While I have great respect for Rav Bazak n"r and I have learned much from him, afaict the idea that the passuk is a criticism of Eli is unattested in any peirush until R. Bazak. Ralbag ad loc cites Eli's priority concern for Aron as evidence of his great virtue. One should also note that Eli's daughter in law's concern for Aron also appears to be primary.
It was taught in the mishna: An incident occurred where both of the priests were equal as they were running and ascending on the ramp, and one of them shoved the other and he fell and his leg was broken. The Sages taught in the Tosefta: An incident occurred where there were two priests who were equal as they were running and ascending the ramp. One of them reached the four cubits before his colleague, who then, out of anger, took a knife and stabbed him in the heart....
The father of the boy, i.e., the young priest who was stabbed, came and found that he was still convulsing. He said: May my son’s death be an atonement for you. But my son is still convulsing and has not yet died, and as such, the knife, which is in his body, has not become ritually impure through contact with a corpse. If you remove it promptly, it will still be pure for future use. The Tosefta comments: This incident comes to teach you that the ritual purity of utensils was of more concern to them than the shedding of blood. Even the boy’s father voiced more concern over the purity of the knife than over the death of his child.
True, but the gemara's conclusion is that they were not more greatly concerned by taharas keylim than other generations but rather, less concerned with bloodshed. Secondly, the capture of the Aron was viewed, rightly, as a national tragedy/humiliation by Eli's daughter in law no less then Eli (וַתֹּאמֶר גָּלָה כָבוֹד מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל כִּי נִלְקַח אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים). Whatever importance one ascribes to taharas kelim the loss of a knife to impurity can hardly be described as a national tragedy.
You may disagree with those who think that Klal Yisroel needs an exemption for people in Yeshivos. Differences of opinion should not make personal enemies of people, and they shouldn't be a reason to judge another's motivations. Rabbis Yosef, Hirsch, Landau, as well as Rav Shteinman, Rav Shach, Rav Abramsky, and the Chazon Ish were not lacking in responsbility for Klal Yisroel. At most, you can claim they were mistaken.
But burning a Shul is past the red line whatever your opinion.
If someone does not understand that, he has been infected by the extremism that is killing the entire Israeli society, which will be the true end to the state, not charedim, not the arabs, and not the leftists. It is the extremism that crosses sectors that is dangerous.
Let me ask you a simple question: do you think that expressing grief over the burning of a shul is more warranted than expressing grief over the killing of a Jewish soldier?
Because the contents of your comment have almost nothing to do with my article.
When you see Hamas propagandists asking a simple question, "Why did 2 year old Achmed deserve to die?" Do you understand how manipulating the question is?
Demand an answer to an irrelevant question. Then win because you have successfully changed the topic.
Burning a synagogue for political reasons is odious, a new step in the anti-Jewish attitudes of those who claim to care about Klal Yisroel. It is shocking because it hasn't happened before.
If someone would use a soldier's funeral to make a statement about the synagogue you would have a point. But that is not the case.
I remember hearing a joke as a child. Someone pointed out to someone else in Shul that his tefillin were not in the correct location. He answered, "children are dying in Byafra, and you are worried about my tefillin's location?!"
It’s not an irrelevant question. I would like to hear one Chareidi politician grieve over the death of a single soldier in language approximating their grief over a burned synagogue (which some - not all - blame on a nonexistent anti- Torah/antisemitic incitement). Over the past 20 months, have you seen any expression of Jewish solidarity that approaches the anger over this terrible act? The answer, as you know, is no. The people who try to get their population exempted don’t appreciate the sacrifices of the people who do what they refuse to do. And that’s just horrible.
The Aron is unique. How many other shuls are there... in the same neighborhood?
I am more reminded of R YB Soloveitchik saying that if the generals say that sacrificing the Kotel Plaza would overall save a total of "just" one life, we would be obligated to do so.
Whether or not you agree with what I heard from R YB Soloveitchik (and a variant appears in Qol Dodi Dofeiq), you can still agree that that is a similarity that would cause one to remind me of the other.
Also it is R' Ovadiah Yosef's ruling. And by implication, R Reines's. This messianic Greater Israel Zionism may have most of the Religious Zionist masses, but I don't think it has the majority of the acharonim who had to deal with it. It has more to do with the impact of the rabbis kook than with numbers.
So, I'll agree to saying it's a machloqes, but not if someone were to imply his was a daas yachid.
