The leader of a Kibbutz in Northern Israel smashed a Menorah to pieces. His reason? He does not want Baalei Teshuva in his Kibbutz. The following is the detailed story, as reported by Shturem:
A group of residents of Kibbutz Afek in northern Israel asked the local Chabad Shliach, Rabbi Moshe Shmuel Oirechman to provide them with a Menorah for Chanukah. Sure enough, the Menorah was brought and set up on the lawn near their homes, the candles were lit, and everybody was happy.
But all this was shattered the next morning when they found the Menorah smashed to bits. Even more shocking was the fact that the culprit was none other than the head of the Kibbutz himself. When asked why he did it he replied “because I don’t want ‘Baalei Teshuva’ in this Kibbutz.”
Members of the Rappaort family, residents of the Kibbutz that asked Rabbi Oirechman for the Menorah wrote him a heart-breaking letter of apology. After describing a similar incident by the Nazis in 1936, the letter states:
“We too will never forget this Chanukah when the head of our Kibbutz destroyed the Menorah that you provided for us.
“He who disrupted the joy of the children and caused anguish to many of the residents reminded us of the dark period of the Gestapo who found a Chanukah Menorah hidden away in the Warsaw Ghetto and cracked the skull of a Jew with it.
“Rabbi Oirechman, the head of our Kibbutz said that he will not lend a hand to those who want to be religious. How funny! Since when does a Menorah make one religious? I wonder what David Ben Gurion would have to say about that. He was the first prime minister of Israel who encouraged the educational system to celebrate Chanukah which symbolizes the courage of the Maccabbeas. It’s interesting to note that Ben Gurion, who was known not to have a particular liking for religious Jews declared that he considers Chanukah as the most important holiday among the Jewish holidays.
“I really want to apologize to you, Rabbi Oirechman, because by uprooting the Chanukah Menorah in the Kibbutz it sent a message of disdain of all that you represent. You represent the Chabad emissaries around the world including Rabbi Wilhelm the Chabad emissary in Thailand. He is the Rabbi who during the days of the tsunami (two years ago) turned over every stone in search of any trace of one of the children of a member this Kibbutz who went missing.
“His mother who is a member of this Kibbutz where the Menorah was destroyed who was worried to death still does not stop thanking Rabbi Wilhelm for finding her son and bringing him back to her safe and sound.
“I am ashamed that there are such people living in the same Kibbutz that I do and raise my son. I also don’t know what to tell my son when he will ask me ‘where is the menorah?’
“Lately, the leaders of the Kibbutz have been promoting a campaign to get new members to move in. I believe their financial situation is not so bright and therefore are allowing me to stay. I admit that the uprooting of the Menorah shocked me deeply.
“I hope, Rabbi Oirechman, that you will accept my apology and forgive me. I know you will forgive me. You are a great man. A man who feeds hundreds of hungry and impoverished students and poor people in the morning and afternoon; a man who during the war with Lebanon exposed himself to the katyushas and was in a life threatening situation and ran around to the senior citizens to make sure they have food and whatever they need – is truly a great man. You are much greater than that man who is gripped with stereotypes and with an inferiority complex who uprooted the menorah and thereby uprooted the joy of the holiday for us all.
(Signed) The Rappaport family, Kibbutz Afek.
(Source: Shturem)
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21 Responses
Dear FEIF:
May I politely suggest that you are ignorant about the true ideology of Zionism and its history.
The fouNder of Modern Zionism, Theodr Herzl, proposed that Jews solve the anti-semitism problem by lining up outside a church, while the bells tolled, and accepting Baptism into the Catholic religion–no Jews, no anti-Semitism, simple!
The Brisker Rav, Reb Velvel, ZT”L, said that the State was founded as a vehicle to transform the Jewish People from the Am HaTorah into the Am HaEuropean. Ben Gurion agreed!
So, this Kibbutznick–Hellnist, who destroyed the Chanukkah menorah was actually a REAL ZIONIST.
