Vilnagaon.org’s Translation of a Hebrew article: Wednesday, 5 Menachem Av 5785 (July 30, 2025)
We stand at the mark of twenty years since the disaster of the expulsion from Gush Katif — a disaster of historical proportions, in which the Israeli government deliberately destroyed thriving Jewish settlements and expelled their residents, all due to the whims of a Prime Minister whose only possible defense is that, at the time, his cognitive state was comparable to Joe Biden’s at the end of his term. But we will likely never know the full truth.
Either way, it is our duty to perform soul-searching — we, the Haredi public — in light of the terrible injustice, and even more so in light of the apathy, denial, and disgraceful complicity, both passive and active. The happiness of the downfall of others that took root in parts — even if small — of our community, and the many qualities best left unspoken. Ashamnu, bagadnu, gazalnu, dibarnu dofi… Avinu Malkeinu, forgive us for we have sinned!
What happened in those days did not occur in a vacuum. It stemmed from a misguided perception that, if we do not root it out from within us, we may repeat the same sins — like a dog returning to its vomit, like a fool repeating his folly. The root of this perception lies in viewing the Torah as a collection of laws — a forest of trees with no cohesive view, a list of rules to be fulfilled to the letter, but devoid of the faith framework that gives those laws meaning.
Had we studied the Tanakh and understood that there is a divine process unfolding, that we are a nation standing before G-d, that the Torah was given as part of a covenant made with us as a people — not just as individuals or isolated communities — had we internalized this truth, everything would have looked different. Instead, we allowed those who betray the covenant to divide and conquer, to use us against the settlers who risked their lives to settle the Land, and at the first opportunity, they turned to use the national-religious community against the yeshiva world — exploiting their weaknesses and the fact that no one grasped the simple truth: that the struggle over the Land and the struggle over the identity of the state and the nation — are one and the same.
The disaster should have shaken us and driven us to re-evaluate, but sadly, we still seem far from drawing the necessary conclusions. When Haredi public representatives treat the hostage deal as if it’s about a private Jew kidnapped by bandits demanding ransom — and fail to see the full picture, that this is a national existential battle, and more than that — a spiritual battle between the G-d of Israel and His enemies — it is a sign we’ve learned nothing.
When Haredi representatives sit in the war cabinet and discuss critical questions through a secular lens dictated to them by so-called “security experts,” while ignoring both the divine process of Israel’s return to its land and the view that military victories are acts of G-d — it is a sign that the failed conception is still alive within us.
When the voice of Haredi Judaism is silent during discussions of annexing the Gaza Strip and returning to Gush Katif — when one would expect G-d-fearing individuals to declare that this is our duty before Heaven, not just a negotiation tactic to influence Hamas in a disastrous hostage deal — it is a sign we still have much to learn.
Even on the practical political level — regarding what we’ve been conditioned to consider as “Yavneh and its sages” — it appears we’ve learned nothing. The Haredi public should have drawn the simple conclusion: that the old elites will do anything to suppress both the Jewish identity of the state and our hold on the land. Therefore, it should have taken the lead in the battle against judicial dictatorship. Instead, it hoped to receive a draft law in exchange for giving up on judicial reform — and in the end, we were struck, we paid the price, and we were left with nothing but “the stinking fish.”
Gush Katif will be rebuilt. Gaza will be Jewish again — this is the imperative of history and of divine destiny.
The question is whether we, the G-d-fearing among the Haredi public, will manage to draw the right conclusions in time and take an active part in bringing redemption — with strength, with splendor, and with majesty. If we truly understand our role, if we truly learn the lessons and do the necessary soul-searching — we can prevent greater disasters in the future.
The author is Rabbi Yehuda Epstein, Chairman of the Kedushat Tzion Association — an organization of Haredim committed to seeking out Zion in a pure manner.