Yitzhak Ginsburgh
American-born Israeli Chabad-affiliated kabbalist and rabbi of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva, Yitzhar
| Yitzchak Ginsburgh | |
|---|---|
| Image | |
| Born | St. Louis, Missouri, United States |
| Died | |
| Nationality | American-born Israeli |
| Residence | |
| Occupation | Rabbi, kabbalist, author |
| Known for | Baruch HaGever (1994); spiritual leadership of Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva; Derech Chaim movement |
| Parents | |
| Spouse(s) | |
| Children | |
| Sibling(s) | |
| Education | University of Chicago (mathematics and philosophy); Yeshiva University (MA mathematics) |
| Predecessor | |
| Website | |
Yitzchak Ginsburgh (also spelt Ginzburg or Ginsburg) is an American-born Israeli rabbi and kabbalist, the spiritual leader of the Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva in the West Bank settlement of Yitzhar. A self-identified adherent of Chabad-Lubavitch, he is the author of more than 80 books on Kabbalah, Hasidism, psychology and Jewish law, and is best known for writings that critics describe as justifying violence against Palestinians, above all his 1994 essay Baruch HaGever on the Cave of the Patriarchs massacre.[1][2]
Early life and turn to Chabad
According to a 2016 Forward investigation, Ginsburgh grew up in St. Louis, graduated from the University of Chicago at 19 "with a degree in mathematics and philosophy", and completed a master's degree in mathematics at Yeshiva University, emigrating to Israel in 1965.[1] The Forward reports that after the 1967 war "Ginsburgh discovered Chabad", travelled to Crown Heights and "studied with Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson", and that "to this day he considers himself part of Chabad even though, to a significant extent, he has diverged from the Chabad doctrine and created one of his own."[1] He later lived in Kfar Chabad.[1] In a 2015 doctoral study of settler theology, Tessa Satherley writes that Ginsburgh "was born in St Louis, Missouri, in 1944 and immigrated to Israel in 1965. After the Six Day War of 1967, he began serious study of Chabad Hasidism, and studied briefly with the venerable late Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson". She notes that he "lives in Kfar Chabad, behind the green line, but serves as president of the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva".[3]
- Editor's note: accounts of his religious conversion differ; the Forward notes his path "is partly unknown, partly clouded by myths". Satherley (2015) gives 1944 as his birth year; no primary source has been checked.
Od Yosef Chai and Kifl Haris (1989)
The Forward states that in 1983 Ginsburgh "helped found the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva in the Palestinian city of Nablus" at Joseph's Tomb (the yeshiva's own fundraising profile gives 1982 and names Romem Aldubi as founder).[1][4]
In May 1989 about 30 settlers, reportedly yeshiva students, raided the village of Kifl Haris, and a teenage Palestinian girl was shot dead.[5] The Los Angeles Times reported that Ginsburgh, the seminary's spiritual leader, "defended the slaying", quoting him on Israel Radio: "We have to recognize that Jewish blood and the blood of a goy (non-Jew) are not the same thing ... Every law that is based on equating goys and Jews is completely unacceptable."[6] Religious Affairs Minister Zevulun Hammer condemned the remark,[6] as did the Chief Rabbinate.[7]
Baruch HaGever (1994)
After Baruch Goldstein killed 29 Palestinian worshippers in Hebron in February 1994, Ginsburgh wrote the essay Baruch HaGever ("Blessed is the man", a pun on Goldstein's first name). The Forward quotes it: "The life of Israel is more important than the life of goyim ... If there is a chance (even a slight one) that the goy will work (even indiscreetly) to harm the life of Israel, then you don't care for the life of the goy — moreover the best goy is a dead one."[1]
