תּוֹרַת ה' תְּמִימָה, מְשִׁיבַת נָפֶשׁ; עֵדוּת ה נֶאֱמָנָה, מַחְכִּימַת פֶּתִי
מֹשֶׁה אֱמֶת וְתוֹרָתוֹ אֱמֶת
Agudat Yisrael accused of instructing yeshiva students to evade IDF draft sanctions
Recordings published in Ynet
last week revealed that Agudat Yisrael party officials were instructing
yeshiva students to open fictitious small businesses.
Police officers in Bnei Brak, Israel use water cannons
as haredi Orthodox Jewish men block a main highway to protest efforts to
allow the state to draft Haredi yeshiva students into military service
Yesh Atid
MK Vladimir Beliak, who coordinates the opposition’s activity in the
Knesset Finance Committee, demanded Attorney-General Gali Baharav-Miara
open a criminal investigation into officials in the hassidic Agudat Yisrael party over its attempts to evade sanctions against draft dodgers that are expected to come into effect on March 1.
Yeshiva
students whose wives work are eligible to receive state-subsidized
daycare for children below age three. However, this subsidy is set to
expire at the end of February for students who are required to enlist
for IDF service but have refrained from doing so. The loss of the
subsidy is a significant financial sanction for many haredi families, as
it could raise expenditures by hundreds, if not thousands, of shekels
per month.
Recordings
published in Ynet last week revealed that Agudat Yisrael officials were
instructing yeshiva students to open fictitious small businesses since
these will enable the students to continue receiving the subsidy for an
additional six months. While technically legal, this was a clear attempt
to continue avoiding sanctions against draft dodgers, and its promotion by Agudat Yisrael amounted to a potential crime of fraud and breach of trust, Beliak said.
Beliak
added that he intended to use all parliamentary tools at his disposal
to ensure proper oversight on the issue.Finance Ministry Budget
Department head Yoav Gardos reiterated in a letter to Knesset Foreign
Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC) legal adviser Adv. Miri
Frenkel-Shor the necessary conditions for sanctions to be effective.
Gardos wrote the letter at Frenkel-Shor’s request, ahead of a series of
committee meetings this week regarding sanctions on haredi draft
dodgers.
ULTRA-ORTHODOX men protest against the haredi draft, in Jerusalem last week
Conditions of the haredi draft exceptions
According
to Gardos, the first necessary principle was that there not be a
“cutoff age” after which haredim will be exempt from service since this
serves as an incentive for haredim to remain in yeshivot and out of the
workforce until reaching this age.
A
second principle was there had to be a link between the individual’s
choice of whether or not to enlist and the sanction in question. If the
sanction, for example, is applied to the entire pool of potential haredi
draftees, or even to a specific yeshiva, the individuals themselves
will not bear direct responsibility for their actions, and therefore may
not change their behavior.
A
third principle, according to Gardos, was that sanctions needed to
apply immediately, since any “adaption period” would likely lead more
haredim to the conclusion that a solution to exempt them from service
will eventually be found, and therefore they will hold off on
enlistment.
Finally,
Gardos argued that there needed to be a guarantee in the law that the
sanctions not be offset by other benefits to haredim. This will
completely undermine the sanctions’ effectiveness, and not lead haredim
to enlist, he wrote.
“Let us recall that the penal code stipulates severe prison sentences
for anyone who incites or solicits a person liable for military service
not to serve, and that the things described… may amount to committing a
criminal offense, especially at a time when the State of Israel is at
war.”
Hotline linked to cabinet minister is advising Haredi callers to ignore draft orders
‘You don’t have to do anything, just ignore
them,’ assistance center established by Meir Porush tells father of
yeshiva student who was instructed to report to IDF
United
Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush attends the Jerusalem Masters 2024 chess
event, at Safra Square in Jerusalem, September 26, 2024
Worried Haredi yeshiva students who call a telephone hotline
linked to Jerusalem Affairs Minister Meir Porush have repeatedly been
advised to ignore draft orders and lie to the Israel Defense Forces, a
Times of Israel investigation has found, prompting calls for a criminal
investigation into potential violations of the 1986 Security Service
Law.
The hotline was established amid a push by the IDF to draft
ultra-Orthodox youths, who until recently enjoyed exemptions from the
military, and a campaign by Haredi parties to ensure that a new law
being crafted on the issue would largely enshrine the exemptions.
Addressing a gathering of his Shlomei Emunim movement in December,
Porush announced that “in recent days, we have established an assistance
center for those facing the threat of conscription at the central
office for public inquiries of the Agudat Yisrael Jerusalem Center.
“Although the situation seems insoluble and it is unclear to what
extent it will be possible to assist every request and rescue those who
turn to us from the danger of conscription, we will do our best to
assist Torah scholars as much as possible to immerse themselves back
into the sea of Torah without unnecessary worries,” he said.
Shlomei Emunim is a part of the larger Agudat Yisrael faction, which
in turns represents the Hasidic community’s interests within the
coalition’s United Torah Judaism party (the other faction in UTJ is the
non-Hasidic Degel Hatorah).
