Urgent Plea to Rav Ovadia Yosef
                    By, Moshe Burt


Shabbat Shalom & Chodesh Tov Rabbi Yosef;

I pray that this message reaches you in good health and with simcha.

As a life-long lover of B'nai Yisrael and Eretz Yisrael and an Oleh in Eretz Yisrael
for 6 years (my anniversary date was Wednesday, 9 March), I have been active, long before my Aliyah, in efforts on a number of fronts to help my brethren, i.e. Russian Jews in the US, as well as to help my brethren throughout Eretz Yisrael.  Feelings of activism and caring are not new to me nor were they triggered only by this Government's current Gezeirah Rah targeting Gush Katif and part of the Shomron.  In suffering this Gezeirah Rah with my brethren, my efforts have been directed at a number of levels in order to help to thwart, ward-off and negate the attempt by Prime Minister Sharon's regime: the Medinat Yisrael to carve itself up with UnKosher
carving knives, in the process to expell over 8,500 Jews from their homes, neighborhoods, Shuls, friendships, kinships and from parts of our Eretz Kedusha -- Eretz Yisrael.

Not meaning to pat myself on the back, but rather purely to give spiritual credibility to my message, in addition to writing commentaries, holding signs at Hafganot and at traffic intersections, let me add that I personally have seen to facilitating via donors of funds and refurbished Sifrei Torah, the placement of two Sifrei Torah in Gush Katif -- in Yishuv Shi-rat HaYam and in the Chasdei Shimrit Community Center in Neve Dekalim (the Sefer is currently on-site and the  Hachnasat Sefer Torah celebration is scheduled B'Ezrat Hashem for Shushan Purim) during the past year so that our brethren there have the Chizuk of being Mokomot Torah, among a total of 9 S'forim which have been placed in needy locations in Eretz Yisrael over the past 10 1/2 years by the Sefer Torah Recycling Network.

Having said all of this, I will come to the point of my plea to you.

My dear Rabbi Yosef, I have read and followed news concerning the expulsion of Jews from Jewish Land closely over the past year since the inception of this terrible Gezeira upon us all.

In the course of following all of the reports, living and suffering the news, I have followed
the statements of Shas Party representatives, items in the media which either accurately or inaccurately represent or make representations purporting to be the views of the Shas Party and/or your views regarding the means of negating the expulsion, i.e. views regarding Referendum-enabling legislation in Knesset and how Shas would vote on it, and on the 2005 Budget.

Rabbi Yosef, I have followed your vehement and steadfast support for our brethren who live under threat of expulsion.  I have read of your meetings with Defense Minister Mofaz and how you refused to lend support to the government's expulsion efforts.  I've heard of your D'vrei Torah which give constant strength to our brethren in Gush Katif.  And I have heard of your recent comments, whether accurately or inaccurately reported by the media, which presumably were directed toward the Prime Minister's obstinance in hard-heartedly pursuing and proceeding with his expulsion plans.

However, Rabbi Yosef, I am deeply puzzled.  Here's why. 

I read, whether accurately or inaccurately reported, of your reluctance to support and to give approval to Shas Party Chavrei Knesset to vote in favor of Referendum-enabling legislation.  While I understand the possible Torah-based rationale behind this reluctance, i.e. that once a referendum precedent is in place, that it's possible that the Chiloni Parties could bring any type of anti-Torah position up for a referendum of the people -- Shabbos, Kashrut, Secular Marraige, Compulsory Military Service for Bochurim, etc.

However, my puzzlement arises because, although there has never been a referendum brought to the electorate, the precedent of Referendum-enabling legislation already exists. 

As I wrote earlier in this message, I've been an Oleh in Israel for 6 years.  I remember like yesterday, the attempts by the Barak government to undertake negotiations with Syria whereby leaving the Golan became a real possibility.

At that time, enabling legislation was proposed and approved by Knesset enabling both a referendum where "a majority of the legitimate votes of the participants" would decide, not merely a majority of those casting ballots was necessary for the people to ratify the relinquishment of a part of Eretz Yisrael, as well as mandating a 61 vote majority of the 120 Chavrei Knesset, not merely a majority of Chavrei Knesset on hand for the vote in order to enact a law mandating relinquishment of Jewish land.

Rabbi Yosef, with all due respect, I have submitted below for your review the following pertinent documentation, via internet links, to support what I have written here, that indeed, precedent for Referendum-enabling legislation already exists and is in place.

If Chas V'Chalila, Sharon and his regime and his trained, non-Jewish police bullies are permitted to forcibly expel and torture our fellow Jews both mentally and physically, then the entirety of Eretz Yisrael is in doubt; not just the Shomron, Gush Etzion, but your own community in Har Nof (formerly De'ir Yassin), as well as Tel Aviv, Jaffa, Haifa and more.  And what of the Kassams which would inevitably fall upon Ashkelon and Ashdod as they have fallen on Neve Dekalim and S'derot?

Rabbi Yosef, please permit me one final observation.  Can it be that we face a period very much like the that of Haman HaRasha, King Ahasuerus, Mordechai HaYehudi and
Esther HaMalka?

We know the story, the sub-plot if you will, in Megillat Esther which goes something like this;

Mordechai delivers a message to Esther to enlist her help by asking her
to to go to King Ahasuerus, to appeal, to plead to him for her people regarding Haman's
impending G'zeirah Rah against the Jews.   Esther sends a message back to Mordechai;  "All the Kings servants and the people of the King's provinces are well aware that if anyone ... approaches the King in the inner court without being summoned, there is but one law for him; that he be put to death; except for the person to whom the King shall extend the gold scepter ...   Now I have not been summoned to the King for the past thirty days."

