Response to Between Hebron and Jerusalem

The following is my response to a particularly upsetting guest post on jewschool.com ( here ) where Elliot Horowitz, author of Reckless Rites: Purim and the Legacy of Jewish Violence, questions the remarks of the Rosh haYeshiva of Merkaz haRav, Rabbi Yaakov Shapira.

- - - - - -    =- - - - - -=   - - - - - -

I did not hear the eulogy delivered by Rabbi Yaakov Shapira - nor was a source referenced in this post. Even so, I believe that Elliot Horowitz is mistaken on both points.

First, with regard to the Amalek status of such people, Rabbi Shapira knows of what he speaks Elliot. You would do well to study up on the Rambam's views regarding Amalek and how although the term stems from the grandson of Esav when it is used to describe a Halachic status it takes on an entirely different meaning. The Rambam may hold that the term Amalek and the imperative it implies is applicable to a descendant who is carrying on the ways of Amalek OR a non-descendant who has adopted Amaleki policies. Though the Rambam’s position itself is debatable Rabbi Shapira is safely within the bounds of normative Jewish thought when he applies the term Amalek to murderers of innocent Jewish children.

Second, Rabbi Shapira was surely not suggesting that this young 25 year old terrorist saw himself as a continuation of the 1929 Chevron Massacre. What he WAS suggesting is that this act was a continuation of the culture of hatred and cowardice behind the Chevron Massacre, which took the lives of 67 innocent and defenseless Jews - men, women and children, including 23 yeshiva students.

An eyewitness account by a British policeman told of seeing an arab cutting off a child's head with an axe. Do you hear me Elliot!? CUTTING OFF A CHILD’S HEAD WITH AN AXE!!

My hands shake and my heart bleeds at the loss of perspective that could allow someone to compare Baruch Goldstein's crime to the Chevron Massacre.

Baruch Goldstein murdered 29 innocent victims and the vast majority of us were HORRIFIED. Yes, some will tell you all sorts of fantastic theories about why he did it etc... but that only proves the point. They can't believe he would have done such a thing without some reason - some secret knowledge about an immanent attack - something - anything - but not that he just did this because he hated Arabs. Because that's not how we act in our culture. (( and I know you’ve written a book that is supposed to redefine how Jews REALLY dealt with violence but I am not speaking from a birds-eye view of history here - I am just speaking from the culture as it exists today. In the vast majority of Jewish households the world over violence is abhorred)) The perpetrator of this act was a lone individual - not supported or celebrated - or copied - and we hope and pray he never will be.

The Massacre in Chevron and the whole culture of suicide bombing (really homicide bombing if you think about it...) is the product of a culture that celebrates violent homicidal acts of cowardice against innocent children. A culture that runs out into the streets to celebrate upon hearing of the murder of innocent children and by so doing allowing a straight line to be drawn from the Chevron Massacre to the murders in Merkaz HaRav.

That is what Rabbi Shapira was referring to and in this respect he was RIGHT.