By Rabbi Steven Pruzansky (This is reprinted with permission of Mizrachi magazine.)

On Yom Haatzmaut in 1956 – Israel’s eighth Independence Day – Rav Joseph Ber Soloveitchik  zt”l presented a memorable address later published as Kol Dodi Dofek (“The Voice of My Beloved Knocks”). The Rav highlighted six divine “knocks” on our communal consciousness to which Jews should pay attention– knocks precipitated by the establishment of the State of Israelthat revealed God’s hand in history. 

    There was the “political” knock in which, uncharacteristically, the United States and the Soviet Union in the early years of the Cold War both voted in favor of a Jewish state in the land of Israel; the “military” knock, in which a tiny outnumbered Israel prevailed over its powerful neighbors; the “theological” knock, in which the new State of Israel refuted Christianity’s theory of the eternal wandering Jew; the knock on the hearts of our youth, who perceived the divine role in history and redemption after the concealment of the Holocaust; the knock of “self-defense,” in which our enemies realized for the first time in two millennia that Jewish blood is not cheap and Jews will fight back aggressively; and finally, the creation of a refuge for Jews and the beginning of the end of the Exile.

    The Hand of Providence was already visible then. In the ensuing decades, and now as we celebrate Israel’s 75^thanniversary, it is appropriate to highlight six additional knocks in which God’s presence in Israel’s history and statecraft has been manifest.

     The first knock was the capture, trial and execution of Adolph Eichmann, the architect of the Holocaust. It was a brilliant operation that defied international legal norms and was denounced by the United Nations and the New York Times. But it established a new norm: the State of Israel is the custodian of Jewish history, represents all Jews, and will exact justice against our past tormentors.

     The second knock is perhaps the most obvious as it has shaped Israel’s history ever since: the Six Day War. It was a miraculous victory of the few against the many that followed several weeks of dread and apprehension across the Jewish world as Arab armies massed on Israel’s borders. But the Arab nations were maneuvered into a series of fatal and foolish mistakes and Israel regained control over its biblical heartland and the Old City of Yerushalayim. That we have unfortunately squandered many fruits of that victory and more than 90% of the territory does not detract one iota from the feelings of exultation at witnessing the triumphs of the Ba’al Milchamot,” the true Master of War.

    Nine years later came the third knock – the miraculous raid on Entebbe. After an Air France plane that departed Israel was hijacked and diverted to Uganda, Israeli special forces swooped into Entebbe Airport and rescued the hostages. UN Secretary-General Kurt Waldheim, later revealed to be an ex-Nazi, condemned the rescue as a “serious violation” of Ugandan sovereignty, not having lifted a finger to save one Jew. But Israel did, reinforcing the notion that Israel is responsible for the fate of all Jews across the world.

     The fourth knock is so blatant that we tend to gloss over it: Kibbutz Galuyot, the ingathering of the exiles. As pious Jews continue to pray for the realization of this majestic, prophetic vision, it is actually happening before our eyes. Jews have returned to the land of Israel from well over 100 countries and forged a society that can get raucous at times but has become a melting pot of Jews of different backgrounds, customs and historical experiences sharing one common denominator: we are Jews who have come home, precisely as was prophesied by Yeshayahu, Yirmiyahu, Yechezkel, Zechariah and many others.There is no louder knock that should cause us to open our eyes and behold God’s wonders.

    The fifth knock is the religious revival that has occurred. Israel’s Socialist founders assumed that devotion to Talmud Torah and observance of Mitzvot would wane in a generation or two to be replaced by the new Jew, a secular Israeli. But the Yeshivot Hesder program began in 1953 and the Haredi world was rebuilt and the religious population exploded. The Six Day War catalyzed a teshuvah movement that brought myriads back to Torah. There are more Jews learning Torah today in Israel than at any time in any place in Jewish history. And the full integration of halacha in a modern society in well underway but still a work in progress. Nonetheless, the unanticipated renaissance of Torah evokes Yechezkel’s vision (36:26) of the returnees to Israel being implanted with a “new heart…and a new spirit.” It is a Torah revolution that is only gaining strength and adherents.

    The sixth knock is the Start-Up Nation, Israel as an economic and technological powerhouse that benefits the world with our creativity and drive. This too was unexpected though prophesied. There is no surer sign of redemption that when Israel will yield its produce again (Sanhedrin 98a) and Rav Kook foresaw that reborn Israel would expand and innovate in all worldly matters (Orot Hatorah 9:5). Israel is a world leader in hi tech, all so that the Torah can be brought to full expression in the modern world.

    The voice of my Beloved “knocks” – in present tense! There are certainly additional manifestations of God’s providential hand knocking on our doors. The questions are: do we hear it? And how do we respond?

Happy Yom Haatzamut!

