Author Archives: Rabbi

The People’s Republic of Israel

Posted on May 3, 2025 | 2 comments

Opposition leader Yair Lapid warned last month that “the crazy incitement” he alleges emanates from the government will lead to “political murder,” especially against failed Shin Bet head Ronen Bar. “We are on the way to another disaster. This time it will come from within… Jews will kill Jews.” Lapid’s threats should be taken seriously, although not for his stated reasons. It is because this pattern of the left inciting, fomenting, and committing acts of violence – and then blaming it on the right-wing – has a fairly long history in Israel.

While the identity of the murderers of pre-state Zionist leader Chaim Arlosoroff (assassinated in June 1933) remains a mystery, the Labor movement was quick to blame the Revisionists for the violence. The three charged were all eventually acquitted, but one of the open theories of some historians is that Arlosoroff was murdered to eliminate him as a political threat to his Labor Party rivals. (This would not be the first time the Hagana had committed a political assassination, having murdered Haredi spokesman Jacob de Haan in 1924. This technically remains an “unsolved murder,” although Hagana member Avraham Tehomi admitted decades later that he murdered de Haan on orders from above – and felt no guilt about it.) We will likely never know the full story.

Fomenting violence and blaming the right-wing reached its apogee in the year preceding the assassination of PM Yitzchak Rabin in 1995. As reported in devastating detail by Shimon Riklin in his recent Channel 14 documentary, the Shin Bet repeatedly tried to incite violence from settlers, including setting them up with weapons, choosing “targets,” and then intervening at the last moment. It even dispatched its agent, Avishai Raviv, to infiltrate the settlers (he even married under false pretenses an unsuspecting woman), instigate violence, and encourage Rabin’s assassination. Raviv infamously held up a poster at a right-wing rally depicting Rabin in an SS uniform, all so that the Labor Party could blame Netanyahu and the settler movement for this staged atrocity.

Note that well, because in the weeks before the Rabin assassination, Yitzchak Shamir even warned that “they are planning another Arlosoroff.” It does not matter whether their plan succeeded or went awry; what matters is the harsh reality that Israel’s “General Security Services” then continued the tradition of stoking the flames of violence in order to castigate, indict, and defame its political enemies.

When the head of the Shin Bet’s (“anti”-) Jewish division was recorded as saying about the youthful settlers that “we arrest these shmokim without any evidence at all,” he was escalating this tactic. Imagine arresting people on no grounds and no evidence, simply because you think the state has granted you such power, when it has not. He has since suspended himself, whatever that means, but in a functioning democracy, he would already be behind bars. That is unlikely in the extreme. And, as is well known, the Shin Bet has tortured Jews in order to extract confessions, genuine or not. For this, it pays no price, legal or political.

It is in this context that Lapid’s warnings should be perceived. If he speaks of the threat of imminent violence, it is all to prepare the ground for left-wing violence that can be imputed to the right-wing and then bolstered by a flood of echo chamber reports from the left-wing media. It also renders comically, absurdly hollow, Ronen Bar’s contentions that he is above the law and cannot be fired, fired because he has devoted himself to defending Israel’s democracy. And, having been fired, he announced that he will instead resign, on his own timetable, once he is assured that he can designate or approve of his successor. It is good to be the king, or at least to act like you are the king because the legal establishment is in your corner.

This is the stuff of secret police forces in brutal dictatorships. The more Israel’s self-appointed guardians of democracy – the secret services, the judicial establishment, and the mainstream media – trumpet their commitment to the people’s well-being and to the survival of Israel as a democracy, the more suspicious we should be of their real motives.

When journalists can be casually arrested, like the editor of the Jerusalem Post or the videographer of Riklin’s Shin Bet documentary, without major protest or backlash, we have entered dangerous territory. No one who espouses the “wrong” views is safe, to which even the Prime Minister can attest. He has been investigated for more than a decade and on trial for almost half a decade.

The weaponization of the legal system against disfavored individuals has long been a staple of autocracies but sadly has become common in putative democracies as well, such as Israel and the United States. Power – its uses and retention – is that seductive, and invariably corrosive. The legal system can always get someone for something and there is little downside in trying and no consequence even if a frivolous prosecution fails.