This was his own shul, it hit home. If ch"v someone in his own family fell or was wounded in battle - lo aleinu velo alav! ... But then, his immediate family doesn't serve. It's more about not having first hand contact than an empathy problem. Of course you react more when it hits your own home.
Another way it hit home... The identity of the perpetrators. Hamas is "supposed to be" the enemy. This was presumably an attack on a shul by our own people
The text says that the Philistines were afflicted with hemorrhoids and an infestation of mice until they returned the Ark of the Covenant.
The Talmud says that the Ark was either hidden by King Josiah in a subterranean vault underneath the Temple Mount (the Rambam cites this opinion in the Mishneh Torah) or taken by the Babylonians when they sacked the Temple.
There's a story that Rabbi Yehuda Getz o.b.m., the Rabbi of the Western Wall, found some sort of passage under the Temple Mount. His Wikipedia page says:
"Getz was a supporter of Excavations at the Temple Mount.[6] In July 1981, Getz and a team of associates opened a tunnel under the Temple Mount near where he believed the Ark of the Covenant had been hidden in Solomon's Temple, directly below the Holy of Holies of the Second Temple.[7]"
The story has it that the Waqf discovered the excavations and sealed up where they were digging. So, we'll have to wait...
While I have great respect for Rav Bazak n"r and I have learned much from him, afaict the idea that the passuk is a criticism of Eli is unattested in any peirush until R. Bazak. Ralbag ad loc cites Eli's priority concern for Aron as evidence of his great virtue. One should also note that Eli's daughter in law's concern for Aron also appears to be primary.
A Gemara in Yoma seems to make a similar point as Rav Bazak's read of the story with Eli and the Aron:
מַעֲשֶׂה שֶׁהָיוּ שְׁנֵיהֶן שָׁוִין וְרָצִין וְעוֹלִין בַּכֶּבֶשׁ. תָּנוּ רַבָּנַן: מַעֲשֶׂה בִּשְׁנֵי כֹהֲנִים שֶׁהָיוּ שְׁנֵיהֶן שָׁוִין, וְרָצִין וְעוֹלִין בַּכֶּבֶשׁ, קָדַם אֶחָד מֵהֶן לְתוֹךְ אַרְבַּע אַמּוֹת שֶׁל חֲבֵירוֹ, נָטַל סַכִּין וְתָקַע לוֹ בְּלִבּוֹ.
It was taught in the mishna: An incident occurred where both of the priests were equal as they were running and ascending on the ramp, and one of them shoved the other and he fell and his leg was broken. The Sages taught in the Tosefta: An incident occurred where there were two priests who were equal as they were running and ascending the ramp. One of them reached the four cubits before his colleague, who then, out of anger, took a knife and stabbed him in the heart....
בָּא אָבִיו שֶׁל תִּינוֹק וּמְצָאוֹ כְּשֶׁהוּא מְפַרְפֵּר. אָמַר: הֲרֵי הוּא כַּפָּרַתְכֶם, וַעֲדַיִין בְּנִי מְפַרְפֵּר, וְלֹא נִטְמְאָה סַכִּין. לְלַמֶּדְךָ שֶׁקָּשָׁה עֲלֵיהֶם טׇהֳרַת כֵּלִים יוֹתֵר מִשְּׁפִיכוּת דָּמִים.
The father of the boy, i.e., the young priest who was stabbed, came and found that he was still convulsing. He said: May my son’s death be an atonement for you. But my son is still convulsing and has not yet died, and as such, the knife, which is in his body, has not become ritually impure through contact with a corpse. If you remove it promptly, it will still be pure for future use. The Tosefta comments: This incident comes to teach you that the ritual purity of utensils was of more concern to them than the shedding of blood. Even the boy’s father voiced more concern over the purity of the knife than over the death of his child.
True, but the gemara's conclusion is that they were not more greatly concerned by taharas keylim than other generations but rather, less concerned with bloodshed. Secondly, the capture of the Aron was viewed, rightly, as a national tragedy/humiliation by Eli's daughter in law no less then Eli (וַתֹּאמֶר גָּלָה כָבוֹד מִיִּשְׂרָאֵל כִּי נִלְקַח אֲרוֹן הָאֱלֹהִים). Whatever importance one ascribes to taharas kelim the loss of a knife to impurity can hardly be described as a national tragedy.
Sigh.
The comparison is odious.