I agree with deepthinker.
Mashiach is coming, and there needs to be an army to fight against him. Seems like recently there have been a lot of volunteers.
Sad and misquided individual, our Torah ways of love, respect and pleasantness will eventually seep into his frozen veins. I would have suggested for the first menorah lighting, to light inside on the windowsill facing the outside, why start in your FACE????
I agree with deepthinker that this man is a true blue zionist, with extreme hate for yidishkeit. However I find it ironic that he understood that the menorah is a religious symbol, while the Rappaports who it seems are on their way back to yidishkeit think its just a symbol which shows jewish courage. But then again they probably got that idea from the very shliach who gave them the menorah. Chabad has been using the argument for years in the US courts that separation of church and state should not prevent a menorah from being placed on gov’t property because the menorah is just a cultural symbol, not a religious one.
Another open Jew Hater uncovered, c’mon all out of the closet. what should he do if this is what he was taught from the Zionists to everything religious.
Yes, Feif Un. We know that the Zionists would never stop candle lighting. They have a history of lighting candles. Especially on Shabbos. Just ask the yaldei Tehran and others.
You don’t have to be a Zionist to hate religious Jews. Hitler wasn’t a Zionist…
DEar RebShalom:
Do you deny that Herzl proposed conversion to Christianity as a solution to “The Jewish Problem?”
Hertz’s closest associate, Max Nordau, married a gentile.
The fellow who smashed the menorah is not some down-and-out kook from a mental institution. He is the Head of the whole kibbutz. He is in charge.
On second thought, maybe you’re right. Maybe Zionism is a mental disease, and they should all be committed!
Dear FEIF:
You can’t redefine Zionism to suit your tastes. Zionism has an established meaning, based on its historical context.
Although there were–and still are–religious Zionists, they are a side show, barely tolerated by the hard-left-wing socialist Zionists, who run the show in Israel.
In fact, the secular Zionists are now in the process of destroying what is left of religious Zionism, now that it has served its purpose. Gush Katif is gone, and the religious settlements on the West bank are next.
The way you define Zionism–love of Eretz Yisroel–every Jew is a Zionist, including the Satmar Rebbe, ZT”L!
“I would have suggested for the first menorah lighting, to light inside on the windowsill facing the outside, why start in your FACE????
Comment by bklynmom — December 12, 2007 @ 1:16 pm
I agree with you, but would add that not only would it be more tactful, it is also the way to be mekayem the mitzvah. A menorah on the lawn is just decoration, not a mitzvah. The mitzvah is to light it in the house or at the door, not on the lawn. Kind of goes back to whether lighting it is a cultural thing or a religious thing.
Hey FEIF:
Moshe Rabbeinu was a true zionist. 515 t’filos to get into Eretz Yisroel. Mitzvos, Torah, Maasem Tovem, that’s what keeps us in Eretz Yisroel.
L’havdil Herzel wanted a Jewish homeland in.. UGANDA! Zionism? Don’t think so. Doing all those ‘zionist’ aveiros – like the shame parade & what it represents – Zionism? The Torah spells it out: whoever does these acts, the Land will spit them out. Zionism? Don’t think so.
This sick hellenist had good rabayim, ie: Herzel & his kids, Nordau, Ben Gugu… all the way down to the self hating Jews sitting on Israel’s High Court. All with the same goal: eradicate the Torah & make the Jews a ‘normal’ people, yeh like Lavan, Eisav, Amalek, etc. Like why should we be different from the rest of the world, right?
BTW, without Torah, what lomdus do these Hellenists use to justify thier claim on Eretz Yisroel?
Deepthinker (irony?):
Its not about re-defining Zionism. It setting the meaning straight. Its not a term that that anti-Religious Israelis can snatch for themselves. I think its reasonable to say that due to their combined hatred of Orthodoxy and love of Israel a phenomena has resulted where many frum Jews have lost that intense love for Eretz Yisroel and Yerushalayim that prevailed throughout the Golus. They have HIJACKED Zionism.
