Jonathan Pollard's Last Dance

The choice is stark: Death or Glory

After our last swing at Jonathan Pollard we received a bevy of criticism, including a note (below) that we got from a good friend, a true tzaddik whose opinion we respect greatly.

He wrote like this:

Pollard is a hero whether he has all of the right ideas or wrong ideas, whether he was a spy for pay or for Israel, whether we like him or not.

One can argue about how to best spend one’s time and energy - trying to fix a broken state or building a new one. In the meantime, "the state" like the term Zion means different things to different people. If he [Pollard] means the nation of Israel or the security of the people dwelling in the state of Israel, then I agree that everyone should do some sort of service to defend themselves and their fellow Jews. G-d helps and defends those who help themselves and who place their faith in Him. Haredim should know how to use weapons and should master the use of weapons to defend themselves, their community and others. Safra and Seifa is the Torah way. And not standing by our brother's blood is an obligation. Ironically, since 1984 lo tamod al dam reyecha is actually incorporated into Israeli law. One has every right and obligation to study Torah anywhere, everywhere, anytime. One also has an obligation to fight to protect his fellow Jew and to contribute in some way to the war effort.

Fair enough.

And we responded thus:

Shalom X—!

Agreed. 100%. Pollard is a hero. That's why I wrote: "He did the State of Israel and the Jewish people a tremendous tova, for which we should all be grateful."

But Moshe Feiglin is also a hero.

That notwithstanding, neither should be given a license to organize the Jewish people to do stupid things.

Feiglin was better at diagnosing the ills of Israeli society — perhaps better than most. But his medicine was outright wrong. And he wasted a lot of people's time, energy and money leading them down the garden path. (I'm not talking about his opposition to the hitnatkut; I'm talking about his political action, afterwards.) Tens, if not hundreds of thousands of his idealistic followers were rewarded with exactly nothing for their efforts.

Hallevai someone spoke out against this before it happened! Hallevai that all that energy was directed to more fruitful ends!

But no one did.

That's why I wrote this piece. Pollard's hero status doesn't immunize him from being stupid, or from getting criticism.

As to the chareidim, my guess is there's not one of them that doesn't want to know how to use a gun, or to kill the enemy.

They just don't want to serve in the Tsar's army. And who can blame them? The bargain of gaining a weapon while, at the same time, subjecting oneself to the tumah of Tsahal, is one they don't want to make. I also teach my kids it's not a bargain worth making. Like Binyamin Kahane HY”D said: "Everyone has to decide for themselves" regarding army service.

I'm with him. My guess is he was referring precisely to that same bargain.

Best,

Dean

That said, I was also contacted by a couple of well-intentioed rabble rousers who are trying to turn Pollard from an establishment figure into a proper Hilltop renegade.

And that got me thinking.

Maybe Jonathan Pollard could still be useful to the Jewish people. Not as a politician, of course, where he’d be eaten alive by the powers-that-be and then rendered an impotent boob, as Feiglin was.

Rather —

We imagine a scenario in which someone like Pollard, and others who are outside the system, organize to form a Jewish “government-in-(internal)-exile” (along the lines of the ‘shadow cabinets’ that exist in British-style parliaments), that includes people like Feiglin and rabbis from the Eida Chareidit, Rabbi Azriel Auerbach of the Peleg Yerushalmi, maybe Rav Amnon Yitzchak (who has consistently been on the right side of most issues) and others who recognize the anti-Jewish nature of the current zionist regime and openly foment for its replacement.

Were such a body to come into being, it might accomplish two things —

1. The general public could be brought to believe that an alternative to the current, corrupt zionist apparatus is achievable, and

2. When the state does begin to disintegrate — a development we foresee as both inevitable and near — a living body with an independent Jewish bent would be available to move us toward a Third Temple reality.

Until then, the entire raison d'être of this group would be to mock, chide and defame the existing system and its participants, to reveal its outright goyische character and to provoke, in turn, a vicious response from the establishment that would cement in people's minds the existence of a genuine Jewish alternative.

Importantly, no member of this would-be government-in-(internal)-exile would be permitted to express himself via any existing Israeli media outlet. Those outlets would be banned from all events, rallies, speaking engagements, press releases, manifestos, position papers, critiques, etc. They would be frozen out absolutely from contact with the group.

Only an alternative set of media and scribes would be permitted to engage the new body, and only they would have access to its members. Foreign media would also be granted complete access.

This, of course, would require strong discipline. But it would be necessary to send a message — that no one cares anymore for “official” reportage on the zionist drama, replete with its swiftly unfolding, breathless, live, sideline-coverage of the length of Bibi's prostate incision.

No mainstream media participation would also advance us toward our ultimate goal.

And what is that goal?

Quite simply, to present a completely Jewish alternative to the current Erev Rav monstrosity that rules over us — to hear what it might sound like and see what it might look like.

Why?

Because all that's required, in the end, is a minority of Jews to believe that there exists a stark alternative that's worth listening to… and revolutionary change then becomes possible.

…A minority of Jews… and revolutionary change… becomes possible.

This, of course, would necessitate people like Pollard and Feiglin tossing away their egos and overcoming any notion they might harbor of “leading the nation”.

Because we really dont need leaders of that sort.

Nothing personal.

We just need a king.

But in the meantime, we require shovels.

So, if Jonathan Pollard is ready to be a shovel — a shovel that digs a hole deep and wide, upon which a foundation can then be poured, then we’re getting somewhere.

He and others who come to serve in the would-be government-in-(internal)-exile would have to understand that they’re not the holy edifice that will ultimately be built here in Eretz Yisrael — they’re not even the foundation of that edifice.

They’re merely shovels — tools in the hands of the Al-mighty to forge a new and healthy Jewish mindset that will pave the way for the rise of the House of David.

The man has organizational skills and communication skills — as does Feiglin.

Let him use them.

To lead the people away from the Knesset.

Not deeper into its dreary, labrynthian underground catacombs.

We've had enough of minotaurs.

And seen enough of Knossos.

Dean Maughvet