The mora d’asra of Beit El, Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed has signed a deal with the government by which the families in the Ulpana neighborhood slated for eviction will leave voluntarily by next week’s deadline in exchange for the government’s commitment to built 300 additional housing units in the community. In addition, the five apartment buildings that must be removed will not be demolished, but rather moved to a new location.
The deal agreed to by Rabbi Melamed will avoid a confrontation with security forces while significantly adding to the growth of the Shomron community. The agreement also represents a major victory for Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, who feared a possible confrontation between settlers and security forces that many promised would dwarf the resistance seen at the expulsion from Amona.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
And what will the Rav do when they renege on the agreement? Take the Betrayer of Hevron and the Coward of Lebanon to Din Torah? Both have learned well from their Arab friends and comrades that lying to and tricking your own people are perfectly acceptable tools to use.
number one this is mondays news. number 2 he is not the mara d’asra that is rav shlomo aviner who is also the rosh hayeshiva of ateret kohanim in the muslim quarter of jerusalem
number 3 rav melamed is the rosh hayeshiva of yeshivat bet el
number 4 since i like this websites reporting.
i will attempt to write a expose` on this without doing lashon horo and just doing a contrast
rav melameds yeshiva i took the liberty of spending a shabbos plus a couple of days there on my own, being that they (the yeshiva and its sorrounding community) by and large had termed themselves as lomdish char’dal which means charedi dati leumi which means of the mizruchnik community they are supposed to be of the more shtark and frim.
along the vein of someone like the also respected mara d’asra of kiryat arbah chevron and the sorrunding suburbs rav dov lior, rav melamed is very for settling the land of eretz yisroel and very about fighting the character of the government of eretz yisroel.
on the other hand the mara d’asra of beit el is rosh yeshiva of ateret kohanim is rav shlomo aviner. which from the students i spoken with is what they call themselves mamlachti which means (and i paraphrase what i understood) the medina is kodosh and the whole system is of kedusha including the prime minister the defence ministry the armed forces and the police and the more concealed parts of the kedusha the “black horseman” [this should show a certain bias and i understand that]
a example of this difference between the 2 roshei yeshiva and their camps and in effect on the ground the 2 rabbis in the town is, one: by gush katif is fighting protesting and undermining and challenging the forces when coming to throw them out of their houses in gush katif,
or because it is our jewish people our jewish reality and realistic jewish future we the medina the government and the army are all one (that was hazy writing) and therefore practically when the forces come to throw you out of your house illegally then you hug them while they throw you out them their soldiers the police and maybe not the black horseman because they are impolite but theoretically yes.
that is a big difference between the 2 in broken english that means one says the system is of holiness and the other says the truth demands to change the system [safer word would be style].
the other difference is a little more technical or grounded in halacha. it would appear and i am not that familiar but it seems that the rav of bet el and the rosh hayeshiva of ateret kohanim rav shlomo aviner holds, i have heard certain halachic standards when it comes to niddah and other inyanim in taharas hamishpacha (for one…. theyre maybe more) that the other camp including rav melamed, rav dov lior has decisively disagreed with these halachic positions. to the point there was a call to tribunal on these issues.
suffice it to say the fAct is the sefarim of rav aviner does not linger in the halls of the yeshiva in bet el.
you have 2 distinct ideological and probably halachic camps
BUT BUT BUT
beileve it or not both rabbis inhabit and sheperd and lead and inspire in the same community.
their students though markedly aware of where they stand are respectful to both rabbis and are respectful and gracious towards each other by the very by and large.
my personal opinion is that were dealing with students who are refined gracious far seeing, aidel. in spite that differences like these is enough in most communities to set the veins roiling and to have major physical standoffs.
this is a testament to their quality and superiority
now i contrast all of the above with
what i understand from the litvish perspective i did not recieve clear understanding as to what the differences between rav shach rav elyashiv and rav shteinmans are
i am familiar enough (i would hope) to understand that the level and the overall outlook when it comes to daas torah is virtually the same and to most people undetectable
YET
the editors of the yated were thrown out and disengaged and publicly ousted due to allegiances to one gadol over another.
and i personally do not understand the necesity of those turn of those events.
im just basing this on the fact that this article mixed up positions that were incindentally held in the same place by someone else of a strong distinction yet the community is meshed together nicely irrespective of those large gaps
have a good day
What a deal! Maybe they should say Hallel on its anniversary.
#2 Your info is somewhat right and somewhat wrong, but definetely in the target.
Rav Melamed has a strong following of residents even though his correct title is Rosh Yeshiva. The community of Bet El is large and has Ashkenazim, Sefardim, Chassidim, Anglos, Olim and everything in between. There are several shuls and small batei knesses within the kehilla. There are some very right wing residents and many in between. Harav’s decision was that violence, machlokles and friction destroys klal yisroel and when it it given a green light – IT ALWAYS GOES OUT OF CONTROL… Kol Hakavod to his kehilla and may he be an example to others.
#3 Ha Ha Ha Ha. When this happens to you or yours, let us know so we can tear kriah for you!!!
R. Melamed possibly made the deal to avoid “shfichas damim”–if the army/police come in and there are protests, the army will not hesitate to “bang heads” and cause shfichas damim.
It will also cause a Chillul Hashem because it will go around the world on TV to “show” the violent settlers and how bad things are in Eretz Yisrael.
so the agreement is the best of all evils.
But #1 has a valid point. If the government doesn’t keep its part of the deal, i.e., building of 300 units in Beit El to replace the houses being not destroyed, what recourse does the Beit El community have? As everywhere and always, especially in Medinat Israel, the government is always right and if you question this principle, they have you arrested and kept in administrative detention without trial until you make a formal retraction of your believes and state loud for the press to hear that Barak is the tzadik hador.
#1 and #6, Exactly. I’d be more sanguine about this deal if the replacement housing were built first, and only then were these houses moved. The residents should also be able to stay right until their houses are to be moved, and then move in again the next day at the new location. But the truth is even then it’s dangerous, because what possible guarantee could Netanyahu give that the new houses will not also be moved? After all, he already guaranteed, in fact swore over the fresh graves of terror victims, that these houses would never be evacuated, and now he’s intent on breaking that oath, so what value can any promise he makes have?