Its time to take it back.
Do you really think the feelings of the charedi community towards the non-religious community is any different. Don’t they throw stones at people who drive in theri neighborhoods on Shabbos? Don’t they beat up women who dare to sit in the front of the bus? You are just as narrow minded as the terible “Zionist” you are condeming. If he had the same Torah upbringing that those in the charedi world had he would see things differently just as charedi people would judge things differently if they were raised and educated as “zionists”. If you want to makarev the non religious then treat them with love and kindness; not hatred and anomosity. Take a poll; I guarantee you that not one person ever became frum because he was hit by a stone, spit at or be made to feel that he was inferior to you.
Deepthinker:
Please provide a source for your assertion that Herzl advocated apostasy. I ask this since in his novel, Der Judenstadt (the Jewish State) he describes a Friday night service at what the book calls “the Temple” in Jerusalem. Indeed that is the only reference to a place of worship in the entire book. The implication is that “the Temple” was the central house of worhsip for the entire population of the “Jewish State” The parallel to the Beit haMikdash Herzl intended to draw along with the messainic overtones is obvious, even is historically inaccurate (after all there were synagogues present during the Second Temple era). But Herzl didn’t know that. So please, tell us your source.
Wasn’t the Kibbutz movement/ideology supposedly a true example of socialism, ie equality? So what was the “head” of the Kibbutz thinking when he smashed the Menorah? I would guess it was something on the lines of NIMBY (heh heh)
So much for everyone being equal! Unless you agree with this guy, you have your wishes & your Menorah destroyed. Maybe the Rappaports should leave now, and take the rest of the Kibbutzniks with them to find a place of tolerance.
charlie brown says it best 🙂
“”I think its reasonable to say that due to their combined hatred of Orthodoxy and love of Israel a phenomena has resulted where many frum Jews have lost that intense love for Eretz Yisroel and Yerushalayim that prevailed throughout the Golus.””” – VERY VERY TRUE!!
Charlie Brown,
You are way off base…
1) Hammaseh hu haikur, so lighting a menorah outside your house, as long as its the kosher size, is a mitzva regardless of what the kavanah.
2) So long as I dont see you going to anti charedi kibutzim, which can be dangerous since that is where the true hatred is, dont sit at home and condemn others who give their whole life for spreading Yidishkayt.
3) You are wrong with the courts, as far as I recall, Chabad does not have someone sitting on the supreme court, yet… It was the courts that ruled the menorah being secular and lubobs who are using it for their agenda, aint nothing wrong with that. More power to them!!
frimchebubche (#20)
thank you!
yochi(#22)
1. you prove my point. Hammaseh hu haikur and the maaseh hamitzvah is do it the way it says in shulchan oruch. And the Shulchan Oruch (even the Shulchan Oruch HaRav), does NOT say to light a menorah on the lawn. Having good kavvanos (i.e. of being mekarev other people) doesn’t make it a masseh mitzvah.
2. I didn’t condemn anyone personally. The people who are going there, if it is l’shem shomayim, are all holier than I am for sure. They are just misguided, unfortunately.
3. Courts do not make rulings in a vacuum, unless someone petitions them to do so. In other words the courts would not have just decided out of the blue that a menorah is a cultural symbol, unless someone argued in court that it is, and the court ruled in their favor.
Looks like this thread has frayed, but, for what it’s worth….for those wild eyed ant-Zionists among you…ever hear of Tinok SheNishba.
According to numerous poskim, since that doesn’t only mean literally ‘nishba’ but that their souls are ‘nishba’, irrespective that these people who are so far from Torah know the words, does not mean their hearts and souls understand or are ‘mekabel.’
So, not justifying the racially insensitive action of that kibbutz leader, the appropriate response is, just like with a wayward son, to chastise while showing more love.