At 1:30 in the afternoon of 29th Tevet 5766 (29th January 2006), Her Honour, the judge Rachel Barka'i, pronounced the decision of the Be'er Sheva District Court: In the case of the State of Israel versus Daniel Pinner, the accused is guilty on all counts.
Never mind that the forensic evidence does not prove that the complainant, Nasser Wafi, was injured by a bullet; never mind that there is not even any evidence that he was injured at all; never mind that I shot in reaction to a situation of danger to life. The Arab eye-witnesses claimed that someone shot, and one of those witnesses gave a description that could conceivably fit me. Never mind that the others gave descriptions that could not conceivably fit me. Enough for Her Honour that I was there, I carried an Uzi, I shot and I wear a kippah. Guilty as charged on all counts.
The sentence will be handed down on 8th Adar (8th March). Until then - well, as we say in Hebrew, "Elokim gadol" ("G-d is great").
The Mishnah (B'rakhot 9:5) tells us: "A person must bless [G-d] for the bad, just as he blesses for the good". The Talmud (B'rakhot 60b) specifies that for the bad, a person blesses "Dayyan ha-Emet" ("The True Judge"); over the good things in life, he blesses "ha-Tov v'ha-Meitiv" ("He Who is good and bestows good").
The Rambam, bringing this as practical halakhah, gives an additional insight:
The emperor Hadrian, incensed and humiliated, brought in the best general he had, Severus, from Britannia. For three years, there was complete independence in Israel. But in the year 135, General Severus succeeded in re-conquering the country. The Jews fought desperately, and the final battle was in Betar. The Rambam summarizes the scope of the disaster:
Amidst all these disasters, a seemingly trivial kindness of G-d occurred: throughout those long summer months, until the Jewish survivors straggled back to the ruined city of Betar, the corpses of the fallen remained intact and did not decompose. At last, the martyrs were buried in Jewish graves according to halakhah. It is in recognition of this that the sages in Yavneh proclaimed that G-d is good and bestows good.
It is truly stupendous that the sages of Yavneh, led by Rabban Gamliel the Elder (according to Avudraham's commentary to Birkat ha-Mazzon), did not formulate the blessing of "Dayyan ha-Emet" ("The True Judge"). They taught us a tremendous lesson: even in the aftermath of disaster, we must see G-d as He who is good and bestows good.
Barukh HaShem - I am imprisoned, my body is intact, my soul and spirit are intact. The Jews slain in Betar died in sanctification the Land. If G-d has decreed (using Her Honour Rachel Barka'i as His tool) that I stay in jail for another few weeks or months, or even years, for the Land of Israel, for the memory of Gush Katif - then now is the time for me to declare in public:
Blessed be G-d, ha-Tov ve'ha Meitiv, who is good and bestows good.
Never mind that the forensic evidence does not prove that the complainant, Nasser Wafi, was injured by a bullet; never mind that there is not even any evidence that he was injured at all; never mind that I shot in reaction to a situation of danger to life. The Arab eye-witnesses claimed that someone shot, and one of those witnesses gave a description that could conceivably fit me. Never mind that the others gave descriptions that could not conceivably fit me. Enough for Her Honour that I was there, I carried an Uzi, I shot and I wear a kippah. Guilty as charged on all counts.
The sentence will be handed down on 8th Adar (8th March). Until then - well, as we say in Hebrew, "Elokim gadol" ("G-d is great").
The Mishnah (B'rakhot 9:5) tells us: "A person must bless [G-d] for the bad, just as he blesses for the good". The Talmud (B'rakhot 60b) specifies that for the bad, a person blesses "Dayyan ha-Emet" ("The True Judge"); over the good things in life, he blesses "ha-Tov v'ha-Meitiv" ("He Who is good and bestows good").
