Thirty years ago I wrote my first article for Haaretz. I
remember it well, even after many others I wrote are long-forgotten.
Lutfi Mashour, the editor of an important Arab newspaper,
his wife and their two daughters underwent a security check at Ben Gurion
airport. Mashour’s testicles were probed, while his daughters, Yara, 12, and
Varya, 10, had their hair examined. “Don’t touch their hair," I wrote
then. “When you mess with the hair of children, you give rise to long-lasting, negative
thoughts.”
The two have not been children for many years, but they are
still Arab citizens of Israel who are doing well. Ben Gurion airport is still
the same, doing what it has always done.
Last week, Amira Hass of Haaretz wrote about Mohammed Juda,
a 22-year-old champion athlete from East Jerusalem, who traveled to South Korea
last month at the invitation of, and funded by, the International Taekwando
Academy.
He was stripped naked, as usual, but this time his jacket and shoes
were also confiscated. In Korea they probably wondered about the barefooted
guest arriving on their doorstep, concerned about his exposure to the harsh
winter elements. However, followers of the Old Testament in that distant and
exotic place have learned that here, in the land of the Bible, shoes are
removed due to the land’s sanctity.
As the humiliated traveler departed on his way to the cold,
a warm and honorable reception was given to another traveler. We learned this
week that the X-Ray Rabbi had eluded the customs authorities having his car
pick him up on the tarmac.
This exposed a hitherto unknown procedure, which
allows 47 rabbis and heads of rabbinical dynasties, among them inspectees who
are elevated above us commoners, to completely bypass any inspection on takeoff
or landing. Even their eager followers, bankrupt tycoons, organized crime
members and judges in singing contests are not awarded such a red carpet.
Lift your heads towards the gates, which are letting through
an elusive rabbi who was supposedly blackmailed by a rabbi of criminals in the
holy city of Netivot. Another local rabbi, no innocent himself, is suspected of
abetting the criminals. Let him too join the list of dignitaries who pass
through security unscathed.
Netivot residents were seized with fervor upon hearing of
their rabbi's arrest. “In blood and fire will we release the rabbi,” they
chanted. Their sorrow and fury know no bounds. But we already know. The
salaries of 3,000 beadles and yeshiva students require his signature. “His
continued remand will leave many people without their monthly income,” said his
lawyers in court.
The world of the Torah cannot be stopped. Who would agree to
get off? Hundreds of primary and secondary “Babas,” Ashkenazi and Mizrahi, rule
over a financial empire which supports tens of thousands of idlers. Among their
people, in the poorest of towns, they sit in their palaces, driving luxury cars
and vacationing abroad twice a month, while hiding stacks of green bills among
the pages of their books on morality.
Who can know the paths money takes, at the airport and
elsewhere? One should follow the footprints in the sand and in holy places. But
why should we investigate such mysteries, when the mayor of Netivot himself
gives us more than a clue. “Here the rabbis are the crime families.
I don’t
understand the police. Instead of going after petty thieves, they should
investigate how our rabbis handle hundreds of millions of shekels.” Who would
know better than him?
Thus, everything is topsy-turvy. With the grace of God and
the community, these lawbreakers allow people to join them in prayers
throughout the year.
There is no difference between the assistance of heaven or
of some cash, between issuing threats and emotional blackmail, obtained through
special kashrut certificates and false blessings, through candles images,
amulets and holy water. Protection down here on earth is tantamount to divine
protection, both casting a fear of God and men on people.
The face of the land is the face of the arrivals and
departure gates. The generation’s face is the face of its rabbinical leaders.
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