This poster is brilliant. It portrays all of the rabbis in the Talmud who worked and what their job was. It calls to mind a joke. A woman gets on a bus in Measharim headed for Bnei Brak. Her dress does not reach her ankles. She sits down next to an ultra-Orthodox man who pulls an apple out of his bag and gives it to her. "What's this for?" she asks. He responds, "Until Eve ate from the apple, she did not know that she was naked." The next day, the same woman gets on the bus and sits down next to the same man. As the bus pulls away she removes an apple from her bag and hands it to him. "What's this for?" he asks. She says, "Until Adam ate from the apple, he did not know that he had to work for a living!"It is remarkable how truly depressing this joke seems these days.
Today is the 10th of Tevet, a minor fast day in Judaism. We fast from before sunrise until sundown (it is not a 25 hour fast like Yom Kippur or Tisha B’Av) in commemoration of the beginning of the siege of Jerusalem by the Babylonians. Ultimately, this siege led to Jerusalem’s destruction.
It isn’t always easy to find the motivation to fast in memory of the destruction of Jerusalem now that it is under Jewish sovereignty. The events in Beit Shemesh of the past few weeks have highlighted the tensions between the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) communities and the larger Israeli society. These tensions are certainly not new, but they have been inflamed. Anyone looking for new motivation to fast for the destruction of Jerusalem need not look any further than the erosion of Jewish values that flourishes in parts of the haredi community.
Before I write one more word, I do want to be clear that the haredi world is complex. There are many different haredi communities, many of which have significant disagreements with one another over issues of Jewish law. Not every sect shares similar views about women, Law, theology, Gentiles, secular Jews, etc. Not all haredim impose their religious norms on other people. It is important to become educated about these differences, and this is a good place to begin.
There are, however, certain issues about which most Israeli haredi sects are univocal: larger civil and secular society is problematic to the extent that it should be completely shut out of their world. There should be no social or civil interaction between these communities because that would lead to a weakening of the haredi faith. This, in my opinion, is a demand that must never be accommodated in Israel. It will lead to the destruction of the Jewish state. In many ways, the greatest threat to Israel’s future exists from within.
Haredi communities, with some exceptions, contribute almost nothing to the state. They should be permitted to object to the mandatory army service on religious grounds, but that should not exempt them from fulfilling their national service in other ways. The notion that they are serving the country by studying Torah is an exploitation of Judaism, the state, and their fellow citizens who must bear the burden of supporting them. One who objects to national service and on principle, contributes nothing to the national civic community abuses the welfare system which is meant to be a safety net, not a paycheck for Torah study.
Haredi schools do not teach science. They do not teach intellectual history, mathematics, or other subjects that children must eventually master to become productive contributors to the larger society. According to economist Dan Ben-David, head of the Taub Center for Social Policy Research, “There are two states of Israel in one. One is a state of high-tech, universities andmedicine at the forefront of human knowledge. And then there are all the rest,who make up a huge and increasing part of Israel and who do not receive theskills or conditions to work in a modern economy.”
You may think that this is their right and that I am over reacting. Consider this: the haredi population makes up 8-10% of Israel’s 7.8 million people. They have, on average, eight children per family, and comprise one fifth of all primary school students. In other words, the fastest growing Jewish population in Israel is receiving a haredi education. You can work out the implications of this.
In large part, this is all made possible thanks to the government of the State of Israel. They finance these schools. The segregated bus lines in which women are relegated to the back (something that the Israeli Supreme Court ruled to be illegal, by the way) are state funded public buses. The government gives exemptions for “compulsory” national army service to haredim. The deeper one looks into these issues, the more it becomes clear that the state of Israel is either tacitly approving haredi values by looking the other way or funding them.
Can anyone control the misogynists, extremists, anti-Zionists, and zealots within the haredi community? No. No more than we can control them when they are part of non-haredi communities. But the State of Israel can wage a cultural war against attitudes of intolerance and fundamentalism. They can stop funding their projects and cease enabling their public sexism; not doing so is a choice.
I am not advocating making haredi Judaism illegal. I am arguing that the choice to be haredi doesn’t exempt one from all other obligations of civic life, such as work, national service, and paying taxes. I am arguing that if a school wants to teach that evolution never happened and eschew the study of history, they should not receive a penny from the state. I am arguing that public signs that threaten women who dress a certain way should be illegal. I am arguing that bus lines insisting on gender segregation must be private.
