Two Sides Of The Coin

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - my inbox. Sometimes I receive such SILLY things. Other times - blasphemy. Other times - well, you have an inbox also so you know exactly what I am talking about.

Recently I received two items on a female knesset member who translated an Aramaic story from the gemara into Hebrew on the podium of the Knesset and extracted life lessons. She has a Masters in Talmud and claims that the Talmud has positively changed her life. A non-religious woman yet! What a Kiddush Hashem!!

N-O-N-S-E-N-S-E!:) The Talmud says [in Tractate Sabbath 31a] that if one doesn't have fear of Heaven it is better that he [or she] NOT LEARN. She is a member of a radically secular party whose yearning is to see yeshivos close down and to secularize the country as much as they can. So what good is the little learning she does??

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I received another item from the official magazine of the OU. The person who sent me the item entitled it "Kiddush Hashem". I LOVE hearing about about Kiddushei Hashem. Nu - what was it?

A girl who was described as "Charedi" decided that she is going to rebel against her family, EVERY significant Rov in the last 65 years, her religious education and serve in the Israeli army. And serve she did!

????

The Chazon Ish [and many others] said that it is better to DIE [יהרג ואל יעבור] than for a girl to serve in Tzahal. The standards of tzniyus there make it a place unfit for a Jewish girl. Where, pray tell, is the Kiddush Hashem??

Ahhhhhhh - when she was in the army she insisted on davening and keeping Shabbos and wearing a skirt even though it was difficult. She also inspired others in her own small way to do the same.

It's like I walk into MacDonald's and eat a cheeseburger while wearing my tallis and tefillin [not after shkiya:)] and say a dvar torah at the table, while wearing a shaatnez garment. The whole thing is "shaatnez"!!

She shouldn't be there in the first place. Why does the article glorify her??

Ahhhhhhhhhh-  my inbox.....

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But what would the Holy Reb Levi Yitzchak of Berditchev say??

Maybe the following: "Master of the Universe. Look at your daughters! One has trouble keeping some of the daily laws but feels a visceral connection to your Torah. Doesn't the Talmud Yerushalmi say in Your Name "Halevai the should leave me and keep learning my Torah and its Light will bring them back". This daughter of yours may come back. And another daughter - she woke up earlier than everyone else to daven to You. She suffered much inconvenience for two years in keeping your commandments in an often hostile environment where almost nobody else was. מי כעמך ישראל."

I think he has a point:).