B"H
WHY WE LOST GUSH KATIF
Someone on www.safed.co.il wrote:
Is hair Orvah or is it not? And should one hear Torah from someone who
denies Torah ve-Halacha?
Todah Rabba!
I answered:
Would that people were nearly so scrupulous about the keeping of
Hilkhot Mammonot as they are about judging others who do not cover their hair.
Who causes more Human misery? The woman who does not cover her hair or the
banks and the Ministry of Finance? Yet there are those who rail at the former
because they do not have the courage to take on those who are the real
destroyers of our People. Perhaps it is immodest to go without a head covering,
but it is not cruel. Why don't you speak out against cruelties? What is your
order of priorities.
No one is perfect and no one serves HaShem perfectly. If we were only
to learn Torah from those who keep all of the תרי"ג Mitzvot we would learn from no one.
Are you sure that every woman who covers her hair is as scrupulous
about giving tzaddakah as every woman who does not?
Doesn't anyone understand why we lost Gush Katif? Doesn't anyone
understand that it was not so much because of the not keeping of some mitzvot,
but of the keeping of a distortion of Torah - and that with judgement and
bitterness toward the next one?
The people in Yesh"a paid the price for those who distort the
Torah because they are those who are closest to the true Way. They are the ones
who have the most hope of returning to the true Way. And so, HaShem shook them
to their very foundations in order that they may think: "If we did
everything right and everything turned out all wrong what happened?"
If they are willing to let go of the misconceptions that we have taken
on during the galut and return to the true Way they will be shown the Old Way
and will become a model for all of us.
They had to lose their homes and all that was precious to them for
those who judge those who do not cover their hair, and who concern themselves
with all matters picayune, even as they remain silent while our People are
impoverished and downtrodden by the rich, powerful and cruel.
There are some who will counter my arguments, saying "מצוה גוררת מצוה". That is, if I do not cover my hair, then I do
not do other mitzvot and if I did cover my hair then I would do other mitzvot.
To them I say: מצוה גוררת מצוה is not a generality, but a מצוה גוררת מצוה of the same kind.
At this point in my life the part of my character that I want to work
on is compassion, courage and Wisdom. I try to do as many mitzvot of as I can
that will lead me in those directions in the hope of doing more. From the
question posed, and it was obviously posed by a woman who does cover her hair,
then covering one's hair does not lead to Wisdom, compassion, courage to fight
cruel organizations, giving others the benefit of the doubt, deep insight into
another or being considerate of another's feelings. I'm quite sure that someone
who was genuinely modest would not have written such a post either. Ergo,
covering one's hair does not necessarily bring about even true modesty. Since
all of the character traits I listed above are what I feel I need most at this
point and I have not seen in my life that women who cover their hair achieve
these characteristics on the basis of them covering their hair (although they
may achieve those characteristics as a result of doing other mitzvot), I can
confidently put covering my hair on a lower priority at this time in my
development and work on what is most critical to me now.
P.S. The word is 'ervah'. The word Orvah might be a female crow.
Perhaps if you learn Torah and learn the Torah in לשון קדש it might change how you see things. I am not saying
this "al srak". As a person reads Hebrew so they see everything. If
you do not discern between ervah and "orvah" you will see the
phenomenon in a distorted way as well.
Doreen Ellen Bell-Dotan, Tzfat, Israel