This week, we read Parashat Ki Teitzei, which concludes with the injunction to destroy and forget the tribe of Amalek, the worst enemy of the Jewish people. In this season of repentance, at least one Haredi Jewish leader is discussing who he sees as modern-day Amalek. Ynet News reports that “Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, a prominent leader in the haredi world, says that [Yair] Lapid [Israel’s Finance Minister and head of the Yesh Atid party] is Amalek, the archetypical enemy of Israel from biblical times. This Saturday, when the parasha of Amalek is read, Shteinman instructed his disciples to have Lapid on their minds as they utter the words telling of the great enemy of the Israelites….Sources close to Shteinman also said that he tells pupils to think of Lapid and of Education Minister Shai Piron when saying Birkat haMinim, which is said three times every day other than Shabbat, and that is read with the purpose of destroying the enemies of Israel: ‘And let the arrogant government be speedily uprooted in our days. Let the noẓerim [idol worshippers] and the minim [Jewish separatists] be destroyed in a moment. And let them be blotted out of the Book of Life and not be inscribed together with the righteous.’”
A leading Haredi rabbi, “inspired” by the Torah, instructs his followers that Jews who serve the land of Israel and want Haredim to become educated participants in Israeli life, with the civil obligations of all Israeli citizens, are the greatest enemy of the Jewish people. The followers of this rabbi are praying three times per day, every weekday, that Jews should be “destroyed in a moment” for supporting an Israel where all of its citizens live together in shared responsibility and unity.
The author of this piece makes the unfortunate mistake (intentional? unintentional?) of writing her piece in a way that alludes to the fact that Rav Shteinman called Women of the Wall Amalek that needs to be blotted out, and that he gives support to those blowing whistles. This intends to besmirch not only Rav Shteinman, but the entire Chareidi community as a whole. As the one who approached Rav Shteinman with Women For the Wall, inquiring about getting his backing for bringing masses of women and girls to the wall to let our voices be heard, his approval was only granted on the condition that everything be done with the utmost dignity and respect- no violence, no yelling, no whistles, etc… Just praying. Thats it. Rav Shteinman does not back the whistle blowers, and in fact, WoW likes their precence, because it allows them to relish in the victim role that they so cherish, because it allows them to garner no support. These guys with the whistles are the unwitting allies of the Women of the Wall, and do not have the support of either Rav Shteinman or the vast Chariedi community, and publishing an article in a way that appears to allude to that is gneivas daas- misleading people with false information, and a sin.