“and that the Third Holy Temple will be built by the hand of not man but G-d”
I guess charedim have information that the rambam [melakhim 11:1] is wrong. it is also ironic how the “haredi perspective” that it “doesn’t make any inherent difference what temporal flag flies above the hewn stones of Jerusalem’s walls” is against halakha; besides for the ramban who forbids abandoning portions of eretz yisrael to the nations, giving “back” Jerusalem would also violate “lo tichanem”. In the past, charedim at least claimed that giving back land was permissible for security. Now I guess that claim is too patently absurd, so they have just dropped this portion of halakha entirely. If this is the case, I applaud their honesty.
the truth is there is actually almost no honesty in their position; they oppose giving back land which charedim like, although supposedly they do not take positions on security related issues. Yet if the rationale is that pikuach nefesh overrides all else, it hardly seems that the emotional attachment to Jerusalem should trump pikuach nefesh. This intellectual thistle-patch, however, is the unfortunate lot of agudah spokesmen.
UPDATE: commentor Nachum on hirhurim suggests that Shafran is suffering from acute cognitive dissonance, and that instead of making fun of him, we should feel bad for him.
2 comments:
so, what's #3? MO?
it is open to two interpretations: chabad is fourth closest to judaism, being the fifth on the judaism scale, or chabad is the fourth on that list. if the latter approach is taken (which i assume you are) hasidism follows haredism. if however the former approach is chosen (i myself find it to be more textually compelling) the answer is less clear. it may be that islam places third, for although they share relatively little with judaism in terms of ritual, in fundamental matters of theology they probably are closer.
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