Follow-up: Mida-Kenneged-Mida: Gush Katif Expulsion and The Gaza/North War …

Last Tuesday night, Rav Chaim Zev Malinowitz gave a Yom Kippur Kattan Rosh Chodesh Menachem Av Drasha which an attendee was kind enough to summarize and send around by email. This author, in turn picked up on this blog and included it on the blog’s daily email. As a result, Israel National News saw the importance of the Rav’s points and did a news report on it on their website.

This Motsei Shabbos, the Rav requested an addendum be placed to the summary which this author deems vital as an addition, as follows;

Rav Malinowitz further pointed out that most people, upon being asked what is the most intense sin, the one hardest to receive forgiveness for, would answer “Chillul HaShem” (a desecration of HaShem’s name)(based on Yoma 86a)

Yet that is not so! See Yoma 85b—-a sin committed against one’s fellow-man has no forgiveness, ever, in any way, shape, or form, unless the aggrieved party or parties forgive those responsible! And thus, if the good people of Gush Katif and Northern Shomron do not forgive K’lal Yisrael——!! And they are not obligated to forgive us unless we beg their forgiveness! Have we done so? Has any leader done so? Has any leader yet admitted culpability through acquiesence? Through not protesting as vigorously as he would’ve been done if HIS community was threatened with destruction?

If it was up to me, Rav Malinowitz concluded, we would be begging each destroyed community to pick one representative——–and together they would form a Minyan, and they would cry out to Hashem,saying–“We forgive,we forgive, and now HaShem you, too, forgive, and stop the present further destruction, homelessness, despair, taking place upon millions of our brethren.”

Commentary;

This author adds a caveat, that when the Rav writes “we would be begging each destroyed community to pick one representative——–and together they would form a Minyan …” that this means many more tons letters to the Gush Katif people such as was written by the Haifa resident and reported on Arutz-7, as well as flooding the refugees cellular phones with pleas for forgiveness by thounsands, 10s of thousands of secular Israelis, as well as similar 10s of thousands of Chareidim who went about their lives on Yom Pakuda, business as usual and who voted Gimmel or Shas in the past election — Chareidim who sit smug in their homes and have a mindset of “we wouldn’t live in Yesha — you think we’re crazy?” All of these requests for forgiveness messages would have to be, by nature, heart-felt, heart-rending expressions of deep regret and remorse.

I also include in this caveat the politicians — while we can’t expect hard-hearted Olmert, Peretz, Peres, Ramon, Ezra or Tommy Lapid to do such –to repudiate their policies of Realignment at any and all cost and to admit their error, responsibility and beg forgiveness , I think we can safely include Eli Yishai, Rav Ovadia Yosef , the Shas politicians (please remember this is my caveat and I take responsibility) as well as the Ashkenaz Gedolim and Aguda politicians. That all of them plead for forgiveness with their solemn neder that next time — the next attempt at an expulsion will be fought unequivocably, tooth-to-nail and by every means possible. MB