[MS: Why an Update?
Here is the question events have framed for this Tisha B'Av:
What is Baseless Hatred of fellow citizens in a Democracy? What is not allowed by the Torah Tradition banning Sinat Chinam, in 2023, in the newly reborn Israeli democracy and according to our current views of Torah and Tradition?
This Sheet updates the sheet posted earlier today.
In the hours since then, the Israeli Knesset passed the new law which many sober, thoughtful Jewish thinkers believe is so seriously misguided it may lead to civil war.
Because we are approaching Tisha B'Av - when reflection on Baseless Hatred or "Sinat Chinam" is mandated by Tradition. - I am updating that Sheet now so that Tisha B'Av reflections are "Tachliss", ie for real.
It is incumbent on the Jewish People to use our texts and Tradition to do our best in our times. Alter highlighted this in his Introduction to Eicha, explained in the in the prior Sheet. Alter wrote:"Lamentations, like most good literature, is a strong response to the historical circumstances for which it was framed while at the same time speaking to analogous situations in other times and places."
The issue, I believe, is the path of compromise verses the path of zealotry. The issue is also good faith.
Bluntly, are the proponents of the new law that greatly limits the Israeli Supreme Court's power to stop anti-democratic laws necessary or not. Are they the true result of a compromise led by President Herzog - all agree Herzog is fair and wise - or not. Reading the immediate reactions listed below, the overriding reaction is fear. Given who they are and their stake in Israel and in Torah and Tradition, I take their fear seriously and in good faith. May we be blessed to reflect on this grave fear in our Tisha B'Av learning.
Compromise should unite the Jewish People. A power grab has the opposite effect and two Jewish sides become enemies. Baseless Hatred, Sinat Chinam spreads like a cancer. This is what Tradition teaches. ]
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Updates
Daniel Gordis books and articles are among the very best, most comprehensive and open minded sources of Israeli experience and opinions.
His recent series on substack is like living in Israel and is profoundly moving and thoughtful:Israel from the Inside.
On Israel from the Inside, the Daniel Gordis substack:
"It could not be more appropriate that we are just a bit more than 48 hours away from Tisha B’av. The timing of this is painful in ways that are impossible to convey."
[The Day The Music Died: https://mail.google.com/mail/u/0/?tab=rm&ogbl#search/gordis/FMfcgzGtwMZxRwFgdKxRCzNNjGbLkSfk]
And on the Gordis substack, comments from author and Ambassador Michael Oren:
"Earlier today, as the vote was beginning to unfold in the Knesset, I spoke with Ambassador Michael Oren, who earlier in the day had posted a plea on social media begging the sides to stop, not to pass the legislation, to step away from the abyss, to allow the country to heal.
It didn’t work ..."
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From Daniel Gordis substack July 25 2023 - day before Tisha B'Av:
July 25 2023 A black day for Israeli democracy.
"All the front pages were black. And in what was clearly a coordinated effort (apparently launched, and I presume paid for, by the hi-tech community), they also all had precisely the same words at the bottom of the front page: July 25 2023 A black day for Israeli democracy."
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No one follows Israel better or for longer than the founding editor and current chief editor of the. Times of Israel.
BEFORE the law passed, his warning:
Headline: Netanyahu, heed the warning thunder of ancient Jewish history It’s not too late to save and heal our miraculous country. Forced to confront his own mortality even as he seeks excessive power, will the prime minister finally change course?
"It is simply impossible to ignore the warning thunder of ancient Jewish history.
On the eve of Tisha B’Av, when the Jewish people suffered the loss of its two biblical Temples, recognized and mourned to this day as punishment for our ancestors’ internal intolerances and hatreds, today’s third, largely glorious exercise in sovereignty is being threatened — not by external enemies but, again, by a surging internal divide."
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahu-heed-the-warning-thunder-of-ancient-jewish-history/?utm_campaign=daily-edition-2023-07-24&utm_medium=email&utm_source=The+Daily+Edition
AFTER the law passed, he wrote:
https://www.timesofisrael.com/netanyahus-judicial-overhaul-victory-spells-a-disastrous-defeat-for-israel/?utm_campaign=daily-edition-2023-07-24&utm_medium=email&utm_source=The+Daily+Edition
"Shortly before 4 p.m. on Monday, July 24, 2023, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s coalition voted to approve the so-called “reasonableness” law — the first part of its plan to politicize and radically constrain Israel’s hitherto independent judiciary — and thus set in motion a process that risks tearing apart the State of Israel."
Haviv Rettig Gur - Senior Analyst at Times of Israel
Times of Israel, Daily Briefing July 24: Lack of trust has brought Israel to crisis. Who’s to blame?
Haviv Rettig Gur on last-ditch efforts by President Isaac Herzog to forge a compromise ...
[https://www.timesofisrael.com/daily-briefing-july-24-lack-of-trust-has-brought-israel-to-crisis-whos-to-blame/?utm_campaign=TheDailyBriefing&utm_source=website&utm_medium=2col]
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[MS: The other side to these voices will have their say and that is all for the good. Keep Talking is but one of the Seven Principles of Rabbi Sacks, good reading on Tisha B'Av.
*Will there be a compromise or not? Is "no compromise" per Herzog a sin?
*How will the Israeli Supreme Court review this new law, especially if the current Attorney General is replaced, as is rumored?
*Will the Knesset pass a new law that on its face will be offensive, such as penalizing the right of free speech or protest, or disallowing Gay participation in any way or upsetting the Shabbas-restrictions compromises in place? If so, and the new Supreme Court cannot stop these changes, will the cancer of Baseless Hatred and a slide to civil war continue?
* What is Baseless Hatred of fellow citizens in a Democracy? What is not allowed by the Tradition's ban on Sinat Chinam in 2023, in newly reborn Israeli democracy, and according to our current views of Torah and Tradition?]
[MS: July 24, 2023 3:00pm]