I was really planning to write a different column this week. I wanted to address the phenomenally inspirational program that brought South African Jews of all stripes together for an authentic Shabbos as my colleague Yonoson Rosenblum so eloquently described in these pages previously. I wanted to add that here in Israel there is a growing movement of Torah Jews — their numbers already in the thousands — who regularly invite secular families to their homes for Shabbos. I wanted to talk about what a single individual can accomplish. (In this case it was South Africa’s Chief Rabbi Warren Goldstein but it could be any one of us.) By swimming against the current a person can eventually change the river’s course.

 I really wanted to talk about how secular Jews responded so enthusiastically to Rabbi Goldstein’s call showing that under layers of secularism  those  ancient words are still embedded in the Jewish heart. 

But then something happened that shook up the entire chareidi community and although many words have already been written about this atrocity (and the nearly 100-year-old Rav Aharon Leib Steinman shlita has resumed his regular shiurim)  I too am compelled to address the long-range reverberations and irreparable damage of dissent. The incident remains so deeply troubling because it points to a complete breakdown of kevod haTorah and the devastation caused by machlokes. 

True we’ve discussed how fanning the flames of strife can destroy a person’s life but let’s leave the individual for a moment and look at how infighting not only rips apart the fabric of a cohesive society but prolongs the galus as well preventing the light of Redemption from penetrating. 

The Haggadah of Rav Marcus Lehmann av beis din of Maintz over a hundred years ago addresses this very issue. Although his commentary was written against the backdrop of the burgeoning Reform movement it speaks words of warning to our generation in Eretz Yisrael in light of the events of the past few weeks. Rav Lehmann addresses the central question of Pesach — “How is this night different from all other nights?” — exegetically switching the word “night” for “galus.” This is what he writes:

“How does the present galus differ from the other nights of exile the 210-year exile of Egypt or the 70-year exile of Babylon? The other nights soon terminated and the golden dawn of freedom reappeared whereas the night of the present galus has already persisted for so long. Alas we are ourselves to blame! [The Egyptian galus united under Moshe and the Babylonian galus under Mordechai]… whereas in this long and bitter galus there are continuous quarrels and disputes and so ‘halailah hazeh kulo matzah — this night we eat only matzah’ (where ‘matzah’ refers to ‘strife’).

“There has been no lack of pious and holy men and women throughout the centuries of the present galus but salvation could not appear because of the innumerable conflicts dividing people. Deviating sects and parties have continuously arisen bringing with them distress and confusion but there were other squabbles that did not involve great matters of principle. They often arose over trifling affairs; and these conflicts turned into hate and enmity from within.… 

“Alas the situation is no better today. It is not sufficient that we have enemies around us we also cause enmities among ourselves and make our lives bitter for trivial reasons. About two centuries ago the study of the Talmud blossomed among German Jewry as perhaps never before the communities distinguished for their deep and upright piety.… Then there arose an unholy dispute that was directed particularly against the great Rav Yehonasan Eibeschitz. The damage caused by this dispute and the extent to which it contributed toward dissuading young people from studying Torah and thereby demoralized the ranks of the G-d-fearing cannot be adequately described. 

“We do not wish to speak of the dissensions caused by the so-called Reform movement. But it is most inexcusable that there is continuous conflict and dispute amongst the Orthodox and faithful Israelites. Halailah hazeh kulo matzah for it lengthens the night of the galus.”

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Just how great a danger to us is the current climate? A young yeshivah bochur went to vote in last week’s municipal elections. Afterward when asked what he had put in the ballot box he answered “My kippah.” —

Dear Readers

Last week’s article “How Was That Red Line Crossed?” was a painful cry written at the behest of several rabbanim in the US after the horrifying attack on Rav Aharon Leib Steinman. This piece is a broader warning begging us all to lower the flames of conflict lest we all get singed.