Dangerous fringes

Four days after the attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem, we are discovering a tense and disturbing situation. The massacre, which was directed against Jews who study in one of religious Zionism's flagship institutions, exposed the extent of the rift between some parts of the religious right and the government.

Flyers distributed yesterday in Jerusalem and the settlements and signed by 11 extreme-right rabbis deserve not only a harsh condemnation, but a determined response from the legal authorities. "Each and every one of us must imagine what the enemy is plotting to do to us, and to match it measure for measure," wrote the rabbis, including Daniel Staveski, Yitzhak Shapira, Yaakov Yosef, Gadi Ben-Zimra and Ido Elba, who in the past was convicted of racist incitement.

We cannot accept the statement by one of the signatories, to the effect that the flyer does not call for private acts of revenge. The rabbis specifically write that "we must work to achieve a proper Jewish leadership, aside from welcome local actions" and hope for a situation in which "Jews will congregate in their cities ... and strike those who wish them ill, in those days at this season" - borrowing a verse from the Book of Esther to be read next week on Purim.

None of the 10 rabbis is affiliated with the Mercaz Harav yeshiva and its affiliates, but with the extremist circles of Kach and Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, who has long been preaching severance from government institutions and the establishment of an alternative Jewish "kingdom." And still, these rabbis have considerable influence in the settlements, particularly on young people. The legal authorities would do well to make things hard for these activists, who are calling for rebellion and lawlessness.

But that is not sufficient either. It would seem that at present there is an urgent need for a decisive and unequivocal message from the senior religious Zionist leadership, both the educational and political branches. This comes in particular in light of the public's broad solidarity after the attack.

Rabbi Yerachmiel Weiss, the head of the Mercaz Harav high school, five of whose students were killed, has told Haaretz about the clear message he conveyed to his students after the attack. He told them they must "overcome the differences of opinion" and host Education Minister Yuli Tamir. As opposed to the visit to the adult Mercaz Harav yeshiva, which ended with an embarrassing expulsion of the minister, the students of Weiss' school received Tamir for a long, if tense, meeting.

Rabbi Weiss and other rabbis emphasized the weakness of the religious Zionist leadership, which is hesitant to speak out clearly against extremism and separatism.

On the other hand, we must condemn those who are excoriating religious Zionism in general in the belief that when the test comes, loyalty to the rabbis will overcome loyalty to the law. We must not turn the victims at Mercaz Harav into the accused because of a halakhic decision that emerged from the extreme fringes or a television spot about organizing revenge.

We should recall that the the army and public's panic during the disengagement regarding the halakhic ruling calling on religious soldiers to refuse orders proved to be hollow. Only a few of the religious soldiers who serve in large numbers in combat units obeyed the ruling, although it was signed by the leading rabbis.