Following Porush’s announcement, The Times of Israel called the
hotline to ask about its activities. A representative stated that he was
unable to provide “any advice” for young men of draft age.
Instead, he claimed, the hotline was only set up to provide pro bono
legal advice for “older people who got married and have all sorts of
personal issues that could exempt them from the draft.”
Minister for Jerusalem Affairs and Jewish
Heritage Meir Porush (center) attends a meeting of representatives of
his Shlomei Emunim faction, December 17, 2024
However, this was only partially true, with multiple current and
former members of the ultra-Orthodox community who called the hotline
reporting that they were actively advised to ignore enlistment orders
and obstruct authorities’ efforts to follow up on the matter.
A pattern of behavior
Zalman, a member of the ultra-Orthodox community, said that he was
told to disregard any draft orders sent to his son. All the hotline
callers who spoke with The Times of Israel agreed to do so on condition
that they be identified by a pseudonym due to fear of reprisal.
“What they are suggesting at this stage is to ignore it, not deal
with it,” he said, claiming that he was told: “If you received an
initial call-up order, you are like thousands of others. You don’t have
to do anything, just ignore them.”
A flyer advertising the Agudat Yisrael Jerusalem Center’s enlistment advice hotline.
The hotline similarly told Dovid, a former Hasid, to lie to the IDF about his son’s whereabouts.
“Generally, with a boy of 17 there is nothing special to do. You need
to be careful, if somebody calls, say that you are not in touch with
your son and you don’t know where he is. Don’t say that he saw the draft
orders,” the hotline told him.
Dovid was further instructed to tell his son not to attend any
demonstrations or give the police any excuse to ask for his
identification number and see that he is a draft dodger.
Speaking with Chaim, a 19-year old yeshiva student, the hotline did
not explicitly advise ignoring orders. Instead he was told to relax and
only come back for further advice when an arrest warrant was issued
against him.
“They kept saying that you haven’t received an arrest warrant yet and
there is nothing to fear and nothing to worry about. And I said to
them, What if there is an arrest warrant? ‘Call us and we will help
you,'” Chaim recalled.
Since last summer’s High Court of Justice ruling that the government
must draft ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students, the IDF has sent out
thousands of draft orders and subsequently issued 1,212 arrest warrants. Last week, an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student was arrested at Ben Gurion Airport for trying to evade an IDF draft order by leaving the country.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews protest against the
military draft outside the IDF Recruitment Center at Tel Hashomer, in
central Israel, January 16, 2025
Some members of the community charged that the hotline and similar
efforts were doing more harm than good and misleading them about the
ramifications of their actions.
The approach is highly ill-advised and has the potential to cause
widespread damage, complained Moshe, an ultra-Orthodox man in his late
twenties who has been in touch with several of the competing hotlines
being run by elements of the Haredi community.
“These organizations are just a cover for a larger failure of members
of Knesset and politicians who are unable to do anything. Establishing
these organizations on a large scale is quite ridiculous because they
actually have no solution to offer,” he said.
“I think it’s irresponsible to tell people to [avoid the army] and
hide from them the meaning of being AWOL. You need to tell people,
listen, you are going to be deserters, that is, to be a criminal with a
criminal background. They don’t say this and a person doesn’t know what
he’s getting into.”
An ‘illegal’ operation
“There is no doubt that this is illegal,” former IDF manpower chief
and Yesh Atid MK Elazar Stern told The Times of Israel, calling the
advice given by the hotline “unethical” and insisting that he was
unsurprised that Minister Porush “encourages people to cheat.”
Stern is a member of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, which is currently debating a controversial enlistment law demanded by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-Orthodox coalition partners.
MK Elazar Stern attends a meeting of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee, June 26, 2024.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, a senior official in Netanyahu’s
ruling Likud party agreed, stating that Agudat Yisrael’s hotline was
“definitely violating the existing law.”
“I think that we all understand the coalition reality, but at the
least the prime minister has to make it quite clear that he won’t
tolerate this behavior from any member of the coalition,” the official
said.
In an email to The Times of Israel, Tomer Naor, an attorney for the
Movement of Quality Government watchdog group, said his organization was
planning to contact the police and attorney general to demand a
criminal investigation into the matter.
Responding to the quotes shared by hotline callers, Naor wrote: “A
very disturbing picture emerges, according to which elements that are
directly connected to a party in power are allegedly operating an entire
system that assists in violating the laws of the State of Israel.”
“Let us recall that the penal code stipulates severe prison sentences
for anyone who incites or solicits a person liable for military service
not to serve, and that the things described… may amount to committing a
criminal offense, especially at a time when the State of Israel is at
war.”
Attorney Tomer Naor of the Movement for
Quality Government in Israel addresses the Knesset Constitution, Law and
Justice Committee, January 31, 2023.
No relationship to the Agudat Yisrael faction
When The Times of Israel visited the premises of Agudat Yisrael’s
hotline on Wednesday morning, an employee referred all questions to a
spokesman for the initiative, who turned out to be Minister Porush’s
representative Shmuel Kramerski.
