Category Archives: Israel

The Special Month of Iyar

Posted on May 9, 2014 | 5 comments

Rav Zvi Yehuda Kook frequently cited the prophetic statement that, in the future, all our national days of sadness and mourning will be transformed into days of joy and celebration. As examples, he noted that Yom Haatzmaut and Yom Yerushalayim commemorate joyous events that occurred during the tragic period of the Omer. Both are, in effect, sad days that in our time became happy days – and, to satisfy the needs of adherents to each of the primary mourning customs, one holiday falls during the first 33 days of the omer and the second during the last 33 days of the omer.

As we reflect on the special days of Iyar – Yom Haatzmaut on Iyar 5 and Yom Yerushalayim on Iyar 28 – it is inspiring to re-live these events through the contemporaneous words of Menachem Begin, one of Israel’s founding fathers and greatest leaders. Begin, a masterful orator throughout his life, used his eloquence to move crowds, maintain allegiances, guide the faithful, and especially, define the events in terms of the greater history of the Jewish people.

On Friday, the 4th of Iyar in 5708 (1948), Begin had recently emerged from the underground, but feared and loathed by David Ben-Gurion, he was not invited to the declaration of independence ceremony that took place in Tel Aviv that afternoon. As independence became official on Shabbat, Iyar 5, with the end of the British mandate and the departure of British forces, Begin first addressed the nation on Etzel radio (the “Voice of Fighting Zion”) on Motzaei Shabbat, May 15, 1948. He said as follows, in part (translation mine):

“Citizens of the Hebrew homeland, soldiers of Israel, Hebrew youth, my brothers and sisters in Zion,

After the many years of the war of the underground, years of persecution and torment, physical and spiritual torment, we stand before you, those who rebelled against the evil kingdom, with thanksgiving on our lips and prayer to Heaven in our hearts. It is the blessing that our forefathers recited on every festival and holiday, and that their lips uttered for every new fruit.

   We have paved the way for a massive return to Zion. The foundation has been laid – only the foundation – for a substantive Hebrew independence. Just one stage is over – one stage – of the war for Hebrew freedom, whose permanent aim is the restoration of the Jewish people – in its entirety – to its native land, and the restoration of the land of Israel – in its entirety – to its nation, its owners.

   The State of Israel has risen. And it rose “only thus:” with blood and fire, with a strong hand and an outstretched arm, with suffering and casualties. It would not have risen otherwise. And behold, even before the State can establish its appropriate institutions, it will be forced to fight aggressively against a Satanic and bloodthirsty foe, in the land, sea and air…

    The beginning of the wisdom of state policy is the return to Zion. Boats, for G-d’s sake, bring boats filled with olim… Quickly, quickly! Our nation has no time. Bring in myriads. Bring in hundreds of thousands. If there won’t be houses for all of them, we will find tents. If there are no tents, there is the heaven above, the azure sky of our land. No one dies from difficult living conditions…

   Internally, justice will be the primary ruler, the ruler even over the rulers. There will be no dictatorship… We will not allow in our home any person, citizen or stranger, to be hungry for bread, without a roof over his head, without clothing or a primary education. “Remember that you were strangers in the land of Egypt” – this supreme command will determine our relations with our neighbors…

    The State of Israel has risen. But we should remember that the homeland is still not liberated. The war continues. Your eyes see that the fighters did not speak in vain: Hebrew weapons will delineate the jurisdictional boundaries of the Hebrew rule. It is so in this campaign and will be so in the future. The homeland will be whole. The experiment to chop it into pieces is not only criminal, it will also fail. The homeland is historically and geographically whole. Whoever does not recognize our rights to the entire homeland does not recognize our rights to any part of it. And we will never forego our natural and eternal right to it…

    We will not purchase peace from our enemies at the price of giving up our independence, or our land. Only one type of “peace” can be purchased that way – the peace of the cemetery, the peace of a new Treblinka. Therefore, stand strong and prepare for definitive tests ahead. Stand! We will all stand. The Lord of Hosts will come to our aid, and the bravery of the Hebrew youth and the Hebrew mother, who offers her son, like Hanna, on the altar.

     Lord, G-d of Israel, watch over Your soldiers, and bless their swords that are forging anew the covenant that You enacted with Your treasured people and with Your chosen land. Judah is a lion cub! For the sake of our people, for the sake of our land, forward to battle, forward to victory!”

      Begin spent 19 years in opposition, until he was invited to join the National Unity Government led by Levi Eshkol on the eve of the Six Day War in June 1967. While serving as a Minister without Portfolio in the Cabinet, Begin pressured Eshkol to liberate the Old City of Yerushalayim, something that seems obvious in retrospect but at the time encountered sustained opposition in the Cabinet, and even from some religious Ministers.

