Featured Post
Free The Hostages! Bring Them Home!
(this is a featured post and will stay at the top for the foreseeable future.. scroll down for new posts) -------------------------------...
May 10, 2011
Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank On The State Of Israel
Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank was the Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem for many years. In addition, he served as a dayan on the beis din of the Eida for about 60 years. Rav Frank also was instrumental in establishing the Rabbanut and in appointing Rav Avraham Yitzchak Kook to be the first Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel. (source: Wikipedia)
Makor Rishon wrote a bit of a biography of Rav Frank that is pretty fascinating. In it, Makor Rishon quotes Rav Frank on two instances relating to the State. After the State of Israel was established, some had the impression that Rav Frank was upset at the State, as he tried to inject some religion into it and into the legal system.
At times, Makor Rishon says, Rav Frank said some harsh things at times when he worked tirelessly to make change for the better, though he always tempered his words by saying how much he loved the existence of the State, expressing his frustration as to how much potential it had relative to how the State acted in certain regards.
Because of his harsh statements, some thought he was opposed to the State. When he was fighting against the possibility that women would be drafted into the Israeli army he said to a journalist from the Der Tag newspaper "They accuse me that I hate the State. Look here, in this house (ed: in his own house) there was an arms hideaway, a "slick", for the Hagana. The telephone in my house was made available to them, and you know what that entailed. I do not deserve any thanks, as I was fulfilling my obligations...."
The second quote from Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank is from an approbation he wrote for a book called" Mishpat HaTzava B'Yisrael". Rav Frank wrote, "the greatest event that we merited to see was the establishment of the budding army of Israel by the new Israeli government that was prepared with amazing miracles that everyone can see in them the Divine intervention that is upon us to sustain us in the land of our fathers...the sparks of light spread out and like the morning the holiness and honor of Hashem rose above us in the skies of our holy land and shone to the goyim that all the people of the world should recognize that it is in our right to build the house of Israel in our land."
Makor Rishon wrote a bit of a biography of Rav Frank that is pretty fascinating. In it, Makor Rishon quotes Rav Frank on two instances relating to the State. After the State of Israel was established, some had the impression that Rav Frank was upset at the State, as he tried to inject some religion into it and into the legal system.
At times, Makor Rishon says, Rav Frank said some harsh things at times when he worked tirelessly to make change for the better, though he always tempered his words by saying how much he loved the existence of the State, expressing his frustration as to how much potential it had relative to how the State acted in certain regards.
Because of his harsh statements, some thought he was opposed to the State. When he was fighting against the possibility that women would be drafted into the Israeli army he said to a journalist from the Der Tag newspaper "They accuse me that I hate the State. Look here, in this house (ed: in his own house) there was an arms hideaway, a "slick", for the Hagana. The telephone in my house was made available to them, and you know what that entailed. I do not deserve any thanks, as I was fulfilling my obligations...."
The second quote from Rav Tzvi Pesach Frank is from an approbation he wrote for a book called" Mishpat HaTzava B'Yisrael". Rav Frank wrote, "the greatest event that we merited to see was the establishment of the budding army of Israel by the new Israeli government that was prepared with amazing miracles that everyone can see in them the Divine intervention that is upon us to sustain us in the land of our fathers...the sparks of light spread out and like the morning the holiness and honor of Hashem rose above us in the skies of our holy land and shone to the goyim that all the people of the world should recognize that it is in our right to build the house of Israel in our land."
Labels:
Israel,
Yom Ha'Atzmaut
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Related Posts
I don't have the source at hand, but Rav Frank was asked in the early years if North African Jews should really be brought to Israel, given the Labor Zionist's aggressive efforts to steer them away from Torah. Rav Frank's response was, "first, just get them here."
ReplyDelete