08 November 2026
Shalom Pollack: Jewish leaders
I have been a close observer of Israel and its politics for over half a century, and I have formed opinions about many public figures and "leaders".
I want to share my favorites.The questions I ask myself are:
Is he (or she) God-fearing?
Does he love his people?
Is he loyal in his private and public life?
Is he intelligent?
Is he consistent in his thoughts and beliefs (is he intellectually honest)?
Is he knowledgeable about what is important to our people and country?
Does he think outside the box and independently despite popular trends?
Can he communicate well?
The current litmus test cases for a would-be leader are:
What did or didn't they do, say, or not say about:
Oslo - 1993
Mass expulsions - 2005
The latest Gaza war ("round") and the hostage situation
Jonathan Pollard's grievous incarceration in the USA, 1985-2015.
Amiram Ben Uliel, serving a life sentence since 2015.
https://us.list-manage.com/O9CtKFdLnma?e=6fef771d7c&c2id=b7ab69906b3ece6eab394384ed3abb92
Considering the above, I have two candidates for my favorite Jewish leaders in the last over half a century:
The first on my list is the holy, martyred Rabbi Meir Kahane. (1932- 1990).
The Jewish people were not ready for his courage and honesty and are paying the price to this very day, much as the Jews in the generation of Jeremiah the prophet.
The second leader is the head of the "Zehut" party, Moshe Feiglin, the only politician who does not fear to say publicly that 'Kahane was right".
Feiglin passes every one of my litmus tests and prerequisites for Jewish leadership.
He is the only politician who visited Jonathan Pollard in his cell and, from the day he was arrested, uniquely, never stopped fighting for his release and good name.
Amiram Ben Uliel, serving a life sentence based solely on an admission extracted by severe and continued torture, never leaves the lips and heart of Moshe Feiglin, who has attended all of his legal appeals and is his most vociferous defender against a corrupt legal and security system.
On the day after Oct. 7, 2023, he pleaded that not one soldier be sent into Gaza to risk their lives because he predicted that it would just be another "round" with inconclusive results.
(His grandson was killed when he was ordered to search a house for terrorists while making sure not to hurt "innocent non-combatants.")
He repeats, "Victory means occupation, expulsion, and Jewish settlement, as in 1948. Nothing less. No more "rounds".
He was vehemently opposed to exchanging hostages for thousands of terrorists or other concessions to Hamas that would ensure their survival.
He demanded cutting off water, electricity, and food until every hostage was returned. (What would Churchill have done had Germany demanded concessions and withdrawal from liberated Europe in return for British hostages?)
He was accused of being indifferent to the plight of the hostages and their families. He understood the difference between the emotional concern of a parent for a loved one and the responsibility of a leader to the safety of seven million Jews.
He never publicized it, but it came out that, from the day that the first hostage was abducted until the day of the last one's release, he had a pebble in his shoe as a constant reminder of their plight.
Which leader does that?
He and his son both donated a kidney to Jews.
He was accused of racism when he insisted on only a Jewish recipient and not an Arab.
(I wonder how many of his critics have donated a kidney to an Arab or anyone else).
Now that he is in the Knesset, I pray that God watches over him and that until the coming of Moshiach, he will lead our nation speedily in our time,
We are in great need.
shalompollack613@gmail.com
Who is Acting Naive Here?
.....or maybe deceitful?
Shas Leader Aryeh Deri Reportedly Said Left-Wing Parties Would “Give Us Everything We Want” To Secure Chareidi Support
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/2620073/political-bombshell-shas-leader-aryeh-deri-reportedly-said-left-wing-parties-would-give-us-everything-we-want-to-secure-chareidi-support.html
Does that include this:
NO BLANK CHECK: Golan Demands Enlistment And Transportation On Shabbos In Any Chareidi Partnership
https://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/israel-news/2620294/no-blank-check-golan-demands-enlistment-and-transportation-on-shabbos-in-any-chareidi-partnership.html
“NO ‘BLANKCHECK’ Golan” just chased the Chareidim away
And this:
Gadi Eisenkot and his centrist Yashar party have made universal, mandatory military or national-civilian service for all Israeli citizens—including the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) population—a non-negotiable core principle of any coalition he leads.
And
Universal Conscription Demand: Eisenkot insists on mandatory service for all Israelis to strengthen the IDF and ease the heavy burden placed on active and reserve soldiers
Terrorists Back Again.......to Gefen Ami
Arab terrorists set an Israeli car on fire in Gefen Ami.
