Terror Attack At Merkaz HaRav Yeshivah

Rosh Hodesh of the Thirteenth Month 5768

Reports are still coming in about the terrorist attack at the Merkaz HaRav Yeshivah in the Qiriyath Moshe neighbor of Jerusalem. The yeshivah is not far from the entrance to the city and to the central bus station.

You can read the reports from Jameel, Comic X and Tomer Devorah, and get additional commentary from Debbie Schussel and Tel-Chai Nation.

I will just emphasize the words of the hero Yitzchak Dadon who killed the terrorist, and undoubtedly saved many lives in the porcess:

Asked by a Channel 2 TV reporter what weapon the Palestinian Authority terrorist had, Dadon said, "A Kalachnikov," and turning to the camera, he angrily added, "The Kalachnikov that you gave him, President Peres..."

A video of Yitzchak Dadon's interview (Hebrew) is up at Life in Israel. At the 1:14 mark in the video, Dadon begins to accuse Peres and Olmert. You can hear people in the background trying to silence him. My guess is that they were journalists. Although I have my suspicions as to who else they could have been (mamlakhtim). The Channel 2 journalist, the token reporter with the kippah, sent for good reason, deserves credit for risking his job by allowing the comments, even though it did not appear that he was initially inclined to do so. Welcome to the world of free speech and front line journalism.

Of course, the leftist Ynet News did not even mention the name of the famous yeshivah until several paragraphs into the report, referring to it only as a "seminary in the Qiriyath Moshe neighborhood." Utterly disgraceful. It also left out Yitzchak Dadon's comment about Shimon Peres's complicity in the attack. Surprised?

Returning home to the Shomron by tremp (hitching) I had to battle with a very crowded trempiada. It is Rosh Hodesh, so the trempiada was filled with people returning home after the the monthly Sivuv Sha'arim, in and around the Old City.

On the way back (north), there were soldiers, jeeps and/or make-shift check points at Ofra, inside Wadi Kharamia, Ma'aleh Levona Junction South, and the Eli gas station. Those were in addition to the wait to leave the city at the Hizma check point.

I just checked in with a friend outside of Merkaz HaRav. He reports there are a t least a couple hundred people outside protesting. Our connection was poor, but I could make out that there was loud chanting and yelling.

Without any intention of getting into conspiracy theories, I will say that the terrorist's choice of venue is significant. Merkaz HaRav Yeshivah is not only the world capital of Religious Zionism, it is a very important symbol. When Ynet News said that the Yeshivah was identified with the settler leadership, they only got it half-right. Plenty of criticism of the YeSh"A Council (the self-appointed "official" settler leadership) issued out of Merkaz HaRav. The "settler leadership" with with which Merkav HaRav identifies is the Holy One Blessed Be He and His Torah. Merkaz HaRav students were involved with protesting against the 2005 expulsion from Azza from the start, even leaving shi'urim (classes), in order to block roads, against the better judgment of the YeSh"A Council.

Their Rosh Yeshivah at the time, the great Rav HaGaon Avraham Shapira ztz"l supported soldiers refusing orders which violated Torah prohibitions. After Rav Shapira was chosen over Rav Tau to be Rosh Yeshivah, he gradually led Merkaz HaRav away from blind loyalty to the, more often than not, treif Israeli government, getting his students priorities back in order.

Rav Shapira publicly ripped up writings of the popular, "settler leader" Shlomo Aviner which proclaimed that soldiers should not refuse orders to expel Jews from their homes.

Several questions remain about the attack. One might ask, "With the hundreds of Jews in the Old City, why didn't they attack there?" (God forbid!) Did they avoid the higher than usual security there in favor of a softer target?

Why wasn't another yeshivah hit? (God forbid!)

We may never know. Anyway you slice it, someone is trying to break us, and no one is going to protect us sufficiently. We must pray, and take the action to protect ourselves.

I used to live in Qiriyath Moshe, and hope to move there one day. Friends and I have affectionately come to refer to it as "The 'Hood." And so, I anxiously await the report of the victims' names. Will I know anyone on the list?

We will not be broken.

May the blood of those killed tonight be avenged!

****This just in: The terrorist was a Jerusalem Arab. He would have had a regular, blue ID card allowing him access throughout the city.

Surprised? Now all that's left is for leftists and Europeans to blame the attack on MK Effie Etom's [truthful] comments in the Kenesset the other day.