I attended a dinner a number of weeks back for an organization that is based in Israel, I know that a number of people who read this blog were in attendance as well. When it came time to say the tephilah for the MIAs the Rabbi who read the tephilah added the name of Jonathan Pollard into the mix. I was incensed. How dare you besmirch the name, sacrifice and blessed memory of these heroes who sacrificed their lives for the holy land by linking them with this treacherous criminal who spied on his own country and put the lives of many people in danger for his personal gain? HOW DARE YOU???
Like I wrote a few months ago, for some reason Pollard, who, all things being equal is an embarrassment to our people is someone we should be distancing ourselves from, instead he has become our poster boy and is being billed (at least by NCYI) as the number one Jewish issue facing the Jewish people in America. The fact that they convinced R' Metzker to allow his name to be associated with this tephilah to begin with mocks the entire tephilah, but the plot thickens.
Matzav has posted an article about the drug smugglers being held in Japan and how their trial is coming up and we need to daven for them. Of course, as in the Pollard case, Pidyon Shevuyim is being thrown around and in the comment section where someone added the names of these criminals; someone also added the name of Jonathan Pollard.
It makes sense to link both of these together. In both cases people broke the law and were caught. In both cases they are serving prison time FOR BREAKING THE LAW, and in both cases people are screaming that it is anti Semitism and they are only being held because they are Jewish, and nothing else. These people's priorities are messed up. Don't glorify these criminals and blame anti Semitism for their breaking laws. Anti Semitism had nothing to do with these guys in Japan SMUGLING DRUGS and it had nothing to do with Jonathan Pollard choosing to spy on his own country, and I personally do not care what the reason was. Stop with the insanity already.
Stop saying these criminals in Japan are our modern day asara harugei malchus, as Kupat Ha'Ir claimed in their glossy mailing, and stop associating our holy soldiers with Jonathan Pollard. What kind of a lesson are we sending our children about right and wrong if we keep justifying the behavior of criminals and traitors?
Like I wrote a few months ago, for some reason Pollard, who, all things being equal is an embarrassment to our people is someone we should be distancing ourselves from, instead he has become our poster boy and is being billed (at least by NCYI) as the number one Jewish issue facing the Jewish people in America. The fact that they convinced R' Metzker to allow his name to be associated with this tephilah to begin with mocks the entire tephilah, but the plot thickens.
Matzav has posted an article about the drug smugglers being held in Japan and how their trial is coming up and we need to daven for them. Of course, as in the Pollard case, Pidyon Shevuyim is being thrown around and in the comment section where someone added the names of these criminals; someone also added the name of Jonathan Pollard.
It makes sense to link both of these together. In both cases people broke the law and were caught. In both cases they are serving prison time FOR BREAKING THE LAW, and in both cases people are screaming that it is anti Semitism and they are only being held because they are Jewish, and nothing else. These people's priorities are messed up. Don't glorify these criminals and blame anti Semitism for their breaking laws. Anti Semitism had nothing to do with these guys in Japan SMUGLING DRUGS and it had nothing to do with Jonathan Pollard choosing to spy on his own country, and I personally do not care what the reason was. Stop with the insanity already.
Stop saying these criminals in Japan are our modern day asara harugei malchus, as Kupat Ha'Ir claimed in their glossy mailing, and stop associating our holy soldiers with Jonathan Pollard. What kind of a lesson are we sending our children about right and wrong if we keep justifying the behavior of criminals and traitors?
17 comments:
There seems to be this crazy misconception in parts of our community that pidyon shvuyim applies to people who were rightfully convocted of crimes in the US. This is not correct at all See the following from R. Michael J. Broyde, The Pursuit of Justice and Jewish Law, pp. 83-84 n. 15:
The question that is worthy of pondering is the relationship between the obligation to redeem captives (found in Shulhan Arukh, Yoreh Deah 253) and the prohibition to inform. In cases where there is no prohibition to inform (as informing is permitted, see Darkei Teshuvah 157:53) a logical case can be made that there is no mitzvah to redeem captives (as they are in prison properly) when there is nothing wrong with informing. This exact observation is made in the name of Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach in Ve’aleihu lo Yibol, volume 2:113–114, which recounts in the name of Rabbi Yehuda Goldreicht:
I asked Rabbi Auerbach about a particular Jew who stole a large sum of money and he was caught by the police in America. He was sentenced to a number of years in prison in America. Was it proper to assist in the collection of money for him [we were speaking about a large sum of $200,000] in order to fulfill the mitzvah of redeeming captives to have him released from prison?
When Rabbi Auerbach heard this he stated “Redeeming captives?! What is the mitzvah of redeeming captives here? The mitzvah of redeeming captives is only when the gentiles are grabbing Jews, irrationally, for no proper reason, and placing them in prison. According to what I [Rabbi Auerbach] know, in America they do not irrationally grab Jews in order to squeeze money from them. The Torah says ‘do not steal’ and he stole money — on the contrary, it is good that he serve a prison sentence, so that he learns not to steal!”
I would differ about Pollard. Remember that the reason he was arrested was because he was transferring information to Israel that the United States was, by prior agreement, obligated to share. It was Casper Weinberger and his defence department that decided to violate the agreement. In that regard, Pollard was actually acting lawfully.