After Yerushalayim was fully liberated on Wednesday, Iyar 28, Begin went to the Kotel and said the following, a prayer he composed himself that is replete with biblical allusions (translation mine):

“G-d of our fathers, Avraham, Yitzchak and Yaakov, the Lords of Hosts came to our aid. We were encircled, completely encircled by our enemies, and they came to eradicate us as a nation. But their plans were thwarted, and their intentions will never come to pass. [This is] because a new generation has risen in the homeland, a generation of liberators, a generation of fighters and heroes. And when Israel went forth to battle the enemy, the proclamation of the father of prophets – that echoes throughout the generations – went out from their hearts: ‘Redeemer of Israel from the bondage of Egypt: Rise up, Hashem, and let Your enemies be dispersed, and let those who hate You flee from before You.’ We shall scatter them, tower over them and they shall flee.

     The routed enemy has not yet laid down its arms. The Army of Israel continues to pursue him and smite him. Lord, G-d of Israel, watch over Your soldiers, and bless their swords that are carrying out in their eternal conquest the realization of the ‘Covenant between the Parts’ that You enacted with Your treasured people, so that sons may return to their mothers, and fathers to their children, and husbands to their wives. For we are but the survivors of a harassed and devastated people who blood was shed like water from generation to generation.

    Today we stand before the Western Wall, the remnant of the House of our glory in redeemed Yerushalayim, in the city that is united together. And we lift up our hearts in prayer that the Bet HaMikdash may be rebuilt, speedily and in our days.

    And we will yet go to Hebron, which is Kiryat Arba, and we will prostrate ourselves on the graves of the

fathers of our people. And we will yet go on the road to Efrat, en route to Bet Lechem Yehuda and pray at the grave of Rachel, our mother, and surely remember the words of the prophet: ‘A voice is heard on high, wailing, bitter weeping. Rachel weeps for her children, refuses to be comforted for her children, for they are not there…Restrain your voice from crying and your eyes from years, for there is reward for all your actions, Hashem says, and they will return from the land of the enemy. And there is hope for your future, Hashem says, and the children will return to their border.’”

May we yet see other days of sadness and mourning transformed into days of celebration, “joy and happy festivals. Love truth and peace” (Zecharia 8:19).

 

5 Comments

Posted in Contemporary Life, Israel

The Process

Posted on April 27, 2014 | 8 comments

Even as the “peace talks” in Israel have collapsed temporarily, the “peace process” lives on, unfortunately. As explained to me two decades ago by a leftist Israeli diplomat, a “process,” by definition, can never fail. Everything – ups and downs, wars and negotiations, terror and concessions – is part of the “process.” A “process” never ends. And yet, thank G-d Israel finds itself today – relatively, and we hope not temporarily – in a stronger strategic position than it has had in years, with new opportunities on the horizon.

One approach suggests that PM Netanyahu has orchestrated the current situation like a master politician. He has clearly learned from the failures of his first tenure, and has focused this term on maintaining his coalition, strengthening the country from within, regularly utilizing the verbiage of peace but without any of the disastrous concessions that marked his earlier term in the late 1990s. It is not that he has been flawless – there is no logic or morality in releasing murderers from prison in exchange for “talks” – but even that is more demoralizing to the nation than it has long-term strategic consequences.

In symbols and words, Netanyahu keeps alive for both domestic and international purposes the illusion that “peace” is possible and is thwarted only by the obstinacy and hatred of the Arab foe. And, unlike his first term, he eschews media interviews or statements, except on his terms and at the time and place of his choosing. He thereby avoids the sharks in the Israel media, which consists disproportionately of unrepentant leftists who actually believe that “peace” is likely if hundreds of thousands of Jews are expelled from their homes in the heartland of Israel and a “Palestinian state” is formed. (The provenance of that fantasy is a lingering mystery.) Leaders who constantly appear on television, speak on radio or regularly give interviews to journalists, ultimately cheapen their message, enable distortions, find themselves caught in contradictions, become very defensive and engender fatigue among their constituents. (Memo to Obama: less is more.)

Of course, that is one approach. The alternate scenario, almost as plausible, is that Netanyahu genuinely believes that some accommodation with the Palestinians is possible, that he is prepared to make the unspecified but frightening “painful concessions” such a treaty might entail, that much is going on behind the scenes that is not known, that he wants to secure his legacy, etc. That is why he surrounded himself with acknowledged leftists and peaceniks, and even designated Tzipi Livni as the lead negotiator, notwithstanding that she and her party were not needed to form a coalition. She bought him credibility with the media and international diplomats.

Oddly, even those close to Netanyahu do not know his true feelings or direction, but one thing is undeniable: the murkiness of his views has enabled both parties of the right and those that lean left to participate in his government, and that – on balance – centrist government has been able to forge a number of accomplishments in spheres which really matter to people. The coalition is secure (in terms of Israeli politics), and its stability is undoubtedly aided by an opposition that is weak, aimless and occasionally shrill.

