My sister is annoyed with me. She feels that I am too critical of the charedim, and in this Tisha B’Av season, I should focus more on loving other Jews and not on finding fault. She is, of course, correct that ahavat chinam is the call of the hour. But write I must, nevertheless, specifically out of love for Klal Yisrael and particularly the religious community – and frustration with how they are causing so much unneeded hatred.
Those not living in Israel today might not be aware of the extent of anger, hostility, and hatred now going on between the pro-current government and anti-current government forces. The level of passion is unprecedented; Hundreds of thousands come out regularly to demonstrate, block roads, stop access to the airport, close shopping centers and medical clinics, and make life miserable for millions.
Large groups of reserve soldiers have announced they will not serve, doctors have walked out on strike, and essential services are threatened in attempts to overthrow the government. For its side, the government continues to try to cope with the hysteria and, time after time, has said that while demonstrating is a legal expression in a democracy, the army must be kept apolitical. Particularly, it is terrible when soldiers decide that their personal beliefs legitimize a refusal to serve in the military.
To anyone who scratches even an inch below the surface, the fight was not about the merits of Judicial reform. As I wrote in March in this newspaper, in an article entitled Judicial Reform? It’s Just an Excuse for a Civil War, it was about and continues to be about the following: The Left and sees the results of the last election; they are out of power and likely to stay that way. They see that, for the first time, the ones they consider ‘the extreme right’ are in control and intent on enacting various policies that are antithetical to the Left. They are angry that Netanyahu is – despite their best efforts to delegitimize him – once again the Prime Minister. They are irate that Itamar ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are senior ministers. The presence of a long-bearded, chassidic-dressing minister from the UTJ revolts them. They are disgusted that Aryeh Deri will once again be in power. Most of all, they are incensed, frustrated, angry, and frightful regarding the growth of the religious parties.” Since that time, having spoken to many and read many interviews, I am even more convinced of that truth.
Earlier this week, two days before Tisha B’Av, the government finally succeeded in passing a watered-down version of the original Judicial reform bill, focusing only on a repeal of Aharon Barak’s power grab, in which he made it so that the Supreme Court had absolute discretion to nullify any law or government action if, based on nothing more than the judge’s personal opinion, that law was “unreasonable.”
And then, the very next day – not even twenty-four hours after one of the most contentious Knesset decisions in the history of the State of Israel – in an act that can only be described as total political blindness and tone-deafness, the United Torah Judaism party decided to drop a bomb into the powder keg that is Israeli society. In an act of sheer lunacy, they determined that this was the time to pass a Basic Law (the Israeli equivalent of a Constitutional Amendment) that seeks to enshrine in law forever the exemption for those who study Torah from army service. “Those who dedicate themselves to studying Torah for an extended period should be viewed as having served a significant service to the State of Israel and the Jewish people.” In other words, the purpose of the law would be to recognize that studying Torah is “a supreme value” to the Jewish people, on par with military service, and this should not only never again be challenged, but that Torah students should be entitled to the same benefits as those who serve the Jewish people by serving in the military.
There have been many times in the past that I would pull my hair in my frustration at decisions the charedi leadership has made, or not made when the times were crying out for a forceful statement or action. But this decision will likely cause incalculable harm to all religious people, let alone counterproductive to their goal.
I do not want to discuss the merits of whether charedi men should be given a permanent release from the army. Clearly, the charedi community believes that Torah study is as or more critical in protecting the Jewish people than military service. To what extent this means that every single man should be studying full-time regardless of their talent and economic situation is beside the point for now. My issue is with the timing of this bill. It is simply the worst possible that could be imagined.
Those promoting it say that this effort was a significant (perhaps the most important) demand in the coalition agreements and had been planned for some time. “The timing of the bill’s drafting is purely coincidental,” UTJ has said in a statement. “and the issue will be discussed as part of agreements between the coalition factions.” Just a coincidence. For their part, leaders of the other charedi party, Shas, said that the party was “in shock” that the proposal was put forward without its knowledge or consent, which causes “enormous damage” to the “defense” of yeshiva students. The official noted that just last week, the coalition decided to convene a team of legal experts and party representatives to develop a comprehensive government bill proposal.
The reason that Shas is in shock is obvious. It is perfectly clear that most of the ire and passion of the left is driven by their hatred of charedim and fear of the rising power of the religious parties. The awful leaders of the opposition have spun a tawdry scenario whereby the judicial reform is really a precursor to the real objective – turning Israel into a State ruled by halacha, a theocracy similar to Iran. Moreover, they are sick and tired of feeling like “friars” (an Israeli word meaning naïve dupes); bearing the burden of the country’s defense, taxes, and infrastructure while the charedim contribute little and demand much from the national coffers. That is what they think and have been whipped into a frenzy about.
After their loss on Tuesday, the left is seething. Enormous demonstrations all over the country went on till way into the night. Having awakened the tiger, the left is trying to plot their next move. That was the day that UTJ decided it was “coincidentally” the right time to promote their bill to exempt hundreds of thousands of people from the draft. Is it not totally predictable that the leader of the opposition, Yair Lapid, would say, “The day after canceling the reasonableness standard, the most unhinged coalition in the state’s history is beginning to celebrate at our expense. The government of destruction, that does not cease shouting about [reservists] ‘refusals’ [to continue volunteering], proposes the ‘draft-dodging and refusal to serve’ bill and even dares call it ‘Basic Law: Torah Study.”
Of course, Shas is also far from innocent in sparking this hatred. In another article I published in this paper in February, I asked, Is Aryeh Deri the Best we can Do? The single most persuasive argument that anti-government rioters bring to “prove” the government’s corruption in undoing the “reasonableness” standard is that it is just an attempt to push through the appointment of Deri as a cabinet minister. The Supreme Court had found that it was unreasonable in the extreme that a convicted ex-con felon who had explicitly agreed to retire from political life as part of his plea agreement should be appointed to a powerful cabinet post. It is hard to argue with that. (The correct argument is that while it may be true that Deri should not be appointed, that should be based on his violation of the plea agreement, not on “reasonableness.”) It is genuinely a shanda that Deri is causing so much damage to the country and chillul Hashem in his lust for power.
What has happened to us? We used to be a wise people. But here, in the Tisha B’Av season when we are annually called upon to reflect on the destructiveness of hatred between us, is it the time to pour gasoline on the great fire of currently seething hatred in the name of the supreme value of Torah study?
We need Mashiach so very badly. I am at a loss to think who else will be able to undo this damage and help us climb down from this terrible place we have put ourselves into. Heaven help us!
