Friday’s Yediot Acharonot carried an extraordinarily positive article about the Charedi community’s reaction to the current situation in Israel. For those unable to read the Hebrew, here are the first three paragraphs in translation:

Someone passing by the central synagogue of Meah Shearim this week would have had to rub his eyes. In this Yerushalmi neighborhood, considered a citadel of the Eidah HaCharedit, hundreds of neighborhood residents were saying chapters of Tehillim [Psalms] for 72 hours straight “on behalf of the People of Israel.” In the North, members of Charedi organizations volunteer in medical services and giving out essential food and goods. Members of Charedi congregations may not be fighting visibly, but they are also Charedim [Trembling] about the fate of the People of Israel and their country.

It is accepted to think that the Charedi population lives in a “bubble,” closed and enclosed, and is uninterested in things not directly relevant to it. It has become clear, however, that members of congregations in Bnei Braq and Meah Shearim tremble [Charedim] also for the fate of the People of Israel and their country, and not only for the Word of G-d. In the past weeks, from the beginning of the war in the North, the Charedim have organized special prayers for the well-being of the kidnapped soldiers, the soldiers of Tzaha”l, and the citizens of the northern communities.

“50 years ago already, the Charedim said ‘you fight, and we’ll pray,’” said a worker in the Prime Minister’s office this week, who also was a close aide of former Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. “Now it is true that we always come to them with complaints about this, but on the other hand, they truly stand up in time of danger. They don’t slack from their obligation that they took upon themselves. The Charedim pray because they truly believe that this is what helps, and perhaps it is necessary that someone do this.”

Only one voice of optimism carried over last week’s sustained background of sadness and despair. Jonathan Rosenblum, writing in Yated, cobbled together some of the positive consequences that have emerged from the current war in the North. I hope he can be persuaded to post them here.

Jonathan’s approach to current events mirrors that of a giant of the past, the Kozhnitzer Magid in regard to our national day of mourning. While others spent the day in uncontrollable weeping, the Magid used Tisha B’Av to strengthen and uplift his followers. He did not deny the need to emote with the bitterness of the churban and its aftermath, but he spoke of a parallel need at the same time – “to gladden the heart of the King.” The Slonimer Rebbe zt”l (Nesivos Shalom, Bein HaMetzorim pg. 199) explains that mortal kings had subjects who perfected the art of lifting their sovereign from his melancholy or depression, perhaps using music to buoy the monarch’s spirits. The Magid, wrote the Slonimer, was likely from such a group! On the day that commemorates the destruction of His Temple and the exiling of His children, those who love the King and are capable should find a way to dispel the gloom (kevayachol) of Hashem, by fervently proclaiming His lasting Kingship, and pledging fidelity and loyalty no matter what.

Are there optimistic messages sewn into Tisha B’Av’s tapestry of tragedy? There must be, affirms the Slonimer. The Gemara (Yoma 54B) reports that those who despoiled the Temple were shocked upon entering the Holy of Holies to find the cherubs of the Holy Ark intertwined in embrace. Taken aback by the sensuality of the image, it never occurred to them that it symbolized the relationship between G-d and his people. Elsewhere (Bava Basra 99A), however, the Gemara posits that the cherubs only evinced this relationship at times that Jews were faithful to His Will – hardly what we would expect at the moment of the Temple’s destruction. Furthermore, a midrash terms Tisha B’Av a moed, a time of Divine encounter; in fact, according to this midrash, it is the greatest of such encounters. In what ways can Tisha B’Av point to the closeness between Hashem and His people, rather than their unfortunate estrangement? The Rebbe points to at least two, offered here in free translation:

There are two different times of Divine favor, and both can be understood allegorically. The first is comparable to a king whose wise and successful son brought him constant honor. The prince easily brings on periods of his father’s favor. A son who is the polar opposite, however, also inspires the king’s favor. A prince who is handicapped to the point of being completely unable to care for himself in any way is completely dependent upon his father. Without his assistance, he has no hope, no existence. This very helplessness inspires favor in the eyes of his father, who recognizes his son’s complete reliance upon him, and reacts with compassion. This favor is indeed more intense than the kind generated by the successful son, because without it, all is lost. This kind of favor was aroused at the time of the Temple’s destruction, as the Jewish people sank to their nadir, and paradoxically produced the most intense kind of compassion and love. The cherubs’ turning towards each other symbolized the love inspired by that moment.

