Mitzpe Hila – Shas Minister Meshulam Nahari slammed the formerly captive IDF soldier Gilad Shalit for going to the beach with his father on the first Shabbat after his return instead of going to the synagogue for prayer.
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Nahari claimed that Shalit and his father should have utilized the first Saturday after he was freed from Hamas captivity to say the benediction of deliverance – a Jewish prayer of thanks traditionally said by those who survived an adversity or were released from prison.
The minister without portfolio, who spoke during a Shas convention earlier this week, said that the party’s spiritual leader, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, has charged him with the task of bringing Shalit closer to Judaism.
According to Nahari, Yosef asked whether there is a synagogue and a mikveh in Shalit’s hometown, Mitzpe Hila.
“Those people should be awakened,” he said.
Maybe he was praying at the beach
1) who says he didn’t do both. shouldn’t we dan l’kaf zechus?
2) They aren’t mutually exclusive
3)Also he was released on a Tuesday, isn’t Shabbos a little too late? (Mishna Berura 219 , 2)
4)And it was during chol hamoed succos – he could have gone to shul any one of those days and benched
5)or even shmeni atzeres!
6) or made his own minyan during any of those times, according to (Shaarei Efraim 4:27) benching after laining is only a minhag
overall- a stupid comment with no redeeming qualities, yet reported here.
How do we know that the Shalits didn’t thank Hashem?
And if they didn’t, do we have the right to criticize them?! How can we judge people who suffered Gehinnom for over 5 years?
A holocaust survivor who retained his faith is regarded as a tzadik. We do not stand and judge those those who lost their faith.
That’s exactly what I kept on saying time and again, that there’s no mitzva of pidyon shevuim since Shalit isn’t shomer torah umitzvos. However, nobody listened and I was bashed for bringing this up but now everyone sees how right I was.
Trade 1000 murderers for one Jew who truly embodies the “jewish values” of the state of “israel”. Is this what Klal Yisroel has been davening for since the Churban HaBayis?
How do we know that they didn’t thank Hashem?
And if they didn’t, does anyone have the right to criticize them? They weren’t religous before and they are being faulted for not changing their beliefs after suffering Gehinnom for five years!
If a survivor of the holocaust retained his faith, he is a tzadik. If he did not. we have no right to judge him. Who knows what we would have done in his place.
Are you kidding me? Judging Gilad already?! This boy was locked up and starved for 5 years. Don’t judge anyone til you walk in his shoes. Check your own deeds…..
After the Holocaust, my grandfather took my mother to the beach on Shabbos for a while even though he was still going to shiurim. Eventually, he stopped. Best not to judge. If you are going to judge, be gentle. You attract more bees with honey.
Nahan should shut his kugel hole. Shalit should do whatever he needs to to recover after five years in captivity. He doesn’t need to trade one sort of captor telling him what to do for another
Foyyyyy I’m so disgust from these people. I don’t understand god gave you a gift which not everyone gets a specially gift and I am sure that when you were at captive you made some prayers and you were extremely terrified thinking what these animals will do to you, so a prayer or two must have been made by your self and by your father. Now you coming here and spitting in hashemss face. I can’t believe it. Foyyyyyy I’m so disgusted and disturbed. At least the first Shabbat keep and say hagomel. I’m in shock. Hashem kel erech hapaim. Very big mercy on you soldier.
This minister is definitely going the right way about it – if this news story has any basis in fact!
P.S. I am being sarcastic, at least with the first half of the sentence.
Can’t argue with this!!! Time to wake up guys!
So is he not a shomer shabbos?
Great. Public humiliation. That is sure to bring Gilad closer.
How do these knuckle dragging neanderthals end up in power?
Ditching my black uniform for that post-charaidi label is looking better by the minute.
How dare anyone judge him?
Did this holier than though Shas hack spend five years as a hostage of Hamas because he was serving and protecting his country?
What happened to not judging a person until you’ve been it their place?
Or doesn’t Shas approve of pirkai avos because it mentions that four letter word favorably?
