“My message to the loathed Jews: There is no god but Allah, we will chase you everywhere. We are a nation that drinks blood. We know that there is no better blood than the blood of Jews. We won’t leave you alone until we have quenched our thirst with your blood, and our children’s thirst with your blood. We will not rest until you leave the Muslim countries.” -(Adham Ahmad Abu Jandal, yemach shmo vzichro; Hamas suicide bomber’s final message, captured on video) (Palestinian Media Watch)
“17 Remember what Amalek did to you on your journey, after you left Egypt-18 how, undeterred by fear of G-d, he surprised you on the march, when you were famished and weary, and cut down all the stragglers in your rear. 19 Therefore, when the L-RD your G-d grants you safety from all your enemies around you, in the land that the the L-RD your G-d is giving you as a hereditary portion, you shall blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heaven. Do not forget!” (Deuteronomy 25: 17-19)
Amalek set out to annihilate Israel, as our sages said (Tanchuma Yashan, Yitro 4), “Why was it called ‘Amalek’? Because it is Am Lak, ‘the nation that licks’. Amalek set out to lap up Israel’s blood like a dog.” (Ohr Harayon, The Jewish Idea; Rabbi Meir Kahane, pg. 292)
Rabbi Steven Pruzansky heads the B’nai Yeshurun synagogue in Teaneck, N.J. As a true chacham committed to Torah concepts, the barbarism of the Arab-Islamic world, particularly in light of the recent massacre of Jews in Har Nof, prompted him to write a provocative piece dealing with the savagery of these modern day fiends who would feed us to the crematoria if they could. Several weeks back, Rabbi Pruzansky authored a blog post entitled, “Dealing With Savages” where he reflected on arabs/muslims and referred to them (as I see it) in a most fitting manner. Not surprisingly, the immediate Jewish reaction was one of hysterics. Jews across the world exposed their goyish mentality by taking to the web and excoriating Rabbi Pruzansky as a racist extremist. An invading army of nebs posted their enlightened sentiments on the “Times of Israel” and other forums to express their disgust. Hardly surprising, considering the liberal state of mind of too many Jews.
And lest we lose sight of the context, who was Rabbi Pruzansky referring to? The kinds of blood crazed monsters who entered a synagogue with hatchets and guns and butchered four holy Rabbis to death as they davened shacharit; wounding scores of others in a nightmare of Arab depravity. Who can forget the images of a murdered Jew clad in teffilin and talis, lying on the floor in his own blood? Savages? As I see it, the rabbi used a relatively tame word. These fiends are Amalek, and I don’t give a damn about anyone’s notion of PC correctness. The blood of these murdered kedoshim screams out.
One of the saddest reactions came from the Orthodox Union, who responded with typical political correctness, to temper the shrill voices of “sensitive, liberal” Jews who were offended. On November 25th, the OU Staff posted a statement on their website entitled “Orthodox Union Rejects Incendiary Rhetoric.”
“Today, the leadership of the Orthodox Union issued the following statement:
We join in the outrage expressed throughout the Jewish community—and by people of good will everywhere—in reaction to the heinous murders committed last week by Palestinian terrorists in a Jerusalem synagogue.
We share in collective anguish as our rabbis and teachers, teenagers, innocent women and children, and infants are targeted by brutal terrorists. The world must recognize such acts of brutal savagery as nothing less than an ongoing terror campaign to oust the Jewish people from the Land of Israel. We view a forceful response by Israeli security officials against such terrorists as morally justified and necessary to stop the brutality that threatens our brethren and, indeed, the civilized world.
At the same time, we cannot countenance a response to terror that resorts to wholesale demonization, advocates for the collective punishment of Israeli Arabs, or calls for the destruction or dismantling of Muslim holy places. Such rhetoric is anathema to the Jewish religious tradition and has no place in civil society. Such rhetoric is wrong and must be repudiated, whether it is voiced by lay leaders, community leaders or rabbis. Such calls to action do not enhance the security of the State of Israel or enable Israel’s security forces to fulfill their difficult responsibilities.
The Orthodox Union urges all members of our community to speak out against terrorism, stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters in Israel and support the Government of Israel’s ongoing efforts to protect the Jewish People and the Jewish State—but this must be done in a responsible fashion.”
First of all, the OU’s notion of a “forceful response by Israel’s security officials” is non-existent. While Arabs riot in the streets hurling deadly stones and incendiary devices at Jews, the police are instructing Jews to remain at home. There are numerous accounts of police fleeing in their vehicles from Arab mobs. And while Jews cower in fear, Netanyahu contemplates how to respond by weighing the efficaciousness of his pathetic options:
- “Stripping” terrorists of their citizenship/deporting them
- Fining their parents
- Destroying their homes/parts of homes.
Ridiculously weak solutions, when the Torah solution is simple. One between the eyes. Every rioter forfeits his life. This is war. “If one comes to slay you….”
Historically, the OU has often played the moderate party line when it comes to controversial topics other than Kashrut. One notable example is in their collective failure to oust radical rabbis from the OU who have pushed their congregations over the years to the edge and beyond of normative “orthodoxy” as they disseminate “open orthodox” agendas. In this particular case, one Rav had the courage to state the authentic Jewish approach when dealing with humans, whose actions demand that we no longer refer to them as such.
Savages. Animals. Barbarians. Sometimes such words are appropriate. Barbaric actions are committed by those who become barbarians. The Aztecs were barbaric. I am very comfortable stating this. The scope of their culture was evil, an amalgam of idolatry, murder, mutilation, and ritual heart fressing.
One who cannot demonize an enemy cannot defeat them. That is precisely the root problem of Israel’s current leadership whose views on this matter are rooted in a paralyzing fear which prevents them from 1) seeing the enemy for who he is, and 2) doing everything necessary to destroy the enemy.
Non-Leadership
Yahadut has no place for the savvy politician who uses fraud to obtain and retain power. Several weeks ago, Naftali Bennett cited a fraudulent statistic that 99.9% of Israeli Arabs support the state of Israel. Empiricism and seichal expose this as a grotesque lie. It was disappointing to read, but hardly surprising. (Ironically, recent left-wing surveys contradict Bennett’s farcical statement.) Yet it is apparent to any honest Jew that despite Bennett’s kipah, we are dealing with a savvy politician who will cite absurdity for political expediency. In this case, Bennett wants to retain his post and sustain a steady supply of cheap (but terribly dangerous) Arab labor. So Jewish lives are compromised for a political agenda. Bennett had the right figures, he simply read the chart backwards.
Bennett is not a Rabbi to my knowledge, and so his views are not representative of a Torah perspective, despite the fact that many religious zionists went gaga for him as if he were the actual Messiah. The OU on the other hand is comprised of torah scholars. For them to cow-tail to political correctness by spitting out such a statement is grotesque.
The European nations who joined Hitler were savages. Why can’t the Arab/Islamic world, which is surely defined by barbarism and savagery be labelled as such? Years ago, Rabbi Meir Kahane was interviewed on a U.S. radio station in the U.S. One of the callers, a man not unsympathetic to Rabbi Kahane’s overall message, nevertheless took issue with the Rabbi’s harsh terms for describing Arabs which includes his referring to them as roaches, dogs, etc. The man felt that such words were unbecoming a Jew, and he maintained that they also served to scare off potential supporters who saw logic to Rabbi Kahane’s thought but were turned off his rhetoric. The caller noted, that as a volunteer fighter for the IDF during the Sixth Day war he fought with Arabs, and didn’t consider Arabs to be roaches.
Rabbi Kahane retorted that the man was being disingenuous, noting that if he had called the Nazis “dogs and roaches” the man wouldn’t have been offended. So the core question was not whether such a term was wrong, but rather how one personally views the Arabs. As Rabbi Kahane noted: “Obviously, you don’t consider the Arabs to be that bad. I do.”
Rabbi Pruzansky obviously feels that many Arabs are savages. I agree with him, and I think that most sensible people who have eyes to see, ears to hear, and a brain to construct conclusions, sees that the Arab/Islamic world is rife with horror and death. The Arab world, by and large, is committed to Am Yisroel’s total destruction in precisely the same manner that Hitler and his Nazi hordes were. So Rabbi Pruzansky’s words are correct, even if he has since qualified them in response to the vitriol that was heaped upon him in a classical Jewish knee-jerk reaction of hysteria.
Demonization of evil is found throughout the Torah. Amalek would be the prime example of this, but so would the many references to physical and spiritual threats to Eretz Yisroel who fall under the collective laws of war. One cannot avoid the numerous calls to remove and destroy foreign altars and such. Perhaps the OU isn’t comfortable to say such things as a prominent Jewish American organization concerned with the issue of “eivah” in a gentile country. So they should say nothing at all.
And what of Rav Soloveitchik, who often spoke about the fundamental aspect of Amalek which is a mentality and ideology that any people can adopt in an age where there is no longer a genetic Amalekite nation. Have the members of the OU not read Kol Dodi Dofek? Let them heed the Rav’s words, before descending to politically correct histrionics:
I will conclude with a recommendation for the OU. If your organization lacks the intellectual honesty and courage to state obvious Torah truths or support those who do, they should remain silent. Since the OU will not stand up for provocative truths, they have nothing to say to me regarding critical halachic/hashkafic issues of the day. So I will continue to read OU books on general Halacha, and enjoy the many works of Rav Soloveitchik’s thought that they frequently publish. I will also continue to enjoy eating potato chips bearing the famous OU symbol. But that is all.
My message to the OU is simple. Stick to Kashrut. Let others deal with controversial issues relating to Eretz Yisroel. Make sure that Wise Potato Chips remain Kosher in America. Leave Milchemet Mitzvah to those who see truth solely through the prism of Torah.