Since childhood, we have been taught how to behave. We have been trained well in the arena of do’s and don’ts. We have also been taught which emotions are appropriate and which are not. Usually, we know which feelings are appropriate; hope, or trust, or sorrow, or regret. Regarding some people, we should feel love, towards others, compassion. Yet to others, anger or hostility. But in the words of one of New York’s former mayors, “how am I doing” is an easier question regarding our behavior, as opposed to our emotions.

Behavior is discernable, measurable in hours, dollars, words or activities. Feelings are elusive. Feelings reside in our hearts and cannot be observed, touched or quantified. How are feelings measured? Perhaps we are behaving as directed, but failing to internalize our commitments. We act as we should, but does that deem us to be the person whom we should be? Are we defined by what we do, or by what we feel?

The Jewish nation is at war. The residents of Israel are vulnerable to rockets and terror, and once again, young Jews are marching off to battle, confronting the horrors of war. Those of us watching from the distance are challenged with the deepest of challenges - how are we to act, and how are we to feel? Particularly for those of us whose children have avoided the front lines by living outside of Israel, or by choosing the role of full time Israeli Torah students, these are days of reckoning. How are we to act? How are we to feel?

The IDF is trying to figure out why the building housing 60 Lebanese in Qana collapsed at 8 AM, when the only target in the immediate vicinity was struck between midnight and one AM.

One option is that the building was left tottering after the first blast, but people refused to leave. Another option is that Hizbullah explosives stored in the building exploded, causing the collapse.

While that last option simply makes it more obvious, let there be no equivocation: the responsibility for the death of these civilians lies entirely at the feet of the Hizbullah. It is not enough to say that there were missile launchers “in the neighborhood” — they were right next door. The IDF struck and destroyed that target, which otherwise would still be in use at this very moment, terrorizing Israeli civilians as far south as Netanya. No one should have to tolerate a missile launcher in their neighborhood.

The Hizbullah set up precisely that, an array of launchers in residential neighborhoods, with the Lebanese cheering every step of the way. Do we remember the same Lebanese officials claiming that they were helpless to stop Hizbullah, and that they were not to blame for Hizbullah’s unprovoked attack on Israel?

Some people are calling this an important omen.

Irish archaeologists Tuesday heralded the discovery of an ancient book of psalms by a construction worker while driving the shovel of his backhoe into a bog.

The approximately 20-page book has been dated to the years 800-1000. Trinity College manuscripts expert Bernard Meehan said it was the first discovery of an Irish early medieval document in two centuries.

“There’s two sets of odds that make this discovery really way out,” Wallace said. “First of all, it’s unlikely that something this fragile could survive buried in a bog at all, and then for it to be unearthed and spotted before it was destroyed is incalculably more amazing.”

I had to rub my eyes as I tried to absorb the news. Prime Minister Olmert could not be that insensitive. But no matter how many times I rubbed, the story remained the same: Ehud Olmert, just appointed his old friend Tommy Lapid to be Chairman of the Yad Vashem Council. Now, dear reader, it is your turn to rub your eyes in disbelief.

One can admire the prime minister’s desire to provide a sinecure for a down-on-his-luck politician. But chairman of Yad Vashem? That is a bit much.

For an equally shocking example of insensitivity, one would have to go back to Yad Vashem’s decision to award the Zussman Prize for artists dealing with the theme of the Holocaust to sculptor Yigal Tumarkin (a decision later narrowly reversed by a special panel). Yes, the same Tumarkin who famously remarked: “When I see a large chareidi family, I begin to understand the Nazis.”

For decades Lapid has been one of Israel’s most polarizing figures –- first on Popolitika, and later as head of the Shinui Party. Lapid rode a one-issue hobby horse on his meteoric political rise: venomous hatred of chareidim, often expressed as contempt for Jewish religion in general. How ironic, then, that he should be chosen to head a museum devoted, inter alia, to preserving the memory of those who perished in the Holocaust.