Writing in Tablet, Liel Leibovitz argues the essay is "something eminently more complex" than a call to violence – "a radical interpretation of Goldstein's massacre as a paragon of religious ecstasy" – which "ends with Ginsburgh stating that it is not his intention to deliver a definitive halachic ruling", while acknowledging the view that the shooting was "an inexcusable and vile murder".[2]
The essay became the centrepiece of a memorial volume of the same name edited by Michael Ben-Horin, Netanel Ozeri, Yoel Lerner and Yosef Dayan; the Jewish Press reports the four editors were convicted of incitement.[8] According to the Forward (2003), the book "prompt[ed] a lengthy police investigation that ended with a decision by state prosecutors not to indict" Ginsburgh, though police warned him that proceedings would follow if he repeated such statements.[9] Satherley dates the pamphlet to 1994 and writes that Ginsburgh "explored the possible Halakhic, moral, and mystical virtues of the massacre and its 'blessed' perpetrator. He was detained by police over this publication and was warned but never indicted". She adds that Baruch HaGever "was one of the three books found in the bedroom of Yitzchak Rabin's assassin, Yigal Amir".[10]
- Editor's note: sources differ on dates (the Forward 2003 gives the book as 1998; others date the essay to 1994 and the volume to 1995). A later district court ruling that "Lauding Goldstein does not constitute incitement" is reported by Ynet but not yet traced to the judgment.[11]
Detention and prosecutions
- 1996 administrative detention. In March 1996 Ginsburgh was held without charge for what was ordered as 60 days, after allegedly telling students it was "imperative under Jewish law to revenge the Arabs". Internal Security Minister Moshe Shahal told the Knesset he "consistently preaches for revenge, he justified the massacre at the Tomb of the Patriarchs". Supreme Court Justice Dalia Dorner ordered his release, saying "it was never proved that his statements… may bring his students to attack Arabs."[1] The Forward (2003) reports the speech claimed revenge was required "supposedly based on the writings of the Lubavitcher rebbe".[9]
- Tipul Shoresh (2003). Attorney General Elyakim Rubinstein decided to indict him for incitement to racism over the book Tipul Shoresh ("Root Treatment"), which allegedly compared Arabs to "a cancer".[9]
- Satherley writes that the 2001 book stated that Arab citizens of Israel "had no right to live there, shared the 'licentious and unbridled character' of Ishmael, and were a 'cancer' within the Jewish state", and that "The matter was settled by a plea bargain requiring Ginsburgh to issue a written apology."[12]
- Torat HaMelech (2010–12). Ginsburgh endorsed Torat HaMelech (2009) by his students Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur (see below) and was among the rabbis investigated; the case was closed in May 2012.[13][14]
Former Shin Bet head Carmi Gillon told the Forward: "In my personal opinion, [Ginsburgh's] words count as incitement and he should have faced charges a long time ago."[1]
Torat HaMelech
Torat HaMelech (The King's Torah), by Yitzhak Shapira and Yosef Elitzur of Od Yosef Chai, was described by Haaretz as arguing "there are times when Jews are allowed to kill gentiles who pose no physical threat"; it was "endorsed by leading Chabad Rabbi Yitzhak Ginzburg and Kiryat Arba Rabbi Dov Lior."[14] Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein closed the case for "insufficient evidence to put the authors on trial for incitement to racism or incitement to violence", stating the closure was "not in any way an expression of acceptance" of statements he called "deserving of condemnation and denunciation".[13][15] See Od Yosef Chai Yeshiva and Torat HaMelech.