Beware of those who deign to speak in the name of the people or democracy, especially when they repeatedly lose elections (presumably the voice of the “people” and the instrument of “democracy”). Most dictatorships identified themselves as “People’s Republics,” such as today’s “People’s Republic of China.” For good measure, the world’s most tyrannical dictatorship (North Korea) is self-styled as the “Democratic People’s Republic of Korea,” whereas Algeria reverses its titles (the “People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria”).

Is anyone fooled by this? For sure, people who disdain elections and the rule of law while simultaneously crowing about preserving democracy and the rule of law are hazards to true democracy. For clarity’s sake, will we soon become the “People’s Republic of Israel” or the “People’s Democratic Republic of Israel”? Sadly, the elements are all there – a secret police leadership that is beyond control of the politicians, a judicial system that literally composes and enforces its own laws, chooses its members, prosecutes citizens arbitrarily, and is beholden only to the world views and values of the individual judges and prosecutors, and a media that is an organ of the state when the left is in power and a useful tool of the opposition when, as has been the case for most of the last fifteen years, the right-wing heads the government.

Add to this the continuous blandishments that “the prime minister is a danger to the security of the state!” and we see the groundwork being laid for an attempted coup. Can it be averted? It would behoove PM Netanyahu, currently protected by the Shin Bet, to seek protection from another force, much like in the US where the Secret Service is not a branch of the FBI but rather part of Homeland Security (after a long stint as an agency within the Treasury Department).

The good news is that most members of the Shin Bet are dedicated public servants who adhere to the law and strive to protect Jewish life and the land and State of Israel. And there is a strong but still mostly silent majority of Israelis – also known as voters – who see through the left-wing charade, the judicial hypocrisy, and the media duplicity. They are good people who eschew violence and instead endorse political advocacy, possess good Jewish values, and appreciate the State of Israel and the opportunity of our generation to change the failed political and strategic dynamics of the last thirty years.

They no longer trust these institutions and are no longer enthralled by the tales told by the tendentious holders of prestigious posts. They recognize lies as soon as they are spoken and want to reclaim their rights and privileges as loyal citizens.

The government’s inability to fire appointed officials is bizarre and most anti-democratic, for it renders the public servants answerable to no one. Oddly, both officials slated for dismissal but who refuse to leave (!), Gali Baharav-Miara and Ronen Bar, share the exact same gematria (Hebrew numerology); each of their names equal 508, which is identical to the Hebrew word, cheresh, deaf. They are deaf to true democracy, deaf to the will of the people, and deaf to the needs of the moment. In addition to other acts of incompetence, both are defiantly clinging to power on the wings of a corrupt system. They should both resign, and Bar, having resigned, should leave immediately, for the good of the country.

We are celebrating 77 years of independence and are on the verge of dealing harsh, perhaps even fatal blows, to at least some of the many enemies that surround us. Perhaps the internal struggle – the collapse of important governmental and societal institutions – should concern us even more at this point. Ironically, those potentially plotting a domestic coup are also those who are also afraid of victory, fearful of vanquishing our external enemies, and petrified (unreasonably) about the implications of a truly Jewish state.

They will do anything to stop it. We must do everything to counter them, peacefully, persuasively, but also firmly and insistently, so that the best days of the State of Israel, now 77 years young, are ahead of us, en route to complete redemption.

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Holy Fire, Unholy Lies

Posted on April 25, 2025 | Comments Off

(First published at Israelnationalnews.com)

There is literally no respite from the lies of our enemies.

This holiday season, as always, brought thousands of pilgrims, tourists, and worshippers to all parts of Jerusalem to share in the festivities of the holidays of Passover and Easter. And, as always, it elicited from Israel’s enemies a torrent of lies, provocations, and baseless accusations, all of which deserve to be refuted.

The three-day Easter celebration was marked by thousands of Christian pilgrims enjoying Good Friday services, Holy Fire observances, and Easter Sunday in Jerusalem’s Old City, with special concentration on the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. But a host of Arab provocateurs rushed to the media to complain about hundreds of people turned away by Israeli police, including the Papal Nuncio, from entry into the Church. Some of the protesters turned violent and claimed that Israel was defiantly interfering with Christian freedom of worship.

