Right-wing Rabbis Issue Warning
A group of Orthodox Israeli rabbis reportedly sent a letter to Acting Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, warning that he will face “a personal catastrophe” if he moves forward with the evacuation of houses occupied by Jewish settlers in Hebron.
“Don’t make the hasty move of abandoning the Land of Israel, and don’t bring catastrophe upon the people of Israel and yourself,” the rabbis wrote, according to the Web site of the Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot. They pointed out that Prime Minister Sharon suffered a severe stroke several months after ordering the dismantling of Jewish settlements in Gaza and the northern West Bank.
The rabbis, including Chabad scholar Shalom Dov Wolpe, note that several former prime ministers, including Menachem Begin and Yitzhak Rabin, “who harmed the Land of Israel never succeeded in completing their term in office.”
“It is out of sheer concern,” the rabbis write, “that we offer you Mr. Olmert not to walk down the path of your predecessors, who brought disasters on the people of Israel. All those who harm the Land of Israel declare war on God and his commands, and face the consequences,” the letter reportedly read.
The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.
Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.
This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO
