by Reb Akiva @ Mystical Paths

A.B. Yehoshua is one of the secular sages of modern Israel.  Writer, and dare I say, philosopher, Mr. Yehoshua is one who puts the positions of Israeli secular society and the secular elite into words.

Today, on Tisha b’Av, the anniversary when we mourn the destruction of the Holy Jewish Temples (same place, 2 occasions) in Jerusalem, the Temples where G-d’s presence was manifest physically on Earth as described in the holy Torah (bible) and the details of the services in the Temples described both in the Torah and in the Mishna.  We yearn for it’s rebuilding every day, the coming of Moshiach our righteous redeemer, and the return of G-d’s holy presence manifest on Earth.

On this sad day that we hope will turn to joy, Mr. Yehoshua gave an interview on Israeli radio…

“…Prize-winning author A.B Yehoshua on Tuesday slammed religious Jews who want to pray on the Temple Mount — and Diaspora Jews for not coming to live in Israel…  ‘the real tragedy behind the day of mourning was not the destruction of buildings, but the fact that too many Jews still live overseas and do not understand that they have a motherland.’ … ‘“The problem is that half the nation doesn’t even think of returning to Israel. The problem isn’t some building. There’s a mosque there, an exquisite mosque that was built 1,300 years ago. There’s also the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. And we should be proud that in Jerusalem we can combine the three monotheistic religions’”

- Umm, no, the church is NOT on the Temple Mount, it’s on the other side of the Old City in Jerusalem – guess he can speak as an expert but hasn’t been there.

“The Western Wall is there. Do you need to send Jews to pray on the Temple Mount? Would you be pleased if the Muslims came and bowed down at the Western Wall and prayed there?”

- Umm, many people of many religions do come and pray at the Western Wall, including Xians who sometimes fall to their knees, as pictures by Reb Gutman here on Mystical Paths have shown  - guess he can comment on praying there but hasn’t been there.

“That’s their [the Muslims’] house of prayer. Our synagogues are spread all over the world and we want people to respect them and look after them. And we have to respect the places of prayer of others.”

- No one is demanding they stop praying there, and no one is interfering with their praying there…except when they attack us, kill our policemen,, and incite riots there.  Respect is a 2 way street, and they are NOT respecting us.  But as we’ve discussed previously here, that’s because they don’t speak the language of respect, they speak the language of honor/dishonor. – guess he’s an expert without knowing anything about what’s going on there or how they act.

Many Jews exiled by the Babylonians in the sixth century BCE failed to return to Israel, he said, and during the Second Temple period, from 530 BCE to 70 CE, half of the Jewish people already lived in the Diaspora.  “Maybe the people found in the destruction of the Temple an excuse to leave Israel,” he said.  “After the Temple was destroyed, for 400 years it was a heap of trash. The Jews didn’t even clean it up. They left Israel, and that’s the problem. And if the Temple is rebuilt, what, there’ll be salvation here?”

- OH MY GOSH, “the destruction as an excuse to leave”???  That’s literally like saying the Holocaust was an excuse to leave Poland.  Their towns and homes were burned, their families were killed, and the traumatized survivors were hauled away at sword point.  They didn’t “leave Israel”, the survivors were driven away. – guess Mr. Yehoshua doesn’t mind reframing history to meet his agenda.

The first Zionists were secular people who told Jewish immigrants to settle areas such as the Negev, the Jordan Valley and the Jezreel Valley, not to go to Jerusalem, he added.  There was something symbolic in the decision of Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, to settle in the Negev Desert and “not to rub up against the Palestinians on a place that is holy to them.”

- BINGO.  Mr. Yehoshua, who most likely lives in Tel Aviv, not in the Negev or Jordan valley, doesn’t understand why the Jews of the world aren’t rushing to move to the…Negev desert?  These Diaspora Jews should NOT connect with our Jewish holy places, not connect with praying to G-d, and not connect with the Torah.  Instead they should connect to the Zionist nationhood, leave their current home countries, and move to the Negev.

He’s missed the whole point.  The connection to the Land of Israel is through the Torah of Israel, which is from the G-d of Israel.  The peoplehood of the Jewish people fades without the Torah, as  does the connection to the Land of Israel.  It’s EXACTLY through the connection to the Torah that the Jewish people connect to Israel…and draws them to make their life in G-d’s gift to the Jewish People – the Land of Israel. 

On Tisha b’Av, Mr. Yehoshua should know better.

Source article @TimesofIsrael