MEMRI (The Middle East Media Research Institute) is a great resource, because they have this nasty habit of showing and translating what the Arabs say in Arabic to other Arabs. For example, a recent transcript from an appearance by Hizbullah’s Hassan Nasrallah on Al-Jazeera (they have the video, too), in which he makes a few important admissions you won’t hear on CNN:

1. He was obviously surprised by condemnation from Arab governments, and blames them for the strength of Israel’s reaction.
2. He told the Lebanese they were going to abduct Israeli soldiers.
3. He will call it a “victory” as long as even one of his terrorists still fires his weapon.

The third of these is, of course, relevant to my post of a few days ago, in which I asked:

The question now is whether to allow Hamas to save face by promising a later prisoner release (whether or not the prisoners in question were up for release in any case), or to press forward until Hamas breaks down entirely, and releases Shalit without conditions. That honestly might happen, given the current concessions as discussed—but then again, intransigence could backfire.

It is possible that in the coming days, Hizbollah will be in the same situation as Hamas — backed against the wall. If they refuse to acknowledge defeat, yet it’s the obvious reality, is Israel obligated to keep fighting?

News reports now state that eight soldiers were killed in an ambush this morning. Army sources knew this hours ago, but only released it to the media later.

As with the incursion into Jenin several years ago, the ambush was made possible because Israeli forces will not engage in aerial bombardment when they anticipate large numbers of civilian casualties. Since there are hundreds of Lebanese civilians still in Bint Jbeil, the Israelis went in on foot.

Remember that Jenin was routinely and falsely decried as an Israeli “massacre,” complete with its own propaganda film. Be prepared to hear similar talk of indiscriminate Israeli bombing (such as Kofi Annan’s baseless accusation that Israel’s strike of a UN outpost was “apparently deliberate” — given the UN’s previous complicity in the kidnapping of Israeli soldiers, Israel ought to be able to classify UN “observers” as an enemy force, but that’s another story).

Here are the facts: in Lebanon, as in the West Bank, Israel does not employ the same bombing tactics used by other armies — even at risk of soldiers’ lives. In this case, Hizbullah took advantage of their local human shields, and Israel’s young men in uniform paid the price.

As I mentioned a few days ago, the current conflict is interfering with Internet service in Israel — especially international connectivity, much of which goes through Haifa. Fortunately, none of our developers there have reported trouble.

Meanwhile, postal mail from Westchester & Rockland Counties (think Monsey) was briefly interrupted on Friday:

At times like this, one wants to show support for the Jews in Eretz Yisrael, and often does not know how to go about doing so. My sister-in-law Bracha Rosenblum, who runs a small on-line toy company in Israel, found a way to do so last week. She hit on the idea of sending toys to children confined to shelters, like those of staff of Ziv Hospital in Tzefat, who are all living on the premises. Many of the toys were donated at cost by a toy company owned by Bnei Brak residents, called Sachek Na, and Bracha herself was up most nights to 2:00 a.m. wrapping and packing and shipping. If the project appeals to you, or you would like to know more, see the note below from Bracha or go to her website.

Dear Jonathan,

As the owner of www.toystore.co.il I am leading my own personal campaign to send thousands of dollars worth of toys to the children of Northern Israel. Instead of enjoying themselves in summer camp, the Israeli children living in Northern Israel are currently spending long tense days in their local bomb shelters. There is a huge need for toys and games to keep them occupied.

As of Friday, July 22, we have distributed over $12,000 of toys. Some of the recipients of our donations have been Rivka Ziv Hospital in Safed (Tsfat), city wide Community Centers in Safed, the Merom HaGalil Regional Council (who has distributed to their 24 towns and villages), and city wide Community Centers in Tiberias.

One of our grandchildren attends a summer day camp for six- and seven-year-olds in Jerusalem.

A few days ago the group was scheduled to spend the entire morning at the beach. They waited expectantly for the bus, but before it arrived the rabbi of the school that was sponsoring the day camp called all the children together.

