Q&A: Sweeter Than Honey and Fine Honeycomb Filth
Sweeter Than Honey and Fine Honeycomb Filth
Question
Sorry for the clumsy wording. I’m a product of institutions without a core curriculum and without multiplication tables, and I’m also upset.
People I love and respect are, on the one hand, sweeter than honey.
They’re asking for a donation to some farm that their family established.
And why a farm?
So that Jewish goats will roam around there and graze, and not Ishmaelite goats.
If they aren’t there, they assume the Arabs will send their goats there. (It’s doubtful that this is actually the reality, but that’s what they claim.)
So money is needed to maintain this enterprise.
And the commandment of settling the Land of Israel is weighed as equivalent to fulfilling all 613 commandments (Sifrei, Re’eh), etc.
Seemingly.
But this is a family that, along with all the sweetness of honey, also has a kind of fine-honeycomb filth.
They supported a move to oppose applying the security laws to all of Judea and Samaria for political reasons, and they’re also tainted by hatred toward (part of) the Jewish people and spread heaps of baseless hatred about it.
So now my question is this.
On the one hand, donate, because they’re sweeter than honey, and also because the goal is equivalent to fulfilling all 613 commandments.
On the other hand, don’t donate, because they’re also a bit of fine-honeycomb filth: they themselves are prepared to destroy the entire settlement enterprise for the sake of something that might perhaps advance someone accused of bribery, fraud, and breach of trust to the leadership of the Jewish people.
Meaning, for the sake of a political “achievement” (which is doubtful), they’re willing to endanger the entire settlement enterprise. So what justification is there for spending money, taking risks, and putting soldiers at risk for the sake of a few dunams of goat grazing?
At the end of the day, in their eyes it’s acceptable to lose a thousand thousand times more than that in exchange for an “achievement”…
What is the proper thing to do?
An analogy occurred to me to explain the absurdity: it’s like a man who maliciously destroys the entire orchard and puts it in real, ultimate danger of annihilation (for the sake of a political “achievement”?)
and on the other hand begs for donations in order to save one single olive tree.
Give him money?
That seems ridiculous.
I hope the absurdity, as I see it, is now clearer.
Answer
I don’t think this has to do with their sweetness or their fine-honeycomb filth. The question is whether you identify with the goal. If so — donate to them. If not — don’t donate. I would check how legal it is and what the chances are that it will last, and whether it’s located in a sensible place that can be defended or whether it will be evacuated soon. See my responsum and the link to Rabbi Tau’s remarks here:
https://mikyab.net/%D7%A9%D7%95%D7%AA/%d7%94%d7%a7%d7%9e%d7%aa-%d7%99%d7%A9%d7%95%d7%91%d7%99%d7%9D-%d7%97%d7%93%d7%A9%d7%99%D7%9D-%d7%91%d7%90%d7%A8%D7%A5-%d7%99%D7%A9%D7%A8%D7%90%D7%9C