Responses to Opinion

Chaim Lam Concurred:

The Agudah's ambivalent and disparaging attitudes toward the State of Israel are well known and are a constant source of embarassment for all thinking orthodox Jews. What is more disturbing, and this is probably the source of their distancing themselves from the State of Israel, is their elitist reluctance to be identified with fellow Jews who are not of their own ilk. This attitude is reinforced and broadcast from their shul podiums and their Yeshivas, resulting in Jews who feel that they dare not be identified with other Jews, even orthodox Jews, who don't share what they regard as their exclusive Torah way of life – black hat yeshivishkeit. They prefer to regard themselves as exalted B'nei Torah than to merely be a part of pedestrian B'nei Yisroel. I would hope we could come up with a better representative of Orthodox Judaism than the Agudas Yisroel.

By the way, how come the writers of these letter regarding the Agudah choose to remain anonymous?

And Michael Schwartz dissented:

I think the amount of Agudah bashing has reached a point of arrogance. Everyone seems to KNOW exactly what was going on in the minds of the powers to be in the Agudah and what, why and where their policy is in regards to "The State of Israel". Is it possible that there was a legitimate disagreement among the Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah and, therefore, a definitive proclamation was impossible? Everyone attributes the silence of the Agudah to some sinister political manipulations when the answer may be very simple: Without a consensus, Agudah could not state a position. As someone who attended the anti terrorism rally in Washington, I can attest that considering the activity that I witnessed among some of the younger crowd, Yeshiva bochorim had NO BUSINESS in being there. In conclusion, what flashes in my mind is the Gemoroh, "Ein Hakodosh Boruch Hu meivi takolo al behemtom shel tzaddikim, kal v'chomor al tzaddikim atzmom."