Asked for comment, Kramerski replied that those manning the hotline
had been told that everybody should “act in accordance with the
instructions of their rabbis.”
“The purpose of answering the phone is to advise and guide the person
who decides to act in accordance with the instructions of his rabbis,
and not a determination or recommendation to a person on how to act,”
Kramerski said. Any representative behaving otherwise would be
disciplined, he added.
The office of the Agudat Yisrael Jerusalem Center in Jerusalem
A spokesman for Housing Minister Yitzhak Goldknopf, the Agudat
Yisrael chairman, denied any connection between his boss and the
hotline, telling The Times of Israel that “this is related to Porush,
the institutions of Agudat Yisrael Jerusalem belong to [him].”
The Israel Police did not answer requests for clarification regarding
the legality of the hotline’s activities, while the IDF spokesman’s
office declined to comment.
The Prime Minister’s Office likewise declined to discuss the issue,
instead directing The Times of Israel to speak with Netanyahu’s Likud
party, which did not respond.
No, no, zayt nisht meshuge! Loz im geyn! Abi gezint! Take off! Hosti
gezen in dayne lebn? (Don’t be crazy! Let him go. As long as you’re
healthy! Take off! Have you ever seen such a thing?).
Measles Outbreak Hits Town in Texas
As of Tuesday, 22 children and two adults had been infected, all of whom were unvaccinated, local officials said.
A color-enhanced transmission electron micrograph of a measles virus particle
A worsening measles outbreak has taken root in Texas, sickening two dozen and hospitalizing nine on the western edge of the state, where childhood vaccination rates have dwindled in recent years.
As
of Tuesday, 22 children and two adults had been infected, all of whom
were unvaccinated, local health officials said. The outbreak comes as
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a staunch critic of childhood vaccines, has been
nominated to be the country’s next health secretary, causing public
health experts to worry that similar upticks of preventable illnesses
will become more frequent.
“There’s a
feeling this is going to be more and more common,” said Dr. Cameron
Wolfe, an infectious disease expert at Duke University.
The
Texas outbreak has so far been limited to residents of Gaines County,
which borders New Mexico and has roughly 20,000 residents. Last year 82
percent of kindergarten students received the measles, mumps and rubella
vaccine, according to state data. That figure is roughly 10 percentage
points lower than the average vaccination rate in Texas public schools
and far below the federal target of 95 percent for measles vaccination.
Vaccination rates have been declining nationwide since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020 and now sit below 93 percent. An estimated 280,000 kindergartners in the United States do not have documentation of an M.M.R. vaccine, according to federal data.
Texas
public schools require children to have received certain vaccines,
including the M.M.R. shot, but parents can apply for an exemption for
“reasons of conscience,” including religious beliefs.
Last year, more than 13 percent
of K-12 students in Gaines County received a vaccine exemption,
according to state health department data. That is one of the highest
exemption rates in the state.
Lara
Anton, a spokeswoman for the Texas Department of State Health Services,
said that the cases had been concentrated in a “more insular” community
in the county, among people who attend church and private schools
together. Many of the children are also home-schooled, Ms. Anton said.
Local
health departments have set up drive-through vaccination clinics in
Seminole, a city at the center of Gaines County known for its large
Mennonite community. So far, these have been well attended, Ms. Anton
said.
The
most common side effects of measles — a high fever and a blotchy red
rash — typically resolve on their own within a few weeks. But serious
complications, including pneumonia and brain swelling, are possible,
especially for children younger than 5.
Roughly one in five unvaccinated people who become infected with measles is hospitalized, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Ms. Anton said that all nine of the hospitalized patients were
school-age children, and that many of them had spent time in the
intensive care unit.
“It is a serious
disease,” she said. “We are trying to impress that upon the community,
that you need to take steps now to protect yourself.”
State
health officials warned that cases would likely pop up in surrounding
communities because of the “highly contagious nature of this disease.”
The New Mexico Department of Health reported this week that a teenager who lived in a county bordering Texas tested positive for measles, though the child did not have any known exposure to the Gaines County outbreak.
Measles is a very contagious respiratory disease caused by a virus.
Ninety percent of people with close contact with an infected person will
get measles if they are not vaccinated. Before the measles vaccine
became available, measles was a common childhood disease. Measles is
considered the most deadly of all childhood rash/fever illnesses.
Symptoms may include high fever, cough, runny nose, red watery eyes,
rash. Measles can have serious complications such as ear infections,
pneumonia, swelling of the brain, and miscarriage in pregnant women. For
every 1,000 children who get measles, one or two will die.
Israel’s Hostage Dilemma: In Search of the World’s Understanding and Respect - An understanding world is a luxury Jews and Israel cannot afford. To survive, Israel must fight.
Supporters
and family members of hostages kidnapped during the deadly Oct. 7,
2023
“As soon as you settle in America, gather your children, and go to
Israel. Then, once you see that land, I want a letter from each of you,
telling me in detail how it is over there.”
