Does it Matter what Rabbi Yigal Levinstein Says?

 י״ד לחודש הרביעי תשע״ו

This post was prompted by Tomer Devorah's The Rabid Dogs Have Been Turned Loose. Not only do I read everything she posts, but as you can see, her blog is one of the few I recommend on Esser Agaroth.

Let us set aside what Rabbi Levinstein's words for now, and take a glance at the bigger picture.

Whether Rabbi Yigal Levinstein was right, wrong, or right, but wrong about how he said what he said.any other percent right, or even more wrong than right, why aren't the free speech activists speaking out to protect his rights??

Oh, wait a minute. There isn't any free speech in Israel, unless, of course, your opinion fits in with the Erev Rav's anti-Torah agenda. I know that this may come as a shock to you ardent, Jewish democratists out there, but there just isn't any free speech in Israel. It is against Israeli law to call a government official a name. It is against the law to try to convince someone not to do IDF service. 'Nuff said.

Personally, I believe that Rabbi Shmu'el Eliyahu's words were a bit more balanced, yet also rooted in halakhah (Torah Law). Here are samples from his interview with Army Radio.

Arutz 7: 'I'm not going to apologize for the Torah'
Chief Rabbi of Tzfat defends Rabbi Yigal Levinstein over controversial comments labeling homosexuals 'deviants'.

Ido Ben Porat, 18/07/16

Rabbi Shmu'el Eliyahu
Chief Rabbi of Tzfath

...Rabbi Eliyahu emphasized that while he disagreed with the use of the term “deviants”, he defended Rabbi Levinstein’s right to do so...
“I don’t call gays ‘deviants’,” said Rabbi Eliyahu, “but its Rabbi Levinstein’s right to call them as he believes he should.”

Rabbi Eliyahu added that homosexuals should be shown love, not hatred.

“We embrace them with a great love.”

Distinguishing between the sexual act and people identifying as homosexuals, Rabbi Eliyahu noted the Torah’s condemnation of homosexuality as “an abomination”, but said that was not a reason to spew hatred homosexuals themselves.

“The Torah calls it an ‘abomination’, and I don’t intend to apologize for what’s written in the Torah. If God decided that, then he knows better than anyone else..."

...Nevertheless, he praised Rabbi Levinstein’s forthrightness and rejected attacks on his character....

Certainly, the approach of Rabbi Elkana Sherlo to march in the Jerusalem "Pride" Parade is completely misguided.

But, like I already alluded to, I believe this issue to be only one piece in a much greater puzzle.

Second, the fact that he teaches at THE MOST mamlakhti (diehard State loyalist) yeshivah ever, B'nei David, cannot be ignored. In 2005, Rabbi Eli Sedan, the founder of B'nei David's pre-IDF service "mechinah" program, was so hellbent on IDF soldiers adhering to orders to throw Jews out of their homes, and off of their land, that even the elder mamlakhti Rabbi Tzvi Tau had to call him to tone it down. So, there is definitely some Torah vs. State confusion to be wary of.

In fact, I am quite surprised that he was chosen as the powers' that be patsy he said something, which might be construed as going against the State's democratic deMOCKratic principles.

Likewise, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner has spoken out against coed classrooms and Jews dealing with Christians, more so than many other "Religious Zionist" rabbis. However, so much of anything else he says is... "challenging" to understand as to how it is based in halakhah (Torah Law).

Meanwhile, the ruling of Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu's ztz"l Beth HaDin (rabbinical court) against Rabbi Aviner, still remains ignored and gathering dust. Rabbi Eliyahu's Beth HaDin included which included Rabbi Avraham Shapira ztz"l Rabbi Dov Lior (Hevron-Qiriyath Arba) and Rabbi Ya'aqov Yosef ztz"l.


One one hand, rabbis getting some things right, and others way off, may be related to the "truth being spread out," during the generation of Mashi'ah Ben-David, no one possessing all of it, based on an explanation of the following suggiyah:

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)

On the other hand, this might just be the latest issue in a long history of issues used by the powers that be to keep the religious world divided,...even above and beyond keeping religious Zionist and Haredi communities divided. IDF service, refusing IDF orders which violate the Torah, olive harvesting on unowned land are just a few, such issues of contention.

I, too, differentiate between the LGBTQ leadership and its agenda, and individuals. And, quite frankly, the individuals, blindly following the LGBTQ leadership and its agenda, are just pawns of the assimilationist, Left, whose aims have not changed since they left Egypt with us thousands of years ago: Destruction of Am Yisra'el from within.

And that, readers is the greater issue, from which the news media works to distract us.