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'. Orvah is 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
