I Believe This Is What They Call A "Fisking"

Fisk you, Heshy!   ;-)

Okay, I've never done this before. So let's have an experimental 'fisking' of everybody's favorite iber-rightwing self-proclaimed Hhareidi prophet, Heshy.

http://heshyshouse.blogspot.com/2005/08/sins-of-gush-katif-why-g-d-is-coming.html

Yes, it’s sad to see the children of Gush Katif being torn away from their place of birth, their playgrounds and their friends. Why is G-d doing it? We know everything is for the good, even when it appears not so good.

Heshy begins his declamation with an expression of sympathy towards "the chidren of Gush Katif" who are being taken away from their homes and brought within the Green Line as part of Israel's Hitnatqut (Disengagement) program. He then, in good SAT essay fashion, ends the first paragraph of his post with the essential question of his lesson — "Why is G-d doing it?"

It’s the leaders of the modern religious zionist movement that are to blame. They made a pact with the devil and enemy of Torah and G-d. That enemy is secular zionism. Foolishly, these religious knitted-kippah leaders got their flock to put their emotions and trust in the enemies of G-d.

Many of you here are too young to remember how anti-Torah were the founding secular zionists. They were worse than the reform or conservative heretical sects.

As usual, Heshy is claiming to know the mind of God (or at least the access codes to Ramhhal's Heavenly Karma Komputers). Also as usual, he blames this trauma on Religious Zionism. The question is, though, when he says "they made a pact with the devil" is he just using a figure of speech based in the Euro-Christian American cultural environment in which he lives? Or does he actually believe that Secular Zionism is a demonic, malevolant and metaphysical force that exists independently of and in opposition to the Creator of Worlds?

WHAT THE RELIGIOUS ZIONIST LEADERS WANTED WAS TO SHOW EVERYONE THE SAME FOOLISHNESS THAT HERE IN AMERICA THE MODERN ORTHODOX LEADERS WANT TO PROPAGANDIZE:

Here, they want to show the goyim that Jews believe in evolution, organ donation (just a glorified way of supporting autopsies) and being more modern than Orthodox.

Wait... I don't get it... Heshy, did you finish your thought? Did I miss the if, then? So-called Modern Orthodox leaders in America want to "show the goyim that Jews believe in evolution, organ donation...", okay, I got that... and the Religious Zionist leaders want to what? The same thing? The use of "Here," in the second quoted paragraph seems to indicate an approaching contrast. Here the MOs want blah-blah, and there the RZs want blah-blah-blah — but there's no blah-blah-blah!

Both movements are failures. They are both not in line with G-d and his Torah.

Now, G-d in His mercy will save these good misguided young people in Gush Katif and all the other settlements. They will become disillusioned with zionism and become true G-d serving Jews, black-hat Chereidim. This is G-d’s will.

Okay, so both movements are failures. But Heshy still hasn't said what it is about Religous Zionism that isn't "in line with G-d and his Torah"! Maybe he'll get to it later. It's interesting how Heshy keeps on pushing the black hat so hard. What is it about the hat? Is it a "get in free" card to Heaven? Or does he just believe that it represents certain ideals? We need to do some experimentation with this... get a few case subjects, say, a pseudo-Yeshivish YU guy who dresses monochromaticly but learns secular studies; or a t-shirt-and-jeans-wearing Jew who shares Heshy's Antizionist philosophy but doesn't see borsalinos or gartls as necessarily following. And where are the women? Are they all in the kitchen, making me some pie?

It pays to turn over a whole community just to save a Jew’s soul. To some people it sounds strange, but this is G-d’s way throughout history. The settlers are being rescued from their atheistic partnership with secularism and they will be relocated to a more frum area away from the beach. Once they have joined an authentic Jewish community, they will no longer send their kids to the army so that they won’t become cannon fodder as they did in the Yom Kippur 1973 war by putting hesder yeshiva kids on the front line. This was done by that evil modern day Zerubavel known as Golda Meir. The same was done to the Sfardic Jews as well.

I hope when Heshy talks about "turning over" communities he's only referring to the bloodless (כן יהי רצון) Hitnatqut, and not to, say, the Porrajmos, the Crusades, or the Hhurban of the First and Second Jewish Commonwealths.

"Atheistic partnership with secularism" — does he mean that the Religious Zionists are sinning by teaming up with their fellow Jews who happen to be Secular Zionist Atheists? Or maybe he means that by teaming up with other human beings, instead of with God, they are in a sense rejecting God. That could work. But wouldn't that just mean that they're following the principle of ein somekhin ‘al haneis, 'we don't rely on miracles'?

I don't know enough about Israeli military history to comment on his accusation that hesder soldiers were used as "cannon fodder" during the Yom Kippur war, but..."that evil modern day Zerubavel known as Golda Meir"?!
Uhm, Heshy? ZERUBAVEL??
The righteous Persian governor of Judea?
The grandson of King Yehoyakhin, and would-be Mashiahh?
You sure you don't mean IZEVEL?
(sigh... what was it a high school Tanakh teacher of mine said about the negative consequences of hhareidi yeshivas not teaching enough Tanakh?)

How can anyone religious entrust their 18 year-old kids to an army that’s anti G-d? By an army that for almost 60 years has been beating up orthodox Jews who were protesting against Shabbos desecration, autopsies, grave desecrations, etc.

Maybe they're trying to change the system from within. Infuse some Jewish values into it. Or is that not a good reason, given that Heshy is Hhareidi, and therefore believes in isolationism?

Gush Katif was taken away because the focus was LANDWORSHIPPING and not issues like Shabbos, modesty and G-d worshipping.

Finally, something we can agree on! Thank you, sir, for working in your own distinctive way to disseminate the ideals of Prof. Yesha‘yahu Leibowitz, who like you was a prophet, but actually managed to warn the people of the future consequences of their actions instead of being a Monday Morning Quarterback!

It’s always been a problem with modesty in the religious zionist movement. Many of the young are changing, but we have to be as modest as the arab women are, otherwise G-d’s wrath comes upon us. Every girl should wear a skirt covering her kneecaps, sleeves covering elbows; high neckline covering collarbone, stockings and married women should cover their hair. Men, too, should dress properly when going to shul and on Shabbos. If this had been done 100%, then Gush Katif would be in Jewish hands. EVERY SETTLEMENT MUST INSTITUTE A DRESS CODE.

Ah hah! Here are the women! Interesting that he talks about everyday tzniusdik dressing for women, but only mentions men's clothing in relation to going to shul and Shabbos. What about the men dressing modestly? Tell all those half-naked Gush Katif boys with their hippy pei’ot, bare torsos and orange shorts to put some clothes on! Although Heshy does talk more about men's dress in other posts, so I guess he doesn't have to go into all the intricate Falkian details of men's clothing here. Although this reminds me, I owe y'all a post about my Dressing for Davenning Dilemma... gotta remember to write that up.

Also, I heard Rav Goldvicht of YU once claim that God is letting the Arab-Muslim world kick us around because of the merits they have due to 1) their devotion to tznius (physical modesty) and 2) their pride in their religion. He specificly contrasted Muslims' willingness to whip out a prayer mat wherever they are and daven in public without regard for looking silly, while Jews play all sorts of 'hide in the phone booth' games because we're afraid that people will stare at us or think we're weird when we pray.

I received calls from friends in Gush Katif that they got the Rabbis there to speak about women’s modesty. But this needed to be done months ago and was only done now the last days of the eviction. In the Holocaust, there were Jews who prayed the last minute instead of fighting the reform heretics years before.

Here we are, the obligatory Sho’a reference. And with that, we will invoke Godwin's Law. The End.