Yitzhar and state funding
The Forward reports that Ginsburgh moved to Yitzhar after the army withdrew from Joseph's Tomb, and that in 2011 most state funding of his institutions stopped after the Education Ministry accepted a Shin Bet assessment that "leading teachers" at Od Yosef Chai "foster violence by their students against the Israel Defense Forces and the Palestinians". US donations were reported to flow via the Central Fund of Israel.[1] In April 2014 a Border Police company occupied the yeshiva building after attacks on soldiers; it withdrew in June 2015.[16][17]
Hilltop Youth strand
The Hilltop Youth are loosely organised young settlers who set up unauthorised outposts and are linked to "price tag" attacks.[18] Satherley writes that they "often see their activities as a revival of the tradition of Gush Emunim in its heyday". Unlike Gush Emunim, "no formal organizational structure coordinates or directs the hilltop movement". Outpost communities "seem to have begun crystallizing in the early 1990s" and expanded greatly after the 2005 Gaza disengagement.[19] The youth largely reject the mainstream religious-Zionist rabbis who called for calm in 2005. In her account, "Two religio-ideological streams began to fill the void… i) the Od Yosef Chai yeshiva and Ginsburgh's brand of Hasidism, and ii) the community dedicated to the legacy of the late Rabbi Meir Kahane".[20] She stresses that "Od Yosef Chai and the Hilltop Youth around Yitzhar are meaningfully connected; however, it is not clear that this connection is one of authority and direction". The yeshiva nonetheless "confers practical and ideological support (if not authority)" to militant youth.[21] Her conclusion is that "Ginsburgh and Od Yosef Chai have a substantial influence in shaping the worldview of some Hilltop Youth, although the youths do not necessarily accept them as halakhic authorities".[22] Ginsburgh's connection is through Yitzhar and individual students rather than any institutional Chabad role:
- The Forward writes that "Ginsburgh's students include the so-called Hilltop Youth".[1]
- Meir Ettinger, grandson of Meir Kahane, is described as "a prize student of Ginsburgh" who "remain[s] a close associate". Israeli authorities believe he led "The Revolt"; he was held in administrative detention from August 2015 after the Duma arson attack, without being charged over it.[1][23][24] His wife told an interviewer he "gets all of his ideas from him [Ginsburgh]".[1]
- Ginsburgh's name headed a petition for release of those detained in the 2015 sweep.[1]
- In a 2014 letter he called Jewish terror attacks "uncontrolled reactions of youngsters who care about Israel", arguing the remedy was for the state to accept that the whole land "belongs solely to the Nation of Israel".[1] The Forward adds that in recent years he "has somewhat toned down his violent rhetoric, even decrying the use of violence".[1]
- Editor's note: claims that Ettinger broke with Ginsburgh over violence appear in secondary compilations but have not been verified. Do not describe the Hilltop Youth as a Chabad movement.
Thought
Satherley analyses Ginsburgh's "political Kabbalah". She finds that he shares the Kookian reading of politics as redemption and "his worldview's theosophical roots in Kabbalah and Chabad Hasidism".[25] Ginsburgh cites the Lubavitcher Rebbe extensively, and "each of [his books] commences with an 'endorsement' from the Lubvitcher Rebbe, whom Ginsburgh names as 'the greatest inspiration'" behind his "political platform based on Kabbalah".[26] In her reading he follows a dualistic interpretation of Lurianic Kabbalah. In it, the impure "shells" (kelipot) are identified with the Gentile world, and this frame is used "to justify revenge attacks on Gentiles and the expulsion of Arabs from Israel as theurgic practices".[27] He treats Jewish immigration and the expulsion of Gentiles as twin necessities: "two legs, in walking, must function together".[28] He praises the "simple Jew" who acts on "spontaneous, God-given revenge impulses… rather than scurrying to his bookshelf to check whether the Halakhah allows it".[29] Satherley summarises his position as holding that "in a war it is permissible to kill Gentile civilians (even women and babies)" and that "Impulsive revenge urges against Gentiles should be followed unthinkingly".[30] She concludes that among the Hilltop Youth, Ginsburgh's "teachings sanctioning and sanctifying impulsiveness have clear incendiary potential".[31] She also cautions that "price tagging has far more in common with classic vigilantism than mystically inspired religious violence".[32]