Given the hostility (masquerading as evenhandedness) of the American president, it is hard to conjure a better scenario than the freezing of talks, even if the US administration chooses to blame “both sides” for the impasse. It is impossible to justify the bizarre notion that Israel must pay the Arabs in advance to negotiate its own surrender, or make preemptive concessions to satisfy the atavistic Arab need for dominance over Jews. It is good to hear a “no” from Israeli diplomats and its Prime Minister. Ad kan. If the focus shifts away from empty negotiations to improving the material situation on the ground – as Naftali Bennett has long advocated – everyone benefits, Jews and Arabs.

Nevertheless, the dynamic of “negotiations” and “talks” and “peace process” (and signing ceremonies) is so ingrained in the international diplomatic culture that it is hard to see a way in which the current suspension will last an appreciable amount of time. No one is willing to concede the obvious –that peace is not coming in this generation or the next, and possibly never, and that Israel can live quite well with the status quo. The charade must continue. Provocation – i.e., terror – is a familiar Arab tool that changes the equation. The wordsmiths at Foggy Bottom are proficient at finding the precise formulations that say nothing to real people in the real world but promote further diplomacy.

For example, I have never been enamored with the gambit that insists that the Palestinians recognize Israel as a “Jewish state.” For obvious reasons, that terminology sticks in their craw – but if they had any sense, they would say it. Mouth the words. They don’t have to mean it, and they can retract it the next day. They can even say “Israel is a Jewish state!” to great international fanfare and mutter under their breath “that is why we want to destroy it.” It’s only words, and thus foolish to make concessions for empty words. The fact that Abbas and his corrupt crew cannot bring themselves to say it – knowing the goodies that would come their way if they did –is a powerful indication of the dysfunctional Jew hatred that permeates their society. But can they find a way to murmur something along those lines? Sure. And then what?

Among the persistent myths that fuel the “process” is the notion that Fatah is moderate, Hamas is extremist, but there are elements in Hamas that are also moderate. Thus, the PA is trying to spin the unity agreement with Hamas as reflecting the moderation of Hamas. Of course, it could just as readily reflect the extremization of Fatah, as if they need to be extremized. The difference between the two groups of murderous terrorists is that they usually are rivals with each other, Hamas murders Jews and boasts about while Fatah murders Jews and condemns the cycle of violence, Fatah leaders wear neckties whereas Hamas leaders favor the open shirt, and Fatah mouths words that enable them to be subsidized by the willfully gullible West. Both groups would like to see the destruction of Israel, although Fatah seems more patient. Neither should be trusted by Israel.

Israel finds itself in strong position as it nears its 66th anniversary. Egypt under its new leadership has moved closer to Israel’s interests, Syria is torn apart by an endless and deadly civil war, Lebanon and Iraq are neutralized. Iran remains an existential threat, with the tip of its spear – Hezbollah – looming on Israel’s northern border. But the prospect of an Iranian bomb – which Obama will never obstruct militarily and is currently facilitating diplomatically – has brought together Israel and Saudi Arabia in an unprecedented alliance born of the convergence of their national interests.

Additionally, the demographic demon that has bedeviled two generations of Israeli policy makers has been laid to rest. The Jewish population of Israel is enjoying phenomenal growth, in both the secular and (even more so) the religious sectors. The Arab population is in decline, owing to a dramatically lower birthrate and steady emigration. Those who feared for decades that Arabs would soon outnumber Israelis are finding those concerns baseless, and those who nonetheless keep citing old and flawed statistics of the demo graphic nightmare – discredited now for more than a decade – are polemicists first and not at all objective policymakers. Their ideology trumps their reason. There are some writers who persist in reporting that Israel is “five minutes to midnight,” on the brink of self-destruction unless concessions are made, and quickly. The first time I saw that formulation was, I believe, in 1982, written by the Israel-bashing NY Times columnist Anthony Lewis. I guess the clock must have stopped at some point.

That being said, the last thing Israel needs – and, based on precedent, the road down which it will travel – is complacency. Whatever “is” at the moment will not necessarily stay that way in the future, even the near future. The very nature of the hostile elements that confront Israel ensure that the situation is always fluid. That is why it is important to influence events and not just allow events to dictate the course of policy.

Therefore, Israel should take this opportunity to conduct a funeral – and bury the two-state solution once and for all. It was always a pipedream, going back to 1937 and certainly 1947, that Arabs would countenance the existence of a Jewish state on what they construe to be Muslim land. Nothing has changed to alter that conclusion. Everyone recognizes that even the treaties that Israel has with some neighbors – Egypt, Jordan – are inherently fragile and vulnerable to changes in government. In the 1970s, a Palestinian state was deemed to be antithetical to Israel’s existence, and advocates of such were construed as implacable haters of Israel. A cursory perusal of some of the speeches of, for example, Golda Meir and Menachem Begin (whose political views generally were polar opposites) reveal that both explicitly stated numerous times that a Palestinian state posed an existential threat to Israel.

In the forty years hence, and despite all the rhetoric, negotiations, fantasies and concessions, their words ring even more true today.  Such a Palestinian state – without any resources, much less legitimacy – could only find its purpose as a base from which to destroy Israel. When all is said and done, the best PR flacks in the world have not been able to construct a coherent historical narrative that could justify the creation of such a state. It would have only one purpose – to be the instrument that could wage a total destructive war against Israel – and before the Palestinians became international darlings, such was even conceded openly by other Arab leaders.

