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We Lost an Election. Did We Find a Movement?

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Reflections on HaTzibbur HaChareidi and the search for a missing Torah community Fourteen years ago, I wrote an essay entitled “Modern Orthodox or Chareidi: Are Those the Only Choices?” . I was lamenting the disappearance of a large segment of Orthodox Jewry that I had known growing up: people who were serious Bnei Torah , deeply committed to halacha and respectful of Gedolim , but who did not fit comfortably into either the Chareidi or Modern Orthodox camps as they had come to be defined. These were people who valued Torah learning enormously but expected most men to work and support their families. They were not necessarily Religious Zionists, but they appreciated the State of Israel, recognized the enormous good it had accomplished, and certainly did not regard its soldiers or institutions as enemies. They respected their Rabbonim without believing that every political opinion expressed by a prominent Rav became an obligation binding upon all of Klal Yisrael . I grew up in that ...
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Why Are They So Afraid of Us?

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I write the day before the Israel election. Tomorrow we finally vote. And I keep coming back to one question: Why are they so afraid of us? Why the attacks? Why the rally in Bnei Brak, which they say drew close to 100,000 people?  Why did Rav Landau say he would fight us with all his strength—and compare voting for our party to eating on Yom kippur or eaing chametz on the Seder night?? Really? What terrible agenda are we proposing that calls for this kind of response? What Are We Actually Proposing? We are not calling for the yeshivos to be closed. Quite the opposite. We believe that anyone who is seriously learning full-time should be able to continue learning, and that his right to do so should be protected. The “controversial” idea we are promoting concerns the thousands of young men who are not learning full-time but are still claiming an exemption, much to the frustration of the rest of the country. We want to give them the tools to build a life in which they can remain p...
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Lech Lecha: Rav Michel Twerski on Becoming a Blessing

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In the beautiful new book After the Davening , which presents the teachings of my beloved  Rebbe , Rabbi Michel Twerski Shlita ,  he offers a searching way to measure whether we are living the Torah we profess. * In this week’s parashah , Hashem tells Avraham , “You shall be a blessing,” and promises that “through you all the families of the earth shall be blessed” (Bereishis 12:2–3). Rabbi Twerski explains that Klal Yisrael is meant to teach by example. Jewish life should be so inspiring that when people wish someone well, they might say, “You should be like so-and-so, the Jew.” Our way of life should make others want to wish Jewish qualities upon the people they love. A Torah Life That Inspires Others Rabbi Twerski asks us to apply that standard personally: “Anyone who considers themselves to be B’nai Torah ” should ask, “Would anybody be moved to want to be like me? Would anybody be inspired by me?” That is a serious test. We may keep the letter of the law, yet fail to ...
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The Price of Dissent in the Charedi World

We are currently in a state of affairs where rabbis are silenced, families threatened, and private gatherings have become dangerous places to express opinions. In the Haredi world, religious persuasion has turned into political coercion and is carried out in the name of Torah. This needs to change. A Home Gathering Becomes a Test of Loyalty I tried to organize a small gathering in a private home in Afula, where I live. I was not organizing a rally or asking a synagogue to sponsor a political event. I wanted to sit with people, explain why I am passionate about the HaTzibur HaCharedi party, and discuss questions that deserve an honest conversation inside our community. I did not even consider asking the local shul where I used to daven to host the gathering. I knew that a shul connected to the campaign could face pressure, and I did not want to put its members or its plans for expansion at risk. Instead, I asked a friend who shares many of my concerns whether he would open his home...
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Whom Do We Call Heroes?

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Israel discovered some new heroes this week. When a FlyDubai flight from Dubai to Tel Aviv suddenly plunged toward the ground after the captain was stabbed in the cockpit, an extraordinary series of events unfolded. Almost miraculously, among the passengers were people with precisely the skills needed for the emergency they suddenly faced. Some were able to overpower the attacker, others cared for the wounded, and still others had the ability to help take control of the aircraft and eventually bring everyone safely to the ground. It would be unrealistic to imagine that every ordinary group of passengers could have done what this group did. But what mattered was that, when the moment came, people stepped forward and did whatever they were capable of doing. They did not know how the story would end. They saw that lives—their own and those of everyone around them—were in mortal danger, and each did what he could. Surely many prayed to Hashem for help, and the extraordinary combination of ...
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A Sukkah I Can Call Home

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The sukkah is a temporary structure, but it is meant to become our home. The Mishnah tells us that for seven days, a person should make their sukkah their permanent dwelling and their house temporary. We leave behind the solid walls and protections with which we surround ourselves all year and move into a fragile dwelling beneath the schach. The sukkah asks us: What kind of home do you really want to inhabit? What represents the essence of who you are? For me, that question is especially meaningful because, for a long time, I have not felt completely at home anywhere spiritually. I come from the Chareidi and yeshiva world and remain deeply attached to what it gave me: reverence for Torah, loyalty to Halacha, respect for its great teachers and the conviction that religious life must be taken seriously. At the same time, I have become increasingly troubled by the ugly perception among much of the non-Chareidi public that Chareidim are ungrateful, insular, holier-than-thou and angry—co...
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Yom Kippur: The Freedom to Become

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Adapted from a longer chapter in a forthcoming sefer on the Yamim Tovim, based on the Torah of HaRav Michel Twerski שליט״א and prepared with his blessing and encouragement. When Yom Kippur was observed in the time of the Beis HaMikdosh , the avodah of the day stood at the center of its observance. It was the one time during the year when the Kohen Gadol entered the Kodesh HaKodashim , lifnai v'lifnim , crossing a boundary that no other human being was permitted to cross. Among the most striking elements of the avodah were the two se'irim . They were to be alike in appearance, height, and value—to the extent that they appeared virtually like twins. The Kohen Gadol stood between them and drew two lots, one inscribed L-Hashem and the other LaAzazel . One goat was offered as a sacrifice, and its blood was ultimately brought into the Kodesh HaKodashim . Upon the other, the Kohen Gadol confessed the sins of Klal Yisrael before it was sent into the wilderness. Rav Shimshon ...
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