Source: News from Yesha [https://hilltopmaccabees.org/2026/11/07/arab-terrorists-set-an-israeli-car-on-fire-in-gefen-ami/]
Rabbi Weissman: On Blindness and Partnering with the Wicked
Not Just a Midrash #2 — two fundamental teachings
On blindness:
Bereishis 21:19 states:
讜讬驻拽讞 讗诇讛讬诐 讗转 注讬谞讬讛 讜转专讗 讘讗专 诪讬诐 讜转诇讱 讜转诪诇讗 讗转 讛讞诪转 诪讬诐 讜转砖拽 讗转 讛谞注专
And Hashem opened her eyes, and she saw a water well, and she went and filled the flask with water and gave the lad to drink.
The pasuk could have simply stated that Hagar saw a well. By stating that Hashem opened her eyes, the Torah indicates that Hashem gave her special assistance in discovering the well, without which she would not have seen it.
The Midrash Rabba in 53:14 takes it a big step further, teaching us a fundamental lesson:
讜ַ讬ִּ驻ְ拽ַ讞 讗ֶ转 注ֵ讬谞ֶ讬讛ָ, 讗ָ诪ַ专 专ַ讘ִּ讬 讘ִּ谞ְ讬ָ诪ִ讬谉 讛ַ讻ֹּ诇 讘ְּ讞ֶ讝ְ拽ַ转 住讜ּ诪ִ讬谉 注ַ讚 砖ֶׁ讛ַ拽ָּ讚讜ֹ砖ׁ 讘ָּ专讜ּ讱ְ 讛讜ּ讗 诪ֵ讗ִ讬专 讗ֶ转 注ֵ讬谞ֵ讬讛ֶ诐, 诪ִ谉 讛ָ讻ָ讗 讜ַ讬ִּ驻ְ拽ַ讞 讗ֱ诇ֹ讛ִ讬诐 讗ֶ转 注ֵ讬谞ֶ讬讛ָ.
And He opened her eyes: Rabbi Binyamin said, everyone is presumptively blind until Hashem enlightens their eyes, as we learn from here, “And Hashem opened her eyes.”
Maharzu explains:
砖讗祝 砖谞讝讚诪谉 诇讛 讘讗专 讚讘专 讙砖诪讬 讛谞专讗讛 诇讗 讛专讙讬砖讛 注讚 砖讛拽讘”讛 讛讗讬专 注讬谞讬讛
Even though a well was prepared for her, something physical that is visible, she did not sense it until Hashem enlightened her eyes.
The Eitz Yosef explains:
砖讗讬谉 讛注讬谉 讬讻讜诇 诇专讗讜转 讗诇讗 讘诪讛 砖谞讬转谉 诇讜 专砖讜转 讗注”驻 砖讛讬讛 讛讚讘专 诇驻谞讬讜
For the eye can only see what it is given permission to see, even though something is in front of it.
It is true that Hagar received special divine assistance, which is why the Torah makes a point of it, but Chazal teach us that everyone can see only because Hashem enables them to see, and they only see that which Hashem enables them to see.
Indeed, when we say the bracha of 驻讜拽讞 注讜专讬诐 every morning, thanking Hashem for giving sight to the blind, we’re talking about ourselves!
Even though it is the way of the world for healthy people to see, we should never take it for granted. We’ve all had the experience of somehow missing something that was right before us, and also just “happening” to notice something important that we could easily have missed. A Torah-minded, God-conscious person will understand that there is a spiritual cause behind even these seemingly mundane events; they are not mere coincidences.
We can take this a step further. If we need Hashem’s assistance to see physical things before us, without which we are essentially blind, how much more do we need Hashem’s assistance to see things that are not physical, with our mind’s eye!
Indeed, in the language of Chazal a 驻拽讞 is someone with a healthy mind, a sharp mind.
All around us are zombies, people with generally high intelligence, yet blind to things that are right before them. They cannot think clearly. They cannot reason or be reasoned with. They cannot accept facts that should be self-evident, and they misuse their intelligence to make convoluted arguments against plain reality.
Have you heard some of the ridiculous rationalizations people regurgitate to explain away October 7, so they can maintain delusions about a regime and the monsters who betrayed them?
There is definitely free choice involved with their tragic condition, but we should not be so arrogant as to believe we are vastly superior to them. Even if we are “awake” about certain things, we too were oblivious for a long time, and should not take full credit for seeing what we eventually saw. Hashem gave us plenty of assistance, otherwise we too would have remained blind.
No doubt we still have plenty of blind spots as it is.
So we should be very grateful to Hashem for opening our eyes and our mind’s eye, and continuously pray for assistance. We should ask Hashem to help us understand the Torah correctly and draw proper conclusions. And we should never take our vision for granted.