Caroline Glick, in her powerful new book “The Israeli Solution,” articulates in a very compelling way why the demise of the ‘two-state solution’ is obvious and imperative. (Caroline will be speaking at our shul on Sunday, May 11, at 8:00 PM, for those interested.) Her book, for one thing, should be mandatory reading in every yeshiva high school, because its overview of Israel’s history and the failed diplomacy going back decades –the retread of the same unsuccessful initiative under new names and with new advocates – is informative and comprehensive. It will equip every college student with the knowledge to confound and confront all the disinformation and propaganda they will encounter in their schools.

One need not agree with every policy prescription to realize the enormous contribution this new book makes to the debate. I would not be so quick to offer full citizenship to every Arab in Judea and Samaria, even if the demographics justify it; not every individual living in a democratic society has the right to become a citizen and vote in national elections. Americans certainly realize this, hosting here some 11,000,000 illegal aliens and 13,000,000 legal resident aliens, according to 2011 statistics. And America’s non-citizens are not generally hostile to the polity as are Israel’s non-citizens.

What is most refreshing about her book, though, is the willingness to look anew at an intractable situation and the recognition that the lives of people – real living, breathing people, both Jews and Arabs – will be greatly enhanced by the abandonment of what obviously will not work and the embrace of what might work. As anyone familiar with her writings can attest, Caroline Glick is fearless, passionate, and keenly analytical. The empty cliché “two states for two peoples,” which wafts through the air like pollen and is equally insufferable, is simply not grounded in reality. It will never come to fruition as its fantasists imagine.

It is high time that we realize that, state the obvious, and recall the admonitions of the 1970s and 1980s, all still viable today. Now is the perfect time for that. Israel can prosper in the current environment; it can thrive even more when the “two state solution” is buried and more realistic means of accommodation are entertained. That dose of sanity could even energize the “process” and provide full employment for a new generation of diplomats.

 

8 Comments

Posted in Contemporary Life, Current Events, Israel

Permanent Relief

Posted on April 18, 2014 | 3 comments

The destruction of the army of Egypt at the Red Sea, whose 3326th anniversary will be marked this Monday, did not just provide the Jewish people with a momentary respite from conflict but was intended to be an eternal victory. The people cried out to G-d, and Moshe told them: “Do not be afraid. Stand, and see the salvation of G-d, for even as you see the Egyptians today, you will not see them ever again” (Shemot 14:13).

Indeed, it was so. Pharaoh’s army was crushed, and his empire smashed. We would have new enemies, but Egypt would not surface again for centuries – and even then it was a different Egypt. The question is: why was this necessary? At the Red Sea, the Jews were in danger of being massacred, and all they wanted was to be saved, to live another day. “Let us live today, and we will worry about 100 years from now 100 years from now!” Was it necessary to guarantee eternal relief? Who can think centuries ahead when we are focused on living until tomorrow?

It is interesting that Ramban quotes the Mechilta that “you will not see [the Egyptians] ever again” is “an eternal prohibition, for all generations.” But what exactly is the mitzvah here?

Apparently, the splitting of the Red Sea was not only a miraculous rescue but was also intended to transform our thinking and national self-image. We could not function as a nation as long as the specter of the Egyptian monster loomed over our heads. Had the Egyptians been defeated but survived, we would have made it to the other side of the sea but still remained fearful slaves (in our own minds, fugitives) always expecting the omnipotent master to return and subjugate us. We needed finality, closure – to put our trepidation of Egypt behind us so we could move forward – and just serve and revere G-d.

How important is this? Extremely. It is what we lack now and it underlies all the anxiety that we feel during these days of waiting – Iran, Kerry, PLO, interminable negotiations. There has been an obvious decrease in terror and death in Israel over the last number of years, due primarily to the substantial and powerful presence of Israeli forces in Arab towns and villages, even notwithstanding this week’s brutal murder of a distinguished Israeli police commander en route with his wife and children to a seder in Kiryat Arba. Terror cannot be stopped entirely, as long as the will to perpetrate it remains among the evildoers. Crime still exists even though there are policemen, and disease still exists even though there are doctors and researchers.

But despite the successes of the last decade – due to the physical presence in the cities, the denial of work permits and free passage, cutting off the flow of money, and even the presence of a security wall – everything still seems temporary, ad hoc. It has worked so well that it is constantly suggested that Israel withdraw from the cities and towns, increase the number of work permits and allow free passage, transfer millions of dollars, free terrorists and relax the security apparatus. Those who ask for an easing of checkpoints are essentially acquiescing to Jewish deaths. Haven’t we heard this all before? And how long will it be until the cycle of terror, death and mayhem is restored?