WORK
Leave Gilad alone. How do you know he was not thanking Hashem while he was on the beach? As a person who was deprived of sunlight for five years, the beach was a necessary therapy to restore his health. Judge everyone l’kaf zechus.
Shoteh!!!! Shalit is in a situation of recovering from a life and death situation, I would like to see this “genius” after being locked away with Chayos for 5 years
Its like the guy that was looking for a parking space and promised 5 dollars to R Meir Bal Haness all of the sudden he finds a space and he says sorry R Meir I did it with out you ………
criticizing & embarassing him in a public forum is the wrong way to influence him . a little seichel and empathy will go a long way
I think people have to understand that they live in a totally different world. This is what is called the “secular kibbutz mentality” (albeit in a moshav). The don’t know these things and are for the most part oblivious to them.
That being said, during the ongoing coverage, many people, including reporters, were heard multiple times saying “Baruch Hashem” or “toda la’Kel” and the such. Just because therer was no sound-byte does not mean they didn’t say anything, in an office, a car or in the house. How do we know something was not arranged for them privately?
As anyone who has done any kiruv work knows, the way to bring someone toward our traditions is with smiles and sugar – AND NOT WITH A PUBLIC EXCORIATION FOR NOT DOING SOMETHING (BENTCHING GOMEL) which is as unfamiliar and strange to the non-observant as lecturing in Bulgarian is to most VIN readers. While observant Jews shudder at the reality that the Shalits chose the beach over the synagogue on the first Shabbos after the release from captivity, it is hallucinatory to expect anything else from a family whose connection to Torah is tenuous at best. I question whether possibly causing “malbin p’nei chavero” is the preferred method of acquainting Gilad with his glorious heritage.
While it would have been nice if Gilad benched Gomel on Shabbos, he is still free to do it during the week on Mondays and Thursdays. However, Nahari was wrong to criticize the Shalit family. They have suffered enough the last five years; their religious observance is between them and Hashem. I think that Nahari’s public criticism amounts to Loshon Hora, and hence, he should refrain from similar outbursts in the future.
You can do Hagomel on any day that the Torah is read. So maybe he did it on any Monday/Thursday? Dan Lechaf Zechus! He has been starved and tortured for so many years that he might just need a chance to realize what he has missed to be able to say “thanks” properly. There is no way to know what you or I would have done in his place. Probably not survived the 5 years. Just like one cannot judge someone who went through the holocaust, one cannot judge someone who has come out of another “h—-ll”- the arabs.
Why the shock? If Gilad wasn’t raised in a Shomer Shabbos home, why expect an overnight turnaround? No one alters his lifestyle that quickly. It’s a gradual process. (That said, the exchange of over a thousand terrorists for the life of one Jew is warranted if the Jew is Torah observant and will preserve his heritage…..)
Sad indeed. But “religion” is for everyone to search and find G-d on his own. You can’t ram it down his throat! Many have gone astray and need to “find G-d”. The lucky ones find G-d without going astray, while others, Nebach, don’t see G-d in their everyday lives and try to find fullfilment elsewhere.
Hashem is waiting for you kinder!
It 217;s just sad 230; I feel so sad for Mr. Shalit. Several people receive  220;wake-up calls 221; from H 217;KB 221;H and alter their lives to serve H 217;KB 221;H as well as they possibly can. If this event didn 217;t wake Shalit than what will?  230;please don 217;t say that by going to  220;the beach 221; he is serving H 217;KB 221;H as well as he can. If he is well enough to go to the beach than he is well enough to take a few minutes of his time, go to Shul, and thank H 217;KB 221;H.
To #8 ,  220;Dina_Demalchusa 221;: Please don 217;t compare this to the Holocaust. You are minimizing what the survivors went through and are insulting them. The survivors went through much worse than Shalit (not saying what he wen through was horrendous). The people who lost Emunah following the war saw hundreds of thousands of people brutally murdered and tortured beyond comprehension.
