Q&A: Daughter of Great Righteous Men
Daughter of Great Righteous Men
Question
Hello and blessings to the Rabbi,
I know a woman who is the great-granddaughter of one of the great Hasidic rebbes, of blessed and holy memory.
As a child, she would go to the synagogue that her grandfather donated and founded, and she would pray with him, and she loved it very, very much.
When she got a little older, they told her that she could no longer be in the front/eastern section of the synagogue with her honored grandfather, but instead had to go up by herself to the women’s section and pray from there.
She was saddened, and since then she has not gone to synagogue.
Today she does not observe the Sabbath and runs her home not according to Jewish law, although she does light Sabbath candles and so on.
She is right-wing, a settler, and strongly opposes Netanyahu’s corruption and the disasters he is bringing upon the Jewish people, especially when her descendants serve in the IDF and pay in their own flesh part of the price of his failures.
I learned about a group of protesters against the regime coup and the corruption who have an internal WhatsApp group for organizing demonstrations, and unfortunately some of the messages there are sent on the Sabbath, and sometimes some of the demonstrations even begin during twilight or even before Sabbath sunset (rare), so it is possible that she will read messages on the Sabbath or even be tempted to come to the start of a demonstration that is sometimes during twilight and perhaps in exceptional cases even just before sunset.
What is certain is that she lives in a place that requires getting there by car, so there is a good chance she will desecrate the Sabbath in order to protest and try to save the Jewish people.
I asked her not to desecrate the Sabbath because of me; she laughed and did not commit herself.
Now my questions are:
Since in any case she does not keep the Sabbath according to Jewish law, and drives a car for outings, family visits, friends, and so on, although she does not work and does light candles—
is it permitted to give her a link to the WhatsApp group, which she may open and read messages from on the Sabbath,
and perhaps also drive a car to protest even before the Sabbath has ended?
And perhaps in general it is permitted to protest even while desecrating the Sabbath in order to save the Jewish people from the disasters and destruction to which Netanyahu is dragging us?
And another question:
Would it not be preferable to keep quiet with girls (up to what age?) who come so nicely to pray in synagogue, and not send them alone to the women’s section, because in the end when they stop coming they desecrate the Sabbath and establish a home that does not observe the Sabbath?
I would be glad for answers from the honorable Rabbi.
Thank you very much.
Answer
There is no halakhic prohibition here. Make any other decisions on your own.
At long last my mind is at ease, and I understand why legislative steps intended—primarily—to prevent selective enforcement and the distortion of justice are called a “regime coup” in the eyes of certain people. Apparently the strings in their brains are made of straw and chaff.