It is all so predictable and pathetic, and all because there is no hope of closure – no matter which Abu rules the Arab roost. The Netziv wrote (Harchev Davar, Devarim 33:11) that there is much we can learn from the difference between the wars of Shaul and David. King Shaul conquered his enemies and plundered their lands – but just sowed the seeds for future conflict. King David, instead, conquered his enemies and occupied their lands – installing his own rulers and eventually subduing the indigenous population. Shaul’s victories were never conclusive – so he reigned during a period of endless war. David’s wars brought ultimate peace and tranquility – unlike Shaul’s wars or Israel’s wars today. Of course, the distinction is not just a matter of strategy, but also depends on the merit of the generation and its leaders.

“Stand, and see the salvation of G-d.” Victory is possible – if our goals are clear, if our commitment is unflinching, and if our faith is unwavering. The enemy today is less powerful than the Egyptians of old, but some of us are still fond of helplessness – “leave us alone and we will just serve Egypt” (Shemot 14:12), better Red than dead. The advocates of this approach – some of whom presently conduct Israel’s negotiations with the Arabs – have talked it into themselves that partitioning Israel again and creating another terrorist state is actually in Israel’s interests.

That attitude is seductive. But “you will not see [the Egyptians] ever again” is “an eternal prohibition, for all generations.” It is prohibited to despair, as it is prohibited to think that our history is all politics and diplomacy and nothing else. But it is not prohibited to believe that we can vanquish our enemies on our own; those are the lessons that G-d entrusted to us when we left Egypt under His protective hand. David’s kingdom endures, not Shaul’s – and it is David’s song of triumph over his enemies that is recorded for posterity.

“You will not see [the Egyptians] ever again” is the measure of victory and the barometer of peace – that our enemies will never again threaten us because their empire has been removed from history. If we can’t achieve that in the short term, then at least we benefit in defining that as the objective. As King David sang (II Shmuel 22:5-6, 31, 50) “When the pains of death encircled me and the torrents of godless men frightened me…then G-d is a shield to all who take refuge in Him… Therefore I will thank You G-d among the nations and sing to Your name”, as we await the days when “He does kindness to His anointed one, to David and his descendants, forever.”

 

3 Comments

Posted in Chumash, Contemporary Life, Current Events, Israel

The Exchange, Part 2

Posted on March 24, 2014 | 19 comments

     I received a response from my interlocutor, and reprint it fully with some minor editing. To make it easy on the reader, I have interspersed my comments within his response. As he asked not to be anonymous, I include his final salutation. May there be shalom al Yisrael!       – RSP

 E – I hope all is well with you and yours.   May you see Yiddishe nachas from all of them.

Thank you for your response. I did not write this letter to you b’mikreh. To the contrary, I heard about your speech and was shocked. No question that we have very bad PR, and I’m also not claiming that our community is perfect – and thus I can be דן לכף זכות — but there are aspects of your response that are so misleading and false and based more in prejudice than in fact or understanding that I felt a need to respond.

The attached document responds in depth to your points. Don’t be offended but we have to know how to respond to an אפקורוס כגון מאן אמר ר”י כגון הני דאמר מאי אהנו לן רבנן לדידהו קרו לדידהו תנו א”ל אביי האי מגלה פנים בתורה נמי הוא שכתוב אם לא בריתי יומם ולילה חוקות שמים וארץ לא שמתי

SP-    I don’t assume that every Haredi is a “rabbanan” in the language of the Gemara. Most are not. I don’t know why you would assume that. And I thinks the problem here transcends PR.

E – Anyone who has had any actual human contact with Hareidim is generally struck by the extent of giving, rather than taking, that characterizes the community. The Har Nof directory has 36 pages of phone numbers and names of gemachs and community services! That’s not to mention, Hatzala, Zaka, Y‎ad Sara, Zichron Menachem, Yad Eliezer among an endless list of large and effective tzedaka organizations that serve the entire Jewish community, frum and chiloni. The endless time and money and energy spent in the world of kiruv rechokim to  bring unaffiliated Jews back to Avinu Sh’b’Shamayim, whether on college campuses, via outreach kollels or baal teshuva seminaries and yeshivas also largely traced to people who until they were in their mid-20s, sat and ingested Torah values and learning in yeshivas and seminaries. Then they spent the rest of their life living it through tzedaka v’chesed rather than chasing money for themselves. The idea that the Haredi world rests on taking rather than giving simply has no correspondence with reality and you should be ashamed of yourself for suggesting otherwise.

SP – The Haredi community has a plethora of chesed organizations. That is very true and speaks to their essential good hearts. But it is often true that the chesed organizations take the place of actual work because they typically lack a secular education that would enable them to join the work force in normative way, especially in Israel. E.g., I often have people come to my door from Israel – heads of “new” chesed organizations – who are simply collecting money for five families, ten families, twenty families, and of course including their own. The chesed is not without its financial benefit. Let us not ignore that.

