Natan Slifkin's Blog, page 12

Some Israelis Have Lost It

In the previous post, “Israelis are not Moral Monsters,” I explained why the vast majority of Israelis who welcomed Trump’s plan have not lost their moral compass. Given the unique horrors and national-suicidal nature of the Hamas regime, virtually unparalleled in human conflict, and the absence of any other way to address them, extreme measures are required and are justifiable - in the exact same way as the global community took such measures in similar circumstances.

In this post, I’m going to...

Israelis are not Moral Monsters

Last week Trump proposed a plan for Gaza. It was a wild speech and it was completely unclear what he meant. Was he talking about providing options for Gazans who want to leave, or forcibly relocating even those who want to stay? Was he talking about a temporary relocation or a permanent relocation? Who on earth would make any of this happen, and how?

Let’s put those questions aside for the moment, along with the observation that whatever he was proposing, it’s almost certainly not going to happe...

On Ethnic Cleansing

Trump’s plan to relocate the population of Gaza is almost certainly not going to happen, and it involves all kinds of problems. However, what I want to address here is the widespread response of absolute horror and moral outrage.

First, let us divide the population of Gaza into two categories: those who want to leave (of which there are many), and those who do not want to leave (of which there are also many). Some people are adamantly opposed to giving the first group the option of leaving Gaza....

Three Types of Jews

Agam Berger, one of the Israeli soldiers who was released from captivity last week, is from a family that is traditional but not fully observant. In Hamas captivity, she kept Shabbat and did not eat the non-kosher meat, even though she was nutritionally deprived. (Watch this video on X showing her today, just a few days after her release, attending a ceremony honoring her sister, Bar, who has completed a military course.)

Zecharia Haber was a dati-leumi reservist who fell in Gaza a year ago. Rabb...

There's No Ceasefire Here

The following poster was recently distributed by the “Joint Committee for Saving People from the Spiritual Devastation of Army Service,” whose slogan is “Going to War against the Draft”:

In English translation, it declares “There is no ceasefire happening with us. When protecting the home, the future of our child and the Jewish future - there is no respite.”

Of course, it doesn’t even enter their minds that using imagery of tanks, and talking about ceasefire and wars, might not be appropriate, es...

The Lottery Farce

A lottery is a way to remove human control from a decision by randomizing it. According to Tanach, it’s never truly random - “[When] the lot is cast in the lap, its entire verdict has been decided by God” (Proverbs 16:33). Still, human decision has been removed.

When it comes to allocating resources, there are different ways of doing it. You can allocate them all equally and fairly, as best as you can. Or you can decide to distribute them inequally and unfairly, but to make the decision as to who...

Of Churbans and Nakbas

How do you respond when something devastating happens to your nation?

When the state of Judea fell two thousand years ago in the churban, there was certainly plenty of blame to be placed upon the Romans. Still, while you find condemnation of Rome in Jewish writings, that’s not the emphasis. The emphasis is on figuring out where the Jewish People went wrong and what they could perhaps have done differently. For a nation that sees Divine control of the world, there was a contemplation of which Jewi...

Charedim Take Action Against Terrorists

Without getting into the pros and cons of the hostage/prisoner swap, the fact is that hundreds of terrorists are being released. While some are being released into Gaza, others are being released into the West Bank, and some into East Jerusalem. Naturally, this presents an increased security risk. The IDF has increased its forces in the West Bank, but there has not been a concurrent increase of defensive forces in Jerusalem.

The charedi community, many of whom live in Jerusalem, are very concerne...

"Daas Torah" on the Hostage Deal

What is (charedi) Daas Torah on the hostage release/ ceasefire deal? That was the question posed to Rabbi Chaim Feinstein (not a descendant of Rav Moshe Feinstein but a cousin), who heads the vast Ateres Shlomo yeshiva network. Yeshiva World News reports as follows:

Rosh Yeshivas Ateres Shlomo, HaGaon HaRav Chaim Feinstein, holds a weekly va’ad for avreichim on the sefer Nefesh HaChaim. At the end of this week’s shiur, one of the participants asked the Rosh Yeshivah about Daas Torah on the hostag...

Gaza Wins and Losses

The reactions to the impending ceasefire and hostage/prisoner trade are extraordinary.

Let’s first review the losses for each side:

Gaza:

Hamas’ entire upper leadership killed

Tens of thousands of fighters killed (vastly outnumbering whoever will be released in the trade), many more injured

Tens of thousands of civilians killed, many more injured

Utterly catastrophic devastation

Seemingly invincible allies (Hezbollah, Assad) defeated

Major sponsor (Iran) weakened and shamed

Israel:

Nearly a thousand civ...