Rabbi Moshe Tsvi Segal
What is Judaism Without the Temple Mount?
by R. Moshe Tsvi Segal
Rebuilting the Temple & the Stages of Jewish History
by R. Moshe Tsvi Segal
The Land, the People & the Torah
by R. Moshe Tsvi Segal
The Shofar and the Wall
by R. Moshe Tsvi Segal
An Open Letter
by R. Moshe Tsvi Segal
Brief Biography
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Letter to David Ben Shimol
by Rav Moshe Tsvi Segal
(Ben-Shimol was imprisoned for 11 years and freed on September 19, 1995.)
(Ben-Shimol was imprisoned for 11 years and freed on September 19, 1995.)
Wednesday, 4 Kislev 5745
The Psalm of the Day [that the Levites sang in the Holy Temple]: A G-d of vengeance is G-d ... Arise, Judge of the earth, award compensation to the proud ... Your nation, Hashem, they crush ... The widow and the stranger they slay, and the orphans they murder... They join together against the soul of the righteous, and the blood of the innocent they condemn... He turned upon then their own violence, and their own evil He will cut them off..
To My Brother David,
God is with you, brave soldier!
1. Our Sages, of blessed memory, teach us: great is the vengeance that was given between the two names, "A G-d of vengeance is G-d." You, David, continue the path and give life to the tradition of our greatest heroes, who avenged themselves on their enemies. Shimon and Levi avenged the honor of their sister and the honor of Israel; Moses killed the Egyptian and ordered the siege and the attack on the Midianites; Gideon Ehud, Samson and all the Judges of Israel, and Samuel, Saul and David took vengeance on Amelek and the Philistines; Mordechai and the Jews took vengeance on the people of Persia and Medea; Matityahu and his sons took vengeance on the Greeks. And one generation ago the nationalist undergrounds [LEHI and Irgun] took vengeance on the Arab and British enemies, and the members if the Hashomer, the Palmach and the Israel Defense Forces, under the command of the late David Ben Gurion, did the same.
2. Jewish ethics demand mercy towards all living creatures, but demands vengeance on and salvation from an enemy - one must strike first and kill them. Thus, this is the Halacha. Expressed in many lines of prose in the Holy Scriptures - the essence of the poets of generations - their longing for revenge upon our enemies, the enemies of G-d and Israel. Thus, the formulation of our prayers and hopes to avenge the blood of Israel upon the heads of the Nations. „The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance: [he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man will say, verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily there is a G-d who judges the Earth], Psalms 58:11. In the song of Ha’azinu, “I will render vengeance to My enemies, and will repay those who hate Me.” Deuteronomy 32:43. “[L]et the revenging of the blood of Thy servants which is shed be made manifest among the nations [and before our eyes].” Psalms 79:10. “It is G-d who avenges me, and has subdued peoples under me.” Psalms 18:48. “[T]o execute vengeance upon the nations, to execute upon them the judgment written: it is an honor to all his pious ones.” Psalms 149:7-8.
3. In our generation, a generation of the untrustworthy, content leaders set norms that are lies and criminal: they are merciful to the cruel and they are cruel to the merciful; with every means of influence and propaganda at their disposal. They throw at us the inversion of racial discrimination between Jews and Arabs; between Jewish blood - which is cheap and the other - which is holy.
Who knows if we will be ever be forgiven of this great sin, that we liberated Hebron and we did not avenge the blood of our holy martyrs that were murdered in 1929. By this action, we gave a sign to the nation of murders to continue to murder the Jews in their own land.
4. The religions of the Nations and the great and wise philosophers of the ethics of restraint who know that their “mouths speak vanity, and their right hand is a right of falsehood.” Psalms 144:8, who speak under the wings of Christianity, Islam, Democracy, Humanism and Socialism, have caused in the past millennium, all the evil and perversion, in great quantity and quality, preaching malice, and all cruelty and animalism that are reserved in those deceptive doctrines.
5. In spite of a period of renewed sovereignty in our land, here arose a new David. In our renewed presence in the land, the sovereignty that they impose wishes to rule by the laws of deceptive doctrines.
Instead of continuing in the path of the holiness of our forefathers, that which was given to us through the Torah and the ethics of the Judaism.
This path has exposed us to scorn and ridicule. In the eyes of our enemies and in the eyes of the entire world we are seen as fools. This endangers our very existence.
6. As with Shlomo Ben Yosef in his time -- the first to break the idiotic restraint of the leaders of the Yishuv in the days of the foreign government over Eretz Israel [1938], so, it is with you, David, the first through your just and brave vengeance toward opening the way to a change in values. You steered us in the direction of truth and honor for Israel and toward security for our land.
Shlomo Ben Yosef was dismissed by most of the erring Yishuv, although after the establishment of the State of Israel, his name was written in letters of gold in the chronicles of national revival -- so too you in your straight and proud stance will pave a new way toward real ethics and national justice and policy of security for state and nation. Be strong and of good courage! All the redeemers of past generations are at your side in prison, the hope of generations is before you, to place you upon the path the path of near redemption. G-d help our statesmen and spokesmen the ability to understand the simple truth found in your confident and proud letter to the "Attorney General" for then will arise the dawn, along with us, ever-increasing, as the light of day, the light of true redemption.