When Esther's words were related to Mordechai, he sent the following message back to Esther;  "Do not think that you will escape in the King's palace any more than the rest of the Jews.  For if you persist in keeping silent at a time like this, relief and deliverance will come to the Jews from some other place (according to another interpretation; i.e. Hashem could send a foreign King to war with Ahasuerus and kill him and place those living in the palace in imminent danger), while you and your father's house will perish.  And who knows whether it was just for such a time as this that you attained the royal position!"  

Upon receipt of this second message, Esther responds to Mordechai saying, "Go assemble the Jews to be found in Shushan, and fast for me.  Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day; I, with my maids, will fast also.  Then I will go to the King though it's unlawful.  And if I perish, I perish."  Mordechai then did as Esther commanded.

Rabbi Yosef, I harken to the words of Mordechai to Esther, "And who knows whether it was just for such a time as this that you attained the royal position!"   Rabbi  Yosef,
who knows if you, if we were put here for just such a time?  Who knows if the previous
passage of Referendum-enabling legislation regarding the Golan, which B'H never had to be utilized, was Hashem's tool placed before us to show how to fight Sharon's Gezeira against his fellow Jews?   And finally, can it not be that once a Referendum
regarding expulsion from Gush Katif is voted upon and would surely be defeated, that it would surely mark the breaking of the backs of those who plot against Hashem and Torah and blast open the door to the Ge'ula Shlaima which we all long for? 

Rabbi Yosef, I pray that you will consider the facts outlined within and continue your rock-solid, steadfast support for the eternal legacy of the Jewish people -- the divine right of Jews to live in Eretz Yisrael.

With great respect,

Moshe Burt
Ramat Beit Shemesh

Addendum;

1/ New Law Requires Golan Referendum (Exerpted)
By Mitchell Bard
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Peace/golanref.html
On January 26, 1999, the Knesset passed a bill that requires a national referendum on any government decision to withdraw from the Golan Heights. It also stipulates that a return of the Golan would have to be approved by at least 61 of 120 members of parliament.

The legislation was introduced by the Third Way party, which supports peace with the
Palestinians but opposes a withdrawal from the Golan. The measure was approved 53-30, and received the support of several members of the opposition Labor Party.
 
2/ Israeli-Syrian Treaty May Be Threatened by Referendum Law (Exerpted)
By Julie Stahl
CNS Jerusalem Bureau Chief
01 March, 2000
http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewForeignBureaus.asp?Page=\ForeignBureaus\archive\1998-2000\GLO20000301e.html

Jerusalem (CNSNews.com) - A law that complicates any plan by the Israeli government to cede the Golan Heights to Syria as part of a peace deal passed its first reading in the Knesset on Wednesday.

Sixty legislators voted in favor and 53 against a measure requiring an absolute majority of all Israelis who are registered to vote to determine the results of a national referendum on any negotiated peace treaty with the Syrians rather than a simple majority of those who actually cast ballots.

Opposition lawmakers hoping to prevent Prime Minister Ehud Barak from relinquishing the strategic ridge in Israel's northeast sector regard the legislation as crucial to their cause.

Opinion surveys indicate that Barak does not have a majority of Israelis' support for a
peace deal that would involve loss of the Golan.

Apart from a referendum, the transfer of territory requires the backing of at least
61 of Israel's 120 lawmakers.


3/ Arutz-7 Internet News;  December 9, 1999

To:            arutz-7@ArutzSheva.org
From:          Arutz-7 Editor <neteditor@ArutzSheva.org>
Subject:       Arutz-7 News: Thursday, December 9, 1999

Arutz Sheva News Service
  <http://www.arutzsheva.org>
Thursday, December 9, 1999 / Rosh Chodesh Tevet 5760 - Sixth Day of Chanukah
------------------------------------------------
http://www.hebroots.org/hebrootsarchive/9912/991212_b.html


"5. REFERENDUM QUESTIONS
A withdrawal from the Golan cannot be effected without a popular referendum
approving the move. This is so by virtue of the Golan Law, passed ten
months ago during the term of the previous government, which states that no
part of the Golan or Jerusalem may be transferred to a foreign power
without a popular referendum and the approval of an absolute majority of 61
Knesset Members.  In addition, Prime Minister Barak made the holding of a
referendum into a basic campaign promise.  A debate has begun to heat up,
however - and is likely to intensify in the coming weeks - over exactly how
the referendum will be held.  Arutz-7's Haggai Seri reports that there are
currently three different proposals - from the Justice Ministry, the Prime
Minister's Office, and from the Knesset Speaker.  The questions that must
be resolved include:

* Will the referendum law cover only the Golan issue, other related
matters, or all such questions that are considered basic and of critical
importance? 

* How will the referendum be funded?

* Will each party be allowed air-time, as in general elections, to express
its views?  The Likud and those opposed to a withdrawal are very much in
favor of such an arrangement, in order to neutralize the effect of the many
government spokesmen who are given extra air-time by nature of their
positions.

* What will be the majority that will be required for the resolution to be
passed?  

* Who will formulate the question to be voted on, and how will it be
formulated?"


4/ Last Update: 18/10/2004 02:28   (Exerpted)
Analysis / A revolutionary question: Why has Israel never held a referendum?
By Ze'ev Segal

http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=489901&contrassID=1

"In January 1999, the Knesset passed an amendment that stipulated that any government decision to abolish the application of Israeli law to "a territory" would require the approval of 61 MKs.  The decision would then require approval via referendum "by a majority of the legitimate votes of the participants." The Knesset added that the clause requiring that its decision be approved this way would be implemented only when a Basic Law regulating such referendums is enacted.

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Moshe Burt, an Oleh, is a commentator on news and events in Israel and Founder and Director of  the Sefer Torah Recycling Network. He lives in Ramat Beit Shemesh.