     Here in America, people do chesed as well and volunteer for organizations. The local Teaneck volunteer ambulance corps is just that – volunteer. We support many of the organizations you mentioned, but you are ignoring the real story. Most chesed organizations provide services – primary or supplemental – and jobs for the organizers. These are jobs also – but jobs that take money out of the economy cannot substitute for jobs that grow the economy. You do not grow an economy with a plethora of chesed organizations. You just re-distribute income from those who work for it to those who don’t. Much more important are organizations that foster employment. Give a man a fish and you’ve given him a meal; teach a man to fish and you’ve given him a livelihood.

    And most of these organizations exist in some form in the non-Haredi communities as well, but they are not as prevalent simply because they usually deal with hardship cases – the sudden poor caused by illness, death, loss of employment or some other tragedy, not the willful poor. When people choose to be poor they encounter a different dynamic entirely. And kiruv is not limited to Haredim, obviously. The fact that there are 36 pages of gemachs in the Har Nof directory is a sign of kindness, but might it not also be a sign of dysfunction? The lack of otherwise gainful employment? And you would certainly be shocked to hear of the abundant charity organizations run by non-Jews in America. The Haredi – even Jewish – instinct for chesed is admirable, but it is not exclusive to them, and certainly should not substitute for gainful employment.

   Note, also, that the “giving” is exclusively on your terms, and not what the rest of the society needs or is asking for.

E – Nearly all my male Hareidi friends and relatives work and pay over 60% in taxes – meanwhile the Government cut our kids’ school budgets by 50%. My son currently gets no milk in the morning because the budget was cut.  Somebody is stealing my tax money, and it’s not the Haredim.

SP – But those are your friends! And you do come from a different background. The rate of adult-male employment in the Haredi world is one of the lowest – I think it is the lowest – in the industrial world. A recent statistic in the Haredi press “boasted” of a 54% adult male employment rate – but that is extraordinarily low. In the rest of the world, the rate in industrialized countries is around 70%. That means that 46% of adult males are being subsidized by someone else.

   Now, who gets what from the government is always a political question. For decades, the Haredi parties chaired the Knesset Finance Committee and used that position to funnel money to their communal needs at the expense of other communities. The election results turned them out of power, and with it, loss of those sinecures. It is a lamentable aspect of Israeli politics that too many people take care only of their own constituents, but, I guess, that is true of politics everywhere, even here in the US. There is nothing moral about it; it is politics. When the Haredim next join the coalition, it will be back to business as usual. BUT: were the school budgets cut because schools refused to comply with the core curriculum? Because there is an expectation of national service that is not being met? Because of bias? The kibbutzim used to have patrons that took care of them in the Knesset, as did the haredim. They also fluctuated based on electoral outcomes. That’s life. Your tax money is not being stolen – it is just being redirected for other national uses.

    Do you feel you are not getting your fair share of return on your tax dollar? If so, welcome to my world! In Teaneck, the Orthodox community pays more than 60% of the property taxes, and our return in services is less than 20% (mainly because we don’t use the public school system). And, double whammy: New Jersey has the lowest ratio in the nation – 50th out of 50 states – in the return to the state of federal spending based on federal taxes paid, about 60 cents on the dollar. These complaints are universal, not limited to you.

E – How about what Haredi education produces relative to morality? In our schools there is virtually no drugs, sex or violence. There is not a yeshiva in the world that has metal detectors to check its students – how does that compare to the secular system of education?

SP – None of our schools have metal detectors either. And the yeshiva system even here still produces a decent product. The dropout rate in all religious communities is roughly the same. But – what is their educational product? Does the haredi system produce a student who can function in civil society?

      I find it fascinating that your straw man is always the “secular” system or world, as if there exists only this dichotomy: Haredi v. secular. But that is not true. There is an entire world of religious Jews who are neither Haredi nor secular (not that the Haredi world is completely monolithic). You certainly know it from your background, but you know it from Israel as well – the Hardalim, the Dati-Leumi, etc. – people whose lives fully implement the Torah system in the real world, not just theorize about it in the Bet Midrash. I have always assumed that one of the great fears of the Haredi establishment about military service was not the exposure to secular culture but the exposure to Torah Jews who know how to learn Torah, perform mitzvot, fight in G-d’s wars, build a country, get an education, etc. – i.e., a balanced life. That life undercuts the Haredi argument that mandates segregation as the only means to the preservation of Torah.

  E – From high school on, the men’s educational process is focused on Torah. Isn’t it amazing that people without college are nonetheless able to start and operate successful businesses of all kinds, from crafts (plumbing, electrical, contracting) to retails to finance to real estate to start-ups. All without having studied Shakespeare or art history – without knowing how many wives King Henry 8th divorced or beheaded – and without having had to subject themselves to the looseness, depravity and coarseness of midos one finds with such ease on a college campus. But the Israeli Government feels it knows better and wants to impose its standards on our time-tested curriculum. Not a culture war? Really?