Those were the words of my grandfather, Misha, the family’s great
patriarch, who was born in a tiny shtetl near Vitebsk in 1902 into the
family of a rabbi.
He grew up to become an important surgeon, fought in three wars, had
most of his immediate family murdered by the Nazis, survived Soviet
antisemitism, and finally outlived his wife and all his children,
including my father.
My grandfather was a Jew by faith, by race, and by identity. He was a
true Zionist who believed that Jewish destiny was not just in its
religion, but also in its absolute right to be able to determine its own
independent future. For him, as an unbreakable Soviet Jew, betrayed by
his country’s promises about egalitarianism and equality, bruised by the
most humiliating acts of antisemitism, he believed in the State of
Israel, the only place in the world that would not compromise a Jewish
life.
My grandfather carried that Zionist flame within him for the rest of
his life, but never got to see his promised land. Years and years later,
I traveled there on his behalf, but I fell in love with it all on my
own.
Jews in Israel learned not to compromise. They defended their state,
so their land would never be taken, and their children would never be
without a home. Israel knew how to listen to its own voice — until 2011,
when Gilad Shalit, held captive by Hamas for 1,934 days, was exchanged
for 1,027 Palestinian and Arab-Israeli prisoners. Of these, 280 were
sentenced to life in prison.
Among them was Yahya Sinwar, serving four life sentences, who masterminded the October 7, 2023, attack.
As of late, while in the midst of its existential crisis, Israel is
trying in vain to seek the world’s understanding and respect. It
mistakenly believes it can achieve both. The world does not want to
understand Israel, nor the Jewish plight within the context of Israel.
In 1976, Palestinian and German terrorists hijacked an Air France
plane with Israeli passengers, diverting it to Entebbe, Uganda.
Demanding prisoner releases, they threatened to kill hostages. Israel
launched a daring rescue mission, freeing nearly all hostages but losing
three in the process, including mission leader Yoni Netanyahu. The most
heated debate took place before the actual resolution of this operation
between then Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin, who strongly believed in the
deal in the absence of the military option, and Shimon Peres.
Rabin later shared with his speechwriter Yehuda Avner: “When it comes
to negotiating with terrorists, I long ago made a decision of
principle, well before I became prime minister, that if a situation were
ever to arise when terrorists would be holding our people hostage on
foreign soil and we were faced with an ultimatum either to free killers
in our custody or let our own people be killed, I would, in the absence
of a military option, give in to the terrorists. I would free killers to
save our people.”
Peres, on the other hand, who at the time was Israel’s Defense
Minister, held a different view. To him “deal” meant giving in to
hijackers for the first time in Israel’s history. Although we all know
Peres as the ambassador of peace, during that crisis he strongly
believed that negotiation with terrorists was off limits because it was
not part of Israel’s make up.
He said: “If we give in to the hijackers’ demand and release
terrorists, everyone will understand us but no one will respect us. If,
on the other hand, we conduct a military operation to free the hostages,
it is possible that no one will understand us, but everyone will
respect us, depending of course on the outcome of the operation.”
Israel under Rabin was on the verge of negotiations, but once the IDF
presented the military plan, the decision to proceed was made, despite
the risk of casualties. Thus, another chapter in Israel’s history of
rescue missions was written. This demonstrated to both its enemies and
the unfriendly international community that Israel would not compromise
its national integrity to gain society’s understanding and insincere
sympathy.
Why does Israel’s usually unbreakable spirit seem so influenced by
actors with, at best, marginal interest in it? This may sound naive, as
Israel needs major players like the US. However, that shouldn’t justify
pushing Israel into bad deals.
The October 7, 2023, attack presented Israel with its most
devastating hostage crisis. As of February 10, 2025, eighty of the 251
hostages abducted by Hamas remain in Gaza, with at least a third
believed dead. Hasn’t Israel been here before? How could this deal be
made after such a tragedy and most complex military operation, which
drastically diminished Hamas?
There is intelligence that Hamas is regrouping; this cancer will
grow. If Israel retreats after receiving hostages, some in body bags, it
has every reason to anticipate a repeat of October 7th. Mothers
embracing their children today may tomorrow be replaced by other mothers
agonizing over their children’s fate all over again. The job of a
parent is to shield their child from danger for as long as they can, but
the job of a government, in this case the Israeli government,
especially its leadership, is to protect the entire nation from all
foreseeable danger, so that “Never Again” is Never Again FOREVER.
Throughout my life, first under the hypocritical iron fist of the
Soviet empire and later as an immigrant in America, where some of the
most important values and traditions of America’s greatness are too
frequently compromised, I have always admired Israel, a nation salvaged
from near extinction. I have revered Israel for its unwavering
commitment to its core mission since its founding as a sovereign nation:
the defense of its land and its people. For at least 63 years, it never
faltered in this.
After the first three women were released this year, I heard: “Why
not celebrate with them? They feared this day wouldn’t come. Celebrate
with those young women!” or “Happy now? You got your deal, your
hostages. Move on, stop this bloodshed.”