Pollard broke the law, but his sentence is way more severe in proportion to his crime, so it is totally fair and justified to question the circumstances surrounding his imprisonment and to try and get him released at this point. I would say the same had the bochrim in Japan, say, gotten life imprisonment.
not to mention that RAS basically arranged for Pollard to get out of Jail but thanks to the advice of a certain other rabbi he refused to sign the letter.
garnel and others-
pollard has the prison term he has not because of what he did for israel (for that he is a hero in my book sacrificing his freedom to help israel with a nuclear iraq), but for violating the terms of his plea agreement.
anyone who tells you they know what pollard did is lying to you. the information is top secret and he is not allowed to share it (he did partially and thats why he has the sentence that he has, harsher than most, though to as harsh as the rosenbergs)
Pollard allegedly sold secrets to the chinese, and others. it wasnt that he was just giving them to israel.
it was unlawful.
he should not be included in a prayer for gilad shalit. they are in no way analogous...
I certainly don't think he's analogous to the kidnapped soldiers, may Hashem avenge their blood. I was just pointing out that he isn't some typical villian we can just dismiss.
Pollard shopped secrets around to several rogue nations, including Pakistan and South Africa (at the time under UN sanctions for apartheid policies) before he found a willing buyer in Israel. In the intelligence community, Pollard's crime is viewed as one of the most egregious breaches of security in the history of the United States. There is nothing wrong with exercising political clout to help those being mistreated by unfair governments and disproportionate sentences, but our community should be very reticent about doing so in this case.
I also think that the Pollard issue is completely overplayed and I still don't understand why the orthodox community wastes political capital on this. There are so many more important things we can push for with the president and our legislators - try the millions of Jews in Israel who are continually at risk - rather than one person sitting in jail whose statements are at best questionable. Someone I know actually mentioned this to President Bush directly and I fail to understand why. I invite you to check out the book at this link for an alternative view:
http://www.amazon.com/Capturing-Jonathan-Pollard-Notorious-American/dp/1591146526/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1246567933&sr=8-1
And if it's true that the purpose of his long sentence is to keep him quiet about potentially damaging information - will the government actually let him out because some Jews say so? I still haven't heard a good explanation for it.
the only thing more outrageous than lumping pollard's name with the other MIA's is spelling tefilla with a "ph" (tephilah)!
great post
chaimperachia, you sound like my wife.
chaimperachia is right, its kinda douchy
I'm not an expert on the Pollard issue-- I know that he broke the law, and so jail was appropriate.
I don't recall reading that he shopped info to others. I recall that Moment magazine did a long piece on him a couple of years ago, and seemed convinced that the severity of the sentance was related to people trying to cover for other spying that they hadn't identified yet--which was later revealed (the name Hanson rings a bell). I believe that the unusual length of the jail term compared to others who sold secrets to the Soviets during the cold war raises real questions.
Also, while punishing him was appropriate, let's not pretend that America doesn't also spy on Israel, and every other ally and enemy.
Comparing Jonathan Pollard to the drug smuggling yeshiva boys is obscene. Plainly and simply obscene.
Had he committed even half of the additional crimes alleged here, there would have been no plea bargain. As it is, he was neither accused nor convicted of treason. The Walkers were convicted of treason around the same time, for selling secrets to the Soviets!, and received lighter sentences. Something stinks about the way Pollard was treated for providing secrets to an ALLY of the US who was supposed to receive that very same information.
I think you've bought into a version of the Pollard story not borne out by the few facts available to any of us.
And, HF, your assertion that Pollard's association with the MIAs is so reprehensible begs a question: what do you think the MIAs would think, if they knew about this?
I was educated in a similar framework to the MIAs. I served in the same Tzahal. The Israeli youth who protested and worked on Pollard's behalf often came from that same environment. Don't be so sure you speak for the MIAs. I'd bet (though it can't be proven either way) that the MIAs would tell you that you are way off base. That they would be happily associated with Pollard, as they understand the issue. I would bet they would work and daven on his behalf.
You're entitled to you opinion, of course. But you are wrong on this one, all the way.
i think the MIAs should be way above pollard on the agenda.
and i also feel uncomfortable publicly advocating for someone who broke america's espionage laws. (whether or not it was information that israel should have received is irrelevant.)
but my understanding is that he has received a punishment far out of proportion to what is normally meted out. for this he deserves our attention.
as far as claims that he peddled secrets to the chinese and others, i've never heard this before
You, the writer of the article don't even have a basic idea of rightiousness. In case you don't know it, our enemies quote any one's lies about Jonathan Pollard. Even your stupid remarks! The biggest lie being that the security of the USA was severely damaged. It was not. Even the author of a certain book about Mr Pollard was filled with lies. Why didn't the USA give Israel information about the threats of nuclear, chemical and biological weapons being developed by Israel's enemies even when the treaty between the two countries called for it? You are a fool!!!
Pollard has spent enough time in jail and has been refused release is because he is Jewish.
Anyway, what that reform jew of atlanta thinks is irrelevant. he holds a possul get given to a woman does the trick. the conditions that pollard has to endure none of you would last one day
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