We have 613 mitzvos, but what happens to the other 612 when one of them is turned into an agenda? When there is one inflexible principle to which all other principles must adjust? None of the factions in the various religious camps are immune to this enslavement
Before I begin I beg my readers not to take what I am about to write as a political position paper. Please don’t accuse me of being either a leftist dove or a nationalist hawk. And most of all don’t jump to the conclusion that chas v’chalilah I am against the settlements in our ancestral lands in Yehudah and Shomron. All I want to do is to shed light on a certain weakness that in my humble opinion is shared by all the various groups in the Torah-observant camp.
Every man and his agenda…
As I will go on to explain this is more than just a matter of local Israeli politics probably of no interest to our international readership. There is a message here that transcends political and religious borders and applies to all of us.
On June 6Israel’s Knesset torpedoed the proposed “Settlement Regulations Bill” a controversial legislative proposal which came on the heels of a Supreme Court decision in favor of an Arab who claimed ownership of a plot of land near Beit El occupied by Jewish homes. In consequence of the court’s decision the government had no choice but to evacuate the neighborhood known as Givat Ulpana — or defy the Supreme Court. The bill which was vigorously opposed by Prime Minister Netanyahu was intended to create a solution that would comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling while preventing further cases of this nature from coming before the Court.
Naturally the original Supreme Court ruling triggered an outcry of public protest. While Givat Ulpana involves a small group of Jewish families the ruling sets a precedent that could lead to the forced evacuation of nearly 9000 more homes in Yehudah and Shomron whose Jewish occupants have been living there for many years.
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