Arutz 7: Katif Expelees Stuck as Caravans Taken for Expulsion
Expelee families have new jobs, new schools, but nowhere to live as government reassigns their new caravan homes to Beit El.
Maayana Miskin, June 8, 2012
The government’s plan to demolish homes in Beit El’s Ulpana neighborhood threatens to leave more than one set of families homeless. In addition to the 30 families facing eviction in Beit El, 40 young families of Gush Katif expellees are facing the prospect of another year in the temporary caravan sites that have become long-term homes.
The young families were told they could start a long-awaited mass relocation to the Lachish region and would be given 40 mobile homes to stay in while they wait for construction of permanent homes. The families underwent the complicated process of finding work in the Lachish region and registering their children to local schools.
Then, just weeks before the move was to take place, government officials informed them that the mobile homes they had been promised would be taken to Beit El instead, to be used as housing for the more than 140 people facing eviction.
“It’s adding insult to injury,” said Eitan Ben-Hor, a member of the administrative committee for the planned Lachish-region town Bnei Dekalim.
“We’re families who want to move forward to permanent communities – not to have things easy, but to sacrifice in order to push things forward,” he said. “Suddenly at the last second they take the caravans in order to expel other people.”
“I’m not disappointed,” he added. “As someone from Gush Katif I don’t expect too much from the state. But I’m shocked by the lack of compassion. There are really no words to describe it.”
Let's take a look at the big picture, the picture of what is really going on here.
תלמוד בבלי, מסכת סנהדרין צז,א
תניא ר' יהודה אומר דור שבן דוד בא בו בית הוועד יהיה לזנות והגליל יחרב והגבלן יאשם ואנשי גבול יסובבו מעיר לעיר ולא יחוננו וחכמת הסופרים תסרח ויראי חטא ימאסו ופני הדור כפני כלב והאמת נעדרת שנאמר (ישעיהו נט,טו) ותהי האמת נעדרת וסר מרע משתולל
Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 97a
It was taught, Rabbi Yehudah said: In the generation when the son of David comes, the house of assembly will be for harlots, the Galilee will be in ruins, Gablan will lie desolate, the residents from the border towns will wander about from city to city, receiving no comfort (hospitality), the wisdom of scribes will be in disfavor, God-fearing men will be despised, people will be dog-faced, and the truth will be absent, as it is said, "And the truth is absent, and he who withdraws from evil makes himself prey." (Isaiah 59:15)
Is the Galilee in ruins, from Hizbollah's missiles? Does the Gablan lie desolate from the same? Has the wisdom of the sages of today been rejected? Are God-fearing men despised? Has the truth disappeared (into spread out sections)?
I believe that I discussed this originally with Tomer Devorah, a long time ago.
We can debate this passage, and its relevance, to our day another time.
For now, I will simply point out the eerie parallel between the fate of the former residents of Azza (Gaza) and the portion marked in red.
Clearly they have not found rest or comfort over the seven years. Furthermore, many of the residents of Elei Sinai were already expelled once, from Yamit in the Sinai.
Our "rule of thumb," so to speak, is that negative prophecies do not have to be fulfilled, not if we do teshuvah (repentance). But, teshuvah is not just saying we're sorry. It's not just asking for forgiveness. It's not just having regret.
It's also about changing our behavior, and making a commitment to do our best not to repeat our same mistakes again.
In order to do this, we must first determine what those mistakes are.
Let's think back seven years in Azza. There was very little resistance, and the little resistance was undermined by the YeSh"A (AKA Pesha, AKA Resha) Council.
Now, let's look at Beth-El, where even one of it's own "rabbis" says that he won't participate in any protests against the destruction of several (not at all small) apartment buildings. No doubt, many will follow him, due to his "charisma," not his halakhic support for what he proclaims.
I'm gonna go out on a limb here (not really), and suggest that trusting in the government is one of those mistakes.
When will we finally learn?
If we do not learn from our mistakes, and continue to repeat them, I have no doubt that the fulfillment of negative prophecies will become an regular part of our lives in Israel. May God forbid!