Democracy’s Woes

   What do Donald Trump, Binyamin Netanyahu and Jair Bolsonaro have in common? They are all right-wing politicians who have alternately won and lost elections and refuse to go away quietly. They all infuriate their enemies, political and otherwise, in ways that defy balance, reason, and common sense. And they are all persecuted by legal and judicial establishments that are controlled by the left, and this is the most ominous of all the comparisons.

    Brazil’s Bolsonaro recently lost a hotly contested election which he claims was rigged – and now finds himself under investigation by the man who defeated him. Netanyahu has been investigated for the better part of almost two decades and currently is in the middle of an interminable trial for conduct that is routine for most every politician. He would not be prosecuted but for the irrational hatred he elicits and the rational fear on the left that he keeps winning elections. And Trump is Trump.

    To be sure, no man is above the law, but no man should be beneath the law either, crushed by a behemoth of a legal system that is politicized and weaponized against an individual target. It is not a person being investigated for possible crimes committed but a person being scrutinized, like searching polluted for chametz with a candle, in the hopes of finding a crime for which he might be charged.

     Joe Biden, rather than lecturing Israel on democracy and the proposed judicial reforms here that will make our legal system fairer, would be wise to worry about his own democracy, the abuse of governmental power against individual citizens, and the dire need to rectify a system that no longer prosecutes most thefts, drug use, assaults or illegal aliens but uses its enormous resources against disfavored people who are targets.

    The weakness of the case against Trump is illustrated by two points. First, the misdemeanor charge of falsifying business records could not stand alone as its prosecution is already precluded by the statute of limitations. Thus it was a charge in search of a felony, which was necessary to get the prosecutor’s foot past the courthouse door. The felony chosen –campaign finance violation through payment of hush money – is difficult to prove and not only because it requires intent. It is difficult to prove because it is not illegal to pay hush money and when the money was repaid to Trump’s now disbarred attorney who paid it… the campaign was already over. In other words, the business records were allegedly falsified in 2017 through payments to the disgraced attorney but obviously could not have impacted a campaign that concluded in November 2016.

     Indeed, even if it was a “campaign contribution,” a highly debatable point, Trump would have been under no obligation to report it until the end of that quarter’s filing period, i.e., December 2016, long after Election Day. It is no wonder that federal prosecutors and the previous Manhattan District Attorney declined to prosecute. There is no case. But it is also no wonder why the current Manhattan DA decided to prosecute: he literally ran for office on a platform of getting Trump. That screams prosecutorial misconduct but the judicial system in America has become so politicized, and democracy so despoiled, that most liberal judges in the chain of jurists that will hear the initial motions and their appeals will not risk their careers and the leftist opprobrium they will receive by dismissing the case. Joe Biden –please focus on America and its judicial and democratic woes!

     There is a growing sentiment across the globe that democracies don’t work and its election results should be voided – unless the left wins. When the left wins, democracy is declared sacred and beyond reproach. Government decisions cannot be challenged no matter how tiny the government’s majority. Thus, in Israel , the first and second Oslo Accords – both catastrophic mistakes – passed with slim majorities, and the second only secured its miniscule majority by literally bribing two far-right wing Knesset members with cabinet positions.  Prime Minister Yitzchak Rabin, muscularly exercising his slender advantage, did not hesitate to taunt his opponents and those who protested his policies, even saying they could “spin like propellers” but the Oslo process would go forward.

     Whatever criticisms are levied against the Netanyahu government for its conduct of the reforms, they should pale before the heavy-handedness, even brutal dismissal of any opposition, directed towards the Oslo protesters. Similar, the utter contempt showed by the Sharon government – and the indifference of the judicial system – towards those who protested against and were victimized by the disastrous and immoral expulsion from Gush Katif. If anything, the current government has been too deferential to the opposition, certainly in comparison to its oppressive predecessors. We can only imagine what would have happened – and how the media would have reported it – if today’s protesters had received the Oslo and Gush Katif treatment.

     In France, as well, the streets have been overwhelmed with demonstrators who oppose President Macron’s unilateral decision to raise the retirement age by two years (how is that for democracy, but apparently there is such a provision in French law). Businesses closed, strikes were declared, police were attacked – and it is a good thing that Macron did not try to change the composition of the judicial selections committee, or who knows what would have happened. The protests in France, the Occupy Wall Street and Black Lives Matter riots in America, and the recent demonstrations in Israel may all have diverse motivations but they share in common discontent with, even rejection of, the democratic process.

    It comes out that when the left wins an election, they win and implement their policies. But when the left loses an election, they still win, because they claim the election was tainted, try to frustrate the implementation of the government’s policies, suddenly claim that the government’s responsibility is to respect the feelings of the defeated minority and decline to govern, and launch prosecutions of the winner.