There are organizations that are fighting for the survival of an open Zionist soul for the Jewish Homeland. We should support them. The Masorti movement is waging this campaign on a daily basis with constant challenges, especially financial. They made the brilliant posters that you see on this post. They are waging legal battles and trying to shape the intellectual conversations. They are on the front lines in the battle for the future of the State of Israel, and to the degree that we are able, I think we should support them (click here to do so).On this fast day, read the words of the ancient prophet Jeremiah who knew that the holy Temple could not protect the Jewish people from destruction when the pious were stealing, murdering, committing adultery, and swearing falsely. He tried to remind his fellow Israelites that if they engaged in such immoral acts, their “piety” was false (see Jeremiah 7:1-15). I will end with Jeremiah’s words in the mouth of a modern Jeremiah, who tried to share them in Beit Shemesh and Measharim and at the Kotel saying,
Hear the word of the Lord, all you of Israel who enter these gates…Thus said the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel: Mend your ways and your actions, and I will let you dwell in this place. Don’t put your trust in illusions and say, “the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord, the Temple of the Lord are these [buildings].”... See, you are relying on illusions that are of no avail. Will you spit on eight year old girls, relegate women to the back of the bus, call women in jeans whores and prostitutes, shun national service, and refuse to work and contribute to society, and then come and stand before Me in this House which bears My name and say, “We are safe”? – [Safe] to do all these abhorrent things! Do you consider this House, which bears My name, to be a den of misogynists? And now because you do all these things – declares the Lord – and though I spoke to you persistently, you would not listen; and though I called to you, you would not respond – therefore I will do to the House which bears My name, on which you rely, and to the place which I gave you and your fathers just what I did to Shiloh. And I will cast you out of My presence as I cast out your brothers, the whole brood of Ephraim.
If Israeli society does not act now, we may be witnessing the beginning of the walls being breached by the new Babylonians, only they are dressed in shtreimels and believe that science and math are treif. Boy, would Dr. Maimonides turn in his grave…
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10 comments:
fantastic post, David,.. the links are especially helpful and informative. Thanks for posting.
Dr. Maimonides would no less turn in his grave if he saw what the Masorti / Conservative movement has done to permit that which is forbidden. (In other words, he who throws stone should shower in the basement...The Masorti / Conservative movement ought not to talk about others' avairot when its very existence encourages desecration of Halacha.)
Dear Rabbi,
I was impressed by your blog about haredim. Particularly by your statement that haredim contribute nothing to the State of Israel.
Your writing this from Pelham Manor in the distant USA might give you objectivity that the residents here in Israel do not have.
I ask you, have you ever served in the IDF? Have you ever supported the State with a resident's income taxes? Have you ever suffered with your children in the IDF, or been in the IDF yourself? Have you ever lived in Israel for any length of time, during those critical and dangerous times and events that we Israelis often live with here?
I assume that you have done some of this. I am not haredi, far from it, not even a fan of rabbis.
Nevertheless, reading your comments, written from the USA, about part of the Israeli population, fellow Jews, makes me wonder what right you have to say anything at all.
I ask myself, "Has he paid his dues ... has he taken the risks of living her in Israel through thick and thin ... has he taken any serious risks at all in his lifetime?
Or he just a shmeggege? "Talks the talk, but doesn't walk the walk."
As long as your 6 year old draws pictures of "Hannuka Trees" you can be clear in your mind that you are failing as a Jewish father and educator and frankly have no business telling others your life views and passing judgement on other Jewish groups and their decisions, "Rabbi". Forget the Chareidis being the "new Babylonians, rather look in the mirror and see another Hellenist/Mityaven. Before you get all defensive think about it - you can keep thinking in your box or you can climb out right now and love you fellow Jews.
I don't know which Isreali Charedim you are referring to, certainly not the ones I know who yes indeed, pay taxes, served in the IDF (did you?) and whose children are certainly more knowledgeable and skilled in Math and Science than the children I used to teach in the States. You wrote this on Assert B' Tevet? It is because of continuing Sinat Chinam (like yours) that we are still fasting on this day!
Haredi society is basically a reaction to secular society, the best way to live sis to combine Torah with Derech Eretz
It does look like a nice poster and I may pick up one to encourage my children. Sorry but your jewish denomination is philosophically lame. I left my Masorti temple when they started preaching the JTS line that we all should have lesbian or Homosexual Rabbis. Sodomy does exist but its still a violation of the holy Torah (see Leviticus). Let Israel work out its own problems; the Masorti denomination is just playing politics to gain power.
I've been livin in this Holy land for 12 years and in R.B.S a ,and i hardly agree with you .
The Masorti (Conservative) stream in the U.S. functions as a choir for the Democratic party, fabricating religious justifications for every new socio-sexual fad. Nonetheless as long as Israelis willingly receive massive public subsidies from the U.S. government and solicit private donations from American Jews, they have no business telling American Jews to be quiet about religious matters in Israel. How many American olim who boast of service in the IDF have turned in their U.S. passports and burnt their bridges back to the U.S.? Just as the Masorti practice "Judaism" in quotes, so also the dual national American Jews are "Israeli" in quotes. Jews in Brooklyn or Seattle have as much right as they do to opine about Israel.
Unlike you, I live in Israel, as an Oleh.
Unlike you, I am looking for a job in Israel.
Unlike you, I have 5 children in Israeli Chareidi schools.
In my son's Charedi school, maths is a major part of the syllabus.
As is Natural Science, as is Art, as is History.
Unlike you, I have a Cambridge degree.
Unlike you, I am Chareidi.
Unlike you, I don't distort facts to fit a political agenda
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