Crunch Time

Do we have any shame at all? Only one way to find out.

For the gentiles, this is another Jew-pidgin post. Sorry, but, as you may be able to see, it’s sufficiently urgent that I don’t have time for anything else.

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I had a nice post mapped out in my head for Lag B’Omer contrasting the difference between how Right Wing Zionists engage with texts that justify them acting out their desire to kill Arabs and those (which are orders of magnitude more numerous) demanding violent action against idolatry and heresy among the Jewish people. The point, obviously, was to demonstrate their total insincerity, which isn’t hard. The article was going to be wrapped up in multiple layers of irony, incomprehensible in-jokes, arch jabs and witty allusions, y’know, my thing. I even had a cool neologism I was going to try out on the world - ספק עבודה זרה לקולא - to describe the prevalent attitude among Religious Zionists (and Charedim: don’t think you Lakewood guys are getting off easy). But then this happened:

Behind him is 770 Eastern Parkway, Crown Heights, abode of the late Rebbe of Lubavitch. From the outside, it looks quite nice, though, as we shall see shortly, it’s bizarrely ugly on the inside. However, more to the point, 770 is the American headquarters of the extreme wing of Chabd, who have turned it into a global center kefira and bizarre pagan customs unknown in Jewish history. How bad is it? Yeah, it’s really, really bad:

For those who didn’t get it: they are waiting for the Rebbe to come out the door, which he does at 2.10 in, though, apparently, he doesn’t have to open the door to go through it. But ghost worship isn’t just an outdoors activity. More frequently, the Rebbe sits on a chair and you can give him a toast.

The closest thing you can come to a limmud zechus for this is that it’s so stupid maybe it doesn’t even count as heresy, but that’s not actually a real heter, and, even if they are patur on account of being shotim, you are certainly not permitted to go there yourself. There’s a ton more videos of this stuff going on. More to the point, Ben Gvir came to 770 with, and at the invitation of, a certain Yaakov Lenzner, well known as a open Moshiachist heretic. No-one, therefore, should be under any doubt that Ben Gvir knew exactly what he was going to 770 for, and the following very disturbing videos must be interpreted in this light.

On three separate occasions, Lenzner י"ש affirms unambiguous heresy, and Ben Gvir each time nods in agreement, smiles and says thankyou. Zionists have done some pretty ropey stuff in their time, but this is the first time a government minister has gone to a house of idol worship and publicly affirmed their idolatry on camera.¹ Next video:

Another open affirmation of heresy. Ben Gvir does nothing, smiles.

Repeated public proclamations of heresy. Ben Gvir stands there. Any Jew who is even slightly religious, who believes in G-d even a bit, feels sick to the pit of his stomach at what you just saw. Ben Gvir, though, he laps it up, he dances.

If there’s anyone, however, who has more contempt for the Torah than a Kahanist, it’s an Anglo Kahanist, and here is Yishai Fleischer, exultant at all the tumah he has witnessed:

‘The way to survive is through Jewish strength’. Look, I know that כחי ועצם ידי andלא בחיל ולא בכח and אלה ברכב ואלה בסוסים are complicated concepts. You need your hishtadlus and you need your bitachon, and no-one really knows how to precisely explain what that means. But, still, you’re supposed to try not to be a massive shkotz; you’re supposed to try not to sound like a social-media parody of navi sheker; you’re supposed to try to pretend that you care about Judaism for some other reason than to live out your warrior fantasies. Try. Just try.

Arutz 7 wants to conquer the Land of Israel because that’s what the Torah says. It’s definitely the Torah that motivates them.

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Kahanists have a particular passage from the Rambam that they can’t quote enough, for obvious reasons.

אין כורתין ברית לעובדי עבודה זרה כדי שנעשה עימהם שלום ונניח אותם לעובדה שנאמר לא תכרות להם ברית אלא יחזרו מעבודתה או ייהרגו. ואסור לרחם עליהם שנאמר ולא תחונם. לפיכך אם ראה גוי עובד עבודה זרה אובד או טובע בנהר לא יעלנו ראהו לקוח למות לא יצילנו. אבל לאבדו בידו או לדוחפו לבור וכיוצא בזה אסור מפני שאינו עושה עימנו מלחמה

Does this make me uncomfortable? Yeah, sure, it makes me uncomfortable. That’s why the Kahanist loves to rub it in your face; that, and he doesn’t know how to learn gemara and this makes him feel like he has one over on you. But did the Kahanist bother to read on to the next line?

במה דברים אמורים בגוי. אבל מוסרי ישראל והמינים והאפיקורוסין מצוה לאבדן ביד ולהורידן עד באר שחת מפני שהן מצירין לישראל ומסירין את העם מאחרי ה' כישוע הנוצרי ותלמידיו וצדוק ובייתוס ותלמידיהם שם רשעים ירקב

So, there you go, Kahanists, you are now officially hayyav to push Ben Gvir down a well. It says so in the Rambam! (This is not actual advice! Do not literally do that!)

For the rest of us, what more can I say? All those with eyes to see know the scale of the abomination that has happened, and they tremble. Some basic observations.

1. No religious person can sit in a government with this man. All the religious parties must either demand he leaves, or they must leave. Full stop. There’s no magic tinok shenishba get-out-of-jail-free card here.

2. Any Rabbi who continues to endorse Ben Gvir is, at best, a fake. We can differ about politics; we cannot differ about heresy.

After that, what can we do except pray for a compassion we do not deserve? This is not a drill.²

והיה כאשר שש ה' עליכם להיטיב אתכם ולהרבות אתכם כן ישיש ה' עליכם להאביד אתכם ולהשמיד אתכם ונסחתם מעל האדמה אשר אתה בא שמה לרשתה

1. It is true that many other Israeli politicians have gone to 770. In fact, for Right Wing Israeli politicians, pilgrimage to this house of idol worship is practically obligatory:

Nir Barkat:

Amihai Eliyahu:

Amir Ohana:

Yossi Dagan:

Simha Rothman:

Of course, all these people are great sinners, but they at least adhered to the rules of the game, which is that Chabad put away the crazies for the duration of your visit, you pretend ‘it’s just a small minority of meshuggenehs that are that way’ and you don’t get filmed taking part in kefirah.

2. This is where I make an obligatory statement about not all Chabadniks being bad. Not all Chabadniks are bad. But it is also obligatory to say that all Chabadniks should stop being Chabad. Whatever it is you get from Chabad teachings or practices, it cannot justify this. Just be something else 🤷.