I once heard someone interpret the statement about dog-faced leaders that just as dogs walk in front of their masters but always turn around to make sure they are actually following (and never, themselves,),so too, the dog-faced leaders only appear to be leading but, in fact, they are too frightened to take the lead and only follow what their supporters/masters/popular opinion/special interest groups tell them to do.
ReplyDeleteAre we there yet?
Yes, that sounds familiar actually.
ReplyDeleteI really need to write about the "rabbis," but,...who knows what good it will actually do.
B"H - I think it would do a lot of good as it is clear that we are lead astray by so called "rabbis" that present anti-Torah ideas and concepts as if they were Torah. In this way a triple, quadruple damage is caused: Not only a deficit of Torah is created, replacement is allowed to creep in and fill the gaps and take hold of the nation. The fourth aspect regards the nations, in as much as instead of being a showcase of perfect society for them, we allow ourselves to be a poor carbon copy of them. This of course is "not Jewish" and the fact that we are doing it on G-d's Land is not good at all. It's evil actually and I don't see any way Hashem is going to tollerate this. I am afraid that this is the situation we are in and that is why I campaign for Jews to abstain from the vote, from the willing participation in the State's affairs.
ReplyDeleteOne mistake that we shouldn't repeat is the futile resistance to the hitnatkut, which achieved nothing. We must concentrate on two
ReplyDeletethings.
1-Educating the people and teaching them the truth about the national and religious importance of hityashvut in all of Eretz Yisrael.
2-Working within the political system (IMHO especially in the Likud) to further the objectives of the settlement movement.
To quote R' Elisha Vishlitzky we are already in the period of "Metziata deGeula" where Jewish sovereignty is a fact. We all must do what we can to achieve BSD geulah shleimah.
While I agree the Yesha Council is a problem, one thing that a lot of people seem to forget is that the at the settlements in Samaria, the residents did not wave flags and dance with the soldiers. They fought as hard as they could without using firearms and the IDF cleared them out just as easily as they did to the Statist settlers in Gaza.
ReplyDeleteOn the subject of rabbis: are there any rabbis who publicly support the "price tag" actions?
B"H - David Tzohar, Jewish sovereignty is anything but a fact. In fact erev rav sovereignty is a probability and Amalek sovereignty is a possibility. If you look at the signals the State gives out, you'll notice that they are inconsistent with Torah. Let me correct myself. The signals the State gives out are as consistent with Torah as it is necessary for the State to maintain its rule over the Jews. Over and above the its behavior, the State's institutional structure is goyshe, after over 64 years of what you call "Jewish sovereignty", none, zero, null of our Torah institutions are in place or are in the making, with the exception perhaps of the Nascent Sanhedrin, which is a non-State of Israel initiative. As far as your "working within the system" is concerned, if anything, we have proof that it does not work. But even if it worked, as Jews, we shouldn't go down on that pass as our G-d given purpose in this world is to modify society according to Torah and not vice versa, Torah according to society. This is precisely why reform and conservative are outside of Judaism, in my view.
ReplyDeleteShalom!
ReplyDeleteBilly, you should reanalyze the situation. In Amona it took a LONG day to destroy 8 houses. All of Gush Katif was destroyed in a week. The IDF has to go through much more effort to clear out a few houses in a outpost than they did to clear out 100 families from a Gush Katif community.
Hadassa on Uri's account
I really felt like we were starting on a process of the national religious divorcing from the state in 2006. It was a glacially slow process, but it was still happening.
ReplyDeleteAnd then stupid Nasrallah had to launch that dumb war.
It seems that the Gaza war plus the election of Bibi has, after a respite of several years, returned the State of Israel to the path that it was on in 2006: withdrawal to behind the fence and confrontation with the settlers.
The goal at Ulpana should not be to prevent the evacuation, but to force the IDF to take part. There will only be 3000 cops there. If we can get ~8000 resistors on site, the police will need to call in the army to finish the job instead of just providing security on the outer rings.
I remember in 2006 seeing kids burn Israeli flags and declare that they'd never join the army. We need to get back to that.
The prophecy mentions "Gablan". Where is this place please?
ReplyDeleteThe prophecy mentions "Gablan". Where is "Gablan", is it a city or a region?
ReplyDeleteGablan is the Aramaic for Golan.
ReplyDelete