Frankly, it doesn’t concern me that non-Jews refuse to see this
deal’s weakness; it saddens me that my people neglect how harmful it is
for Israel and Jews.
As a human and mother, I want every hostage home, no matter the
price. Seeing mothers with daughters breaks my heart with happiness,
heartbreak, and disappointment. As a Jew, mother, and Zionist, these
people are in hell because of deals like this, like 2011’s, which led to
October 7th. Today’s rushed deal anticipates similar tragedies,
different mothers lamenting, children orphaned. A new government will
seek a new solution.
An understanding world is a luxury Jews and Israel cannot afford. To survive, Israel must fight.
The world will never understand or forgive a nation which, after
losing 6 million to genocide, created its own state from the ashes and
became a maverick of modern civilization. Had Jews and their promised
land been losers, surrounded by enemies, swallowed by neighboring
states, and became Israelis with a victimhood mentality, the world might
have forgiven their roughness. But Israel’s story is different. The
past 77 years, however difficult, have been a victory for Israel and
every Jew there. Strong, courageous victors fighting for their people,
knowing they are all potential hostages, these Israelis will never be
sympathized with. All that remains is respect, existing without love or
understanding, founded on reason. It would be impossible not to respect
Israel’s refusal of weak deals — its only duty being to protect its
country from future tragedies.
A
company trying to import kosher for Passover pizzas from abroad was met
with an unexpected demand by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate.
The
Chief Rabbinate's Rabbi Avi Kozman updated the company with the news
that in order to receive kosher certification, there needs to be a
"mountain of cheese" in the center of the pizza, Ynet reported.
The Rabbinate explained that this would differentiate the kosher for Passover pizza from regular pizza eaten year-round.
The
Rabbinate also said that the pizza's appearance must be changed from
round to square or rectangular. In a letter sent to the importer, the
Chief Rabbinate demanded: "In the center of the pizza, there must be
double the amount of cheese, so that it creates a shape resembling a
mountain."
The importer attempted to explain that such demands are
impossible to meet, since the pizza is packaged in a carton, and that
additional cheese would raise the cost for the importer by 15%,
estimated to equal 8-10% of the price of the product in Israel.
"Why
does the Chief Rabbinate demand changing the shape of the pizza, if the
package clearly states, 'Kosher for Passover under the supervision of
the Chief Rabbinate,' both on the front and on the side of the package?"
the importer queried.
UOJ EITZA TO IMPORTER: MEET THEM IN THE BATHROOM AT THE DAN WITH A FEW LARGE PAPER BAG$. יישר כח - חזק וברוך
The war as an intelligence lab, understanding the failure leading to Hamas massacre
Analysis: The
roots of the present catastrophe are not limited to the events of the
night between October 6 and 7 but reflect an extreme and long-lasting
lack of understanding of the enemy
An IDF tank overtaken by Gaza residents during the Hamas massacre on Oct. 7
The current discourse is nothing more than a fervent search for keys under the streetlight. The point of departure is that intelligence experts have sharp minds, and therefore, the search for flaws and suggested solutions should focus primarily on this aspect.
Thus, ideas are raised for improving thinking and assessment formulation designs and processes (particularly the groupthink challenge), as well as for developing new methodologies, enhancing control systems, revisiting technology’s dominance in intelligence work, or optimizing the relations between various intelligence organizations.
The analysis of the defects does not include two other aspects that are viewed as secondary. The first – the behavioral/personality dimension that plays a key role in all modern-day intelligence failures, including October 7.
Intelligence work is spearheaded by people with extraordinary qualities, but they are not immune to the fundamentals that are often found to underlie any disaster: self-assuredness; arrogance; dogmatism; difficulty in doubting and encouraging pluralism; as well as profound knowledge gaps with regard to the nature and logic of their objects of study.
Senior
intelligence officers spoke of the lessons learned from the past,
primarily the need for humility and caution, while being blind to the
fact that they themselves were symptomatic of the same disease
This point is further accentuated in view of the October 7 fiasco occurring precisely half a century after that of the Yom Kippur War. In the weeks that led up to October 7, events were held to mark 50 years to the 1973 War, during which senior intelligence officers spoke of the lessons learned from the past, primarily the need for humility and caution while being blind to the fact that they themselves were symptomatic of the same disease that soon swept them up in a whirlwind no less shocking than the Yom Kippur War. One possible solution is commanders and consultants who alert to personal behavioral patterns that impact professional work.
The second aspect that has been overlooked is far more grievous, and pertains to the portrait of intelligence officers, as well as to the world of knowledge with which they are charged. Limited familiarity with the basic characteristics of their objects of study, who operate in a culture very different from our own, is an issue that has already been raised in the inquiry into the 1973 debacle. But although understood, it was not addressed, and so – as overlooked malfunctions tend to do – was preserved, enhanced, and ultimately erupted with great force. In recent decades, fewer Israelis are fluent in Arabic and proficient in the region’s culture and history, but, while true for Israeli society as a whole, this issue is of particular significance among intelligence officers tasked with cracking the logic that drives “the other side.”
