The Haredim have replaced the late Rabbi Meir Kahane as the bette noir of Israeli politics. A word in their defense may be revealing.
Is it simply a matter of egalitarian justice that unites the Left and the so-called Right who rail against the exemption of the Haredim from military service? If so, why don?t these critics also rail against the exemption of Israel?s Arab citizens from military service?
On the other hand, if some resent the Haredim because they are anti-Zionist, what about the Left, whose anti-Zionism is indistinguishable from anti-Judaism? As for the Zionism of the ?Right,? its death-knell sounded 26 years ago, when Likud prime minister Menachem Begin inaugurated the land-for-peace process at Camp David that led to Oslo.
Even if the Oslo Agreement was intended by the Left to eviscerate Jewish national consciousness, which is bonded to Judea and Samaria, Likud governments under Benjamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon have honored that agreement. And they have done so knowing full-well that the Palestinian Authority is nothing but a gang of murderous villains.
Is it any wonder that not a few Jews have left Israel, or are reluctant to risk their lives for this country, when Israeli prime ministers are willing to hazard the nation?s security on agreements with these villains, and even release terrorists as ?good will? gestures to such villains?
The Haredim have not used this point to bolster their avoidance of military service. Would that they did! Would that they became the champions of honest Zionism!
Indeed, contrary to their reputation, the Haredim may be, or will eventually become, the most authentic Zionists in town. Surveys indicate that they, more than any other Jewish group, oppose Arab membership in the Knesset. This signifies that the Haredim want a Jewish state whose leaders do not placate Jew-hating Arab voters, appease seditious Arab parties, degrade Israel, and retard the redemption of the Jewish people. Clearly the Haredim have not succumbed to the moral equivalence underlying the democratic principle of one adult/one vote ? a principle that dooms the ?only democracy in the Middle East.?
While true-believing democrats speak zealously for drafting the Haredim, they utter hardly a word about drafting Israel?s Arab citizens. Why this double standard? Is it simply because the vast majority of these Arabs are so filled with revulsion for the Jewish state that they supported Saddam Hussein? If Justice Minister Tommy Lapid is worried about drafting disloyal Arab citizens, why doesn?t he urge the revocation of their citizenship on the basis of the disloyalty provision of the 1952 Citizenship Law? Does he fear the canard of racism?
We can understand why the Labor Party opposes enforcement of that law, since Labor is utterly dependent on the Arab vote to gain political power. Leftists or ultra-secularists lose nothing advocating military service for the Haredim, who would never vote for them anyway.
It?s so easy to attack the Haredim. ?We fight and they pray,? say their detractors. All honor to those who fight for Israel, secular as well as religious; they deserve the greatest praise. But a word from the Talmud: ?Said Rabbi Abba bar Kahana: Were it not for David, Joab could not have waged war; were it not for Joab, David could not have studied the Torah...? (Sanhedrin 49a). Only thoughtful and magnanimous secularists will appreciate this gemara. They know that Israel?s cultural preservation ultimately depends on its religious citizens, that the restoration of Jewish civilization requires the most sustained study of the all-comprehensive system of Jewish wisdom.
No doubt there are casual yeshiva students who might do better for themselves and for Israel were they to perform military or civilian national service ? as many do, including Haredim. But let us bear in mind that were it not for the birthrate of the Haredim, there would be more Bisharas and Tibis in the Knesset!
The Haredim number about 10% of Israel?s Jewish population. Their birthrate exceeds that of the Arabs, and it is almost three times that of non-religious Jews. I apologize for offending anyone, but it seems to me that it would better serve the long-term interests of the Jewish state for the Haredim to stay home, learn Torah, marry and have precious babies than for them to serve in the army.
Is it simply a matter of egalitarian justice that unites the Left and the so-called Right who rail against the exemption of the Haredim from military service? If so, why don?t these critics also rail against the exemption of Israel?s Arab citizens from military service?
On the other hand, if some resent the Haredim because they are anti-Zionist, what about the Left, whose anti-Zionism is indistinguishable from anti-Judaism? As for the Zionism of the ?Right,? its death-knell sounded 26 years ago, when Likud prime minister Menachem Begin inaugurated the land-for-peace process at Camp David that led to Oslo.
Even if the Oslo Agreement was intended by the Left to eviscerate Jewish national consciousness, which is bonded to Judea and Samaria, Likud governments under Benjamin Netanyahu and Ariel Sharon have honored that agreement. And they have done so knowing full-well that the Palestinian Authority is nothing but a gang of murderous villains.
Is it any wonder that not a few Jews have left Israel, or are reluctant to risk their lives for this country, when Israeli prime ministers are willing to hazard the nation?s security on agreements with these villains, and even release terrorists as ?good will? gestures to such villains?
The Haredim have not used this point to bolster their avoidance of military service. Would that they did! Would that they became the champions of honest Zionism!
Indeed, contrary to their reputation, the Haredim may be, or will eventually become, the most authentic Zionists in town. Surveys indicate that they, more than any other Jewish group, oppose Arab membership in the Knesset. This signifies that the Haredim want a Jewish state whose leaders do not placate Jew-hating Arab voters, appease seditious Arab parties, degrade Israel, and retard the redemption of the Jewish people. Clearly the Haredim have not succumbed to the moral equivalence underlying the democratic principle of one adult/one vote ? a principle that dooms the ?only democracy in the Middle East.?
While true-believing democrats speak zealously for drafting the Haredim, they utter hardly a word about drafting Israel?s Arab citizens. Why this double standard? Is it simply because the vast majority of these Arabs are so filled with revulsion for the Jewish state that they supported Saddam Hussein? If Justice Minister Tommy Lapid is worried about drafting disloyal Arab citizens, why doesn?t he urge the revocation of their citizenship on the basis of the disloyalty provision of the 1952 Citizenship Law? Does he fear the canard of racism?
We can understand why the Labor Party opposes enforcement of that law, since Labor is utterly dependent on the Arab vote to gain political power. Leftists or ultra-secularists lose nothing advocating military service for the Haredim, who would never vote for them anyway.
It?s so easy to attack the Haredim. ?We fight and they pray,? say their detractors. All honor to those who fight for Israel, secular as well as religious; they deserve the greatest praise. But a word from the Talmud: ?Said Rabbi Abba bar Kahana: Were it not for David, Joab could not have waged war; were it not for Joab, David could not have studied the Torah...? (Sanhedrin 49a). Only thoughtful and magnanimous secularists will appreciate this gemara. They know that Israel?s cultural preservation ultimately depends on its religious citizens, that the restoration of Jewish civilization requires the most sustained study of the all-comprehensive system of Jewish wisdom.
No doubt there are casual yeshiva students who might do better for themselves and for Israel were they to perform military or civilian national service ? as many do, including Haredim. But let us bear in mind that were it not for the birthrate of the Haredim, there would be more Bisharas and Tibis in the Knesset!
The Haredim number about 10% of Israel?s Jewish population. Their birthrate exceeds that of the Arabs, and it is almost three times that of non-religious Jews. I apologize for offending anyone, but it seems to me that it would better serve the long-term interests of the Jewish state for the Haredim to stay home, learn Torah, marry and have precious babies than for them to serve in the army.