The Disengagement II

UPDATED: NAMES HAVE BEEN REMOVED. THEY SHOULD NEVER HAVE BEEN INCLUDED.

I was asked in an e-mail about the following in my earlier post:

How anyone can take seriously the pronouncements of holy Kabbalists in Israel, such as [deleted], who declared that the Disengagement will not take place, I don't know (I, II, III, IV).

The question posed to me by this rabbi is:

3 days after Tisha B'av you had to make these ridiculous comments? What exactly is your point?

Very simple: Kabbalistic predictions about the future are misguided. They are either based on bad kabbalah, bad interpretations of good kabbalah, or total shams. How do I know that this was not based on a deep understanding of the Torah? Because it didn't come true, like anyone who can read a newspaper would have told you.

Statements that something will definitely happen are not only foolish but, when given improper religious authority, are an embarassing hillul Hashem. The only thing that can come from them is distancing people from Yiddishkeit when the predictions don't come true.

In other words: Don't take such predictions seriously and don't judge our religion based on such predictions.

UPDATE: [deleted]

FURTHER UPDATE: A reader directed me to comment number 71 on the photo essay to which I linked yesterday. It reads as follows:

i don't think tfillah is going to help, especially if [deleted] said it would. he's the chap who said that god would not let the disngagement happen. seems he was wrong about that. so he's probably wrong about god wanting to hear tehillim on this issue also. if i were you i would do what i'm doing: have a cold beer to celebrate the triumph of democracy and donate some money to help those who have had to leave their homes in the interests of israel's democratic and jewish future. oh, and resolve never to listen to rabbis pretending they know what god wants. they don't. period.