Rabbi Zalman Baruch Melamed, the Rabbi of Beit El and Head of the Beit El Yeshiva, is one of the most respected and influential disciples of Rabbi Tzvi Yehuda HaCohen Kook. Institutions and organizations associated with his leadership and spiritual guidance include the highly popular Arutz Sheva website and Besheva magazine, the National Union Knesset faction, various Torah and learning institutes, and other projects. In a rare interview to Besheva, he expressed great optimism with the start of the new Hebrew year.
When asked where he thought the religious-Zionist public needs to get stronger with the coming of the new year, Rabbi Melamed said: "This is a high-quality public that loves the Torah and the land. It is idealistic and pioneering. The important thing is for it to know its role and its place. To get stronger in self-confidence, not to overdo the self-criticism, and to continue to lead in the beautiful and good path.”
Q:The effort to unite the religious-Zionist camp for the election failed. Is there still a way to achieve this unity?
Rabbi Zalman Melamed: Unification of the camp is very important. The camp includes all those who send their children to get a religious-Zionist education. There was a mishap because the list that was selected [to run for the Knesset] did not represent all of the [political] hues. This mishap can be fixed and there can be a unification that will include all of the 'edges,' from Kahane to Meimad – there will be room for everyone. We are busy with this all of the time but there are many traps that still need to be overcome.”
Q: Should we show understanding as regards the pressures that are directing the Prime Minister's policy on settlement and the Land of Israel or should we protest and act vigorously against the freeze plan?
Rabbi Zalman Melamed: Every effort must be made to cancel the freeze plan because the freeze is an abrogation of the biblical commandment to settle the Land of Israel. The freeze stems from the view that there may eventually be a division of the land and G-d forbid we agree to that. The freeze is part of a policy that we oppose. We need to apply pressure to the Prime Minister that will be greater than the external pressures. We must fight this tendency with all our might and this is what will strengthen [Netanyahu]. Showing that we understand him is not strengthening, but rather allowing ourselves to be swept up by the pressures.”
Q:Should the young national-religious generation take on the mission of settling in the Galilee and Negev, or is development of Judea and Samaria more urgent today?
Rabbi Zalman Melamed: Naturally, settling Judea and Samaria is the most important mission, because any place where our hold on the land and our settlement there is in danger – that is the primary mission, But we must fulfill all of the aspirations – in the Negev and the Galilee, too, Jewish settlement is sparse and it must be strengthened. There needs to be a meaningful majority of Jews in all parts of the Land of Israel, that is why we encourage it. Those who do not have the strength to carry out the first mission will go for the second one.”
Q:Is the process of Israel's redemption still progressing in our generation, or are we in a state of retreat in recent years?
Rabbi Zalman Melamed: I think that we are in an accelerated process of redemption all of the time. We never stop. Sometimes the pace is slower or faster, but we always advance. Even the retreats that we face will serve as an impetus for meaningful progress. In all of the spiritual senses we are in a great advance. The process of teshuva (return to Judaism) in which youths from secular families are awakened to make teshuva is already a real social wave, not just a chance occurrence. The entire process of return to the Land of Israel and to the Torah of Israel is gathering speed.”
(Excerpted from the original interview).