This state of affairs reflects a severe crisis few are aware of or discuss with which the intelligence profession has been contending in recent decades in Israel and worldwide. Over the years, intelligence has transformed from a vivacious experience that centers primarily on people, and should therefore rely on the tools essential to analyzing their psyche, to a form of science reliant upon complex methodologies and philosophical conundrum-cracking, which gradually steered clear of focusing on individuals, especially those affiliated with other cultures.
It is against this backdrop that the portrait of intelligence officers has been shaped, including the skills they are required to possess, the assignments they are required to complete, and how they are to be trained. Their minds are sharp and they are far more knowledgeable now due to information explosion, but their understanding of the reality that they are researching has diminished.
When
the roots of a failure remain untouched, it is no surprise that past
flaws resurface, headed by the tendency to impose our own logic on our
object of study
The roots of the present catastrophe are not limited to the events of the night between October 6 and 7. This failure reflects an extreme and long-lasting lack of understanding of the enemy. The intelligence inquiry cannot end with a description of the roots of the misconception, but must proceed to analyze how it was formed, why it had endured for as long as it did, and why it was so widely held as a “solid truth.” The lessons raised thus far with regard to the roots of the intelligence fiasco can be likened to the advice of a plastic surgeon pursuing aesthetics when the touch of a geneticist is needed to break down the intelligence officers’ DNA and critically examine its effectiveness in view of the assignments they are required to complete.
When the roots of a failure remain untouched, it is no surprise that past flaws resurface, headed by the tendency to impose our own logic on our object of study, as reflected in the economic arrangement conception vis-à-vis Gaza, as well as the notion that Hamas is undergoing an “evolution” that is lessening its adherence to its extreme ideological vision. This problem is reflected in a document recently drafted by Israeli military intelligence on the roots of the misconception, arguing that the intelligence misunderstood that the enemy was not driven by “rational logic” but by “jihadi instinct.” The same was said of Yahya Sinwar in the years that led to October 7, exempting the intelligence agencies from the need to deeply analyze the enemy’s logic by claiming it is irrational.
The ongoing war serves as an intelligence lab for identifying gaps and validating competence: October 7 revealed a flaw in the ability to alert to war founded on the difficulty of understanding the enemy; the Israeli surprise in view of the Iranian attack in April 2024 – following the strike against the consulate in Damascus – also reflected a gap in assessing the enemy’s logic; and the surprising collapse of Assad’s regime revealed a lack of understanding of in-depth processes and formation dynamics.
A poignant analysis of the roots of October 7 must cause unease among intelligence officers, not only because they had failed to alert to the enemy’s intentions and had misread the latter, but because many of them are not well-versed in the enemy’s language and cultural codes – essential components in the toolbox of those who engage in cultures that are not their own, such as historians, journalists, and, of course, intelligence officers. The latter must recognize that technology and methodology cannot make up for profound understandings.
Did It Exist or Not? The Missing Order of the Jerusalem Talmud
Discoveries and disappointments, rumors and accusations,
fraudsters and conspiracies—along with an adventurous journey across the
dusty roads of Turkey. This is the story of a controversy that shook
the world of Torah study and academic research 120 years ago.
As if the early decades of the 20th century weren’t turbulent
enough—especially in the Jewish world—a storm that erupted in 1905 sent
shockwaves through the community of Torah scholars for years. It was a
global controversy, brimming with drama, and if you aren’t already
familiar with this story, it’s about time you heard it!
Before diving into the details, let’s set the stage. The Mishnah,
compiled by Rabbi Judah the Prince around 200 CE, is divided into six
orders (shas): Zera’im (Seeds), Mo’ed (Festivals), Nashim
(Women), Nezikin (Damages), Kodashim (Holy Things), and Taharot
(Purities). Each order is further divided into tractates.
About 150 years later, in the Land of Israel, the Jerusalem Talmud
was compiled. Later, in Babylonia, the Babylonian Talmud was written.
Both Talmuds expand upon and explain the Mishnah, documenting legal
discussions and the evolution of Jewish law as debated by the sages of
their time. However, not every tractate of the Mishnah is included in
the Talmud (Gemara), and some tractates appear in only one of the two
Talmuds. For instance, the Babylonian Talmud contains tractates from
parts of Kodashim, but the Jerusalem Talmud lacks the order of Kodashim
altogether.
Or at least, that’s what was believed—until 120 years ago. And thus, the controversy was born.
A Lost Manuscript or a Fabrication?
For centuries, scholars debated whether the Jerusalem Talmud once
included the order of Kodashim and was lost over time, or if it was
never compiled in the first place. According to Maimonides and several
other authorities, a Jerusalem Talmud for Kodashim did exist nearly
1,700 years ago. Others argue that it never did.
In 1868, Rabbi Benjamin Hirsch Auerbach claimed he had heard that a
manuscript of the Jerusalem Talmud on Kodashim was hidden in the Vatican
Library in Rome. This rumor attracted fraudsters, who, in 1873,
attempted to collect money from unsuspecting Jews to fund a trip to
Rome, where they would supposedly retrieve and publish the lost text.
