Feb 21, 2012
Our Hands Did Not Spill This Blood - Modern Day Egla Arufa
A female soldier was recently killed in a hit-and-run accident outside of Yokneam. A group of rabbonim from the Tzohar organization decided to hold a modern-version of the "egla arufa" ceremony in it's wake.
What is the modern-day version of egla arufa?
It's actually a bit disappointing. They went to the gas station next to where the soldier was killed and held a prayer session and made a public call to be more careful on the road, along with a public protest against the moral injustice of hitting and running.
The rabbonim involved in the ceremony made do with the prayer and protest, and did not break the neck of a calf beside the river. They explained that it is incomprehensible that blood can be spilled like this and the public should not have to answer for it.... "We have responsibility for blood spilled in traffic accidents. We have responsibility for the blood of the youth that is spilled in stupid fights. [we have responsibility for blood spilled] of women killed by their husbands. We have responsibility for blood spilled in the murders that fill the pages of our newspapers. When talking about people's lives, we cannot shirk our responsibility....". "We cannot get used to it, and we cannot say it is part of life. We must take responsibility for the blood spilled."
(source: Srugim, among others)
Interesting.
What is the modern-day version of egla arufa?
It's actually a bit disappointing. They went to the gas station next to where the soldier was killed and held a prayer session and made a public call to be more careful on the road, along with a public protest against the moral injustice of hitting and running.
The rabbonim involved in the ceremony made do with the prayer and protest, and did not break the neck of a calf beside the river. They explained that it is incomprehensible that blood can be spilled like this and the public should not have to answer for it.... "We have responsibility for blood spilled in traffic accidents. We have responsibility for the blood of the youth that is spilled in stupid fights. [we have responsibility for blood spilled] of women killed by their husbands. We have responsibility for blood spilled in the murders that fill the pages of our newspapers. When talking about people's lives, we cannot shirk our responsibility....". "We cannot get used to it, and we cannot say it is part of life. We must take responsibility for the blood spilled."
(source: Srugim, among others)
Interesting.
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Of course they were not interested in in breaking the neck of a calf beside the river. That wouldn't look good in the eyes of the Chilonim so they just did the 'nice' part of the mitzva. These Tzohar Rabanim wake up in the morning and say what can I do today to look good in the eyes of the Chilonim. You won't hear them make a stand against today's news that the Justice Ministry decided to end the administrative detention of Islamic Jihad guy Khader Adnan.
ReplyDeleteDoing something to try to make people aware of traffic safety is just "trying to look good in the eyes of the Chilonim"????? Driving safely has nothing to do with Torah? I've read in Rav Nevensal's sichos that someone that breaks the traffic laws is, according to the Torah, like a murderer.
ReplyDeleteThis kind of attitude is behind a lot of what's wrong with the Torah world today, in my opinion. Just because something might look good to the "chilonim", or liberals, or whatever, somehow makes it traif, or is grandstanding? Murder b'shogeg is too liberal to talk about? Are we supposed to confine our view of Torah to kosher food, Shabbat, and how we relate to Arabs? We better hope the liberals and/or chilonim don't discover kashrut, or we'll have to start ignoring that too!!!
Baruch, my problem with the Tzohar rabanim is that they only make a stand on issues that make them popular.
ReplyDeleteTzohar was founded to address the unpopularity of the rabbanut (and the resultant tensions and mistrust between secular and religious) and offer an alternative that still operated within the framework of the rabbanut. It therefore makes perfect sense that the issues that they address make them "popular."
ReplyDeleteAre there any unpopular causes you would like them to champion? Should they protest the opening of parking lots on shabbat just to make you happy?