I am an investment banker and have raised over 50 million dollars for Israeli companies supporting hundreds of secular families. Nearly all the owners of those businesses are secular — They love me and I love them ( I don’t hide my peyot) certainly not in Teaneck. My Partners supports hundreds if not thousands of Israelis in construction, law, accounting, security, insurance, architecture and engineering, to name a few, via his real estate business. I have another close friend who moved his family here to open a baal teshuva yeshiva that is one of the largest employers in its neighborhood. We all pay taxes here. All of my friends and peers are busy with tzedaka projects – many if not most not content just to give money, but insistent upon giving time and effort and talent as well. All this in addition to commitment to regular Torah learning. Is that really a hateful existence?

SP- Here is the crux of the issue. You are not typical, obviously. They are many Haredi businessmen, many successful Haredi businessmen. But you know they are not typical of Haredi society, unless you are asserting that what is perceived as the endemic poverty in the Haredi world is a “secular” myth . I also don’t care how many wives Henry VIII (or for that matter, the VII) had – but I do care that in today’s world, children learn English, math, science, writing skills, even Jewish history and Jewish philosophy. An eighth grade knowledge of those subjects is as embarrassing as an eighth grade Torah education (or, as it might be, a fourth grade education).

   It is interesting that Haredim in America have never embraced the value system of Haredim in Israel, at least not until recently. Some went to college, some didn’t (there are even online colleges today for which you almost never need to leave home) – but all knew they would have to support families someday, and not through starting chesed organizations. An educational system that produces bnai Torah, good citizens (I’ll add – Ahavat Yisrael of all types, Ahavat Eretz Yisrael, and a willingness to fight for it as Haredim did in 1948) who can support themselves and help others would be embraced by all, even the secular. No one intends to produce violent, depraved, backwards, drug-addled, parasitic, drunken miscreants. Not all secular schools produce the latter, like not all haredi schools produce the former. That’s reality.

E – How about the families that you so revile where the husband is learning in Kollel? Let’s check a few facts here. The government used to help with $200 a month; Lapid and Bennet cut it to almost nothing!  The average hareidi family has about 8 children. We pay 18% vat tax on all we consume. Do you really think these families live on Government handouts? In these families the wives are all working (did you assume they were home redesigning their kitchens, eating bon-bons, shopping at our equivalent of the Short Hills mall or Nordstroms and filing their nails?). Do you have a similar problem when one of your secular friends has a wife who works and the husband stays home? I never heard anyone ever complain about that concept. So why is it that a family that is willing to forego all the pleasures of the olam ha-gashmi to pursue a self-sacrificing spiritually oriented existence voluntarily, supported in dignity by a working wife who believes in the primacy of Torah study be so reviled by you?

SP – I don’t revile anyone! Chas Veshalom! I love all Jews. But I still fail to see why the government – someone else’s tax dollars – is obligated to support someone in kollel. Find a Zevulun, a private benefactor. Similarly, I fail to see why the government – someone else’s tax dollars – would be obligated to support a talented artist, poet or basketball player. Is it the same? Of course not, based on my value system. But the Tel Avivian who has not yet been attracted to Torah has a different value system. Don’t tell me – tell him why he has to pay for yours.

    Better question: how many extra hours should my children in Israel work every week in order to support those who wish to learn full-time? And what if they would rather use those extra hours to learn Torah themselves? Why is that option foreclosed?

    I also have no secular friends, not that I’m proud of that! Then again, I don’t get out much. But I do think it is troubling if a wife works to support her husband and the family. Ultimately, as we know from our world, it causes real shalom bayit issues. But I don’t judge. If it works for them, it’s fine with me. In fact, the only cases I know of secular families in which the wife works and the husband doesn’t (the Mr. Mom dynamic) is where the husband has temporarily lost his job or is incapable of working. But if a Haredi family chooses that – tavo aleihem bracha – but just don’t expect the rest of society to subsidize it.

E – With large families the Hareidim are massive spenders on consumption and investment in Israel.  Ask Osem or Pampers or Simalec. Or anyone in the world of real estate and contruction. As consumers we give back a multiple of what we “take”.

SP – I’m not sure your statistics are accurate. But this is: EVERYBODY pays VAT, everybody pays taxes, and everyone consumes. They just make different consumption choices. And I must be missing something: if Haredim are such massive spenders on consumption, real estate, etc., why is a cut in school milk money so devastating? Ha’ikar chaser min hasefer – something essential is missing from your argument.

E – All this is without any reference to the spiritual value of what we contribute to our society – which as a rabbi and learner I hope you might at least modestly appreciate……אפקורוס כגון מאן אמר ר”י כגון הני דאמר מאי אהנו לן רבנן לדידהו קרו לדידהו תנו א”ל אביי האי מגלה פנים בתורה נמי הוא שכתוב אם לא בריתי יומם ולילה חוקות שמים וארץ לא שמתי

As far as the Rambam, please see the attached. There are almost 30 poskim listed who disagree with the Rambam, including the Mechaber in three places.  In addition, we can probably agree that the Brisker Ruv’s son, R’ Moshe’s son and R’ Aharon’s grandson know a thing or two about the Rambam  — yet they attended.