You may disagree with those who think that Klal Yisroel needs an exemption for people in Yeshivos. Differences of opinion should not make personal enemies of people, and they shouldn't be a reason to judge another's motivations. Rabbis Yosef, Hirsch, Landau, as well as Rav Shteinman, Rav Shach, Rav Abramsky, and the Chazon Ish were not lacking in responsbility for Klal Yisroel. At most, you can claim they were mistaken.
But burning a Shul is past the red line whatever your opinion.
If someone does not understand that, he has been infected by the extremism that is killing the entire Israeli society, which will be the true end to the state, not charedim, not the arabs, and not the leftists. It is the extremism that crosses sectors that is dangerous.
Let me ask you a simple question: do you think that expressing grief over the burning of a shul is more warranted than expressing grief over the killing of a Jewish soldier?
Because the contents of your comment have almost nothing to do with my article.
When you see Hamas propagandists asking a simple question, "Why did 2 year old Achmed deserve to die?" Do you understand how manipulating the question is?
I see you won’t answer it.
You are following the text to a tee.
Demand an answer to an irrelevant question. Then win because you have successfully changed the topic.
Burning a synagogue for political reasons is odious, a new step in the anti-Jewish attitudes of those who claim to care about Klal Yisroel. It is shocking because it hasn't happened before.
If someone would use a soldier's funeral to make a statement about the synagogue you would have a point. But that is not the case.
I remember hearing a joke as a child. Someone pointed out to someone else in Shul that his tefillin were not in the correct location. He answered, "children are dying in Byafra, and you are worried about my tefillin's location?!"
It’s not an irrelevant question. I would like to hear one Chareidi politician grieve over the death of a single soldier in language approximating their grief over a burned synagogue (which some - not all - blame on a nonexistent anti- Torah/antisemitic incitement). Over the past 20 months, have you seen any expression of Jewish solidarity that approaches the anger over this terrible act? The answer, as you know, is no. The people who try to get their population exempted don’t appreciate the sacrifices of the people who do what they refuse to do. And that’s just horrible.
You began with 'grieve', an easily refutable assertion.
You continued with 'anger', enough to change the subject and distort the issue.
The Aron is unique. How many other shuls are there... in the same neighborhood?
I am more reminded of R YB Soloveitchik saying that if the generals say that sacrificing the Kotel Plaza would overall save a total of "just" one life, we would be obligated to do so.
Rabbi Soloveitchik's opinion is subject to major disputes among the Acharonim.
Whether or not you agree with what I heard from R YB Soloveitchik (and a variant appears in Qol Dodi Dofeiq), you can still agree that that is a similarity that would cause one to remind me of the other.
Also it is R' Ovadiah Yosef's ruling. And by implication, R Reines's. This messianic Greater Israel Zionism may have most of the Religious Zionist masses, but I don't think it has the majority of the acharonim who had to deal with it. It has more to do with the impact of the rabbis kook than with numbers.
So, I'll agree to saying it's a machloqes, but not if someone were to imply his was a daas yachid.
This was his own shul, it hit home. If ch"v someone in his own family fell or was wounded in battle - lo aleinu velo alav! ... But then, his immediate family doesn't serve. It's more about not having first hand contact than an empathy problem. Of course you react more when it hits your own home.
Another way it hit home... The identity of the perpetrators. Hamas is "supposed to be" the enemy. This was presumably an attack on a shul by our own people
Can we trace the progress of the Ark of the Covenant after it was captured? Where might it be hidden today?
The text says that the Philistines were afflicted with hemorrhoids and an infestation of mice until they returned the Ark of the Covenant.
The Talmud says that the Ark was either hidden by King Josiah in a subterranean vault underneath the Temple Mount (the Rambam cites this opinion in the Mishneh Torah) or taken by the Babylonians when they sacked the Temple.
And do we have subsequent knowledge of where it went?
Yehudah R, what are these two references [6] and [7] from? Is there some more information about this story?
There's a story that Rabbi Yehuda Getz o.b.m., the Rabbi of the Western Wall, found some sort of passage under the Temple Mount. His Wikipedia page says:
"Getz was a supporter of Excavations at the Temple Mount.[6] In July 1981, Getz and a team of associates opened a tunnel under the Temple Mount near where he believed the Ark of the Covenant had been hidden in Solomon's Temple, directly below the Holy of Holies of the Second Temple.[7]"
The story has it that the Waqf discovered the excavations and sealed up where they were digging. So, we'll have to wait...