Baruch Dayan HaEmet- Rav Waldman ztz"l has passed away.
The Sovereignty Movement mourns the passing of our leader, Rav Eliezer Waldman, ztz"l, the Pillar of Fire who stood strong and illuminated our path, as did the Pillar of Fire that went before the Israelite camp in the desert, and we commit ourselves to continue to uphold his legacy, the legacy of the People of Israel’s sovereignty in its Land.*
The Sovereignty Movement mourns the passing of our teacher, Rav Eliezer Waldman, ztz"l, one of the pioneers of the renewed settlement in Judea and Samaria in general and in Hevron in particular, the founder of Nir Yeshiva, member of Knesset from the Tehiyya Movement.
Rav Waldman and his wife, Rabbanit Ruth Waldman, may she live a long life, are examples and role models of pioneering and faithfulness to the Land of Israel, for which they paid a heavy price.
The Nir Yeshiva was the spirit behind the ascent to the communities of the Southern Hills of Hevron. Its students internalized and realized the vision of the Land of Israel in all parts of the Land in many areas.
Last summer, it was Rav Waldman who turned to us in great concern and requested that we act to prevent the establishment of an American consulate for the Palestinians in Jerusalem.
The Rav immediately understood the danger inherent in this dangerous step, which would cause our loss of sovereignty in our eternal capital, G-d forbid.
We all mobilized ourselves for this important activity. The Rav’s backing for the Sovereignty Movement in general and activity on behalf of Jerusalem in particular gave us strength.
In all of our work, we knew that we have the Rabbi's support for our activities.
We pray that his way will continue to light our eyes and our work on behalf of the Land of Israel, the Torah of Israel and the People of Israel.
With the passing of the Rav, zt”l, we present here the special interview that he gave to issue no. 6 of the Sovereignty Journal.
The Rav gave the interview following the passing of his great partner in the upsurge of settlement, Rav Moshe Levinger, ztz”l, describing the first days of the settlement and the great importance that he saw in the vision of sovereignty and its realization.
Link to the interview:
https://www.ribonut.co.il/BlogPostID.aspx?BlogPostId=676
We also have a video of Rabbi Waldman's shiur in Oz veGaon in 2015 with simultaneous translation into English
Link
May we be comforted in the building of the Land of Israel,
Yehudit Katsover and Nadia Matar, The Sovereignty Movement
Rochel Sylvetsky adds (with Sovereignty Movement heads' permission):
A debt of thanks.
When I came to Israel to study at Machon Gold in 1962 under Yeshiva University auspices, we had a young idealistic red-bearded madrich (counselor), the father of small children, with endless patience and a contagious great love of Eretz Yisrael who spoke native sounding English. Every afternoon, another young bearded Israeli named Chaimke would pick him up on his motorbike and they would ride off together to a place they called Merkaz Harav.
We New Yorkers had no idea that this was the flagship yeshiva of Religious Zionism or who its head, Rav Tzvi Yehuda Kook, son of Israel's first Chief Rabbi -- both the iconic leaders of Relgious Zionism - was. This long suffering madrich wore a kova tembel which made us laugh and some of us drove him crazy with our 'spoiled American' complaints about food and how hard the tiyulim he accompanied us on were (the most we had walked was to the subway from home). Little did we imagine that "Eliezer" was the future Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Eliezer Waldman and that Chaimke was Rabbi Chaim Druckman, senior rabbi of Religious Zionism today. We just knew "Eliezer" had an aura about him and spoke to us about the Torah of Eretz Yisrael.
While I was at Machon Gold that year, my beloved mother passed away and "Eliezer" broke the news to me, kept me from collapsing with words of strength, and travelled by bus with me for hours to my elder sister, who had made aliya and was living in a small moshav, so we could sit shiva together. He even went up to the bus driver and asked him to refrain from playing music on the radio.When I returned to classes, he took care to see how I was managing. I tried to show my gratitude by helping him years later when he came to the USA for fundraising (and indeed, one of our close friends became a major donor to the yeshiva) and when he campaigned for the Hatechiya party, but that did not hold a candle to his dedication and the special mitzva he did for one teen-aged girl whose mother had died while she was 6000 miles away from home.