Message from R’ Schonfeld: R’ Yoel Schonfeld

My uncle, British Chief Rabbi Lord Immanuel Jakobovits zt”l (died 1999), was a man who thought and spoke the truth as he saw it. That was his greatness, which earned him the admiration and friendship of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. It also earned him the enmity of some British Jews, especially those who refused to allow him to explain his stand on controversial issues.

What would Israel’s first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion (1886-1973), have said had he lived to see Israel today? What would he have said about the left-leaning secular Israelis, whose cause he championed at the creation of the State?

Anybody who reads my articles with any regularity knows that a regular, perhaps too frequent, theme of mine has been the drifting of Modern Orthodoxy. By drifting, I mean that as time goes on, this community finds it harder to pass on a meaningful, religiously inspired message to the next generation. None of the iconic MO teachings such as Religious Zionism, Yom HaShoah, or Torah Umada (as an idealistic pursuit) are practiced by young Orthodox Jews. Respect for Shabbos and its dress codes has also dwindled in today’s generation.

A couple of Benjamins have been making the news lately. We all know that Congresswoman Ilhan Omar made her infamous statement referring to Jewish influence in Congress that “It’s the Benjamins baby!” – meaning that Jews are into money as represented by Benjamin Franklin, who is depicted on the $100 bill.

My original intent was to write about the awful Jewish – and in some cases even Orthodox – reaction to the Jewish action in Arab Huwara, Israel. You will recall the awful spate of terrorism in Israel as two brothers, Hallel and Yagel Yaniv, were killed at the hands of Palestinian terrorists. It was then followed with the murder of Elan Ganeles, an American visiting Israel. Two weeks earlier, ten people were killed exiting shul on Friday night. That was followed by a car ramming that killed two little brothers Paley in Ramot. How much tragedy can any people suffer?

Last week, the local Jewish media carried the story of a very prominent Upper East Side (Manhattan) Orthodox synagogue and its falling out with its leading candidate to succeed the current rabbi, who is 92 years old.