An Open Letter to the Rabbanim of Tekumah

Then there is Tekumah, made up of MK Uri Ariel and Rabbi Eliyahu Ben Dahan and two other members. Tekumah is considered to be the more dominant factor relating to the Torah world. Its leadership includes municipal rabbis and Roshei Yeshivah in the National Religious community. As such, it is a more direct address to stop the delusional dance that has been unfolding before our shocked eyes as we witness the unfathomable bond that has been forged between Jewish Home and Lapid’s Yesh Atid party.

It is to these Rabbanim that we issue this painful emotional appeal:

You, who merited for decades to sit in the tent of Torah here in Eretz Yisrael and to teach it to subsequent generations — how is it conceivable [for you] to make a covenant with a movement that has risen against the Torah world? …

You, who seek the future of Am Yisrael, for whom this is a fundamental principle in your worldview — how can you sit together with a party that declares support for civil unions in direct contravention to Toras Moshe?

How can you pledge cooperation with Jews who have raised the banner of hatred against Torah Judaism? How will this preserve the future of the nation in its land?

And if we are mentioning ahavas Yisrael, the Torah clearly states, “V’ahavta l’rei’acha kamocha — love thy friend as thyself,” meaning someone who is like you in mitzvos. How can you talk so much about loving every single Jew, no matter what he is like, and then turn your backs specifically on Torah-observant Jews, who took nothing from you and who ask only to preserve their yeshivos and their scholars?

And if we are talking about Eretz Yisrael, is not our entire existence here only in the merit of supporting Torah and Jewish values, such as Shabbos? If the State of Israel loses its spiritual merits; if, chalilah, there is a decline in those who learn Torah, what merit will stand in our stead at a time when our enemies, both near and far, rise against us? On what will we rely when we come to plead with our Creator to have mercy, protect and save us?

Don’t look at our appeal as ingratiation; don’t find in it what isn’t there. Look at it as a call of one brother to another at the last minute, a call that stems from deep in the heart and is made with tears: “Brothers, don’t do it! Don’t let those who listen to you do this terrible thing. Chareidi Jewry calls on the G-d-fearing public in Yehudah and Shomron and in the Negev, Galilee and Yerushalayim and the Coastal region — come to your senses before it is too late! Stop the spread of baseless hatred! Join those who want to work together to protect Am Yisrael and Toras Yisrael!”

This article appeared in print on page 7 of the March 4th, 2013 edition of Hamodia.