However, they were exposed before any damage was done, and Vatican
experts confirmed that no such manuscript existed in their collection.
Fifty years later, in the 1920s, Rabbi Mordechai Farhand, a dayan
(rabbinical judge) from the Nitra community, traveled to the Vatican to
search for the manuscript. He found nothing.
The Vatican Library, image from the Vatican Library website
But in fact, the Vatican episode was one of the milder chapters in the saga of the missing tractate.
A Dramatic Announcement
In 1905–1906, an electrifying proclamation spread across the Jewish
communities of Europe. According to the announcement, Rabbi Shlomo
Yehuda Elgazi S”T (Sephardi Tahor, or “pure Sephardi”), also known by
the Ashkenazi surname Friedländer, from the city of Satmar, had
discovered the lost Jerusalem Talmud order of Kodashim. He intended to
publish it, complete with his own original commentary, as a continuation
of his earlier work Cheshek Shlomo, which covered other orders of the Jerusalem Talmud.
Excitement swept through the world of Torah study. Leading rabbis
endorsed the printing of the long-lost text. A year later, the first
volume, containing the tractates Chullin and Bekhorot, was offered for
sale.
Seemingly overnight, contradictions that had puzzled scholars for
centuries—regarding laws of ritual slaughter, Temple service, and
sacrificial offerings—were resolved. Difficult halakhic questions found
clear answers, all thanks to Friedländer’s newly printed Talmud.
A
letter written by Friedländer to the scholar Shlomo Buber regarding the
Jerusalem Talmud. From the Shwadron Collection, the National Library of
Israel.
A Treasure Hunt Across Turkey
Where had Friedländer found the lost order of Kodashim?
In his introduction to Tractate Chullin, he described the discovery
in vivid detail. According to his account, his brother, Eliyahu Elgazi,
traveled to Izmir on business and purchased books from the estate of
Rabbi Yehoshua Benveniste, who had died in Turkey 250 years earlier.
Among the volumes were first-edition printings of the Jerusalem Talmud,
annotated by Benveniste himself. Eliyahu, knowing his brother was
writing a commentary on the Jerusalem Talmud, sent the books to him.
In one of the volumes, Friedländer allegedly found two old letters that deepened the mystery.
One letter, signed by the Chief Rabbi of Constantinople, expressed
support for publishing Rabbi Benveniste’s annotations on the Jerusalem
Talmud for Kodashim. This suggested that such a manuscript did indeed
exist. The letter detailed how a converso named Don Abraham HaLevi, who
lived in Lisbon, had befriended a priest from Barcelona who was also a
former converso. The priest entrusted Don Abraham with a bundle of
manuscripts, which he then carried with him to Turkey. There, he gifted
them to Rabbi Benveniste, who had helped him return to Judaism. Among
the documents, Rabbi Benveniste was astonished to find the long-lost
Jerusalem Talmud on Kodashim.
But the second letter painted a different picture. According to this letter, Rabbi Benveniste ultimately decided not
to publish the manuscript, fearing that it would be seen as heretical.
At the time, the Jewish world—especially in Turkey—was still reeling
from the false messianism of Shabbetai Tzvi, whose radical teachings had
led to the abolition of many religious commandments. The discovery of a
“new” Jewish text, especially one as significant as a missing section
of the Talmud, might have raised suspicions and been used as
justification for further religious upheaval.
Friedländer was captivated by these letters. He had to find the manuscript.
His brother Eliyahu and their friend, Rabbi Yaakov Kobi, embarked on
an adventure across Turkey, searching for descendants of Rabbi
Benveniste in the hopes that one of them still possessed the treasure.
Eventually, they tracked down a villager named Suleiman Benveniste, who
showed them an amulet wrapped in silk, claiming it was the missing
Talmud. To their disappointment, the manuscript was in terrible
condition, with large sections missing.
Eliyahu and Yaakov convinced Suleiman to send the manuscript to
Friedländer in Hungary, promising him a share of the profits from its
publication. According to Friedländer, a colophon at the end of the text
revealed that the scribe, Yitzhak Bar Yosef Albergloni, had copied the
Talmud in the year 1212 from a carefully edited manuscript once owned by
Hai Gaon, the leader of Babylonian Jewry at the time.
If true, this was a stunning discovery. The lost Jerusalem Talmud had finally been revealed.
The War for the Truth
But the euphoria was short-lived. The first to dampen the excitement
of Torah scholars and talmudic researchers was Rabbi Dov Aryeh Ritter of
Rotterdam, who, in an article, described his initial joy at hearing
about the discovery—only to later express disappointment upon realizing
it was a forgery. Soon, other rabbis across Europe began questioning the
authenticity of the book. Rabbi Dov Baer Ratner of Vilna published a series of articles exposing Friedländer’s fraud.
Rabbi Ritter’s article (Der Israelit, June 1907).
Friedländer, however, did not sit idly by. He fiercely responded to
anyone who suggested that the text was a forgery. One of his students,
Avraham Rosenberg, wrote a scathing rebuttal in his book Aneh Kesil (Answer a Fool), directly attacking Rabbi Ratner.
