Q:
Should one say Hallel on Yom Haatzma’us? And if yes, should we say it with a bracha or without a bracha?
A:
The first question is really, should one say Hallel on Columbus Day? When Columbus discovered America it was a great blessing for the Jewish People. It was a preparation for one of the greatest Jewish communities in history.
And therefore, next Columbus Day, when they’re parading down Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, take your machzor, or your siddur, and go outside. And if you feel so moved as to say Hallel, then just be careful to say it without a bracha.
And on the 5th of Iyar, don’t say Hallel even without a bracha. Because the 5th of Iyar is not a day of happiness. And I’ll tell you more about that some other day. But for the time being, I answered your question.
(April 1975)
Q:
Why isn’t unified support for Israel today encouraged by all Orthodox Jews?
A:
And the answer is because it’s the opposite of Orthodoxy. Now, I’ll have to explain that.
Suppose somebody would make a big movement to take in all Jewish girls and to teach them to be harlots. Would you say that it’s justified by any purpose under the sun? Let’s say you wanted it for the purposes that their wages should go to support a kollel.
The State of Israel drafts girls. And they state openly in their writings, they have authorities who say what their reason is. They want to create a cultural rebuilding of the Jewish people; which means they want to teach the girls immorality, and the army is one of the best means for doing it.
The truth is, that a great part of the abortions are performed on girls in the army. A great many abortions are performed on girls in the army! Now, abortions don’t come from learning Rambam and Mesilas Yesharim.
And there are a lot of girls who don’t have to make abortions because they are using precautions. So the question is, can we approve of such a state? To us, it’s the greatest contradiction to the Torah.
Not only for Jews. Even if it was a gentile state, we would be violently opposed to such an order. Let’s say, suppose Japan were to draft girls, we would hate them for it! Japanese girls should all become harlots? If they want to become, let them do it voluntarily. But to force them into an army?! So how could anybody who is Orthodox or is a little bit decent think it’s a necessity to support the State of Israel?
Of course if they’re attacked by others who are trying to endanger the lives of the Jews there, we have to speak up. But we have to be opponents of that regime.
Now the present regime is one of the best that they ever had up till now, but still despite all the improvements, it’s still so wicked, it’s still so opposed to what we stand for that we can never make peace with such a state. It’s a huge bordello into which girls are forced to come and learn to sacrifice the principles for which the Jewish nation stand.
(December 1981)
