Sanhedrin disapproves of expulsion ("uprooting") of Jews from Gaza

The Sanhedrin's Declaration Concerning the Disengagement
6 March 2005 / 26 Adar 1 5765

Since its meeting on 28th Shvat 5765, the Sanhedrin has deliberated the initiative of the Prime Minister of Israel, the decisions of the government, and legislation enacted by the Knesset regarding the plan known as "The Disengagement," henceforth referred to in this document as "the uprooting."

This plan involves the uprooting of Jewish communities in the Gaza strip and northern Samaria, the forced expulsion of Jews from their homes, and the willful transfer of these lands to a foreign power.

Following an intensive study which took place regarding the halachic (authentic Jewish law) questions that arise from the government's decision, the Sanhedrin hereby brings its conclusions and decisions to the public's attention.

1). The Prime Minister's program of uprooting stands in direct contradiction to the Torah of Israel.

2). The decision to implement the uprooting will cause large numbers of Jews to transgress many of the Torah's commandments. This applies to many varied commandments, including both those that are practiced between man and God, as well as those between man and his fellow man; those that apply to the nation as a whole, and those that apply to every individual.

3). The Government of Israel and the Knesset, in their present form and power structure, do not constitute institutions that have any authority according to halacha to render decisions that contradict the Torah of Israel.

4). Government ministers who have deemed this plan of uprooting to be wrongful have been removed from their positions, and likewise senior officials of the security establishment who have expressed independent opinions about the matter have been ousted.

5). THEREFORE, the decision of this government - which has also violated its promises to its own electorate - is null and void.

6). THUS: No Jew is permitted to cooperate with the program of uprooting, in any way whatsoever.

7). Any Jew - including a soldier or policeman - who supports the uprooting, whether directly or indirectly, whether by voting in its favor, or by giving council, or by supplying vehicles or materials, and obviously, anyone who actively participates in the uprooting... by so doing, transgresses a large number of Torah commandments.

8). The uprooting of the residents of the Gaza Strip and Samaria is a crime, and an injustice to the residents, and places many other communities - in fact, all citizens of the State of IsraelÊ- in mortal danger.

9). Any Jew who participates in, or cooperates with this plan, whether actively, or even by merely remaining silent, transgresses the commandment "You shall not stand idly by your neighbor's blood (Lev. 19:17)," and in the future will be judged by God for this sin.

10). The leaders and their agents - including soldiers and policemen who support the uprooting and participate in it - may be brought to bear personal responsibility for all damages caused to those who are hurt, and to their property.

11). By this declaration, the Sanhedrin, as the link of continuity of the Torah received by Moses at Sinai, hereby expresses the stance of Israel's Torah. For if, Heaven forbid, the present government carries out this, or some other, program of uprooting - this action has no validity. The Land of Israel is holy land, and all of its regions belong exclusively to the nation of Israel, forever.

12). The Sanhedrin, as the representative of the Jewish people throughout history, hereby affirms that the Jewish people - regardless of this or that government - does not relinquish, and is not entitled to relinquish, so much as the span of a solitary man's foot of the Land of Israel according to its Biblical boundaries... for it is God's land.

13). The commandment to "inherit and dwell" (Deut. 12:29) in the Land of Israel is obligatory upon every Israeli government. In this regard Israel is commanded by God to conquer the entire expanse of the Land of Israel within its Biblical boundaries, including the Gaza strip.

14). THEREFORE: Even if (Heaven forbid) the residents are forcibly removed from their homes - when the government changes, and a government in Israel arises that conducts itself according to the Torah, the armies of Israel will return and re-conquer this strip of land, to reinstate the people of Israel to their rightful place. This applies not only to this area, but to all the expanses of the Land of Israel that were stolen and are presently in foreign hands.

15). We are permeated with faith in the God of the Legions of Israel, that the oath which He swore to our forefather Abraham at the "Covenant Between the Halves" will be fulfilled precisely as it is stated, and with God's help, speedily - as it is written (Gen. 15:18):

"On that day the Lord made a covenant with Avram, saying, to your seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates river... "

Trumpet Sound: PM Sharon plans expulsion of Jews from Gaza.

Rut roh. Trouble brewing.

Disengagement Chiefs Meet to Plan Specifics of Expulsion
Wednesday, March 9, 2005 / 28 Adar 5765

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon held a high-level meeting Tuesday to plan the logistics of the expulsion of the Jews of Gaza and the northern Shomron from their homes.

The meeting included Defense Minister Sha’ul Mofaz, Vice Premier Shimon Peres, Disengagement Authority head Yonatan Bassi and incoming IDF Chief of Staff Major General Dan Halutz.

PM Sharon told the group that IDF soldiers should be sent to occupy homes emptied of their residents in Gush Katif and the northern Shomron, to ensure that the buildings not be used to house new residents.

Mofaz told the group that in addition to 400-450 empty caravans (trailer homes) throughout Gaza and the northern Shomron, the IDF is concerned that the homes of people who leave voluntarily will be populated by new residents seeking to strengthen the communities. The Defense Minister rejected the idea of removing or destroying empty buildings before the actual expulsion of residents begins.

An initiative to refurbish homes in various states of disrepair and fill them with new residents was launched earlier this week and was reported exclusively by IsraelNN.com.