Aneh Kesil (Answer a Fool), Avraham Rosenberg, 1908.
Another prominent critic of Friedländer was Rabbi Meir Dan Plotzky, who, in his book She’alu Shalom Yerushalayim,
systematically analyzed the text and demonstrated that it was
fraudulent. Another of Friedländer’s students, Yosef Ben Mahar”i, came
to his teacher’s defense in his book Herev Nokemet (Avenging Sword), launching personal attacks on Rabbi Plotzky but failing to address the substantive evidence of forgery.
She’alu Shalom Yerushalayim and Herev Nokemet
Despite mounting skepticism, Friedländer published another volume of
the so-called Jerusalem Talmud—this time on the tractates Zevachim and
Arakhin.
Jerusalem Talmud, Tractate Zevachim
Meanwhile, the Rebbe of Gur and many others demanded to see the
original manuscript, which Friedländer claimed was kept by Suleiman
Benveniste. But Friedländer repeatedly evaded such requests. No one ever
saw the manuscript or the letters he claimed to have discovered in
Turkey.
The Mask Falls
Jewish Europe was in turmoil. Some were thrilled by the discovery,
while others decried it as an elaborate fraud. At the height of the
controversy, Rabbi Zvi Hirsch Halevi Horowitz of Hermannstadt published
damning information on another deception by Friedländer: He had claimed
to have received an amulet from a Zurich museum, allegedly written by
Rabbi Jonathan Eybeschutz, from which he supposedly deduced that
Eybeschutz was a Sabbatean. Rabbi Horowitz’s investigation, however,
revealed that no such amulet existed—Friedländer had fabricated the
entire story to bolster his supposed expertise in deciphering
manuscripts. With this revelation, many concluded that his “students”
Avraham Rosenberg and Yosef were fictitious as well, and that
Friedländer himself had authored the books defending his fraudulent
claims.
The final blow to Friedländer’s reputation came from the rabbis of
Dvinsk—Rabbi Yosef Rosen, known as the Rogatchover Gaon, and Rabbi Meir
Simcha of Dvinsk—who officially declared the Jerusalem Talmud on
Kodashim a forgery. It remained unclear, however, whether Friedländer
had personally forged it or had acquired the forgery from another
source.
Over time, pieces of real information about Friedländer surfaced. He
had claimed to have studied at the famed Volozhin Yeshiva and to have
served as deputy rabbi of Frankfurt, head of a rabbinical court in
western Germany, assistant rabbi of Satmar, and head of a yeshiva. None
of this was true.
So, who was he, really?
He was born in Belarus under the name Zusia. A gifted and intelligent
young man, but certainly not a Sephardi named Elgazi. He married a
woman, abandoned her during his wanderings, and later married another
without ever divorcing the first. He was a talented scholar, impressing
rabbis with his knowledge and articles published in Torah journals.
“The Truth Is That I Forged It”
There is no doubt that Friedländer had a unique talent. He crafted a
complex and intricate story about discovering the manuscript, and if he
indeed wrote it himself, he must have possessed deep knowledge of
rabbinic literature and persuasive writing skills. According to Rabbi
Yaakov Tzvi Yanovsky in his 1913 pamphlet Tzaid Ramaiah (Hunting for Fraud), Friedländer relied heavily on the book Yafeh Einayim
by Rabbi Aryeh Leib Yellin. This book compiled Talmudic discussions
from across rabbinic literature, making it an excellent resource for
inserting relevant citations—or even fabricating new ones.
Friedländer also exploited legal rulings by Maimonides and his
contemporaries that lacked explicit sources. Conveniently, he “found”
those missing sources in his own forged Jerusalem Talmud. In response to
Rabbi Yanovsky’s accusations, Friedländer published a rebuttal pamphlet
titled Letz Hayayin (The Wine Jester), predictably attacking his critic rather than addressing the evidence.
Tzaid Ramaiah (Hunting for Fraud), by Rabbi Yaakov Tzvi Yanovsky, 1913
Years after Friedländer’s death, the truth came to light. In a 1951 article published in HaPardes,
Rabbi Yekuthiel Yehuda Greenwald described his encounters with
Friedländer in Khust and later in Satmar. As a young man, Greenwald had
been impressed by Friedländer’s charismatic and mysterious persona,
supporting him during the Jerusalem Talmud controversy. But in the
article, written nearly 40 years after the scandal, Greenwald revealed
what Friedländer had once admitted to him: “The truth is that I forged
it. I did not find a manuscript, but everything I wrote was composed
from the words of the sages that I gathered from various sources.”
Many books and articles have been written about this strange affair.
Today, it is widely known that the Jerusalem Talmud order of Kodashim is
a forgery, and yet it was reprinted in facsimile edition in Israel in
1996 and in the United States in 2003. But does anyone actually want to
study it?
More recent printings of the forged Jerusalem Talmud order of Kadoshim
If you still have your doubts, come visit the National Library, order
a copy from our rare books collection, and see for yourself!