There is a kernel of truth to the accusation that entry to the Church was restricted by Israeli authorities – but not for the reasons ascribed to Israel by the provocateurs. By prior agreement, admission to the ancient church for the Holy Fire ceremony was limited to 2,200 people who had received prior authorization, with another 1300 allowed to access the outer courtyard and the roof. Such limitations are common throughout the world – museums, today, are a typical example – and prior authorization for entry is common at synagogues in Europe and the Americas. These restrictions are imposed for security reasons, and not only to defuse the threat of Arab terror, but rather to protect the worshippers from the potentially deadly effects of overcrowding.

Indeed, entry to the Saudi Arabian city of Mecca is barred to all non-Muslims, but even the number of Muslim visitors to Mecca and the Grand Mosque are severely restricted during the holiday seasons out of concern for the safety and security of pilgrims. This year, entry to the city of Mecca is forbidden beginning on April 25 and through the month-long Hajj season, to any Muslim who does not possess a valid work permit, a Mecca residency ID, or a valid Hajj permit. But enemies of Israel only perceive tourist restrictions in Israel of any sort as problematic and offensive.

As is known, the interior of the Church is a very confined space, and subdivided – to the inch – between some half-dozen Christian sects. The Holy Fire ceremony involves the kindling of a candle, with the fire then shared with the various groups until hundreds of candles are lit in this small area. In 1834 – unfortunately for our enemies, long before the State of Israel could be blamed – hundreds of Christian pilgrims died in a stampede caused after fire spread throughout the Church at a Holy Fire observance. The restrictions are designed to avoid the recurrence of such a tragedy.

Israel is especially mindful of the dangers inherent in mass crowds assembling in ancient structures. In 2021, forty-five Jewish men and boys were crushed to death, and more than one hundred injured, when celebrants fell on slippery steps at Rabbi Shimon’s tomb in Meron causing a stampede. That is why limitations are imposed at such locations. Imagine if there were no regulation of entry at the Church, and tragedy ensued, how these same critics would be lambasting Israel for its indifference to Christian life.

The enemies of Israel have it backwards. Rather than these restrictions indicating Israel’s interference with Christian worship, they instead testify to the concern for the life and well being of all tourists, pilgrims, and visitors to the Holy Land.

Israel should be lauded for its conduct here, not castigated.

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Tagged Israel

Defining Pesach

Posted on April 7, 2025 | 1 comment

(First published in the Jewish Link of New Jersey)

Generations of Jews, living under the most trying circumstances, surely asked themselves this probing question: how can we celebrate Pesach, the season of our freedom, when we are no longer free? We may no longer be slaves to Pharaoh but we were enslaved to Romans, Christians, Muslims, and Crusaders, to Inquisitors, Fascists, Nazis, and Communists. We were still tormented by evildoers such as Pope Urban II, Ferdinand and Isabella, Bogdan Chmielnicki, Al-Mahdi Ahmad (17^th century Imam who banished the Jews from most of Yemen), Empress Maria Teresa, Czar Nicholas I, Hitler, Stalin, and too many others. What sort of freedom could their Jewish subjects celebrate on Pesach night? Why celebrate that we were once liberated?

Conversely, many wonder today how we recite in the Hagadah “now we are slaves; next year, we will be free.” With all our travails and even the looming threats, we are blessed from Above with living in a golden age of Jewish life. There are few Jews who are persecuted today, Jews live in the exile by choice, many Jews across the world are remarkably successful, and our reborn Jewish state is flourishing despite the evil designs of our enemies. How are we slaves? And how is the average Israeli supposed to relate to “we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt”? That condition is so far removed from his or her daily life as to be irrelevant.

In the exile, we were not free, and when we uttered “next year we will be free,” it was with hope tinged with resignation. Today, we are free, so with what sincerity can we state that “now we are slaves”? Either way, the night of Pesach requires a relatable definition. How is this night different from all other nights? What change did the Exodus introduce into Jewish life?

