Rabbi Eliahu changes mind on refusal
reads today's headline in the Jerusalem Post. But changing his mind (or being reported to have changed his mind) on this subject appears to be a routine habit for the former Chief Rabbi.
First, last September, he advocated refusal to follow disengagement orders.
Former Sephardic Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has joined the growing number of public figures calling on IDF soldiers and police to refuse orders to uproot Jews from their homes.
Then, in June, he changed his mind.
In a surprising interview with ultra-Orthodox daily "Mishpacha" (family), the spiritual leader of the national-religious world, and one of its most strident opponents of the disengagement plan, said Gush Katif residents should leave their homes quietly and called on IDF soldiers not to refuse orders to evacuate settlements.
But a week later, he apparently changed (or "clarified") it again.
Prominent Religious Zionist Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu reversed a controversial position he stated last week and permitted followers to block traffic to protest the disengagement plan, provided drivers can reach their destinations using alternate routes.
He also repeated his position that Jewish law forbids the evacuation of parts of the Land of Israel, and called the so-called unilateral disengagement program “vile.â€
Eliyahu also clarified his position regarding military insubordination, saying IDF soldiers should ask to be excused from duty in order to avoid violating what he says is a religious commandment.
And today, according to the Jerusalem Post, another 180.
In a surprise break from his fierce opposition to disengagement and his support of calls for the refusal of IDF evacuation orders, former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliahu, in an exclusive interview with The Jerusalem Post, urged members of the national religious camp on Thursday to remain loyal to the state and the army.
But the interview itself is full of equivocations:
Asked what he had to say to those settlers who suffered material losses, because they believed his promises and did not pack up their belongings or cooperate with the government, Eliahu replied: "From the beginning I always said to the settlers that they need to act according to their level of confidence in God. Someone who is afraid, I said, should evacuate and leave and do what he thinks is right. Someone with more confidence in God should pack but not leave and someone with even more confidence should not even pack."
Eliahu said that those settlers who had confidence in God and did not pack would receive a heavenly reward.
and contradictions:
Eliahu said a Jew needs to maintain the same attitude toward the state as before the pullout. He must continue to serve in the army via the hesder program, unless he devotes his full time to Torah study. He must continue to vote and to show respect for the Knesset and its elected officials.
"But everything must be done to topple the government," he said.
and it's still not clear that Rabbi Eliyahu has ever really changed his mind. It sounds more like he never made it up in the first place.
