5/22/2013

Haredim for World Peace

A quote from a responsum:
It is obligatory for every haredi to work toward world peace, so that innocent blood is not shed in the world, and war ceases.
 Who wrote this and when? Check out my latest blog post at FindNeedles.

3 comments:

micha berger said...

I didn't see a comment form there, so I'll write it here:

There was a day when "chareidi" was synonymous with Orthodox. I can't think of the full Hebrew name the OU had when it was started. But to the best of my recollection of the sinage still in use in my NCSY days, the"Orthodox Congregations" part was "Qehillot Chareidiot".

So, given the language of the period, R' ZW Leiter was speaking of a vision for Orthodox, not some subset.

The wall in question simply didn't exist yet. It's historical revisionism to project the issues that divide us into subcommunities today back on the early 20th century.

ADDeRabbi said...

I agree. And I know that at the time "haredi" meant "Orthodox' (which, incidentally, means that there was a wall then, too, but it was built on a different line).
My distinction between haredim and Haredim speaks to that point. Still, R. Leiter's point that a true God-fearer is fundamentally pacifist is worth remembering, and his argument that such a person should actively seek peace is significant, even if he is "merely" talking about God-fearing or Orthodox Jews.

micha berger said...

On this post too I wasn't trying to address your primary point. In concert with the internet norm of only writing in to disagree.

R' Mayer Schiller believes that Hirschian Torah im Derekh Eretz carries a similar message. See his review of "And Dan Shall Judge His People". (Sorry, it's a fax sent for sharing with the Avodah email list, and of fax-scan visual quality.