The Rambam, bringing this as practical halakhah, gives an additional insight:
One who hears good tidings blesses: Blessed are You, HaShem, our G-d, who is good and who bestows good. One who hears bad tidings blesses: Blessed be the True Judge. And one must bless over the bad, in good spirit, in the same way that he blesses over the good, in joy. ("Laws of B'rakhot" 10:3)And the Shulkhan Arukh develops the idea further still:
A person must bless over the bad with complete recognition and with joyful spirit, just as he blesses over the good; because the bad, for those who serve HaShem, is their joy and for their benefit, since they accept in love all that HaShem has decreed upon them. ("Orach Chayim" 222:3)The best-known example of the blessing "ha-Tov ve'ha-Meitiv", acknowledging that G-d is good and bestows good, is the fourth blessing of Birkat ha-Mazzon (Blessing After Meals), the blessing whose very name is "ha-Tov ve'ha-Meitiv". The source for this blessing is in the Talmud:
Moses formulated the Blessing for Nourishment [the first of the four blessings of Birkat ha-Mazzon] for Israel when the manna descended for them; Joshua formulated the Blessing for the Land when they entered the Land [of Israel]; ...David formulated "...for Israel, Your nation, and for Jerusalem, Your city", and Solomon [who built the Holy Temple] formulated [the continuation], "...for the great and holy Temple"; ha-Tov ve'ha-Meitiv ("He Who is good and bestows good") was formulated in Yavneh in recognition of those killed in Betar. As Rav Matna said: "The day that those killed in Betar were able to be buried, [the Sages] in Yavneh formulated "ha-Tov ve'ha-Meitiv" - "ha-Tov" ("He Who is good") because the bodies did not decompose, and "ha-Meitiv" ("He bestows good") because they were able to bury them." (B'rakhot 48b)The historical context puts the story of Betar, and the blessing of "ha-Tov ve'ha-Meitiv", into stark focus. At a time when Israel was subjugated under Roman occupation, Rabbi Akiva and his general Shimon Bar-Kokhba led the revolt against Rome. The fight to liberate the Land of Israel achieved its first success in the year 132, when the Jews expelled the Roman invaders - an achievement that no other nation in the entire Roman Empire ever matched.
The emperor Hadrian, incensed and humiliated, brought in the best general he had, Severus, from Britannia. For three years, there was complete independence in Israel. But in the year 135, General Severus succeeded in re-conquering the country. The Jews fought desperately, and the final battle was in Betar. The Rambam summarizes the scope of the disaster:
On the ninth of Av, five catastrophes occurred.... A huge city called Betar was captured, in which were thousands and myriads of Jews.... It fell into the hand of the Romans, and all were killed. And this was a tragedy as great as the destruction of the Holy Temple. ("Laws of Fasts", 5:3)Indeed. The disasters until then - the breech of Jerusalem's walls, the destruction of the Holy Temple, the fall of Massada - constituted stage after stage towards destruction and consequent exile. The fall of Betar, and the massacre of tens of thousands of Jews there, sealed the destruction of the Jewish state.
Amidst all these disasters, a seemingly trivial kindness of G-d occurred: throughout those long summer months, until the Jewish survivors straggled back to the ruined city of Betar, the corpses of the fallen remained intact and did not decompose. At last, the martyrs were buried in Jewish graves according to halakhah. It is in recognition of this that the sages in Yavneh proclaimed that G-d is good and bestows good.
It is truly stupendous that the sages of Yavneh, led by Rabban Gamliel the Elder (according to Avudraham's commentary to Birkat ha-Mazzon), did not formulate the blessing of "Dayyan ha-Emet" ("The True Judge"). They taught us a tremendous lesson: even in the aftermath of disaster, we must see G-d as He who is good and bestows good.
Barukh HaShem - I am imprisoned, my body is intact, my soul and spirit are intact. The Jews slain in Betar died in sanctification the Land. If G-d has decreed (using Her Honour Rachel Barka'i as His tool) that I stay in jail for another few weeks or months, or even years, for the Land of Israel, for the memory of Gush Katif - then now is the time for me to declare in public:
Blessed be G-d, ha-Tov ve'ha Meitiv, who is good and bestows good.