On the Matter of Bagatz VS. Katzav

I'm sure you've all heard of Bagatz's decision to suspend the plea bargain with Moshe Katzav. In all likelihood, given the temprament of the court and the media circus, the arrangement will be overturned. While many are exulting at this reversal, I belive that Bagatz's present policy is nothing short of a disaster. This has nothing to do with the specific case of Katzav himself. If he really is guilty of the charges, then I would like nothing more than to see him put in a jail cell alongside a very lonely 300-pound prisoner named Bubba, or the Israeli equivalent, for the rest of his natural life.

So what's the problem, you may ask? There are many, actually, but I will focus in this post on one immediate issue - plea bargains. The overwhelming majority of criminal convictions in this country are based on plea bargains of one kind or another. Only a small percentage of cases actually see the inside of a courtroom. Even so, the judicial system suffers from backlog and there is a lack of judges.

Now imagine that Katzav's plea bargain is overturned. The judges can claim that it was an exceptional ruling from now till Doomsday - once the precedent has been set, there will be no turning back. Every bereaved family member or two-bit politico with a grudge can apply to have cases re-opened or the thousands of pleas arrived at each year examined. As a result, there will be fewer pleas, fewer "deals" to get at least partial justice or catch criminal fish higher up the ladder. Thousands of cases will result not in pleas, since the defendants aren't going to sign agreements that could easily be overturned. Many cases which could have had some good results will be thrown out, many other will reach the courtroom. Trials will take years longer to be resolved, if ever.

In its effort to achieve absolute "justicity" over every facet of administration in this country, Bagatz will end up paralyzing the justice system. Bagatz would have done well to take a cue from Moses, who realized that even he could not handle every single complaint. As for the "lynch-mob" public enthusiastically endorsing a Bagatz reversal, I would advise: "Be careful what you wish for...you just might get it".

Man Bites Dog

Tom Segev, hardly a Zionist, gives Avrum Burg's screed a good thrashing (in Hebrew). Well worth the read.

Saladin's Jordanian Castle

A few years ago I did a paper on Qal'at Ar-Rabad, otherwise known as Castle 'Ajlun. It was built by a deputy of Saladin on the eastern bank of the Jordan River directly opposite the famous crusader castle Belvoir (Cochav Ha-Yarden).

I have seen two reasons for the establishment of this castle. One, in the wikipedia link above, is the traditional one. According to the traditional explanation, the castle was primarily meant to protect against the external threat of Crusader expansion. Another reason, given by a Muslim contemporary historian, is that it was also meant to bring the Ajlun area under central control (before it had been controlled by the local bedouin) - i.e. to matain internal order in a crucial border region.

Does anyone know which explanation is correct? Perhaps both are true?

The War Against Brit Milah

The new Azure is out, with plenty of excellent articles to choose from. In this post, however, I would like to adress a very serious matter brought up in the correspondence section. There, no less than three letters to the editor responding to Dr. Ido Hevroni's article on circumcision as rebellion in the context of Roman domination. These letters, which include a "Rabbi" who endorses "alternative" britot milah that do not involve surgery, are all united in their utter disgust and repulsion at brit milah, describing it in the grossest and bluntest terms. Obviuosly, all are "enlightened" Jews, the type which have tried to "redefine" Judaism to make it indistinguishable from Western fads ever since the coming of modernity. A recent post by Gabriel Schoenfeld on the subject generated no less than 45 responses, much larger than any other post on the Commentary blog by an order of magnitude. There, too, the comments are filled with a disgusting venom.

My main concern here is not the existence of such opinions but their apparent legitimacy within the Jewish world - not just the fringes. I consider it nothing short of horrifying that the editors of Azure saw fit to publish only the anti-Brit Milah letters and not one in support. I can not stress the ramifications of this campaign enough. Brit Milah is not some transitory miderabanan that can be "intellectualized" out of existence, it is one of the core identifying marks - yes, marks - of Jews since the beginning. It is an issur karet, one which the Jews often risked their lives to perform.

The past couple of decades has seen quite a wave of Jewish religious thinkers "intellectualizing" various mitzvot and obligations out of existence for the sake of pleasing individualistic whims and secular humanist Western dogma. I live in dread of the day that the move to abolish this last red line becomes a real intellectual movement, backed up by distorting "Jewish Sources" of course (no doubt with a helthy dose of how kevod ha'adam supersedes every issur in Judaism).

I really don't know how to react to this ?%$@ anymore. When I see and hear of stuff like this, all I want to do is break down and cry. I feel so helpless.