     In essence, democracy is only a successful and admirable mode of governance when one side wins – the left. Something is wrong with that picture.

      The current effort to achieve some “consensus” on judicial reform sounds good on the surface – as long as it is not intended to impede or thwart the platform on which the current government ran in the last election.  Dialogue is great because no one side has all the answers and cogent suggestions can come from the unlikeliest sources. But, as Margaret Thatcher put it, caustically, consensus is “the process of abandoning all beliefs, principles, values, and policies in search of something in which no one believes, but to which no one objects; the process of avoiding the very issues that have to be solved, merely because you cannot get agreement on the way ahead. What great cause would have been fought and won under the banner: ‘I stand for consensus?”

     We shall soon see if the opposition’s idea of consensus is to so water down the reforms as to make them meaningless and inconsequential.

      The number of democracies in the world has steadily declined in the last two decades after reaching its peak in the early 2000’s. That is partly because some fledgling democracies abandoned that path and partly because some strong men seized power. But does democracy work anymore? Sure, democracies generally protect individual rights better but not totally, as witness the ongoing struggles for religious liberty in the US and Israel. There are favored rights and disfavored rights, favored citizens and disfavored citizens. But there is a price to be paid for elections that provide only an illusion of rule by the people.

      And, as Winston Churchill reportedly said, “the best argument against democracy is a five-minute conversation with the average voter.” Most voters are easily manipulated, which is why negative campaigning is hotly criticized but continues unabated; it works. See how much of the Israeli public genuinely believes that our democracy is in danger if the justices cannot have control over judicial appointments, something that does not exist in any democracy on the planet. And in exchange for voting every few years in elections that practically mean less and less (even though each one is advertised as the most important in history), citizens in most democracies have to tolerate high rates of crime, personal insecurity, high taxes, deteriorating infrastructure, government favoritism of favored groups, political prosecutions, and cloying self-righteousness on the part of societal elites that lecture the citizenry over how they – the elites – know so much better what is good for them.

     Autocracies are gaining strength across the globe, aided by indifference to any moral strictures. Of course, the downside of autocracy is that we the people are literally at the mercy of the autocrat, who might be benevolent, but is usually not. But if democracies no longer work and autocracies naturally frighten us because of the plethora of bad people who seize power and wield it for their own good, what then is left?

     Fortunately, the month of Nisan – the month of past and future redemption – provides us with the welcome answer, which is to prepare ourselves for the individual who will inspire, unite, and guide us to a world that is peaceful, prosperous and spiritually uplifting for all. We could benefit from Moshiach’s coming, and soon.

     Chag Kasher v’sameach to all!

It is not too late to pick up a copy of my new book, “Road to Redemption,” all about and perfect for Pesach, available at fine stores near you, from Kodeshpress.com, and from Amazon.com.

Enjoy and Chag Kasher v’sameach!

(Published on Israelnationalnews.com last Monday, before the great “pause.”)

Sadly, it has come to this. 

The State of Israel has long self-identified as a “Jewish and democratic” state – the order usually depends on one’s spiritual and national priorities – but the anarchist left has shattered both definitions. 

The anarchists do not want Israel as a Jewish state, except if we define Judaism in the blandest, most inconsequential way. It is not the Judaism of God, Torah, Mitzvot, holiness, objective morality, constant striving, self-improvement and a light onto the nations. It is a religion of – as best as I can surmise – being nice, non-judgmental, placing human reason above God, and feeling uncommanded to do anything. Certainly being nice is a Jewish value, but if that’s all there is, for that no one had to flee the Inquisition, burned at the stake, murdered by the Nazis and their accomplices or be banished to the Gulag. That philosophy can easily fit into several of the world’s religions so there would be no need to fight and struggle for a Jewish state whose territory is claimed by others and is a persistent target of much of the world’s enmity. In fact, if that is all there is to Judaism, it is unclear why it is so important that Israel be a haven for persecuted Jews across the world. If that is all there is to Judaism, why is it so important that Jews survive? We don’t really bring much to the global table and the marketplace of ideas. To the anarchist left, the “Jewishness” of the state is window-dressing. I challenge them to explain why a Jewish state is necessary or why it matters whether Jews survive. (Indeed, I challenge them to identify themselves! The media has been content to identify the protest leaders as “they” without explicating the pronoun. Who are “they”?)

The proof of their hypocrisy is not just in the relentless effort to de-Judaize the state, weaken observance and study of Torah, undermine the traditional family and vitiate the moral notions that we brought to mankind through the Torah. The proof of the hypocrisy is manifestly apparent in the recent demand that Shabbat be desecrated by repair work on the railways because closing the Ayalon Highway on a weekday would “endanger lives.” How hollow and facile does that assertion seem now. Apparently, the Ayalon can be closed – presumably endangering lives – for political protests, which must supersede Shabbat observance. Perhaps the railway authorities can coordinate with the protesters and do their construction in the future on weekdays when the Ayalon is closed for protests. What stunning hypocrisy. 