Like you, I grew up with Zionism uber alas. But we did not hate the Haredim . I told a friend of Bennett’s ( to paraphrase Golda Meir) that I can forgive him for stealing our money, starving the avreichim, and supporting legislation to jail our kids … but I can’t forgive him for causing me to hate him‎ and causing you to hate me.

SP – I appreciate everyone’s Talmud Torah. I just don’t genuflect before the altar of those who insist that Haredi Talmud Torah is superior, nor to those who think their Ahavat Yisrael is superior. Every person – groups – has strengths and weaknesses.

    One of the bigger mistakes of the Haredi world is projecting the sense that their Judaism is more authentic than everyone else’s and therefore deserves the support of others. It is not. The Haredi world has strengths and weaknesses like any other group. Indeed, there are many things that the Haredi world can teach other Torah Jews and many things that the Haredi world needs to learn from other Torah Jews. But the Haredi world is trying to recreate something that never existed, and thus has run into problems.

     And – whatever you, I or others might say – the Rambam is still the Rambam. People do disagree with the Rambam, but they haven’t refuted his basic idea, which has turned out to be spot on: Kava me’or hadat. People have lost respect for the Torah lifestyle because of the Haredi estrangement from general society, not grown in respect. And, obviously, there are many Rabbanim who have an interest in keeping the status quo, or fear a public dissent from it.

    But, there was a time when Haredim understood this as well. In last Friday’s Jerusalem Post, Rabbi Stewart Weiss, whose son Ari hy”d fell in battle while protecting Jewish life, including this observation from post-1948:      “Indeed, no less a figure than the late Grand Rebbe of Gur – a Chassidic leader far ahead of his time – appealed to the yeshiva world to break down the wall of separation and allow yeshiva students to do their fair share in “giving back” to the nation. If they did not, he warned presciently, they would eventually provoke major animosity and resentment from the general public, resulting in a terrible Chillul Hashem, desecration of God’s name. Tragically, the Rebbe’s plea was rejected, the number of yeshiva exemptions grew exponentially, and the problem was left to simmer and boil. Now, the polarization and hatred it has created has divided our nation and been laid bare for all to see.”

   I tell you that it is critical not to hate. I don’t hate Haredim at all, although I do feel sorry for many who – as they have told me – feel trapped. And you should not hate anyone, r”l, especially Naphtali Bennett. I have met him several times, he even has some good Teaneck roots. He is a wonderful person, very dedicated to Klal Yisrael. He really believes he is helping Haredim (I think he is right) – not just with the army but with entering the work force. He knows – you know – the present economics are unsustainable. The people who were paying for it no longer want to pay for it, secular and religious. And you know as well that permanent exemptions from army service or employment are also not sustainable. That is the society in which you live. Do not forget that all this came about because the High Court ruled that the current system was inequitable and therefore unlawful. Even the present Shaked Bill which Haredim so revile might not pass muster! But the status quo could not go on much longer, as the Gerrer Rebbe anticipated.

E – In the world of Israeli kiruv (just like the global phenomenon) there’s an amazing reality: virtually all who become frum — and there are well over 100k — become chareidim (of one form or another). They all grew up interacting with the datei Leumi, yet when push comes to shove, that’s not the lifestyle and community they choose. How odd for such a highly educated and unbiased (other than the extreme anti-Haredi bias they are raised with) to choose such a different way of life (one that will surely bring them no prestige or power or connections). How strange that they choose to join what you view as a cult of takers and uncaring, non-contributing families and individuals. Somehow the appeal of authentic and committed Torah and Yiddishkeit weighs more than the alternative.

The official prayer for the army? We love the soldiers and pray for them every day. In times of stress and war our shuls are full of people davening and saying Tehillim and personal prayers. We also cry when they fall, and Hatzola and unfortunately Zaka are there to pick them up! We don’t need the nusach of the chief Rabbi; we have Chazal אחינו כל בית ישראל……

With love,

Ephraim

SP- I think you are right about the kiruv statistics (not in our part of the world, of course). That is because the cloistered life poses fewer challenges, and I can see why a baal teshuva would want to sever any connection with his prior life even if not all do. But the balanced life appeals to others – not violations of halacha, r’l, but just a comfort level interacting with the rest of society.

   Your last paragraph is the most troubling, because in your entire response, you neglected to address one key point: the rejection of army service. That is bad enough – haacheichem tavou lamilchama v’atem teshvu po? – but the reluctance to say the accepted tefila for Tzahal wins no friends in the dati-leumi community. Must you be different just to be different? Are you still fighting Herzl? Is tefila really a substitute for actual participation in national defense or national service?

  If so, perhaps then you can relate to this analogy: the dati leumi community (we’ll try to get the seculars involved as well) will offer heartfelt tefilot in our own way and of our own composition for the material success of the Haredim. You just won’t get any money from the government and the society you so disdain. That would be too practical.

With blessings for continued success, your friend who loves, values and respects you,

 Steven Pruzansky

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