What should be the reaction of each and every member of klal Yisrael to the news that militant homosexuals plan an international convention, replete with a film festival featuring their shmutz, at the very epicenter of holiness, Yerushalayim ir hakodesh?
Since this information has been public knowledge for nearly a month now, perhaps it is fair to question some of the organizations that claim to represent American Torah Jewry.
How many readers are even aware of the constant encroachment of the militant homosexual agenda on the Orthodox community? A year ago a documentary propaganda film was produced by a homosexual with an agenda of portraying homosexuality in the Orthodox community in a sympathetic light. The film was shown in certain Orthodox quarters, including Modern Orthodox synagogues, and to the best of my knowledge the OU and the RCA did not issue any statements criticizing the film, its propaganda goals, or where it was being shown.
The past two years have seen homosexual marches in Jerusalem, yet we have heard nothing on the subject from Young Israel or the Agudah. How can it be that El Al uses part of our airfare to fund their domestic partnership programs for homosexual crew members with not a word on the subject from our organizations? What about the organization Gay and Lesbian Alumni of Yeshiva and Day Schools which advertises New Year’s greetings in a secular Jewish newspaper? And how about a refuah fund that speaks about AIDS and tries to lower Orthodox defenses about what causes this disease by preying on our natural rachmonus?
And now there is the 10-day abomination planned for the very courtyard of the King.
At what point does someone connect all the dots and say: Rabbosai, we may be having our annual convention and it takes a lot of preparation, but these menuvalim (and that is exactly what they are) have finally taken a step that is so outrageous that we cannot continue with “convention as usual.” We have to devote some of our time and sessions to openly confronting this effrontery to Hashem and come up with a response that harnesses all of klal Yisrael’s efforts.
Generating a few press releases or some behind-the-scenes hishtadlus just does not suffice. This time we have to say dayenu – enough. Enough is enough and we are resolved to fight this disgrace until the end.
Let us learn from the recent success of conservative groups outraged by CBS’s plan to televise a so-called docudrama that portrayed President and Mrs. Reagan in an unflattering and politically biased way. CBS had already invested millions of dollars, the program was heavily promoted, but just days ahead of its airing the media giant surrendered and pulled the program.
Why? Because opponents pulled out all the stops. Websites sprung up urging a boycott of CBS. Sponsors were contacted and strong displeasure was voiced. There were unrelenting phone calls and letters to CBS, advertisers, local newspapers and national radio talk shows. It was an unceasing pressure campaign and CBS realized that it just did not pay to let the flawed production proceed.
Breathes there a Torah Jew who would disagree with the proposition that there is no compromising on Yerushalayim – in terms of territory or kedusha? The holiness of Jerusalem is no less important to each and every Jew than the reputation of President and Mrs. Reagan is to politically conservative Americans. (By the way, three cheers for those Americans!)
So what can Agudah, OU and Young Israel do? Every rabbi should speak to his shul, every rebbe to his followers. Coordinate a relentless phone-calling campaign to every Israeli official in America from now until the event. Demand meetings with everyone from the prime minister to junior-level diplomats. Advertise the phone numbers to call in the U.S. and Israel. Have a ‘phone number of the week’ and let 300,000-plus Orthodox Jews tie up the phone lines saying, “Don’t Defile Yerushalayim.”
Harness every businessman, local politico and “macher” who has any real connections, business or political. Request that they direct their voices of outrage to their Israeli contacts. Speak to sympathetic non-Jews and members of Congress to enlist their help as well. Initiate a full court press and play the game, darn it!
The three aforementioned organizations should establish a special office to coordinate an unrelenting campaign on all fronts – contacting secular and Jewish media, placing op-ed submissions, maintaining phone banks, utilizing economic pressure, etc. “L’man Yerushalayim lo achshe” – “For the honor of Jerusalem I will not be silent.”
Believe me, if the Israeli government realizes we are not going away until this is resolved and that we are the ones who must be considered for the long haul, Israel can be pressured into canceling this homosexual convention. And let us not swallow this “Israel is a democracy and therefore can’t prevent a homosexual convention” malarkey. We have seen Israel censor Arutz Sheva and Amnon Yitzchok, prevent certain speakers from addressing the army, and prevent
gatherings for “security reasons. Let the Sharon government do the same to this homosexual convention.
Do you, for even one second, think that Israel would let this same group march around the Dome of the Rock or convene in a religious Muslim neighborhood? So why are they doing it to Orthodox Jerusalemites?
In their statements, the homosexuals have clearly indicated they chose Jerusalem to make a statement about the homosexual agenda davka, specifically, in the Holy City. This is a calculated attack on Hashem and His Torah, His people and His favorite geography.
What is equally sad is that the first haredi mayor of Jerusalem, Uri Lopliansky, has according to press accounts been dodging the issue, stating it is a police matter and not a municipal concern. For shame. Lopliansky already played this game during his election campaign when he was so coy on the issue of the second annual homosexual march that the homosexuals themselves saluted his “progressiveness” in the Israeli media and trumpeted that “Rav Eliyashiv’s candidate was signaling a new era of tolerance.” What a chilul Hashem! Is this going to be a chilul Hashem redux?
The $64,000 question is whether the Agudah convention, which, it just so happens, is hosting Mayor Lopliansky, will require him to emphasize his role as a haredi over his role of mayor. Or will the silence at the Agudah convention, chas v’shalom, strengthen the homosexual convention in Yerushalayim? Let us frame the question in Talmudic terms: “For your own honor you acted thus; how much more so must you act for Hakadosh Boruch Hu’s honor?!” (Gitten 57b).
To Prime Minister Ariel Sharon I say: Yerushalayim is not for sale – neither its territory nor its sanctity.
To Mayor Lopliansky I say: Yerushalayim’s holiness is not for sale, whatever the political agenda that motivates your deafening silence.
To American Jewish Torah organizations I say: Milquetoast statements for Orthodox consumption will not do the job.
Our people need some inspired leadership that, with Hashem’s help, will help us prevent the desecration of Yerushalayim. Jerusalem is not for the terrorists, the missionaries, or the
homosexuals.
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