With great love,
Moshe Segal
The Psalm of the Day [that the Levites sang in the Holy Temple]: A G-d of vengeance is G-d ... Arise, Judge of the earth, award compensation to the proud ... Your nation, Hashem, they crush ... The widow and the stranger they slay, and the orphans they murder... They join together against the soul of the righteous, and the blood of the innocent they condemn... He turned upon then their own violence, and their own evil He will cut them off..
To My Brother David,
God is with you, brave soldier!
1. Our Sages, of blessed memory, teach us: great is the vengeance that was given between the two names, "A G-d of vengeance is G-d." You, David, continue the path and give life to the tradition of our greatest heroes, who avenged themselves on their enemies. Shimon and Levi avenged the honor of their sister and the honor of Israel; Moses killed the Egyptian and ordered the siege and the attack on the Midianites; Gideon Ehud, Samson and all the Judges of Israel, and Samuel, Saul and David took vengeance on Amelek and the Philistines; Mordechai and the Jews took vengeance on the people of Persia and Medea; Matityahu and his sons took vengeance on the Greeks. And one generation ago the nationalist undergrounds [LEHI and Irgun] took vengeance on the Arab and British enemies, and the members if the Hashomer, the Palmach and the Israel Defense Forces, under the command of the late David Ben Gurion, did the same.
2. Jewish ethics demand mercy towards all living creatures, but demands vengeance on and salvation from an enemy - one must strike first and kill them. Thus, this is the Halacha. Expressed in many lines of prose in the Holy Scriptures - the essence of the poets of generations - their longing for revenge upon our enemies, the enemies of G-d and Israel. Thus, the formulation of our prayers and hopes to avenge the blood of Israel upon the heads of the Nations. „The righteous shall rejoice when he sees the vengeance: [he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked. So that a man will say, verily there is a reward for the righteous: verily there is a G-d who judges the Earth], Psalms 58:11. In the song of Ha’azinu, “I will render vengeance to My enemies, and will repay those who hate Me.” Deuteronomy 32:43. “[L]et the revenging of the blood of Thy servants which is shed be made manifest among the nations [and before our eyes].” Psalms 79:10. “It is G-d who avenges me, and has subdued peoples under me.” Psalms 18:48. “[T]o execute vengeance upon the nations, to execute upon them the judgment written: it is an honor to all his pious ones.” Psalms 149:7-8.
3. In our generation, a generation of the untrustworthy, content leaders set norms that are lies and criminal: they are merciful to the cruel and they are cruel to the merciful; with every means of influence and propaganda at their disposal. They throw at us the inversion of racial discrimination between Jews and Arabs; between Jewish blood - which is cheap and the other - which is holy.
Who knows if we will be ever be forgiven of this great sin, that we liberated Hebron and we did not avenge the blood of our holy martyrs that were murdered in 1929. By this action, we gave a sign to the nation of murders to continue to murder the Jews in their own land.
4. The religions of the Nations and the great and wise philosophers of the ethics of restraint who know that their “mouths speak vanity, and their right hand is a right of falsehood.” Psalms 144:8, who speak under the wings of Christianity, Islam, Democracy, Humanism and Socialism, have caused in the past millennium, all the evil and perversion, in great quantity and quality, preaching malice, and all cruelty and animalism that are reserved in those deceptive doctrines.
5. In spite of a period of renewed sovereignty in our land, here arose a new David. In our renewed presence in the land, the sovereignty that they impose wishes to rule by the laws of deceptive doctrines.
Instead of continuing in the path of the holiness of our forefathers, that which was given to us through the Torah and the ethics of the Judaism.
This path has exposed us to scorn and ridicule. In the eyes of our enemies and in the eyes of the entire world we are seen as fools. This endangers our very existence.
6. As with Shlomo Ben Yosef in his time -- the first to break the idiotic restraint of the leaders of the Yishuv in the days of the foreign government over Eretz Israel [1938], so, it is with you, David, the first through your just and brave vengeance toward opening the way to a change in values. You steered us in the direction of truth and honor for Israel and toward security for our land.
Shlomo Ben Yosef was dismissed by most of the erring Yishuv, although after the establishment of the State of Israel, his name was written in letters of gold in the chronicles of national revival -- so too you in your straight and proud stance will pave a new way toward real ethics and national justice and policy of security for state and nation. Be strong and of good courage! All the redeemers of past generations are at your side in prison, the hope of generations is before you, to place you upon the path the path of near redemption. G-d help our statesmen and spokesmen the ability to understand the simple truth found in your confident and proud letter to the "Attorney General" for then will arise the dawn, along with us, ever-increasing, as the light of day, the light of true redemption.
With great love,
Moshe Segal