‘Allahu Akbar!’ the Israeli Rabbi Shouted

(Courtesy)

There was no one like Rabbi Menachem Froman, Z”L. And we need his spirit now, more than ever – when the Holy Land is falling apart, and shameless, cowardly leaders proliferate on all sides. If you don’t know about Froman, he is notorious in Israel as the “settler rabbi for peace”.

Check out the scene below, from our ongoing “Froman’s Way” documentary project. Late one night in September, 2011, several extremist settlers vandalized the town mosque in Qusra (in the northern West Bank/Samaria). The next morning, Rabbi Froman (for many years the Head Rabbi of Tekoa settlement) went to Qusra, accompanied by about ten of his settler proteges, and several Muslim colleagues, to express empathy for the hurting people there.

With 200 angry, suspicious Palestinians standing below him on the steps of the mosque, he began speaking, uttering the traditional Arabic phrase, “Bismillah al-Rahman al-Rahim” (“In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful”).

But then you can see, he pivoted to his infamous humor – he looked at the Arabic translator next to him, and asked with a big grin, “You’ll translate?” And then, looking back at the people below, continued his joke, “They know Arabic?”

Then, in a split second he dropped his grin, shouting “Allahu Akbar!” to everyone (the traditional call to prayer in a mosque, and yes, the phrase more known to many Jews and others as the words sometimes used by Palestinian terrorists, right before they do their deed).

Please look at the whole video of the visit. We were so honored to be part of his group – there are other funny moments, check out my voiceover pointing out a tshirt of a then, uh, well-known Middle Eastern dictator.

We hope to finish “Froman’s Way”, and release it in late Spring, 2025. (You can help us finish it here – and there are more clips of our project at that link too). We followed Rav Froman the last five years of his life – he passed in 2013 – and have recently been following many of his courageous proteges, Israeli and Palestinian, struggling to continue on his peacemaking path in these very difficult days.

Rabbi Froman saving a Torah from a Gazan synagogue about to be demolished (2005) (Courtesy, Harvey Stein)

A darn “settler for peace” who wants his cake and eat it too? Ok, just to irritate you woke leftists further: in 2005, Froman went to Gaza – to Gush Katif settlement – to protest the almost 9000 Israelis being kicked out of their homes by then-Prime Minister Ariel Sharon’s “gerush” (Hebrew: “expulsion”). What political configuration could happen if we followed Froman’s belief that no one should be kicked out of their homes? (In a future post, we’ll show a clip recounting a talk between Froman and Yasser Arafat, where they detailed a possible innovative future setup).

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Rabbi Froman made all of us, on all sides, think about our frozen assumptions.

Our world is aching for healing, in so many places on the globe right now, and hurting from the ascendance of so many politicians/leaders everywhere who are currently locked into that very popular “us versus them” worldview.

I’m sure you’ve heard about Bezalel Smotrich, the right wing member of Knesset in Netanyahu’s current coalition, a settler himself, who currently overseas the administration of the West Bank settlements. “2025: the year of sovereignty in Judea and Samaria”, he wrote last month on X. And he said further that this is precisely “the only way to remove the danger of the possible formation of a Palestinian state from the agenda”. With the exciting bonus that of course Trump “will support the State of Israel in this move”.

On the other hand, Rav Froman built bridges so many times, by fearlessly going to “their turf” – where he offered complete empathy where they were hurting most. A basic peacemaker. Forgetting my wounds, focusing for a few minutes on their wounds.

So yes, how can we walk on Rabbi Froman’s path these days? – somehow bringing back the small glowing candle flame of optimism and hope – and sway a few of those uptight, suspicious, partisan folks all around us these days?

Rabbi Froman loved to laugh – whether with a group of Palestinians under the sun, or a room full of yeshiva students. So yes, please don’t hesitate to leave your comments below – even if they are utterly cynical. Is there any hope for peace these crazy days? And any Jewish/Muslim jokes are appreciated too!