An article by Rabbi Meir Kahane HY"D zt"l about Aish HaTorah:
You shall not accept a bribe; for a bribe blinds
the eyes of the wise, and perverts the words of the
righteous." (Deuteronomy 16:19)
How dangerous it is, how subtle it is, how it enters the mind
stealthily and trespasses the heart silently. How certain we are that
it can never capture us; how indignant are we when we are accused
of being seduced by it.
Shochad. Bribery. That terrible enemy of truth that subtly
blinds and perverts truth and speakers of truth. And how are we
capable of rationalizing our acceptance of bribe and perversion of
truth! And how much we need to — in order to preserve our
good name and self-respect. And how one lie and perversion leads
to another . .
We persuade ourselves, through the blinding lure of the briber,
that we are doing nothing wrong. That to the contrary, we are do
ing good things and merely being "wise" in how we go about it.
That we do not lie; we simply do not tell the entire truth. That the
wonderful end justifies the not-too-happy means. We lie, pervert,
blind ourselves in a myriad of ways — such is the power of the
bribe.
I never rejoice in criticism, especially of people or institutions
that once were pure and proper. Yet such is the nature of real crit
icism — it is impartial, it is honest; it is directed at those we despise
and at those for whom we care. Otherwise, in our failure to criticize
the latter — we, too, fall victim to shochad . . .
I have before me a letter that appeared in the Los Angeles
Jewish Journal. It deals with the issue of Who Is A Jew, the issue
that has turned hysterical in its attacks on Orthodox Jewry. The let
ter is from the directors of Yeshiva Aish Ha'Torah, a school for
ba'alei tshuva, penitents, in Jerusalem, and is, itself, a letter clearly
motivated by quiet panic. Aish Ha'Torah is a yeshiva dedicated to
bringing Jews who have strayed into the paths of falsehood, back
to Jewish truth. And yet, this is what the ba'al tshuva yeshiva says
about the Knesset bill which is aimed at putting an end to the most
terrible danger facing Jews today — fraudulent conversion that
turns legitimate gentiles into illegitimate Jews and splits the Jewish
people into two separate ones. This is what a yeshiva, dedicated to
truth, writes about a move, endorsed by every Torah giant, aimed
at saving the Jewish people from tragedy:
Aish Ha'Torah's position is that Knesset legislation is not the way. We feel this is an issue for education and persuasion, for calm and measured discussion, not
Knesset legislation. The imposition by legislative fiat of specific religious standards on a divided people is polarizing and alienating. It drives away from G-d and
Torah the very people it is meant to bring close. It fails to serve the best interests of the Jewish people.
Education. Persuasion. Of course. That is what will persuade Reform and Conservative rabbis to turn away gentiles who do not accept mitzvot. This is what will persuade young Jews not to marry the good-looking non-Jew. Of course; education and persuasion. That will take, perhaps, fifty years? And in the meantime, another million gentiles will become "Jewish" and the Jewish people will be split into two, each unable to marry the other. Of course, they know that this is nonsense, but it will satisfy the non-Orthodox money-giver.
How sad. The sour smell of bribery pervades the air. The reason for the quietly hysterical letter is all to clear. Aish Ha'Torah has become a tremendously successful school — in terms of money. It raises a great deal of money, and nowhere more than in Los Angeles. The hysterical threat by wealthy non-Orthodox Jews to cutoff funding of yeshivas, lit a red light in the minds of the directors of the yeshiva. And so, they write this terrible letter — this monument to perversion of Judaism, to bribery that blinds.
Earlier this year when Aish Ha'Torah honored actor Richard Dreyfuss, a Peace Now spokesman who bitterly attacked Israel over the intifada, I was shocked. And yet, thought, perhaps it was an oversight. Perhaps one terrible act does not a bribery make. But now one sees that it was not a mistake. That it is a pattern. How sad. How sad that a yeshiva for ba'alei tshuva is in such need of tshuva itself.
March, 1989
Topic: Aish.com a wolf in sheeps clothing (Read 1825 times)