Q:
Can the Rav comment on the two yeshiva boys who were put in jail in Israel?
A:
About the two yeshiva boys who were jailed in Yerushalayim for burning down the Eros pornography store, there’s nothing for me to comment. The boys are heroes.
Today the youth do terrible things and you have committees – I don’t want to say who signs – but certain people sign on, certain roshei yeshiva sign on, to release boys who bombed or shot at the Russian embassy. And there’s a lot of sympathy for them.
So, in such an atmosphere the question is where is the sympathy for two honest boys who burned down a pornography store in Jerusalem? This Medinah is the only place that such a store can be opened in Jerusalem – never before did it happen; not under the Turks, not under the Arabs and not even under the Englishmen, did anybody dare to open a pornography store in Yerushalayim, the sacred city. That itself is a sign that the State is rotten to the core. Medinas Yisroel is rotten through and through. You have to know – it’s rotten through and through.
People don’t realize that the greatest peril to the Jewish nation today is the State of Israel. People say it’s fanaticism but they don’t understand. The greatest peril to our nation today is the State of Israel! Because you have today an organized group of atheists – they’re atheists – and they’re not just atheists like a man on the street who’s an atheist, who just doesn’t care. They’re atheists who are interested in wiping out Torah Judaism from the world. And they have today more power than any atheist ever had before. It’s the power of a nation, a State!
And so, these two boys, let’s say they committed an indiscretion – to me it’s not an indiscretion because you have to do something! But let’s say they committed an indiscretion. And now the government refused them bail. What motivated the court? The court said they were doing this to reach a lesson to the Orthodox community. They were punishing the whole Orthodox community. They were punishing you and me so that we shouldn’t think that we are going to be the ones who are going to tell them how Jerusalem should be. Yerushalayim can be a Paris as far as they’re concerned, chas v’shalom. That’s what they want.
But we won’t let it. We don’t want it to be Paris. We want Yerushalayim to be at least what the Turks wanted it to be. Not even what the Jews should want it to be; but at least as decent as the Turks wanted it. If we can’t be in Yerushalayim as decent as the Turks were – I’ll tell a little story: Someone once showed me a copy of that rag, the Jewish Press, and it showed a picture. An Arab was sitting on a donkey and a girl in shorts, presumably a Jewish girl, was walking by. And the Arab was looking at her. Underneath the picture was a caption. The Jewish Press was full of glee: “For The First Time in the History of the Old City They’re Seeing Such Sights.” The Jewish Press, the Orthodox mouthpiece – at the other end; I won’t say what – they were melting in happiness, that we have arrived at such a nachas, that in Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh, where Arabs never before saw anything like this, now we’re treating the Arabs to a scene, to a sight of what Jews really can do. It’s a national disgrace!
So when they told those boys that they’re not giving them bail because they want to punish the Orthodox community; it was a declaration of war!
Actually we know it already – it’s old business. But the people in America are asleep. They don’t have any idea what is taking place. They think that these Orthodox Jews are too pious, too extreme. And they think that the people in Israel – the government in Israel – they don’t mean anything wrong. All they want is just to build up the state; only that they’re not Orthodox. But they have nothing against the Orthodox. Nothing is further from the truth! They are actively interested in stamping out every vestige of Torah! They don’t want any Judaism! They want a brand new kind of ideology called “Israel”. And — [ at this point the tape ended and the rest of the Rav’s answer was not recorded. V’chaval al di’avdan]
TAPE # 1
