy supposed to cope with the following?

• Rabbis with kipot and beards who reflect on a morality independent of Halacha? Rabbis whose readings of Torah verse and Talmud require a torturous misreading of the written and articulated meanings? 
• Rabbis whose usage and defense (if only for application regarding what they believe to be “antiquated” injunctions, and not every day Halacha) of this tactic remind me of the perverse attempts of “Jewish Renewal”. 
• Religious Rabbis whose interpretations of of Divine injunctions mirror the tactics of maskilim new and old. Rabbis who see metaphor in the biblical injunction to destroy Amalek and the 7 Nations of Canaan.
• Rabbis who believe in a “new Halacha”. Rabbis who opine that Rambam and others spoke for their age alone.
• Religious Rabbis who advocate for homosexual marriage. 
• Rabbis for Hillary Clinton and her leftist anti-Torah positions. 
• Rabbis who engage in biblical criticism. 
• Rabbis who wish to free Spinoza from his well-earned excommunication.
• Rabbis for "open-orthodoxy" and the ordination of women.
• Rabbis whose well-intended but misguided notions will surely lead the next generations on the path to a new reform movement.

I worry about the future of Judaism. Not for its ultimate survival, since our tradition is stronger than any threat we face. But the war will come at a cost. The cost of souls lost to heresies new and old. Once upon a time, giants of Torah fought for truth against the reformation of Torah. Today the Torah community is as weak as ever. Not in terms of over-all Torah study. In that context, there is more Torah study today than ever before. But with the rise of social media, and the new movements pandering to all sorts of foolishness, Torah Jewry is intellectually susceptible. We lack sophisticated courageous Torah leadership to stand up for unpopular truth.  Even the RCA has shown an inability to reign in radical thought. How long did it take for them to take a stand against the growing clamor of the new “orthodox” to ordain woman?

The great men are gone. The classic men of past generations who fought critical battles for the preservation of Torah. Today’s religious rabbis shirk their duty to protect their flocks. Worse yet, many lead their flocks astray.

Factionalism render’s certain camps relatively insulated from some of these heretical voices. For the time, at least. One attraction of these new voices which will appeal to the disaffected of every community, is that some of these new prophets raise valid points about institutionalized rabbinical abuses which represent a chillul Hashem. These real issues act a springboard to hoist radical ideas. The fact that a stopped clock tells accurate time twice a day does nothing to change its general status as a broken instrument. 

Yet the willingness to admit abuse speaks of a candor which people find impressive. The answers are usually less impressive, and are usually more grounded in feelings than Jewish law. But one cannot ignore the real issues, and the attraction of those who address them. One must find better solutions reflecting Torah positions. “Orthodoxy” doesn’t need to change, despite the popular insistence that it must. Corruption is by definition contrary to Torah. If it is corrupt, then it cannot be orthodox despite the identification as such by the corrupt. We need to aggressively return to the truths of Torah.

Where are the giants who fought for halachic integrity? These great men are gone. Today we have silent men. Fearful men. People afraid to confront those who seek to ordain female rabbis in the name of orthodoxy, and those who would rather create a new Halacha to free chained women, rather than call for Jewish men to break open the heads of recalcitrant men. Today, we have Rabbis who in the name of compassion, will create leniency where none can be found, and in turn, will create mamzerim. The greatest and most sensitive poskim of the past, were sometimes hamstrung by halachic reality. They understood that non-halachic compassion will destroy the Jewish people.

In the name of political correctness, some may opine that the Rambam’s words were for his age alone, and that the Nesher could never have imagined a Jewish state in a modern age. My understanding of the Rambam is that he foresaw much more than his modern day detractors ever could. Unlike others, he wrote about biblical wars precisely because he understood that the process of redemption will occur, and war will be necessary. 

In the name of religious tolerance, many distort the Meiri in a way that he could never have imagined, as a source for all sorts of prohibited activities. The Meiri never could have fathomed a prominent religious America rabbi in America entering a national church for Obama’s initial swearing in ceremony. No one puts a gun or a sword to a Rabbi's head in America, and yet he entered  a forbidden place of his own volition.

Political correctness has infiltrated orthodoxy, and many of her supposed proponents are becoming increasingly susceptible to liberal sensibilities. Now is a time for intellectual zealousness for Hashem. Men of Torah need to face the new heresies and radical innovations, and intellectually combat the religious proponents of these foreign notions. 

An orthodox Judaism which fails to heed today’s call, will suffer in the coming years. The impact will affect even the most insulated communities. 

One day, the orthodox will awaken from their slumber and cry out for action. What will they do? They will create conferences to deal with the new “crises”. But by then, the bleeding will be copious.