A new book by Rabbi Tzuriel Halmish, a researcher at the Har Bracha Institute, was launched at the main synagogue in Kibbutz Ein Hanatziv. The book, "Swords for the Body of the Nation, the Natziv of Volozhin and Jewish Unity," was introduced in an evening devoted to the Natziv’s thought, community fragmentation, and the challenge of unity in Israeli society.
The event was moderated by Rabbi Akiva Zuckerman, the kibbutz’s rabbi, and attended by students and scholars from Ein Hanatziv Midrashah and Yeshivat Har Bracha, kibbutz residents, and other guests. Speakers included Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, head of the Har Bracha yeshiva and rabbi of the settlement, Rabbi Beni Holtzman of Moshav Maale Gilboa, Rabbi Dr. Boaz Hutterer of Yeshivat Har Bracha, and Rabbi Maor Kayam, head of the Har Bracha Institute.
The discussion focused on the Natziv of Volozhin, Rabbi Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, and how his ideas speak to current public and social issues. A central question was how Jews should relate to Reform and Conservative Jews, alongside broader patterns of communal division and separatism in modern times.
Holtzman said that today’s main separation is not only between different religious camps, but especially between religious and ultra-Orthodox Jews on one side and secular Israelis on the other. He said that this is the central challenge that should worry Israeli society now.
According to the book’s back cover, debate over Reform and Conservative Jews has shaped Jewish life for more than 150 years, with roots in 19th-century Central Europe and the famous dispute over "community separation." The book examines the Natziv’s essay "Al Yemin ve-Smol," written in the winter of 1884, in which he rejected communal splitting and advocated unity and partnership. It also opens with a historical survey of separation disputes in Hungary, Germany, Austria, and Galicia, presenting the issue from social, legal, and practical angles.
