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Solitary Confinement

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Recently Israeli courts began instituting solitary confinement on administrative detention order cases.

What follows is a lesson we can learn from this shift.

Administrative Detention

In this article, Itiel Giladi explained that the Hebrew root of the word for ‘detention’ (atzar) is also connected to the idea of kingdom. To quote:

It was said about the first king, Shaul, that “This one will rule over My people” (Shmuel 1 1:17). Somewhat ironically, when Shaul was overcome with negative impulses he too began issuing ‘administrative detention’ orders against people connected to King David. Rashi explains that the idea of kingdom is connected to the word ‘detention’ because the king must ‘detain’ the nation in order to keep the people together. The job of a Jewish State is to facilitate the Jewish people in acting as a single unit in order to fulfill our role in the world. When we see the opposite happening it is a wakeup call to us that we need to unite and find true leadership that will lead us on the path to a rectified Jewish State…

 

Surrounded by Walls

Interestingly, without citing this explicitly, the continuation of Itiel’s article speaks to the evolution of events as has recently happened. First came the administration detention order, and now the power to enforce solitary confinement. To quote again:

To conclude we will contemplate another idea on administrative detentions. A verse in Mishlei (Proverbs) says “Like a broken city without a wall, so is a man whose spirit is unrestrained.” The literal meaning is negative, but a person who finds himself unjustly behind the walls of prison can be comforted by knowing that the walls around him are really like a ‘broken city without a wall.’ Further when the unrestrained spirit is actually a positive one, in the spirit of “not by might and not by power, but by my spirit says God,” it is actually good that no wall can restrain it.

When Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Liadi sat in jail, his rabbis who had already passed on to the next world came and told him that he must spread the word of Chassidut with increased fervor without any restrictions or conditions- with ‘unrestrained spirit.’ The detention of righteous Jews who focus on building up the land of Israel, learning Torah, and loving their fellow Jews, reminds us that we all have inner barriers we must break down. Only after breaking down the inner barriers can we also be released from our physical barriers.

In this case, the specific inner barrier we must break down is our lack of faith that we can fundamentally and completely change the reality. This leads us to focus on small changes within the current barriers (which often leads to brushing up against those barriers). The detention of Jewish youths is a call upon all of us to tear down our inner barriers and begin to truly believe that the Jewish people can and will create a rectified reality. Our belief in this change will quickly make it a reality among the Jewish people. Only by tearing down our inner barriers will we be able to spread the word of the Torah and fulfill our purpose in this world.

 

Solitary Confinement

The lesson from the above is that redemption is closest when the walls seem the highest. The test that Meir and others are undergoing is not easy, and they should be freed immediately, but each of us has perceived walls that seem to tower before us. No matter where we are, we could be living as prisoners in our own cities, our own neighborhoods, our own homes… The merit for Meir and the other boys is that they have no illusions. The walls are clearly before them.

What then is the challenge? The lesson to be learned from these solitary confinement cases? That each of us needs to realize that we are living in “a broken city without a wall.” A person with an unrestrained spirit sees endless, open possibilities ahead.

What of the attacks? The threats minute-by-minute? Don’t ignore but also don’t cement these headlines into bricks that block you from living. These are trying times, but we need to stand strong in our faith and resolve. We need to do our part to improve the situation, and not whine and groan about how difficult life is.

May we never be placed in a test like Meir and others have been placed in. And yet at the same time, we are all experiencing this very same test. The test of not perceiving a difficult situation as unsurmountable walls and blockades.

Break down the psychological barriers and immediately we will be redeemed.


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