He put his life on the line for Eretz Yisrael.. That is called “mesiras nefesh” and is the highest calling a Jew can achieve. I do not believe that people sitting and stuffing themselves with flaffel and shnitzel in Geulah or standing on stree corners and smoking have the right to criticize.
Even if it’s true that that gilat didn’t make time to pray (which I doubt)
Even if it’s in place for nahari to pass judgement (which is not)
Even if rabbi ovadia did really give him this task (which I doubt)
Why the heck is he decrying him in the news? Could there be an iota of good coming out of this?
The truth is, that nahari -like too many zealots today- is criticizing someone else’s “lack of frimkeit” to justify his own existence.
It was actually on Simchas Torah (Thursday) that he went to the beach, not Shabbos.
He was toiveling in the sea. Leave him alone. He is tinuk shanishba.
Don’t worry he was saved by the lubvitcher rebbe shalita’s dollar
Tashlich…
I’ll not go (too much) into the ludicrous contention that Rav Ovadia charged someone with bringing Shalit closer to Judaism (or not), because that ridiculous contention is dwarfed by the manner in which the obviously-untrained claimant to this charge has chosen to carry it out, as several posts have pointed out.
I would rather bring up a different poitn that may appeal to the claimant’s possible yeshivah-training: What exactly did Shalit do wrong by going to the beach? Let’s assume he swam in the water – it is an issur d’rabbanan. Surely his travelling there in car is infinitely worse? Since he was released, a festival and two Sabbaths have passed without comment from this sanctimonious do-gooder. So really what we see here is someone glued to the secular media, and commenting on it in an attempt to keep the spotlight on an event (shalit’s release) that people now only vaguely remember for his own pathetic political kudos.
The fact that Shass have not criticised his statement, or that Rav Ovadia has not disowned him speaks volumes about the Shass leadership. No wonder many Sefardim are turning to the Ashkenazim for education and leadership.
No. 38 Why is a derabonon nothing to you? It is an aveira and he must do teshuva for it. However, we do not know he actually did an aveira. Maybe he just walked on the beach? That is not an aveira or even a mili dechasidusa.
However, I am getting the sense from many of the commenters that they do not see how bad it would be if it was an aveira. The disgust we have for an aveira is equal to the pain we (should) have at the ignorance of those who do not know better. The two are not mutually exclusive. However, to someone who thinks they are mutually exclusive, why would you choose non-judgementalism over horror at the aveira? Can you back that choice with the Tora?
Unproductive criticism from the Shas minister. It will not bring one Jew or Gilad or anyone in his family closer to Jewish practice.
Who is he to judge?.Let them deal w/ their lives in the way they want…they deserve the media poking their head somewhere else.It is not up to us ,if wha tthey did was right or wrong.
i am so happy to see that most posters are open minded and nonjudgemental. l tadin es chavercha….& we dont know whats going on in their minds…becoming a baal teshuva is a process & who knows if the process didnt start….
im an FFB & as a result of alot of suffering i was grappling with the idea of leaving frumkeit….& shabbos…of all the ppl i reached out to…the only ones that had a huge impact on me were 2 extraordinary women who sat & listened to my lifes suffering & cried with me- tears rolling down their cheeks, they validated my pain & feelings & said “your’e in good company as it says in Tehillim in perek 73 Dovid Hamelech says that he almost left the derech from all his suffering….& HaShem never held it against him”…thru the sincere love that i felt from these women….i immediately felt the spark in my neshama reignite…so i have learnt a new lesson in kiruv- each situation is different-u have 2 know what 2 say 2 whom & love & kind words penetrate the heart way faster than rebuke….this happened this week…B”H i was never mechalel shabbos & thanks 2 these amazing shiluchim from HaShem i feel so inspired to continue to be frum. i hope this inspires someone 2!
If I was a sales manager of a shoe store, I would not hire Nahari as a salesperson. Would you? Why then did Rav Ovadiah charfe him with this task>
We may never know the real story of what Shalit went thru while in capitity. He was a protector of Israel and the Jewish people who has suffered enough. Celebrate his freedom and be grateful for his service.