[Avodah] RAYK and the end of chol

[Daniel Israel]

I just wanted to comment on one point you made:

On Mon, 31 Mar 2008 16:26:30 -0600 Micha Berger <micha at aishdas.org> 
wrote:
>On Thu, Mar 27, 2008 at 10:59:34AM IST, Rt Shoshana L. Boublil 
>wrote:
>: Can anyone honestly say, after seeing Israel export fruit and 
>:vegetables to the world, when comparing the situation here to 
what it 
>:was 120 years ago - when it was a land of swamps and desert, that 
>:something hasn't changed?
>
>(Tangent: Obviously, Agudists can. Anti-Zionists will agree 
>something changed, but they will say it's the introduction of a 
>nisayon. But the neutral non-Zionist can say that it's not a 
>fundamental change.)

Perhaps he can say that, but he doesn't have to.  Certainly, one 
could also say that the change represents the RBS"O giving us an 
opportunity, rather than atchalta dege'ulasa.  Maybe you will say 
that the latter is more RYBS style Zionisim then Agudah.  That's a 
question of labeling I'm not so interested in.  The reality is, 
though, I think that there are a large number of charedim who would 
vigorously object to reshis tzmicahs ge'ulasienu, but would also 
say that the state of Israeli agriculture is more than hard work 
and better science, it is yad HaShem.

--
Daniel M. Israel
dmi1 at cornell.edu