“All of you know,” he said, “that there is a war going on, and many boys and girls of your age who live in cities like Haifa and Safed have had to leave their homes and go and live in other places to be safe.

“These children had to leave their toys and their books and their favorite games behind. I am thinking that maybe today we should do something special for them. What do you think we might be able to do?”

From Ha’Aretz:

According to reports Sunday, the Hamas leadership in Gaza is ready to halt Qassam fire as part of a cease-fire deal that would involve an end to IDF action in the Gaza Strip. Senior members of Fatah made similar claims Saturday.

The initiative, discussed by representatives of Palestinian organizations in Gaza over the past several days, also includes an agreement to set up a unity government.

The Egyptian-initiated plan consists of freeing abducted IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, a joint cease-fire and the cessation of IDF assassinations in the Gaza Strip. The release of Palestinian prisoners would be part of the deal, but come at a later stage.

What is the likelihood that the op-ed writer, or cartoonist, or university professor who rants about the evils of Zionism is really an old-fashioned Jew-hater? Much better than most of us thought, according to a study in the August 2006 issue of The Journal of Conflict Resolution.

Goebbels was right. Repeat a lie often enough, and people will believe it. This seems to be true even in regard to Jews believing lies about themselves. For decades, so many of us heard pious protestations that strongly held views about Israel had nothing to do with attitudes towards us, that we started to believe it might be true. We didn’t want to believe that classic anti-Semitism was alive and well. It is Israel and the accursed Zionists they were after, not the Jewish people. The Soviets thundered this from the podium at the UN; leftist intelligentsia fed it to their students in the classroom and their readers in the Guardian and listeners to the BBC. Neturei Karta was stupid and/or treacherous enough to fully embrace it.

It isn’t true. Those who hate Israel, hate Jews, according to Yale researchers Edward Kaplan and Charles Small.

Even after controlling for numerous potentially confounding factors, we find that anti-Israel sentiment consistently predicts the probability that an individual is anti-Semitic, with the likelihood of measured anti-Semitism increasing with the extent of anti-Israel sentiment observed.

Thanks to Ori for the tip from Maariv in Hebrew — it’s now confirmed from multiple sources in English as well. On Friday, Jerusalem Police denied the parade a permit, telling organizers of the “WorldPride” Gay Parade that due to the current hostilities they were unable to provide “a safe environment.” The organizers have therefore cancelled the event.

Baruch HaTov VeHaMeitiv. May the end of this spiritual threat bring with it the end to the physical threat to the Holy Land.

motzei Shabbat 27 b Tamuz

Just a short note to suggest two recent articles of interest on developments in the haredi world.
#1
In Friday’s Haaretz Magazine (July 21) the reporter Shahar Ilan, who has covered the haredi beat for years and is usually antagonistic, wrote a neutral and comprehensive analysis of the haredi weekly, Hamishpacha, and the implications of its success. The article is appropriately titled In a Family Way. Here is a snippet.

Reporter: Why do you have almost no investigative reports that expose corruption?

Hamishpacha Publisher, Eli Paley: “In my opinion, even the series we did about road safety in the Haredi sector is an investigative report. On the subject of corruption there are quite a number of critical editorials that lash out mercilessly.”
Reporter: Mishpacha does frequently address social problems. It has published a series of articles about the shababniks - Haredi street youth - and a piece about violence in the family. It is also waging a battle against educational institutions’ discrimination against Mizrahim (Jews of North African or Middle Eastern origin) and the newly religious. But it brings up these problems without mentioning names, so nobody will be hurt.

The blog prayer campaign is just underway, and a friendly nod to those who have already signed up and referred people to sign up:

Elie’s Expositions
Frum Actress
Jewish Answers
Krum as a Bagel
SerandEz
SoccerDad

[UPDATE:]
AbbaGav
Bagel Blogger
Beyond Teshuva
Biur Chametz
Choshvei Shemo
ConservaJew
Israel Matzav
Josh Weinberg
JudeoPundit
Life in Israel
Meira Online
Muqata
On the Contrary
Presence
R’ Chaim HaQoton
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Ta Shmah
The Demilitarized Zone
Yeranen Yaakov

Find out more here.

Tonight — Shabbos, the 26th of Tammuz — is the fourth yahrzeit of my father, R’ Nachman Bulman zt’l.

I spoke to my mother today shortly before Shabbos (her time) and she told me that she had gone to my father’s kever earlier in the day, together with my brothers, my sister, and many other relatives and friends who live in Israel.

“The taxi driver cried all the way to the cemetery,” she told me. Why? “He was listening to the news. They were talking about the funerals of three Jewish soldiers. He kept wiping his eyes with a tissue, the whole time.”

When my father was alive, I used to ask him his opinion about everything. If it was a Torah subject then, as far as I was concerned, his opinion was da’as Torah — he saw the world through the eyes of Torah.

A week ago, just as the violence in Israel moved from a Gaza “incursion” to a two-front war, Project Genesis was putting the finishing touches on a special program to encourage more Torah learning during the summer. Since Torah study is a shield for the entire Jewish People, this gives new urgency to our program.

You could be going to Israel (or winning a cash prize) at our expense, just for spreading the word!

The idea is very simple: come to Torah.org and refer a friend through our new program. When you and your friend both subscribe, you’ll be entered for special prize giveaways. When we reach 10,000 new subscribers through the program, we’ll give away a ticket to Israel!

For the bloggers (and anyone with a web site) you can also refer people directly to the “pray for Israel” page — see the graphic in the upper-right-hand corner. For graphics and help with links, there’s

Dr. Aaron Lerner of IMRA called me this morning, because he’s having trouble getting information out and wanted to be certain any technical problems weren’t at our end (they aren’t, at least as far as I can tell). They are, apparently, having serious connectivity issues in Israel right now.

The probable cause, he said, is that most international connections go through Haifa — and Haifa tech employees are either not working or working remotely. When something goes wrong it takes longer to fix.

He gave me some heartening news at the same time: it seems Bezeq is installing free phones in shelters. One of the ISPs is even providing free high-speed Internet. He said the “smiley” one, but since I don’t see Israel ads I don’t know whom. Could someone update us?

Dan Margalit, one of Israel’s most prominent media figures, began his July 4 column in Maariv, with a shocking accusation: “The youth Eliyahu Asheri was kidnapped and murdered by Palestinian terrorists, and only half the nation cried bitter tears. Because his parents are settlers and raised him in Itamar to a life of mitzvot and good deeds – because of his address — his blood was deemed less red.”

According to Margalit, a wide cross-section of the population view Chanan Barak and Pavel Slutsker, the two soldiers killed in the Palestinian attack on the IDF outpost at Kerem Shalom, and ybl”ch, Gilad Shalit, the soldier kidnapped in the same operation, “as the salt of the earth, the children of all of us, but not so Eliyahu Asheri.”

“Have we made a silent agreement with the Palestinian terrorists who want to kill Israeli citizens that they may do so, as long as they confine themselves to settlers?” asked Margalit.

Margalit’s indictment takes on even greater force because he writes as a man of the Left, as one who believes that Itamar should be dismantled and that Prime Minister Olmert’s convergence plan offers the best hope for the future. Yet he finds himself pouring out lamentations over the absence from Eliyahu Asheri’s levaya of simple Jews moved by a love of their fellow Jews.

If your spouse has been ignoring you lately, reading one article in the New York Times will explain it all to you. The piece describes the success that the author had in domesticating her husband by studying the techniques of exotic animal trainers. It is extremely funny, and entertaining even if your spouse has not been acting strangely.

Some readers will squirm at the idea of extrapolating from animal behavior to human conduct. The human neshamah is sui generis; what could we possibly learn from lowly animals? My understanding is that we could gain a significant amount of knowledge. This is true whether or not one completely dismisses the idea of evolution, or believes that a guided evolution is compatible with Torah thought. (We’re not going there in this piece!) According to the latter view, there is ample room for the overlap of human and animal behavior; according to the former, the inclusion of an “animal neshamah” within the human apparatus leaves room for commonality of responses as well.