Logistics of the actual expulsion were discussed at the meeting as well. Yonatan Bassi, who heads the Disengagement Authority, proposed housing the expelled residents in hotels. The cost was said to be some 30-40 million shekels.

Minister Mofaz said that outside firms were being hired to pack up the contents of homes and cart them to warehouses for storage. In the evacuation from the Sinai communities in 1982, soldiers packed up the residents' belongings.

PM Sharon said the group would meet periodically in the coming months. He urged all participants to speed up their preparations for the disengagement.

The Sanhedrin ascends Temple Mount on Chanukah

An amazing event in history!
Two months after being re-established, the Sanhedrin ascends the Temple Mount during the eve of Chanukah, "which celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple."

Words in BOLD & underlined letters are mine.

Members of Reestablished Sanhedrin Ascend Temple Mount

Wednesday, December 8, 2004 / 25 Kislev 5765

In a dramatic but unpublicized move, members of the newly established Sanhedrin ascended the Temple Mount, Judaism’s holiest site, this past Monday.

Close to 50 recently ordained s'muchim, members of the Sanhedrin, lined up at the foot of the Temple Mount Monday morning. [The word s'muchim comes from the same root as s'michah, rabbinic ordination.] The men, many ascending the Temple Mount for the first time, had immersed in mikvaot (ritual baths) that morning, and planned to ascend as a group. Despite prior approval from the Israeli police who oversee entry to the Mount, the officers barred the group from entering the Mount all together, and allowed them to visit only in groups of ten.


Given the newly-mandated restrictive conditions, many of the s'muchim refused to ascend at all, especially as a group of over 100 non-Jewish tourists filed past the waiting rabbis and up towards the holy site. “It is unconscionable that on the eve of Chanukah, which celebrates the rededication of the Holy Temple, we should once again be barred from worshipping – by our own people,” Rabbi Chaim Richman of Jerusalem’s Temple Institute told IsraelNN’s Ezra HaLevi.


The Sanhedrin, a religious-legal assembly of 71 sages that convened during the Holy Temple period and for several centuries afterwards, was the highest Jewish judicial tribunal in the Land of Israel. The great court used to convene in one of the Temple’s chambers in Jerusalem.

This past October, the Sanhedrin was reestablished for the first time in 1,600 years, at the site of its last meeting in Tiberias.

“There is a special mitzvah [commandment], not connected to time, but tied to our presence in Israel, to establish a Sanhedrin,” Rabbi Meir HaLevi, one of the 71 members of the new Sanhedrin, told Israel National Radio’s Weekend Edition. “The Rambam [12th-century Torah scholar Maimonides] describes the process exactly in the Mishna Torah [his seminal work codifying Jewish Law]. When he wrote it, there was no Sanhedrin, and he therefore outlines the steps necessary to establish one. When there is a majority of rabbis, in Israel, who authorize one person to be a samuch, , an authority, he can then reestablish the Sanhedrin.”

Those behind the revival of the Sanhedrin stress that the revival of the legal body is not optional, but mandated by the Torah. “We don’t have a choice,” says Rabbi Richman. “It is a religious mandate for us to establish a Sanhedrin.”

The Sanhedrin was reestablished through the ordination of one rabbi agreed upon by many prominent rabbis in Israel and approved as “fitting to serve” by former Chief Sefardi Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef and leading Ashkenazi Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv. That rabbi, who is then considered to have received authentic ordination as handed down from Moses, was then able to give ordination to 70 others, making up the quorum of 71 necessary for the Sanhedrin.

“Even Mordechai HaYehudi of the Purim story was accepted, as it is written, only ‘by the majority of his brethren,’ and not by everybody," Rabbi HaLevi explained. "Anyone who deals with public issues can not be unanimously accepted.”

The rabbis behind the Sanhedrin’s reconstitution claim that, like the State of Israel, the old-new Sanhedrin is a work-in-progress. They see it as a vessel that, once established, will reach the stature and authority that it once had.


“The first members requested that their names not be published, so as to allow it to grow without public criticism of individuals,” HaLevi said. “We want to give it time to develop and strengthen the institution, giving a chance for more rabbis to join.” He added that each of the current members of the Sanhedrin has agreed to be a conditional member until a more knowledgeable rabbi joins, taking his place.

Rabbi Richman, also a member of the Sanhedrin, hopes the body will bring about a revolution in Jewish jurisprudence. Declining to discuss exactly what issues are on the Sanhedrin’s agenda, Richman said that one of the main long-term goals of the Sanhedrin is to reunify Jewish observance in Israel. The Sanhedrin includes members of Ashkenazi, Sefardi, Hasidic, National-Religious and Hareidi communities.

“We Jews went into exiles all over the world,” Rabbi HaLevi said. “Every community established its own court. We are talking about more than 50 different legal systems developing separately from one another. Part of our return to Israel is the reunification of our Jewish practices.”


A tradition is recorded in the Talmud (Tractate Megillah 17b, Rashi) that the Sanhedrin will be restored after a partial ingathering of the Jewish exiles, but before Jerusalem is completely rebuilt and restored. Another Talmudic tradition (Eruvin 43b; Maharatz Chajas ad loc; Rashash to Sanhedrin 13b) states that Elijah the Prophet will present himself before a duly-ordained Sanhedrin when he announces the coming of the Messiah. This indicates that despite common misconceptions, a Sanhedrin is a pre-, not post-messianic institution.