Pesach night is the moment in history when we were designated G-d’s Chosen People. It is why the kiddush at the seder is one of the required four cups and not just a regular kiddush for Yom Tov; after all, it begins blessing G-d “who chose us from all nations, exalted us above all cultures, and sanctified us through His commandments.” It is why we read Shir Hashirim on Pesach, that sublime and esoteric account of the eternal love between Hashem and His people. It is why “this day shall be a remembrance for you, and you shall keep it as a feast to G-d, throughout your generations… forever” (Shemot 12:14).

In the opening words of Kiddush – “who chose us from all the nations” – we proclaim the fundamental theme of the night and the purpose of the Exodus: that the Jewish people were chosen by G-d as His representatives on earth. Thus, on Pesach, we do not commemorate the past but revel in the chosenness of the moment. That chosenness is still extant and transcends any political situation. Jews who lived with appalling persecution found comfort (sometimes even wry humor) in our status as the Chosen People. Jews who live today under the most benign and prosperous conditions need to be reminded that the objective of our national life is not the accumulation of toys but the realization of the divine purpose for which we were designated.

As the Hagadah states, if G-d had not liberated us from Egypt, “we would still be slaves to Pharaoh.” Really? Yes, because even if the tyrant would not be Pharaoh himself, it would be someone or something else. There would be nothing special, unique, or chosen about us. We would be enslaved in Mitzrayim, the land of limits, in the degradation inherent in a vapid and godless life. We might have been free but we would not have been chosen. On Pesach night, we were chosen, and history was never the same.

Certainly, many Jews recoil from the notion of “chosenness,” preferring to dilute the concept by referring to our increased obligations or responsibilities. That is true, but G-d did not label us His “obligated people” or “responsible people” but His chosen people.

Chosenness means that we are intrinsically bound to G-d and to no human being. Rav Soloveitchick pointed out that the Hagadah underscores that “we were slaves to Pharaoh in Egypt,” rather than the simpler locution “we were Pharaoh’s slaves.” To be a “slave to” a tyrant is what you do; it is not who you are. A chosen people can never truly be slaves to any human being.

What does it mean to be chosen? Rav Ovadiah Sforno (commentary to Shemot 19:5-6) suggested that all nations are precious, but we are the most precious when we are the kingdom of priests that teaches all of mankind to turn to G-d and worship Him together. Our chosenness is inherently connected to our loyalty to Hashem. We are mandated to use our talents and culture to spread G-d’s word, to be an original source of light to the nations rather than a pale reflection of their progressive values and decadent behavior.

And because we are chosen, we will always have a unique history that defies human comprehension. Only we returned to our homeland after an exile of nearly two millennia. Only we are subjected to relentless hatred from across the globe – from left, right, and center, from the “religious” and the atheist. Only we can be brutalized, massacred, and kidnapped, and hear sundry voices find large audiences when saying, “well, maybe they deserved it.” No other group on earth is victimized and is forced to hear those rationalizations. It is because we are chosen – and need to find our voice, resolute and proud, defiant and strong, to articulate this to others.

On Pesach we were chosen by G-d as His people – and every Pesach must be the catalyst to embrace our chosenness and use it to redeem the world. Chag Kasher v’sameach!

You can purchase my book on Pesach entitled “Road to Redemption” and also receive a free downloadable overview to the Hagada from Kodesh Press. Do it today and have it in time for Pesach or ask for it at fine stores everywhere. Check out this link.

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Tagged bible, god, Israel, judaism, passover

The Judictatorship

Posted on March 18, 2025 | 2 comments

(First published at Israelnationalnews.com)

The Judictatorship by Rabbi Steven Pruzansky, Esq.

On December 7, 1941, the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor, destroying much of the US Pacific Fleet and killing 2403 Americans. The commanding officer was Admiral Husband E. Kimmel. How long did it take President Franklin D. Roosevelt to fire Kimmel, relieve him of his command, and demote him in rank? It took all of ten days, until Admiral Chester Nimitz was designated Kimmel’s replacement. No one called on FDR to resign. Less than four years later, the war in the Pacific was over and the Americans were victorious.

