'Gra's Lottery' says kidnapped boys alive in Hebron area
At the request of people who are close to the family of Naftali Frankel (the article says specifically that the family did not ask), Rabbi Shmuel Elyashiv, the son of Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt"l (may the memory of the righteous be a blessing) conducted what is know as a Goral HaGra (the lottery of Rabbi Eliyahu of Vilna) this evening, to determine whether the three kidnapped teens are still alive and where they are being held. The lottery (which is done by choosing random verses in a bible) determined that they are
alive and being held somewhere in the Hebron area (link in Hebrew).
If you have a bible handy, the verse that came up is Judges 15:14, which talks about Samson being taken to Lechi - a place in the Hebron area - by the Philistines, where he was tied up with ropes and freed himself.
We can only pray that he's right.
Not mentioned in the article is the fact that Rabbi Shmuel Elyashiv's grandfather, Rabbi Aryeh Levin, did a Goral HaGra after the Gush Etzion massacre in 1948 to identify the bodies of the 35 defenders (there was no army yet) who were killed.
Labels: Hebron, kidnapping, Palestinian terrorism, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv
Baruch Dayan Ha'Emeth - Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv zt"l
Baruch Dayan Ha'Emeth, Blessed is the True Judge.
Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, the leader of Lithuanian Haredi Jewry in Israel, passed away a short while ago. He was 102 years old.
UPDATE 6:40 PMThe funeral has been called for 10:00 tonight (Wednesday), with the procession starting from Rav Elyashiv's home in Meah Shearim.
Burial will probably be around 12:45 am ('Midnight' under Jewish law).
There's an interesting article about Rav Elyashiv
here (Hat Tip:
Mrs. Carl).
Labels: Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv
Please pray for Rav Elyashiv
As many of you have undoubtedly heard already, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv has been hospitalized again at Shaarei Zedek Hospital, and we have all been asked to pray for him (Yosef Shalom ben Chaya Musha).
Earlier this evening, Rav Elysahiv was reported to be in critical condition. The latest report has him in serious but stable condition, but not yet out of danger.
Labels: Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv
Please pray for Rav Elyashiv
Arutz Sheva reports that
Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv's health is deteriorating and asks that all pray for him.
The condition of 101-year-old Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv is deteriorating, and his spokesman told Arutz Sheva, “He needs mercy from HaShem.”
Medical tests last Thursday at Shaarei Tzedek Hospital in Jerusalem revealed that the Torah sage has water in his lungs and that his heart is working only at 20 percent capacity.
“Every day that there is no failure in his body systems is considered a miracle,” sources told Arutz Sheva. Doctors decided there was no reason for him to be hospitalized and that it would best for him to remain at home, where he is receiving medicine and medical care.
Shlomo Kook, spokesman for the rabbi, said that rumors of kidney problems and a general failure in his body are totally untrue.
Last week, Rabbi Elyashiv was able to leave home and attend brit milah (circumcision) ceremony and served as the sandak, the person who holds the baby during the circumcision, after which he underwent routine medical tests at the hospital and was determined to be in serious condition. He served in the same function, Monday morning, at a synagogue next door to his home.
The name given at the end of the article is inaccurate. Rav Elyashiv's name is Yosef Shalom ben Chaya Musha.
Labels: Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv
Rav Elyashiv speaks out against all 'Haredi frameworks' in the army and academia
I have a childhood friend who was one of the founders of the original Nachal Charedi - the first Charedi (ultra-Orthodox) only unit in the IDF. My friend once told me that when they started the unit, they spent a long time seeking the consents of prominent rabbis, and finally reached the conclusion that while the rabbis would not openly consent, they would not openly oppose the unit either, and therefore they decided to go ahead with it.
Over the last several years, the unit has expanded into
two new units. There have also been several frameworks opened in which Charedim could study trades and professions. These were opened because of the realization that this was the best way - from the general society's standpoint - to encourage Charedim to become economically self-sufficient.
The events of the last couple of months have taken their toll, and three weeks ago, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv issued a letter in which he
came out against (but did not outright ban) all 'Charedi only' frameworks in the army and outside of the yeshivot. I was not aware of the letter, which was reported on in some of the secular media (see the link above from which I will quote momentarily) and which appeared only in
Yated Neeman, a Charedi newspaper. Here's some of what Rav Elyashiv said.
In a letter to haredi newspaper Yated Ne’eman, Elyashiv said that “the secret and foundation of the Torah world and the community of those who fear God and live a life of Torah and holy purity is through complete isolation from all aspects of the secular world, and from those who have thrown off the yoke of Torah.
“We know how much the [spiritual] leaders of Israel struggled against this phenomenon,” he continued.
“They warned that the purpose of these programs is to change the spirit and essence of the haredi world and to subvert it with all different types of other influences, nationalist and enlightenment ones, which are not the values of our fathers.”
He called on the haredi community to follow only in the footsteps of ancient tradition and not be enticed by the blandishments of the secular world.
“Haredi educational institutions must be under the control of the rabbis, must be directed by them and must exclude all paths that lead to national service, secular studies or the army, even if they have a special programs for haredim. Such a programs put haredim under the control and culture of secular Jews.”
Last week, perhaps in response to Rav Elyashiv's letter, the IDF
backtracked on women singing. But on Monday, in my neighborhood, the letter is posted on wall posters (known as pashkevilim) in the streets. Since most Charedim do not read newspapers (except for some who might read the Tuesday
Yated which is handed out free to try to induce people to subscribe), the pashkevilim are likely to have a far greater circulation within the community than any newspaper. The fact that the letter has been plastered through the streets now shows that the issue is not dying. I cannot tell you with certainty that the order to post it in the streets came from Rav Elyashiv himself (frequently, these letters get hung by zealous followers), but I cannot tell you that it did not.
There are some commenters whose response will be "the Charedim have to change." They won't. If a rabbi of Rav Elyashiv's stature tells them to go to jail rather than serve in the army, there won't be enough jail cells to hold them all. And without any kind of vocational training (much of which, by the way,
comes from the army) it will be nearly impossible for those who leave the yeshivot to find any kind of legal (and by that I mean above-the-board, tax paying) work. We're edging toward that abyss. Will we step back?
Labels: coexistence, IDF, Nachal Charedi, Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv
