Zionism and Hocus Pocus Halacha (link)
Ben Gvir's dubious heter, and a bizarre response to inquiry from Rabbi Lior's office
Yirmiya was extremely frustrated by the corruption all around him and the prosperity of the wicked that spanned generations. At the beginning of chapter 12 he questioned Hashem about this. There is a great deal to be learned both by the way he asked the question and the answer he received.
Last week’s Torah class, in which we studied this and the rest of the chapter, is embedded above and on Rumble here.
As has become the norm in our dumbed down, color war generation, a rabbinic “ruling” without substantiation was reported in the media without investigative journalism.
Here’s one English report from Arutz Sheva:
National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir has received a special halachic dispensation from his rabbi, Rabbi Dov Lior, to enter the entire area of the Temple Mount, including locations where entry for the general public is prohibited.
The issue arose during a visit by Ben-Gvir to the home of Rabbi Lior, who is the official spiritual leader of the Otzma Yehudit party.
During the meeting, Rabbi Lior displayed a map of the halachically permitted walking path on the Temple Mount and stressed that it was critical to walk only on that path, so that visitors do not enter areas that are forbidden due to their sanctity. As a general rule, Rabbi Lior permits visits to the holy site, but only to the permitted areas and after immersion in a ritual bath.
At the same time, the rabbi clarified to Minister Ben Gvir, as reported in the Matzav Haruach newspaper, that a different ruling applies to him than to the general public due to his role as a minister in the Israeli government. By virtue of the concept of “sovereign control” of the State of Israel and the Jewish people over the Temple Mount, he is permitted to enter all areas of the site, including those where there is a halachic prohibition for the broader public to ascend.
Rabbi Lior emphasized to the minister the rationale behind this permission: “This is done through the importance of the concept of sovereignty of the State of Israel and the Jewish people on the Temple Mount, expressed by a minister of the State of Israel ascending and demonstrating presence in these places. Of course, it is desirable to do so with as much solemnity as possible, befitting these holy sites.”
What the heck? A dispensation for kares? Just like that?
Where is there sound halachic basis from Chazal (not some contemporary Zionist clergyman fabricating an argument) that clearly permits a government official to violate an issur kares to demonstrate Jewish sovereignty over a place?
This is especially true when he represents a decidedly secular Jewish state, and any demonstration of sovereignty would be an illusion anyway, because Jews continue to be forbidden to go there both halachically and legally.
For goodness sake, we don’t have sovereignty over anything under this Erev Rav regime. Whenever they feel like it they lock down the country, close shuls and yeshivas, restrict access to holy sites, prohibit earning a living, ban travel, throw people out of their homes, bulldoze settlements, batter those who protest, force people to take toxic injection, spray the population, conduct medical experiments on the population, imprison and torture innocent people, send money and weapons to our enemies, order Jews to be maimed and killed under false pretenses for no justifiable reason, and so much more.
The State of Israel was founded by monstrous enemies of Hashem and the Torah who openly waged spiritual and physical war against the Jewish people. They collaborated with the Nazis, sold us out every way possible, and made no secret of their desire to destroy those who held fast to the Torah above all else. They assassinated many Jews who posed a threat to their agenda, even before the creation of the state.
(None of this is disputable. People simply choose to ignore it, downplay it, or dismiss it as no longer relevant, not because it is, but become confronting the truth is inconvenient.)
Their successors have not confronted this reality, let alone done teshuva and changed course. The tactics have evolved, but nothing in principle has changed. They are what they are and have always been — enemies of Hashem and the Jewish people.
But we’re supposed to believe a bad actor (tarti mashma) with a big white yarmulka prancing around on parts of Har Habayis (no doubt with bodyguards and a camera crew as well) where even the holiest Jews and greatest Torah scholars are forbidden to go is a demonstration of Jewish sovereignty, an ultra-important messianic step forward, that somehow supersedes halacha?
Is this what we waited 2000 years for? For Netanyahu to wear a tallis for photo-ops, while the government promotes the largest perversity parade ever in the Middle East, and Ben-Gvir breaks halachic barriers on Har Habayis in a provocative, triumphant dispay of might? Should we say Hallel with a bracha? Is this really what HASHEM wants?
Why have no gedolim in Israel’s history ever allowed such a thing, or even broached such a notion? Why does it fall to a handpicked Religious Zionist rabbi in frail health to (supposedly) issue a statement in a contrived meeting, which is then regurgitated without question in unprofessional media reports and celebrated as some sort of historic redemptive event?