How is it that those responsible for the catastrophe of October 7, 2023, were not held accountable? How is it possible that the Chief of Staff, head of Southern Command, head of military intelligence, and head of the Shin Bet – all abject failures in their assigned tasks – continued to serve well beyond what should be normal, given their performance? How is it that the incessant reports of the tatzpataniyot, the female military observers, were ignored – and who ignored them? Why do we not yet know the names of their commanders who disregarded their warnings – and are they still serving in their roles? Why weren’t they all dismissed within ten days?

Surely the answers are multifaceted and laden with political implications and personal considerations, but one factor stands out above all others: we are living in a judictatorship – a judicial dictatorship – in which unelected judges and the elite legal establishment effectively govern the country and hamstring our elected officials. Gali Baharav-Miara is nominally the Legal Advisor to the Government (yoetzet mishpatit lamemshalah), not even an Attorney General (tovea klali), but functions as the head of government. Ronen Bar, Shin Bet head, is to be fired this week but the firing may not stick because the Legal Advisordisapproves. Bar even asserted weeks ago that he will not resign until he can designate his successor, this too with the support of the Legal Advisor. His adamance and the government’s prior hesitation to act recalls the era of longtime FBI head J. Edgar Hoover, who could not be fired because he had dirt (true or not) on everyone. Is the Shin Bet threatening the Prime Minister? Gali Baharav-Miara cannot be fired because, well, she cannot be fired, as she presumably disapproves of her firing and the Supreme Court will back her up. This is not normal and it is not how democracy functions.

The irony is that the Legal Advisor to the Government does not at all advise the government on anything. She doesn’t advise as much as she dictates. She often refuses to represent the ministries when she disagrees with their policies, leaving them without representation except when she approves private representation for them. She must approve any government hiring and any government firing. She sits in judgment on any proposed legislation, killing those she disfavors before the Knesset, ostensibly Israel’s legislature, can vote on them. She determines the extent of enforcement of laws that the Knesset has passed, disregarding those she frowns on and over-enforcing those she supports.

It should be obvious to any impartial observer that we are no longer living in a democracy. The people’s rule is illusory and the people’s vote is ultimately meaningless when a right-wing government is elected. The Prime Minister is effectively emasculated, forced to look over his shoulder at the Legal Advisor, barred from major decisions because of the legal charade that has been hovering over him for years. Even if he wanted to act decisively – not at all clear – he cannot.

The Legal Advisor is buttressed by a Supreme Court that allows no limits on its authority, no limits on its jurisdiction, almost no limits on its appointment of successor justices, and no limits on its encroachment on the Knesset’s authority. Statutes mean nothing. The Court, and the Legal Advisor, have the last word – and usually the first and middle words – on everything that transpires in society. They decide who serves in every major position in government, they dictate police and military policy, they encroach on purely halachic matters, they superintend every government decision and Knesset law, they delight in providing every legal right to our enemies and withhold them from Jews. And they are unelected and unaccountable.

In the name of democracy, there is no democracy. And note the deft linguistic trick pulled off by the Israeli left and anti-Netanyahu crowd: in the name of “democracy” they trample on every democratic norm, and then they accuse anyone who points this out of being “a threat to democracy.” George Orwell could not have said it better. It is worth recalling that Communist and Socialist countries labeled themselves “Democratic Republics” or “Peoples Republics.” Yair Golan even named his new party “The Democrats,” notwithstanding his disgust for the people’s opinions and his contempt for democratic norms, including repeated threats to use violence to attain his political objectives.

To them, the biggest threat to democracy is the voice of the people, who cannot be trusted to elect the right people to govern them. It demonstrates that democracy can be destroyed while purporting to save it if the radicals have the courts and the media on their side.

Certainly, democracy means more than government by the people, and the essence of liberal democracy is majority rule with protection for minority rights. But that, too, does not happen here. Extracting confessions via torture is acceptable if a scapegoat is needed and fits the bill, like Amiram ben Uliel. Homes of civilians can be bugged and their private lives eavesdropped upon if the target is their bête noire, PM Netanyahu, and the decades-long obsession with finding some, any, criminality to pin on him. They would appreciate the crack of Lavrentiy Beria, head of the Soviet Secret Police, “show me the man and I will show you the crime.” Ongoing efforts to hold these domestic spies accountable have been repeatedly thwarted by the Legal Advisor, who found time to shield her son from credible accusations of theft on an army base.

