Salute to Baruch Goldstein who saved the lives of thousands.

[Dr. Dan]

A real hero who saved the lives of thousands
 
Some of our professional traitors are already  beginning  to make the comparison  between this weeks butchery of four Jews as they stood in prayer with  the  Dr. Baruch Goldstein  shootings  in 1994.. The peaceful praying men in Jerusalem  threatened no one. Their crime was being Jewish and perhaps praying as  a Jew.
 
First a few  words about Dr. Goldstein:
 
Dr. Baruch  Goldstein could have  had a wonderful career in the USA, first in his  class in Einstein medical school. However he chose to make his home  in Hebron and serve as the regional physician there.
He was adored  by all  .
 Parents would  take their children to his clinic - just to see his face.
 He often slept with his shoes on - just in case
.
When he was treating a young woman with cancer. He told her,"I will do whatever I can for  you as long as I can" He  ended up  sitting at her bed side reciting Psalms.
 
There  was a bad  car accident  near Kiryat Arba involving an army jeep. At  the  scene, he  saw a badly injured Ethiopian soldier. He  asked for his parents' phone  number. When asked why, he said," he is clearly a new immigrant and his parents will need support.".
 
There is a book full of these stories which the government banned. It is called "Baruch Hagever"
 
Shortly before he was killed  he treated his  good friend and his son after a terror attack upon them. They died in  his arms.
 
Now we come to Purim and the day of the events.
The  army  had warned Dr Goldstein of  coming trouble - a pogrom. He was asked to enlarge his emergency room and prepare for  the worst.
 
He braced for the Arab fury, as warned by the  army and as evidenced by the open Arab preparations on their mosque loudspeakers and posters. "Stock  up on food and water" There will be  a curfew"
 
That evening  he went to the Patriarchs cave to hear the  Purim Megila read.
 A very unusual number of young Arabs were in the building chanting "slaughter the Jews!"
Why the  army allowed them in is a puzzle.
 
They say he  was  seen leaving as he could not hear the reading over the shrill cries for Jewish blood., shaking his head saying,"I can't take it anymore"
The very same thing happened the next morning for  the  second reading.
 
He returned that afternoon with his rifle in uniform (major) and  managed to  eliminate 28 of the chanting "youths". He was then  bludgeoned to death.
 
There was no  pogrom that year.
 
I have rarely met a more selfless, dedicated  person in my life.
 
May his memory be a blessing for us all.

[Aluf Abir]

I have been looking for a reliable reference which confirms that Dr. Baruch Goldstein accurately knew that an Arab massacre was imminent and acted preemptively.  Can you furnish me with such a reference.

[muman613]

Baruch Hashem, this was a real mensche, a Jewish hero who acted instead of cowering like most of his fellow Jews. As Pinchas acted with zealousness so too did our hero act in a manner of true Ahavat Yisrael.

I have been thinking alot about him. The name Goldstein has been occurring quite a bit in my life. My new Vascular Surgeon is named Goldstein. I have a great friendship with a Goldstein in my minyan.  And I remembered the other day that in Orwells novel 'Nineteen-Eighty-Four' the badguy used to whip the proles into a hate was named GOLDSTEIN.

[muman613]

I found the following discussion on Torah.org @ http://www.torah.org/learning/issues/goldstein.html


From Volume 1 Digest 25

From: Jeff Weiner <----->
Regarding the post by Mordechai Horowitz in V1 N23, I venture the following thoughts.

There are several issues that should be discussed.

1. The dictum "ha ba l'horgecha, hashkem l'horgo" - if one is being attacked (by someone with the intent to kill), then it is incumbent for you to kill that person first in self defense.

It is interesting to note that the Hebrew "ha ba l'horgecha" may mean not only if one has actually started to physically attack you, but who has actual intent and is about to do so. In this case, halacha would seem to mandate pre-emptive self defense on the part of the about-to-be victim.

2. The concept of "rodef" - that is one who is engaged in active persecution of, and who maliciously intends to harm a Jewish person.

3. The concept of "milhemet mitzva" - a war whose active participation in by all Jewish physically able males is required by Jewish law.

As far as point 1 above is concerned, the Arabs in the Cave Of Machpela on Purim morning a year ago were not engaged in physically attacking any Jews. Arguably, it should be noted that virulent anti-Jewish sentiment is regularly whipped up among the crowds of Moslem worshippers when they go to their Mosques. Anyone who lives in Israel can readily testify to the uneasiness and dread that greets all Jewish Israelis when Friday rolls around. Will the Arabs riot when they come out of the mosque on Har HaBayit (the Temple Mount) ? , is a question whose answer has all to often been anwered with a chilling "yes".

