Divine Restraint

BS"D

Divine Restraint

by Binyomin Feinberg

feinbergbinyomin@gmail.com

Parshas Kee Sissa, 5780

15 Adar, Shushan Purim (March 11, '20)

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Adar Update link:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Z2nuHMNh-CQ3Te2MdV04dmFfkkmQ0TLNKElS9JT6yJc/edit?usp=sharing

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1.  B"H, we rejoice over the recent freeing of two female Jewish Refuseniks, who had been imprisoned in Israeli Military Prison Four - Lital bas Miriam and Tal Talya bas Liz. We know that Lital (about whom we had more information) had been badly mistreated for the approximately six weeks for which she was held. She was even punished, twice, with "Bidud" (Solitary Confinement, a term which has rapidly become a household word, in the wake of the Corona epidemic).

2. May all of the others girls suffering in Israel's gulags, over their refusal to serve the men of the IDF (female captives often numbering in the double digits) soon merit freedom as well. And may we merit to share even a tiny portion of the merit of all the others standing up to the harassment and intimidation of the Israeli government, which is seeking to force them into enlisting, Refuseniks like Ziva bas Mazal, and Olga Shamilov (Jewish Press, Nov.15, '19, p.17).

Alarmingly, the Israeli government appears to be clamping down own allowing information out from behind their Sabra* rendition of the Iron Curtain.

{*"Sabra" refers to a cactus, and is a term used to refer to those born and raised in the state of Israel.}

Therefore, we don't have all of the information that we need to help these captive girls, Refuseniks whom the government condemns to suffer in silent anonymity. 

3.  For instance, we would like more information about Volga (about 23 y/o), from Eastern Europe, who'd been incarcerated in Military Prison Six. We're informed that she sincerely wants to convert to Judaism, despite the torment she's been enduring by Hellenist "Jews." 

4. In this particular case, just think about the Chillul HaShem (Desecration of the Divine Name) alone: A non-Jewish girl, living in Israel, being persecuted - by an ostensibly Jewish government - for refusing to be drafted into the notoriously promiscuous and exploitive Israeli military -- while almost no non-Jewish military in the world *forces* girls to serve.

5.  This terrible desecration of the Divine Name wouldn't be as bad if only it would be clear to all that the perpetrators of this abomination have nothing to do with Jews or Judaism. But, unfortunately, that clarity is being unrelenting obfuscated, by those who insist on identifying the enemies of Torah with the Nation of the Torah. It is as if this ongoing charade is some type of Hollywood production that goes on and on, mandating perpetual "Willing Suspension of Disbelief."

6.  Did any leading Rabbis, - in the national religious camp otherwise - ever seriously entertain the notion that these antireligious Israelis, of ostensibly Jewish extraction, actually constitute a representation of the Jewish religion? Even those who felt the need to adopt various positions on statehood were united in the Rabbinic opposition to drafting girls - any girls. (And Ben-Gurion knew it.)

7.  Our Sages instruct us to give credit to those who perform a mitzvah, "Me'farsemin o'sei mitzvah." Why do those who perform good acts need to be publicly acknowledged? Perhaps to ensure that those trying to impede them don't take the credit. Additionally, identifying them is  necessary to prevent them from being blamed by post-facto "heroes" for "obstructing progress."

7. Accordingly, credit is due to those who assisted in putting public pressure on the Israeli government to release Lital, Talya, and others who have been held as prisoners of conscience. And credit is likewise due all those who offered and provided assistance to Lital and her family throughout her incarceration, since her stealth arrest on Jan. 13, '20.  Although it's not possible to give credit to all of the deserving parties, special mention of a few is appropriate here. We'd like to acknowledge the work of those who helped to bring the plight of Lital bas Miriam and other female Refuseniks to the attention of the international community outside the Israeli Holocaust Forum Photo-Op (including a poster appealing directly to Russian President Vladimir Putin), as well as those who informed the American Embassy. In appears that it is only because of the protests and other efforts of volunteer activists that Lital went from being blackmailed into taking a six MONTH plea deal - to being released - all within a matter of weeks (although her ordeal may not be fully past her).