Who doubts that there are two or three tiers of justice, one for the elites and the others for religious Jews, settlers, Haredim, Ethiopian Jews, Edot Hamizrach, et al? It is why the radicals can block highways at will and take selfies with the police, while Haredim or settlers or Ethiopians who protest are beaten, shot with tear gas, and sometimes just shot. Left-wing protesters who oppose the government and shout “democracy” can riot at will notwithstanding the commission of crimes; right-wing protesters who peacefully oppose left-wing governments’ insanities (Oslo, Gush Katif expulsion) are jailed without trial. Perhaps the latter forgot to yell “democracy” loud enough.

We are an unruly people, difficult to govern under the best circumstances, but the alternative and more powerful government run by the judictatorship threatens our very freedoms and renders our elections superfluous, if not pointless. Every government action requires its permission, every appointment requires its approval. The Legal Advisor’s control over all legislation is without any statutory authority but is a right given to the L.A. by the Supreme Court, which has no authority to convey such rights. That too is a clever trick, bypassing the legislature and elected government. And we can be sure that the legal establishment’s role in the October 7 Hamas massacre will not be investigated, and not just the Court’s insistence that the IDF modify its open fire rules at the Gaza border to allow the enemy unfettered access.

The loudest voices calling today for the defense of democracy are those that are systematically tearing it down. It should be no surprise to anyone that the same playbook is used in the US, where in the last decade free speech was denied dissenting voices on the grounds of protecting free speech, election fraud was defended on the grounds that democracy was endangered, and the head of government was investigated and prosecuted for years. The greatest paradox is that the more Trump and Netanyahu were persecuted, the more popular each became with the electorate who saw the rigged system and the unfairness of it all.

It is fair to ask: who exactly is running our country? Who will challenge a court system and legal establishment that is running amok, disobeys written laws, and fabricates others as it suits them? It is shameful but not unexpected that any attempt to reform the judicial establishment is met with threats of violence and national suicide, all of course to protect democracy and freedom.

If democracy in Israel is in danger, it is from those who are screaming that it is in danger, and from no one else. They use the term “democracy” to deflect from their disdain for democracy and they use it because their exclusive goal is not democracy but power. It is all about power. And they want to use this power to narrowly define Israel as a secular state, rooted in Western progressive values, with a Jewish flavor but little Jewish substance, and thus impeding our spiritual growth and national destiny.

The people of Israel do not want a secular, progressive state. They want a Jewish state, rooted in Jewish values, tethered to tradition, to Jewish history, and to our eternal and divine mission. That is what we vote for – repeatedly – only to be thwarted by the judictatorship and its minions in the media.

Let us declare that the jig is up. We will no longer be deceived or even moved by the cries of “democracy!” from the most anti-democratic forces this country has ever seen. We are on to them and their semantic games. Their shrieks “democracy!” should be met by us with derisive laughter and mockery – and arrests, prosecution, and incarceration if they violate the law.

No one elected the Legal Advisor or the Supreme Court to anything, much less the sovereign of Israel. Beware the politicians who support judicial reform, but “not this” and “not now.” If so, then what? And when? To the question, what reforms would you support, the answer always is silence. They too are the tools of the deep state.

Make no mistake about it. It is the deep state that is most responsible for our failed and botched response to the Hamas invasion of October 7. The deep state that operates through the Legal Advisor and the Supreme Court, the deep state that has sought to undermine the Prime Minister since he was first elected years ago, the deep state that protects bureaucrats and their awful decisions and leftist politicians and their disastrous policies, the deep state that cut the Prime Minister out of the intelligence loop, the deep state that spies on him and his associates, the deep state that scorns democracy even as it wraps itself in its mantle.

In the name of true democracy, they need to be reined in, and the sooner the better. A government that cannot fire unelected bureaucrats – no matter their incompetence or malfeasance – is subservient to them and has forfeited its legitimacy. Only determined government action will protect democracy and hasten the demise of the judictatorship.