Obviously, the anarchist left does not want a Jewish state (which they have alternatively threatened to leave or sabotage if they don’t get their way). It is patently clear that they also do not want a democracy. They do not respect the results of elections. The people’s choices do not matter. They prefer that important decisions of state be made by one unelected person (the Attorney General) who derives her power from an elite cadre of other unelected officials, the Supreme Court. That might be a legitimate form of government and it might even be effective in certain societies but we should stop deluding ourselves that it is a democracy. It is not. 

In a democracy, political change is effected through the ballot box. In a democracy, the people govern through a majority and in an enlightened democracy, the majority rules and minority rights are protected – minority rights that promote and do not undermine the national purpose. A democracy is premised on the consent of the governed as is determined through elections. Political change that is effected through riots, protests, demonstrations, violence and threats of civil war is a hallmark of banana republics, not of democracies. We are witnessing the murder of Israel’s democracy at the hands of people who think they are saving it. Hence, their inability to conduct any meaningful dialogue with advocates of judicial reform. 

Several things should be stated clearly. Halting the legislative process will not slow it down until cooler heads prevail; it will kill it. It will not happen. Slowing it down is a smokescreen, a cliche, an obvious deception. The judicial reform movement will be dead on arrival, There will be no negotiations because the opposition will have stumbled onto an effective political strategy in its desire to undo the results of the last election. And a key reason why this government was elected and formed will have been vitiated. It will be yet another failure of a right wing government – a failure of leadership of Binyamin Netanyahu and the Likud. A new generation of leaders who are committed and steadfast will have to be nurtured. Perhaps the corrupted judicial system could then finish Netanyahu’s damn trials, one way or another, instead of dragging them on endlessly, endlessly, endlessly. And if he has to leave office? Well, isn’t that what most of these protests are about anyway –  not so much who comprises a judicial selection committee but how quickest to eject Netanyahu from office? And if he allows it to happen, he really is unfit to serve. 

There are silver linings in this catastrophe. Our society – our children, our citizens, and our leaders – is being taught that violence pays. Violence works. Our soldiers are being taught that refusal of orders and service is an effective approach to social and political change. If people are bothered by Shabbat desecration by railroad workers – or for that matter, anyone driving on the Ayalon on Shabbat – let tens of thousands of Jews block the railways and the highway. If a future left-wing government wants to evict Jews from our homeland or create a Palestinian state, let 100,000 committed nationalist Jews block intersections, storm the Knesset, and shut down the society. Tank the economy. “Let me die with the Philistines.” Let thousands of soldiers refuse orders. They can arrest one or ten people.  They can’t arrest 10,000 people, because then the American government will express its concern over Israel’s instability and call for a halt in the deportation of Jews. Sure. The secret to stopping the destruction of settlements, the surrender of land and the establishment of a Palestinian state has now been revealed. Violence. Threats. Protests. Insubordination. And shamelessness. These are useful implements to have in our toolbox, wholly inappropriate in a Jewish and democratic state, but, oh well. 

We are learning as a nation that any minority can threaten civil war, attack soldiers and police officers, and be granted their every wish. Elections don’t matter and voting is a waste of time. Let Esther Hayut and Gali Baharav-Miara make all the decisions. No one voted for them but they have arrogated to themselves dictatorial powers and have the strength of the mob behind them. That is all they really need in a state that is neither Jewish nor democratic. The protesters are passionate and may even be sincere – but they are anti-democrats. 

Yeshayahu prophesied that part of the process of redemption is ridding ourselves of corrupt leaders and judges who will be thieves, bribe-takers and perverters of justice. We have to purge ourselves of the dross. The process of redemption will be the restoration of the “judges as of old and the counselors as at the beginning” (1:26). He spoke of the ideal Jewish state that would come into existence. He didn’t mention anything about a democracy but, then again, neither does Israel’s Declaration of Independence. Yes, read it. It characterizes the nascent state of Israel as a “Jewish state” (Medinah Yehudit) several times and it doesn’t mention the word “democracy” even once. 

Perhaps the leftist, anarchist mob is onto something. But here is more good news. True, it is pathetic that after 75 years it seems that we no longer have the capacity to govern ourselves in a dignified, coherent and mutually tolerant way. But we can pray that the abject, embarrassing failure of the leadership class – the politicians and judges – and its displacement by the mob signals, and is a harbinger of, the coming of Moshiach, who, among other things, can save us from ourselves. Perhaps the time is ripe, in Nisan, the month of redemption. May we – all of Israel – be worthy of the moment.