In case you still doubt it, consider this passage fro). R’ Meir Simchah in Meshech Chochmah (Shemos 12:21 s.v. u-vaderech zeh) comments on an otherwise inexplicable passage in Pesachim 112B, wherein the Gemara list various animal calls, concluding with a much longer string of sounds meant as a call to laborers pulling river barges. (Free translation)

What is meant here is that animals can be aroused with a simple sound, uttered and repeated several times. Humans, however, respond to difference. This is a wonderful insight. It instructs us that to break the strength of some lust or passion [i.e. whose source is in the “animal” side of our personalities], repeating a simple saying or thought over and over can be effective. For example, a person who desires some forbidden object might repeat to himself some awe-inspiring phrase, like “jealousy, lust, etc remove a person from this world.” On the other hand, to properly refine a person’s opinions and attitudes, shoring them up against the onslaught from questions that arise in man’s mind, the same process would be insufficient. For this [which relates to “higher” parts of man’s makeup], he needs to think and become wiser through the acquisition of more complex arguments and intellectual ideas…

You can tell a lot about a person by who his or her enemies are. The same applies to nations… take Israel, for example. That her enemies are the folks who align themselves with Syria, Iran, Al Qaeda — the whole Axis of Terror — tells you a great deal.

And you can also tell a lot from the stories the enemies tell. When they make up obvious lies, it tells you that the truth is on Israel’s side.

Which leads us in to one of the biggest whoppers of all time, as told by the brilliant linguist, political fool, supporter of Hizbollah and legendary Jewish Anti-Semite, Noam Chomsky. You can hear his interview on Sabbah’s (Palestinian) Blog, entitled “Facts about Israel the Media Isn’t Telling You.”

He begins with the canard that Israel and the US “punish[ed] the people of Palestine” — severely — for “voting the wrong way in a free election.” The truth, of course, is that Israel and the US have always refused to fund terrorism. When the Palestinians elected the terrorists of Hamas to head their government, Israel and the US continued their old policy. The “severe punishment” was not giving millions of dollars to a bunch of terrorists to do with as they pleased.

From Zionist.com, a picture worth 1000 words. We’ve all heard that the Palestinians use children “as human shields,” but perhaps never knew quite what that meant… or weren’t ready to believe they could be so callous.

Every wonder why, despite Israel’s insistance that it goes to tremendous effort to avoid harming civilians in its war on terror, so many more Arabs than Jews end up dying in this conflict?

This is why:

Here’s a moment of worthwhile hishtadlus, necessary effort, to add to our prayers for Israel. As reported in The Hill:

House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-Ohio) and Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) later this week are expected to introduce a resolution signaling strong support for Israel during its violent showdown with Hezbollah.

Staffers for the two leaders were still working on the exact language of the resolution as of press time yesterday. Republican aides said that Democrats were reviewing the language but that they hope to introduce a bipartisan resolution on the floor today or tomorrow that the House would approve by unanimous consent.

While that article also reports that the Senate “was expected to pass a resolution last night,” no news reports indicate that the vote has yet happened.

Last week I was invited to discuss on Israel TV the week-long international “celebration of deviancy” scheduled to take place in Jerusalem just after Tisha B’Av. The interviewer began by asking me whether it wasn’t about time that I and my community shed our phobias. I assured her that I do not suffer from any particular phobias.

But the truth is that the upcoming event has me plenty scared. Had I attempted to explain why in a 45-second TV sound bite, however, I would no doubt have come off sounding like something of a madman. So I did not try.

But the Torah community should at least be clear about the dangers posed by this “celebration.” In the veiled discussions taking place in our community, one hears about the affront to the kedushah of Jerusalem or of Eretz Yisrael. In addition, concerns are expressed that the messages of this week-long fest will penetrate the ever more porous walls around our community.

These fears are fully justified. But they constitute only a part of the threat. We read at the beginning of this week’s Torah reading: “Pinchas . . . turned back My wrath from upon the Children of Israel, when he zealously avenged My vengeance among them, so I did not annihilate the Children of Israel in My vengeance” (Bamidbar 25:11). Until Pinchas slew Zimri and Cozbi, the entire people were threatened with annihilation.