On partnering with the wicked:
The Yalkut Shimoni on Yehoshua, Remez 3, mentions several people in Tanach whose names are written defectively because of something improper they did. One of them is Yehonadav, who was later referred to as Yonadav. The Midrash states as follows:
讜讻谉 讗转讛 诪讜爪讗 讘讬讜谞讚讘 砖诪转讞诇讛 谞拽专讗 讬讛讜谞讚讘 讜诪砖讘讗 诇讗讜转讜 诪注砖讛 诪谞注讜 诪诪谞讜 讗讜转 讗讞讚 讜谞拽专讗 讬讜谞讚讘 砖谞讗诪专 讘讛转讞讘专讱 (诇专砖注) [注诐 讗讞讝讬讛讜] 讜讙讜’
And so you find with Yonadav, that at first he is called Yehonadav, and when he came to that deed a letter was held back from him and he is called Yonadav, as it says “When you partnered [with Achazyahu] etc.
The Zeis Ra’anan explains that the Midrash might be referring to Yonadav. the friend of Amnon, who advised him on how to take advantage of Tamar, or to Yehonadav ben Reichav, who partnered with Yehu, a king who became an idolater. The Zeis Ra’anan deems the latter explanation more plausible; it certainly fits much better.
The partnership with Achazyahu is in reference to Yehoshafat, a righteous king from the house of David, who became close to Achazyahu, a wicked king of the ten tribes. They partnered on a business venture that became a total loss. The navi attributes Yehoshafat’s loss to his partnership with a wicked person, for which Hashem made a breach in that which he did (Divrei Hayamim II 20:37).
The Midrash concludes as follows:
诪讻讗谉 讗诪专讜 讞讝”诇 讗诇 讬转讞讘专 讗讚诐 诇专砖注 讗驻讬诇讜 诇拽专讘讜 诇转讜专讛
From here Chazal said that one should not partner with a wicked person, even to draw him closer to Torah.
It seems that both Yonadav and Yehoshafat partnered with wicked kings of the ten tribes kiruv purposes. Despite their good intentions, this was improper, a degradation of the Torah for which they were criticized and suffered losses.
A God-fearing, Torah-minded Jew must keep a certain distance from wicked people. Even if he must associate with them, he should not become close to them. If a tzaddik becomes friends or partners with a rasha, he should not expect to turn the rasha into a tzaddik; either way, it is inevitable that the rasha will degrade him and damage his relationship with Hashem.
When one befriends or partners with a wicked person, to a certain extent he is legitimizing and condoning wickedness, if not explicitly then implicitly. No matter how he rationalizes it, he is engaging in chanufa and disgracing the Torah he claims to hold dear.
This lesson from Chazal has massive implications for how kiruv should and should not be conducted. By all means, be friendly with people and spread the light of Torah — but don’t get too close to people who trample all over the Torah. Don’t partner with them.
It also obliterates one of the core arguments many Jews make in favor of partnering with the wicked in a Hellenist government and joining their un-Jewish army. We’ll do kiruv! We’ll draw them closer to Torah! We’ll change things from within! We’ll turn the whole state around, eventually! You’ll see!
That experiment has been tried for many generations already, and the results are terribly lopsided. As Rav Elchonon Wasserman warned way back in 1912, decades before the wicked Zionists declared a state, the Religious Zionists who foolishly partnered with them in contravention of the Torah would not succeed in drawing them closer to Torah — but the Zionists would succeed in drawing them away from it.
In an open letter to Mizrachi rabbis that remains unanswered more than a century later, Rav Wasserman wrote:
Do you think that by joining with them you will bring them back to the good? Or that you will make them “Mizrachi” people? No, Rabbosai, a hundred Mizrachi people will turn into Zionists faster than one Zionist will turn into a “Mizrachi”. And why? Because deviating from the straight path is very easy, but climbing up is very difficult.
See the complete open letter here
Open Letter to Mizrachi Rabbis by Rav Elchonon Wasserman (1912)
Chazal make it very clear that one must not partner with reshaim, even with the intention of drawing them close to Torah.
It’s not just a Midrash. It’s Hashem’s timeless truth.
In related news:
Lucy promises she won't pull away the football next time.
Interesting comment:
The observation that half of religious soldiers lose most or all of their observance in the “Jewish” army will be corroborated by many. I doubt many grow in their observance at all, unless they started off with little to begin with and turned to Hashem in desperation.
As usual, Chazal were right. Maybe we should finally listen to them.
Contact me at weissmans@protonmail.com.
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