On his Chabad roots, Satherley argues that "Ginsburgh's extreme devaluation of non-Jewish life also has deep roots in Chabad thought". She points to the paradox, in Elliot Wolfson's phrase, of "a mystical discipline predicated on a nonegocentrist philosophy that is at the same time culturally [and racially] ethnocentric".[33] She also identifies counter-resources within Chabad. These are the Tanya's emphasis on contemplation and humility, set against Ginsburgh's "simple Jew".[34] Another is the Rebbe's pikuach nefesh reasoning on territory, which Ginsburgh "explicitly endorses… as valid, though he assumes it will never apply".[35]
Relationship with Chabad
Ginsburgh is not a Chabad shaliach and holds no office in Agudas Chasidei Chabad. Yet the ties are real: the Forward reports that since 2011 his annual 19 Kislev event has been held "in cooperation with the Chabad Hasidic sect", and that "his ties with the sect remain close".[1] Israeli press routinely calls him a "leading Chabad" rabbi.[14][9] Satherley calls him "a Chabad rabbi, formally affiliated with the Hasidic movement (though Od Yosef Chai itself is not)".[26]
- Editor's note: Chabad supporters online often claim that Chabad has disavowed Ginsburgh, but no official Chabad statement or primary source documenting such a disavowal could be found. Satherley (2015) also records no Chabad statement distancing the movement from him.
Bibliography
Works by Ginsburgh (primary sources)
- Baruch HaGever (essay, 1994)
- Tipul Shoresh (Root Treatment)
- Gal Einai publications
Further reading
See also
Notes
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 Natan Odenheimer, "The Kabbalist Who Would Be King of a New Jewish Monarchy in Israel", Forward, 14 October 2016.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 Liel Leibovitz, "The Mystery of Baruch Goldstein", Tablet.
- ↑ Tessa Satherley, Unity and Opposites in Israel's Settler Movement: Rabbi Tzvi Yisrael Tau and Rabbi Yitzchak Ginsburgh (PhD thesis, University of Melbourne, 2015), p. 186.
- ↑ Yeshivat Od Yosef Chai, JGive (yeshiva's own fundraising profile – primary source).
- ↑ "Jewish Settlers' Outburst Signals Mood Shift", Chicago Tribune, 8 June 1989.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 "Army to Curb Rampaging Israel Settlers", Los Angeles Times, 3 June 1989.
- ↑ Haim Shapiro, "Chief rabbi blasts remark about 'Jewish and non-Jewish blood'", Jerusalem Post, 5 June 1989, p. 2.
- ↑ "A Memorial Book That Led To Four Arrests", Jewish Press (Orthodox weekly).
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 9.2 9.3 "Israeli Rabbi Indicted for Inciting Racism", Forward, 2003.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 187.
- ↑ "Goldstein legacy continues", Ynet.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 188.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 Marcy Oster, "Case closed against 'The King's Torah' authors", JTA, 28 May 2012.
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Tomer Zarchin, "Israel's AG Closes Probe Into Authors of Allegedly Racist Book", Haaretz, 29 May 2012.
- ↑ "Case Closed Against Authors of 'The King's Torah'", Arutz Sheva (settler-aligned outlet), May 2012.
- ↑ "Border Police force takes over Yitzhar yeshiva", Times of Israel, April 2014.
- ↑ Tamar Pileggi, "IDF lifts seizure of radical West Bank yeshiva", Times of Israel, 2 June 2015.
- ↑ "'Price-tag' tactics of West Bank Jewish settlers", BBC News, 17 September 2012.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 180.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 183.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 184.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 195.
- ↑ "Israel Continues Crackdown on Jewish Extremist Network in West Bank", New York Times, 10 August 2015.
- ↑ "Israel detains suspected Jewish radicals in West Bank", BBC News, August 2015.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 196.
- ↑ 26.0 26.1 Satherley (2015), p. 202.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 203.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 210.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 221.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 227.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 222.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 230.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 246.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), pp. 290–92.
- ↑ Satherley (2015), p. 232.