Those who cheer this baseless “ruling” are not doing so because they have cleared their minds of preconceived notions, overcome their personal biases, considered the matter objectively, and found it to be on firm halachic ground.
They are cheering it because it is what they want to hear, because it fuels their delusions about Zionism and the State of Israel representing a messianic redemption, not the final, most dangerous stage of exile at the hands of Erev Rav and the seed of Amalek, as Chazal foretold.
These are people who make the perverse argument that the government of Israel has the halachic status of a king. One can make comparisons to Achav, who murdered and also inherited, and to Menashe, who brought idolatry into the Holy of Holies, but halachically equating the government of Israel with a Jewish king is lunacy.
Nevertheless, this does not deter people from hijacking Torah sources that do not support them and making the argument anyway, because they want to believe it. They live in an intellectual fantasy land, playing games with the Torah and halacha, with Jewish lives and Jewish souls. The Torah doesn’t guide what they believe; it bends to what they believe.
“The argument can be made…” should introduce an interesting theoretical discussion in the Beis Midrash to sharpen people’s understanding. It should not be a segue for radical conclusions, for radical departures from accepted halacha that no rabbis in our time have the authority to make.
Those who self-righteously pretend to give deference to rabbis who fabricate specious “rulings” do not really respect rabbis and how halacha works. They are using and abusing rabbis who support whatever they already decided they want to do, who cherry-pick sources and take them out of context to support whatever they decided they want the halachic outcome to be.
Religious Zionism’s relationship with Halacha at this point resembles that of Reform Judaism in earlier times, with less actual scholarship.
Meanwhile, the Arab press picked up the story, of course, with a predictable slant on things. Ben-Gvir violating an issur kares with a specious “ruling” he sought and received in a contrived meeting will not bring redemption. But it might bring a fresh round of blood being spilled, and perhaps even the next round of contrived “war”, while brainwashed fools celebrate an imaginary triumph.
Maybe that’s the real purpose.
Unlike Arutz Sheva and the rest of the garbage media, Mordechai Sones did some actual investigative journalism regarding the “ruling”, and wrote about it here:
Rabbi Lior’s Office Deflects on Ben Gvir Temple Mount Ruling
Key quote:
In an effort to understand how such a radical departure from established Halacha could be justified, Jewish Home News reached out to Rabbi Lior’s long-time assistant and secretary, Rabbi Yossi Dermer.
When pressed for a halachic source or a written teshuva (formal response) that would permit a minister to violate an issur kares to demonstrate sovereignty—particularly when representing a secular state and where entry remains legally and halachically restricted for the general public—the response was startlingly brief.
Dermer stated that Rabbi Lior “is currently not in good health and therefore cannot answer your question.” Yet, in the same breath, he confirmed to Jewish Home News that “everything written in the article is correct” and that “the Rabbi indeed said this to Ben Gvir.”
Comment: It’s very suspicious that Dermer emphasized that Rabbi Lior gave this ruling when he wasn’t even asked about that, and there was no indication that Sones doubted it. Criminal psychologists refer to this sort of thing as preemptive denial.
This creates a logical and halachic paradox. If a Torah sage is too ill to articulate the sources of a ruling, how can such an “earth-shattering” decision be issued in the first place? In the world of Halacha, the more novel a ruling and the more severe the implications, the more rigorous the requirement for detailed, public substantiation. Without such support, critics argue, a statement is merely an instruction or a political opinion, lacking any formal halachic force…
…As of press time, no written halachic document has been produced by Rabbi Lior’s office to support the claim of expanded access. For a community that prides itself on Torat Emet (the Torah of Truth), the reliance on hearsay and press releases rather than source-based scholarship remains a deeply troubling development.
Here is a weird video from Arutz Sheva with an AI voice translating a small part of the meeting, which is somehow supposed to be convincing.
הרב דוב ליאור התיר לבן גביר להיכנס למקומות האסורים לציבור בהר הבית https://youtu.be/Qie4TVGEv9E?si=puKlY3-GwssoqynC
This is the proof? Please show me where Rabbi Lior even gave this “heter” to Ben-Gvir that the media unquestioningly reported.
It reminds me of the doctored video of Rav Kanievsky the Ministry of Mengeles went great lengths to produce in order to push those safe and effective shots, because they desperately wanted to protect us:
https://rumble.com/v10h9v7-rav-chaim-kanievsky-elder-abuse.html