So while the Arabs at the Cave of Machpela on Purim were not physically attacking any Jews, there is evidence (I believe it was recorded in the Inquiry following the incident) that anti-Jewish statements "itbach el-yahud" (slaughter the Jews) were being made in the Cave.

Does this confer upon them the status of an enemy who has revealed his deadly intent to attack (but hasn't yet done so), thus requiring a preemptive act of self defense?

2. The concept of "rodef" would also seem to apply here to the hostile elements of the Arab population in Hebron. The situation of the Jewish community in Hebron, and quite possibly in all of Eretz Yisrael (Land of Israel) is one of "sakanat nefashot" (life threatening situation), because the hostile Arab population is engaged in active persecution of the Jewish population.

3. Regarding "milhemet mitzva" (a war, the partcipation in which is required (a postive commandment)) - I think that there is no doubt that there is a common halachic concensus that the security situation in Israel is one of "milhemet mizvah". Regardless of the various "peace" treaties and agreements that have been signed with Israel's Arab neighbors, the intent to destroy the Jewish state is still the major driving force in the Arab world.

Another halachic issue that should be raised is: Is an action permitted, given that it probably will lead to additional murderous attacks by the Arabs on Jews ?

Obviously, in a state of war, on the conventional battlefield, this issue is overridden by the rule of self defense. The question here is are we dealing with a conventional battlefield situation in current day Israel, or are we all (Jews living in Israel) in a non-conventional battlefield , where the same rules of self defense would apply ?

I welcome any thoughts and comments
Jeff Weiner

[Aluf Abir]

Are there any references which are well researched which give support to the claim that Baruch Goldstein was told of an imminent massacre and acted preemptively?

[muman613]

Are there any references which are well researched which give support to the claim that Baruch Goldstein was told of an imminent massacre and acted preemptively?

According to Wikipedia the Shamgar Commission contained the suggestion that there was a pogrom in progress or planning at the time:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cave_of_the_Patriarchs_massacre

Shamgar Commission

The Israeli government appointed a commission of inquiry headed by then president of the Supreme Court, Judge Meir Shamgar. The commission in the epilogue to its report called the massacre "a base and murderous act, in which innocent people bending in prayer to their maker were killed". Among its specific conclusions were:

Goldstein acted alone in planning the massacre, telling no one of his scheme.[32]

Coordination between the IDF, the police, and the Civil Administration was problematic.

The political leadership and security forces could not have been expected to predict the massacre.

Testimony from survivors referring to IDF assistance and grenade explosions in the massacre was found to be contradictory and inconsistent; investigators did not find any grenade fragments.[3]

There were, as claimed by some Jews seeking to justify Goldstein's actions as a preemptive strike, substantial warnings of a coming Hamas terror attack against Jews.[32] It further stated:

8.2a "... warnings were issued regarding an expected attack by Hamas following the distribution of its leaflets in Hebron."

8.7a "Following an incident in Abu-Dis, which ended in the deaths of a number of members of Az-A-Din Al-Qassam [of Hamas], emotions ran high among the Moslem worshipers (about two hundred), who shouted hostile slogans ("Qassam", "kill the Jews"), [at the Jewish worshipers], making it necessary to call in army and Border Police forces. According to one of the Moslem witnesses, the Jews also shouted hostile slogans." (This is in reference to persons present on the previous evening.)

8.8a "Those in charge of security at the Tomb were given no intelligence reports that an attack by a Jew against Moslem worshipers could be expected, particularly since intelligence reports warned of the opposite: an attack by Hamas. Therefore, there was concern about an attack by Arabs against Jews."[33]

Critics of the commission have suggested that Shamgar's judicial record has "consistently displayed his leniency toward the settlers, including those convicted of crimes against the Palestinians, but especially toward the soldiers who had fired at the Palestinians" and that his career reflected a history of pro-settler activism by promoting expropriation of Palestinian land to Jewish settlement that are against international law.[34]

[Kahane-Was-Right BT]

Are there any references which are well researched which give support to the claim that Baruch Goldstein was told of an imminent massacre and acted preemptively?

I'm pretty sure the official Israeli govt investigation "Commission" report had details whicch indicate this basic fact.   
Another detail is the arab worshippers had weapons that morning.
Personally I think they started a murderous rage and he first started by shooting at their feet to keep them back.  The govt also reported he was locked into the room from the outside by someone.  Once trapped I bet he then had to shoot to kill because they were mauling him.  It makes sense to me this way because I think if he simply opened fire with intent to kill as many as possible, many more would have died and far less bullets to their legs and into the ground.

[Yehudayaakov]

He was hero who was assassinated because he saved many Jewish lives idf deliberately put in harm's way and  not knowing what to do as idf refused to protect Jewish brethren He took gun to kill the barbaric killers as any real Jew would do in such circumstance when the country which rebirth was meant for protection of the Jew fail to act and choose barbarians instead.