Between the recent discussions about the conversion law and the Har Habayit issue, a number of thoughts have been going through my mind..
(in no particular order)
I am fascinated by the way the Haredi community - the rabbonim and the press - have been coming to the support and backing of the Rabbanut, regarding the conversion issue.
The Haredi community generally does not hold of the Rabbanut. It generally does not use the Rabbanut's services. Some Haredim approach the Rabbanut with the idea that the Rabbanut is meikil and they prefer to be machmir, and the food is generally kosher, but we prefer better. Others approach it differently - they say the food of the Rabbanut is often not even kosher (though I have not heard the same about their divorces, weddings, conversions, etc.).
I find it fascinating to read articles about how bad the conversion law is, how it is an attempt to dismantle the Rabbanut, how it is pushed by politicians in order to give the Reform and Conservative a foothold in the Rabbanut, and to allow their conversions to become accepted, how it is a cyncial attempt by Tzohar to take over the Rabbanut, etc.
While the Haredi community has taken, sort of, advantage of the Rabbanut in the sense of, what some call, taking it over, for jobs, they have not worked to dismantle it. They have created alternative rabbinate systems providing the same services, from kashrut to conversions to weddings, funerals, divorces and whatever else there might be, but they have not worked to dismantle the Rabbanut.
They have not worked to dismantle it, which is what they are accusing Tzohar of trying to do, but they have never supported it. Suddenly they, despite not holding of it, are supporting the Rabbanut, bolstering its reputation and importance, and defending it. They are acting like the Rabbanut's problems are the worst thing ever.
The Haredim have not worked to dismantle the Rabbanut. I mentioned they have tried to "take it over" by getting Haredi rabbonim elected, selected and appointed to Rabbanut positions, whether cynically as a factory for jobs or as a way of working to change the Rabbanut from the inside to be more haredi in nature. Is that really so different than what they accuse Tzohar of trying to do? They accuse Tzohar of trying to take over the Rabbanut, and make it more "Tzohar-like". True or not, why is it ok for the Haredi leadership to try to change the Rabbanut in this manner, from the inside, to try to be more like them, but not legitimate for Tzohar to do that?
Chief Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef said that the rabbis who allow Jews to go up to Har Habayit are minor league rabbonim who cannot argue against gedolim. Getting to the comment momentarily, on Haredi forums and talkbacks, I was surprised to see how many people criticized him for this statement, even commenting about what league he himself would be in and that he only has his position due to who his father was, etc., despite the fact that he is supporting the basic Haredi position.
Back to the comment - who decides what league any specific rabbi is in? Is Rabbi Dov Lior really 4th league (equivalent perhaps to D-Ball baseball)? Is Rav Nachum Rabinovitch? They might not be Haredi rabbonim, but are they really D-Ball Rabbis? and who decides what league which rabbi is in? I'd like to see some sort of official standings chart and stats of each rabbi. Maybe the rabbi cards can start to have the rabbi profile on the back with his league standing and stats.
Har Habayit is bringing out all the comments now from all the rabbonim, politicians and askanim, The common statement is about how those who go up are endangering the rest of the nation, causing uprising, terrorism and murders.
They would do well to blame terror on the terrorists, and not on the Jews. There was terror before Jews started going up to Har Habayit, and there will be terror even if Jews should stop going up.
I am not quite sure when the "blame the victim" argument can be used and when it cannot be used. On the one hand, I understand the position saying that Har Habayit is a tinderbox, and we should not do things that would cause things to get out of hand. On the other, where does it end? The Arabs don't want us in this country at all. They don't want us living in Beitar, Jerusalem, Bet Shemesh, Tel Aviv or Haifa. Or Modiin Ilit, or Emanuel, or Shilo or Bet El. Not in Beer Sheva, not in Petach Tikva, not in Ariel, and not in Tzfat. So, our being here, every additional Jew making aliyah, is inciting violence the same way Jews going up to Har Habayit are. The same pikuach nefesh that is more important than Har Habayit is also more important than Israel. Our being here has caused tens of thousands of deaths - deaths in wars and deaths in terror attacks - maybe the same rabbis should encourage all Jews to leave Israel, and definitely to not make aliyah, because the Arabs don't want us here and our being here, and our coming here, incites them to violence, makes them want to kill us. If an Arab kills a Jew in Jerusalem because I or you made aliyah and the Arabs felt like they were being threatened by our presence, the same logic says we should all get out of dodge.
Besides for that, I have yet to hear any reasonable argument against going up to Har Habayit. There is absolutely no prohibition. It is allowed in the Torah. it has to be done in a certain way, with being purified first in a proper mikvah, but it is allowed. There is no "karess" punishment relevant to going up to Har Habayit. The only karess is in a very limited section of the area, and even that karess is very limited - even if one goes there, there is no karess if one does not go in the direct way, or if one goes for certain purposes like kibbush or maintenance.
The best argument I have ever heard is that our going up, properly of course, might cause other people to go up improperly. I don't agree with the argument because we don't use it in many other situations - we don't use it in marriage (e.g. we should not get married because other people might get married and not keep taharas hamishpacha which is, or could be, a karess). But at least the argument has some logic to it.
Besides for that argument, all the other arguments seem to me to be a distraction. I heard part of a debate on the radio between a Haredi rabbi/askan and a rabbi who supports going up. The haredi rabbi kept talking about the poskim and rishonim who don't allow going to the makom hamikdash in our current state and talk about karess, while only the Ridbaz, a daat yachid, allows going up to Har Habayit. The Har Habayit rabbi kept responding that that is in reference ot the makom hamikdash, which is not under discussion. He agreed that the makom hamikdash has a karess attached to it, and pointed out that those going up walk mostly in areas that are not even Har Habayit (some sections of the path are on Har Habayit proper, and some sections are not but are on Herod's extensions). When confronted, the Haredi rabbi kept saying he is not talking about that, but about makom hamikdash, and then went on to continue arguing that makom hamikdash has karess.
So, it seems to me that the Haredi rabbonim all talk about their opposition and use arguments related to makom hamikdash to support their position, even though the discussion is about har habayit and not makom hamikdash. They seem to count on a small amount of obfuscation and the public's ignorance on both the halachic differences and the physical differences, to advance their own positions, rather than on the halachic truth. This thought has occurred to me in the past, but I never heard a Haredi arguing rabbi actually confronted on exactly that point previously, and then respond in such a way that clearly proves it.
I cannot figure out the relationship of the Dati Leumi community and the Chief Rabinate specifically, or the Rabbanut in general (and I know the DL community is made up of different groups and styles). Sometimes they seem to support the Rabbanut through thick and thin, while other times they seem to be anti-Rabbanut, accusing it of being either too Haredi or too political. Talk about Rabbanut kashrut, and all is great, they do a wonderful job, heter mechira must be supported, etc., yet come to weddings and suddenly you hear about how they are so insensitive to the public and that must change, or Har Habayit and they are too extreme.... Sometimes it makes sense to me, and sometimes I realize the pattern I though I was noticing is not really a pattern...
Why are we told to be so sensitive to the Arab sensibilities? Why are they never told to be sensitive to the Jews sensibilities? We can't pray on Har Habayit, or maybe even go there according to some, because we might upset them and they'll have to resort to violence. Why can't they tone it down and give in to us every now and then? Why can they stand on principle, but we cannot?
Anyway, those are my thoughts. Feel free to comment.
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