8. We say in Ma'ariv (the daily evening prayer), after Kriyas Shema, immediately after the mentioning of the Redemption from Egypt: "... ve'Ro'uh vo'nov Gevura'soh," literally, "and His Children (the Jewish People) beheld His (G-d's) Strength."

The simple meaning of that is that, at the crossing of the Red Sea, the Jewish People beheld what was  the greatest public manifestation of Divine Power in human history. More specifically, individual Jews who had been persecuted at the hands of Egyptian tormentors witnessed the Divine Retribution visited on each and every Egyptian perpetrator, "Measure For Measure" (Midah Keneged Midah, see Talmud tractate Sotah 8b-9a). [See Ha'amek Davar (of Rav Naftoli Tzvi Yehuda Berlin) on Shemos 14:31 regarding the Midah Keneged Midah they witnessed.]

On a deeper level, perhaps, one can suggest the following additional observation. The Talmud acknowledges two types of Gevura, strength: power and restraint (see Pirkei Avos 4:1). The Talmud also employs the term of "Gevura" as "restraint" with respect to G-d Himself (tractate Yoma 69b). 

Perhaps this is the type of "Gevura" alluded to in the aforementioned prayer. It was precisely when the Jewish People saw the manifestation of the Divine Retribution - Divine Wrath that was (so to speak) "pent up" for over eighty long, tortuous years of Jewish persecution - that they merited a tiny glimpse of the magnitude of Divine Restraint - retroactively - over all of those dark decades. NOW they realized what they hadn't seen heretofore. It was now that they saw in front of their own eyes what G-d "wanted to do" for all those years of persecution, during which He "restrained Himself" (so to speak).

9.  This is a lesson acutely needed in our age, when we encounter arrogance of ignorance in the form of some people questioning "where was/is G-d?" in the face of human butchery and persecution.

10.  It's also a lesson acutely needed to strengthen the resolve of those dedicated to combating ongoing human wickedness, often with little tangible solace, and without seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

In this context, current events take on a deeper meaning. In fact, for those with a broader perspective, current events can serve as a source of inspiration particularly for those engaged in the painstaking work on behalf of saving those being persecuted by the Israeli military and government, a fundamentally antireligious regime - hellbent on drafting girls into the "Miz'ron Tzahali" Paradigm:

Solitary Confinement is Not Just for Army Refuseniks Anymore:

11.  According to the Israeli military, 2,236 soldiers are currently in isolation due to the Corona outbreak. While most of them are returning from vacations abroad, others were exposed to Corona carriers.

Furthermore, Army Chief of Staff Kochavi reportedly said that a "stern approach will be employed" to prevent a need to place large numbers of soldiers in isolation.

According to JNS, "Like all Israeli citizens, IDF personnel who returned to Israel from abroad from Monday onwards must enter a 14-day isolation period. The military has banned handshakes. No more than 120 people can gather in closed military structures. The entry of civilian contractors onto IDF bases has become far more restrictive. All other civilians have been banned from visiting IDF units. Soldiers have received instructions to contact the Medical Corps’ call centers if they detect any of the disease’s symptoms and have been abroad over the past two weeks." (March 11, https://www.jns.org/idf-steps-up-preparations-to-battle-new-foe-coronavirus/)

12.  Without addressing reasons for the personal suffering of specific individuals, we can make some general observations.  For years, many, many Israeli girls have been suffering from SYSTEMIC, antireligious Israeli government persecution, over their resolute stand against violating their personal purity, and Torah Law, by enlistment in the notoriously exploitive and immoral Army.

Many were subjected to incarceration, some even placed into the emotionally excruciating punishment of military Solitary Confinement, "Bidud," e.g. the B'nos Bruria and Lidar Shira bas Yaffa L. (as reported in June-July '19), and Lital bas Miriam.

13.  The Israeli government wanted to make those girls feel that they were all alone, in their battle against the human trafficking professionals of the Army.

14.  G-d is now showing the persecutors of those righteous women a slight foretaste of Divine Justice. Now "Bidud" is a household word. And, who knows, perhaps this is just the beginning.

15.  May we share in the merit of these and other brave souls - by taking up their cause, even when it means exiting our personal comfort zone. And, in that merit, may we witness  the salvation of the Jewish People from all of our enemies, external and internal, speedily.