abeles@mhuxm.UUCP (J. Abeles (Bellcore, Murray Hill, NJ)) (07/12/85)
Avi Feldblum writes (excerpted): > First, I have tried to make it clear that Orthodox Judaism does not > force anyone to follow the Torah... > ... First, within Orthodox Judaism today, those > actions that fall outside our definition of maximal tolarence can be > dealt with only by societal pressure, not by actual physical violence > against the offender... > Israel is a much more difficult issue. The issue there is political, > more than religious. On the subject of force: (1) In the case of the agunah (divorced woman who is not granted a bill of divorcement enabling her to remarry) force is condoned by all "halachik" authorities to be used against the former husband; I seriously think this is a case of force being used to make someone follow halacha, since the need for the bill of divorcement only exists in the context of halacha. (2) In general, the actions of those who are Jewish must be considered to be Jewish actions and Jewish ways of acting. It is a contrivance to separate the Jewish religion from the Jewish people. With this in mind, I point out that force has been used by the Satmar Hassidic community in Williamsburg (sp?) to prevent the association by a member of the Lubavitch Hassidic community with Satmar individuals. There is no question in my mind that this was condoned by the highest level of the Satmar hierarchy since the Satmar's refused to aid the New York Police in finding the criminal assaulters. (3) Israel Jews who were idealistic religious settlers on the West Bank have just been convicted of murder and were sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Palestinian Arabs. I am ashamed of these people, but it must be noted that their religious zeal definitely plays a role in their belief that they were right in what they did. Not only their religious zeal is in question, but how about the Young Israel of Forest Hills in Queens, New York City, which (according to The Jewish Week, published in New York City) held a fundraising drive to send thousands of dollars to the aid of these criminals? (4) I disagree that one can separate Judaism from the actions of the Jewish people, separate religion from politics. This is merely an intellectual abstraction. Ultimately, Jewish traditional practice will be based upon the norm in Israel today. Certainly, it is futile to claim that in Israel the Jewish people practice orthodox/orthopractic Judaism. --J. Abeles