Today, the Orthodox Union received a letter from the Office of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert with regard to the fate of Yerushalayim in the context of current U.S. facilitated negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
The letter to the “Orthodox Union” was in response to a letter sent last month by the Orthodox Union to the Prime Minister in which the Orthodox Union insisted that the Prime Minister not cede portions of Yerushalayim to the Palestinian Authority.
The letter comes one day after, in a public speech, Prime Minister Olmert raised questions about Israel’s control of Palestinian neighborhoods in eastern Jerusalem.
In the response letter to the Orthodox Union leadership, the Prime Minister’s Office stated that “the issue of Jerusalem is currently not under negotiations with the Palestinians.” The letter went on to state “that in any future settlement, the Prime Minister will strengthen the Jewish character of Jerusalem, enhance its Jewish majority and keep Jerusalem as the eternal, united and internationally recognized capital of the Jewish People and the State of Israel.”
In response to this letter, Orthodox Union, through its president Stephen Savitsky, stated:
We thank the Prime Minister’s Office for responding to the Orthodox Union’s letter expressing our concerns over the fate of Jerusalem and we appreciate that the Prime Minister recognizes the significance of Jerusalem in the history and destiny of the Jewish People.
However, in light of the Prime Minister’s public statements yesterday and in light of the unparalleled significance to all Jews of the fate of the holy city, we must ask Prime Minister Olmert to be more explicit about his intentions and commitment to keep Jerusalem as the “eternal and united capital of the Jewish People.”
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20 Responses
PLEASE HASHEM GET OLMERT OUT OF OFFICE! Who does this guy think he is, having the right to divide up the holiest city in the world!?
OU can’t win at the game of politics (lies) so they want facts. What a joke they are!
for jews to have a jewish state before משיח comes is כפירה and to militarily take it away from the the occupants living there generations before is a transgraasion of the שלש שבועות and punishable by unspeakable destruction according to the gemarah in כתובות volumes of comentaries and halacahs was written and discussed on this subject for nearly 100 years by the biggest scholors and צדיקים for the business organization with their own agenda called the ou to voice their opinion and make demands on this subject is the hight of חוצפה and truly a חולל השם
“the issue of Jerusalem is currently not under negotiations with the Palestinians.”
translation: “currently not under” = the negotiation are over – we gave it away, just waiting for the ink to dry.
I don’t like that the OU is collaberating with the israeli gov’t under our noses, maybe we should boycott OU products and only eat with a heimishe hechsher,
This is all meaningless lies and obfuscations. Does the OU really think it will get anything resembling the truth from a politician, much less a Zionist?
Olmert means he will certainly divide Yerushalayim as is, and strengthen the Jewish character of the remaining half, keeping it the eternal and undivided capital of Israel and, most importantly to the Zionists, internationally recognized.
and where was the ou when israel (america) was giving away other parts of eretz yisrael, never mind the ruthless and uncompassionate treatment to thousands of jewish people (who still haven’t had any rest)????????!!!!!!
melco, where is the gemoro in kesubois and what are the 3 shavuos
“the issue of Jerusalem is currently not under negotiations with the Palestinians.”
To quote our dear former president, “It depends on what the definition of ‘is’ is.”
The more Olmert is investigated for criminal activities, the more he makes statements like these that appeal to the left (like dividing Yerushalayim). That’s why Ariel Sharon expelled 8000 Jews from Gaza – to get the left/media on his side and to stop the focus on his criminal actvities. Olmert learnt well from his master. Whenever I see a headline of him being investigated I get scared and wonder what he’ll come up with next to distract us and pacify the left/media.
melco – why don’t you post some of those halachas, I’d be very interested to see actual halacha regarding this.
however whether or not there is a state you are (debatably) michayev to live there – at least, for certain there is a MITZVAH to live there, state or not, Moshiach or not, and I can tell you where to find all of those halachas…
but I’m sure those would be a lot harder for you to preach
this letter was addressed to the ou. if olmert lies (what, a politician lying? what, an israeli politician lying???) whats the ou gonna do? what did they do last time (they said olmert can do what he wants vis a vis gaza — only when the membership objected, did the ou do a little something, like this)
this letter should be addressed and delivered to rice (and to abbas, but thats another story) in public. then we’ll see what (doesnt) get done!
his promises are worth last years cashed checks!!
he can promise fun heynt biz murgen seez “vert a shmek tabek”
i wouldnt trust olmert to take out the garbage
He also said that Israel won the Second Lebanon war.
hello,
the issue isn’t olmert. it’s the ou!
like who are they? do they live here? do they do anything for israel? oh, they bring mr. olmert kosher food!
I agree with DKLW1. Why should this time be any different than any other time?
I have a similar letter at home sent to me in 1993 by whoever was Prime Minister then (Shamir? Rabin? I can’t remember). The existence of that letter never stopped other PMs from negotiation Yerushalayim (e.g., in Camp David in 2000). Forcing the PM to write the letter is good in that forces him to acknowledge our concerns, but it won’t legally estop him from changing his mind.
Melco,
Unfortunatly the way Psak halacha works is, you can never paskin based on agaditah!! Therefore the Shalosh Shevuos at the end of Kesuvos is not a basis for not establishing a Jewish state. There were some Gedolim that wrote against Zionsim there were other gedolim that supported it. The world my friend is not black and white and it certainly does not make you a Kofer to believe in the State of Israel. Elu V’Elu Divrei Elokim Chayim. The problem is when you make staements using words like Kfira and Chillul Hashem, and don’t fully understand all the halachic issues involved.
What gedolim supported secular zionism?