Jan 26, 2014
PM keeps Shabbos publicly, son dates non-Jew
PM Benjamin Netanyahu has been receiving praise for "keeping shabbos" while in Davos, Switzerland for the World Economic Forum, by walking, with his wife, more than 2 kilometers back to their hotel in the snow rather than being driven.. They first participated in Shabbos services and meal sponsored by the jewish community, and then prepared for their snowy walk and went on their way. And he deserves that praise for publicly keeping Shabbos in the name of the State of Israel.
Unfortunately, at the same time, it became public knowledge, when the PM himself let it slip, that his son is dating a girl from Norway.
Sandra Leikanger is Yair Netanyahu's girlfriend, and they've been dating for months. They met at IDC in Herzliya, where she is getting a degree, as is Yair. Unfortunately, while her family is very pro-Israel, they are evangelical Christians...
Parents don't always have control of what their kids do and don't do, especially when they are already adults, and he shouldn't necessarily be blamed for it, but it is not good that the Prime Minister's son is dating a non-Jew... they haven't gotten married yet, so they could still break it off, maybe she is planning on converting, or it might just not work out, so there is still hope..
Unfortunately, at the same time, it became public knowledge, when the PM himself let it slip, that his son is dating a girl from Norway.
Sandra Leikanger is Yair Netanyahu's girlfriend, and they've been dating for months. They met at IDC in Herzliya, where she is getting a degree, as is Yair. Unfortunately, while her family is very pro-Israel, they are evangelical Christians...
Parents don't always have control of what their kids do and don't do, especially when they are already adults, and he shouldn't necessarily be blamed for it, but it is not good that the Prime Minister's son is dating a non-Jew... they haven't gotten married yet, so they could still break it off, maybe she is planning on converting, or it might just not work out, so there is still hope..
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I read that her sister is doing a conversion course. Even so, it does not sound or look good, so I hope like many, that it does not work out, and he will marry a nice Jewish maiden.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who converted to Judaism, I find this post disturbing. Yes, she may convert, and if so- brucha habaa, but if she doesn't, it does not make her less of a human being and less capable of loving and being loved by a Jewish man.
ReplyDeleteif you converted to Judaism, I am surprised you havent seen until now or been taught that Jews (Orthodox) are opposed to intermarriage. It is a prohibition and it is bad for the nation.
DeleteThat being said, I take offense at your implying I consider non-Jews to be less of a human being. I am opposed to intermarriage, but I treat all people with respect. Jews and non-Jews alike.
You are putting the cart before the horse. Why is everyone automatically talking about marriage already? Hasn't Yair only recently finished his military service? I don't see a trend in Israeli society of young, educated, seculars hurrying to get married. He's dating, and get people are already ringing their hands over the fact that he might have non-Jewish offspring.
DeleteYes, of course I've heard of being opposed to intermarriage; I myself am observant, but that doesn't mean that I agree that the nation should be weeping and ringing hands over a young man dating a non-Jewish woman. Maybe we should embrace it; my husband started dating me before I converted. He was secular, but I wanted to be observant. So now he is BT and we are raising 6 observant children. It's degrading for people think that it's tragic for a Jewish person to date a non-Jewish, no matter how you sugar coat it. Had my husband chosen not to date me because of my status then, he would most likely continued on with a secular lifestyle, with fewer mitzvot done and fewer Jewish children to add to the next generation.
Individual stories can be very inspiring, but make no sense to apply as a general rule. Most often, someone who marries a non-Jew leads (or follows with) his family in that direction.
DeleteAs far as wringing one's hands, in an earlier generation the non-Orthodox Jewish identity was much stronger, so that while they couldn't define *why* they wanted to be Jewish, some connection and continuity was preserved. In that context, Jewish intermarriage was a tragedy. Maybe now it shouldn't be such a shock, since even most non-Orthodox kids who are enrolled in some Jewish education, receive very very little actual Jewish content.
For years there has been no education within Israel about intermarriage. People think that within Israel a Jewish identity is obvious, but really the secular Jew in Israel has had the same decline in identity as in the Diaspora.
I assume this wasn't the same Netanyahu child who won the Chidon Tanach a few years ago?
I don't understand this post. So what? His son is not him. Look in the Torah and you see all kinds of different people in the same family.
ReplyDeleteas I said, parents dont always have control of what their kids do, and he shouldnt necessarily be blamed for it.. but it isnt good for the nation that the Prime Minister who is out there fighting to preserve Jewish identity and goes to the Diaspora to talk about Jewish identity - that his son is dating a non-Jew..
DeleteIt'll be interesting to see how it goes if she decides to convert. My bet: those who routinely trash conversions done to the left of them will trip over themselves to recognize hers, Shomer Shabbat or not. Let alone choice of dress.
ReplyDeleteYou can't blame him for what his kid does, but had he raised him Charedi, he'd be unlikely to be dating a non-Jewish woman. This son was not raised with a full Torah education, and does not realize that he is a link in the chain from Sinai to Messiah...if he marries this woman and his children are non-Jews, he will have ended the Jewish story of his family and future. That is what is sad.
ReplyDeleteYou do know that self-Haredi-righteousness works only on the radio and in the social media, but in the real world does not help to keep children on the derech and does great harm to ignore the issues. Is it worse for a 'secular' to go out with a goy/a, or a Haredi child to go OTD and go out with a secular.
DeleteFirst, Bibi's son is an adult and presumably does what he wants without first garnering parental support.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, there are a number of Roshei Yeshiva and Chasidic admorim whose children left the path in which they were born and raised. A prominent British communist was Chimen Abramsky , who remained loyal to Stalin even after many Jewish communists had abandoned him. Does anyone want to guess the name of Chimen's father?
Chimen Abramsky, for all his abhorrent political beliefs, married a Jewish woman and had Jewish children.
Delete"but had he raised him Charedi"
ReplyDeleteMost Jewish couples in the world were not raised "charedi" and there are plenty of "charedi" raised kids not living a non Jewish lifestyle.
While I am not happy about the PM's son's choices I don't see why it has anything to do with charedi or not.
Correction..there are plenty of "charedi" raised kids living a non Jewish lifestyle.
DeleteHad Bibi been a chareidi he would not have become Prime Minister, served in Sayeret Matkal or gone to MIT. His father would not have been a great professor of jewish history and the larger Netanyahu family would not have contributed significantly or at all to the real world, that is, the one outside of its comfy and constrained daled amos. Whether or not Yair would be dating a non jew would not have been an issue because he would have been insignificant.
ReplyDelete'In his younger days, Netanyahu was married a non-Jewish woman who later converted.'
ReplyDeleteThe father modeled behavior for the son so why all the angst?
Mimran from Kol Berama interviewed Zeev Elkin last night and really hounded him on this issue, in his typical self-Haredi-righteousness, that it was not proper for the Pm of Israel to have a son do these things. Elkin tried desperately to squirm out to my disappointment but the hounding continued and he had no choice but to bring up the simple and logical response, properly and respectfully too) that these things happen in the Haredi world as well and it should not directly affect how people look on the parents - and Mimran promptly ended after that :-)
ReplyDeletewhat did he expect Elkin to do about it?
Delete