Shabbat Parashat Mishpatim 5786

Moreshet Shaul: Returning Torah to its Central Standing – part I

The following is from an address at a symposium of rabbis of the Hapoel Hamizrachi Movement in the very early stages of the State of Israel.

We need to clarify for ourselves if we have fulfilled our aspiration to change the face of life and prove religious concepts, which became weak under the conditions of the Exile, to be correct. We have achieved at least one goal: getting the nation to dedicate itself to building [our Homeland]. We have left the more ethereal types of professions and fully dedicated ourselves to building and creating. People’s being drawn to physical labor and pioneering, which was once thought to be characteristics of those who do not accept Torah, has been [proven to apply to religious people as well.] In the past, employers were suspicious of the religious laborer. We have been able to show the whole world, employees and employers throughout the employment apparatus in which Hapoel Hamizrachi members work, that we deserve their trust.

This trust was evident at the time of elections. The nation has put its trust in us. Parents who are sending their children to the Bnei Akiva schools and to other educational institutions of the Hapoel Hamizrachi movement are in the process of proving their trust in us.

However, [the success] relates to our public image. We need to appraise what is going on “in private.” There is another segment of society that appears on the stage of life in the State as a religious sector, and the concern has been raised that the public gives them more trust in regard to religious matters.

When Hapoel Hamizrachi was founded, the stress in its platform was on matters of work [as opposed to religion]. What is the reason for this?

A. For its constituency, which was religious from the start and its essence, the problems that needed solving first were work-related.

B. There was an interest in establishing parity with the general population. We built and founded agricultural villages in which Shabbat and religion were observed as they should be. There was no need to decide that this would be the case, as this was self-evident. The unique interest was to prove that work was to be seen as a preference.

C. Because some of those associated with Torah opposed Zionism and pioneer activity, the trust in great Torah leaders was weakened. Along with this, trust in the Torah itself was also somewhat weakened. Therefore, actual Torah was replaced by the “spirit of Torah,” and practical mitzvot were replaced by the “interest of the Torah.” Matters were not discussed according to passages in the Shulchan Aruch, but according to the “interest of the Torah,” so to speak, and the philosophy of the Torah.

D. Matters of “between man and his fellow man” were taken out of the realm of fulfillment of Torah precepts that are binding according to the way the Shulchan Aruch rules on them, and seen as values for which one should look for other types of sources. For example, May 1 celebrations. The topic is dealt with like an interpersonal matter. Rabbis did not focus on such matters, and did not say that the Shulchan Aruch must decide this. The trust of the Hapoel Hamizrachi member is frayed.

E. The community is used to religious concepts being misrepresented. This reached the stage that the charter of the agricultural settlement does not have a clause about adjudicating financial disputes before a rabbinical court.

Therefore, it is necessary to employ a change in spiritual concepts internally more than we need to externally.

We continue next time.

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