On 17 Cheshvan 5678, a letter was send by the British Foreign Secretary, Lord Arthur James Balfour, in which he writes that Britain will support a home for the Jewish people in Eretz Yisroel.

Gedolei Yisroel of that generation saw this British gesture as a sign from Heaven, but they warned that non-religious Zionists could cause it to fail. In the book HoIsh Al Hachomah tells that when the news reached the ears of HaRav Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld, he exclaimed:

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The story that is kept quiet is the testimony of the Attorney General at the time the charges were filed against Netanyahu. That itself is a scandal. What has become clear this week and last week is crazy. Everything that since 2019 has cast Israel into an unending series of elections and crisis after crisis, is exposed as nothing more than hot air. A blown up bubble.

Journalist Motti Tuchfeld summarizes the testimony of Avichai Mandelblit: "Mandelblit stands in the witness box and admits, word after word, what any reasonable observer has long seen: there is nothing there. File 4000 collapsed completely. File 2000 also collapsed. File 1000 is a bad joke about cigars. All of the serious charges evaporated.

"But what is more serious — and this is not reported in any place — is the lawlessness of the police, the prosecution and the Attorney General himself. It is a serious corruption of the investigation. Illegal pressure brought on witnesses. Illegal procedures. Deliberate leaks. Documents that disappeared.

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Part III

This was originally published in 1993.

Upright In The Eyes Of Man And Of Hashem

Every word and every step—that was why he insisted that the bochurim ensure that their clothing was always tidy and perfectly clean. When they came to his room to be tested on their learning, they underwent an additional examination as the Rosh Yeshiva's sharp eyes surveyed every bochur from top to toe. Woe to whomever was dressed untidily or even was wearing dusty shoes.

The usual rebuke was short and sharp: "HaKodosh Boruch Hu gave you, and every other person, two faithful servants—your two hands. Why don't you use them to take care of your clothes...?"

Once, on his way to deliver the shiur, Mahary'tz spied some orange peels scattered in one area of the corridor. He would not begin that day's shiur until he had extracted a promise from the talmidim that such a sight would never appear again in the yeshiva building.

Refined behavior, order, cleanliness—they were all-important. They were themes he kept coming back to when he spoke. In one such shmuess, he addressed his audience with great feeling, "Beloved of my soul, see what chazal said in Yoma—that Heaven's Name should become loved through your actions. "When someone's deeds are correct ...what do people say about him? Happy is his father who taught him Torah, happy is his teacher..."

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