Israel’s Coming Demographic Horror!
By Yaron London
Former Mossad Chief Efraim Halevy knows a thing or two about the dangers lurking for Israel. In a recent lecture he claimed that the danger of ultra-Orthodox radicalization is greater than the Iranian threat.
Halevy’s words prompted protests, of course. Members of Shas and United Torah Judaism accused him of resorting to grave incitement. They are certain, or pretend to be certain, that the ultra-Orthodox improve the status of Jews before God, and that the more people study Torah, the greater the people of Israel’s security would be.
We should note time and again that the overwhelming majority of Orthodox rabbis in the Diaspora objected to Zionism because they believed the Jews should remain in the Diaspora until God shall salvage them. After the Holocaust, they claimed that it constituted a punishment for shunning our Torah.
Haredi leaders in Israel did not change this basic view, even if they do not voice it much: The salvation of the Jews is at the hands of God in the heavens and does not depend on the skill of our pilots in the skies.
This perception is increasingly being integrated into the views of the faithful belonging to religious Zionism. They believe that the more strictly they adhere to religious rules, the sooner the Messiah will come. The rabbis of the messianic camp encourage their students to serve in the army and turn it into God’s army. The resistance to female singing is one of many manifestations of messianic tendencies in the military.
Babushka agrees that the Haredi community has to step up to the plate and accept the responsibilities of citizenship, which includes military service in the IDF, higher secular education and entering the professional workplace. The fact is that many in the Haredi and Religious Zionist community already do so (refer to the horror, The Horror! of IDF officer candidates requesting to be excused from certain types of musical entertainments).
Until Mashiach arrives, the State of Israel is a secular state and must be run according to secular law. This means respecting the beliefs and practices of everyone else, allowing women to ride on public conveyances sitting wherever they please, leave Gay people alone, welcome everyone to your Sabbath table but do not attack anyone else’s personal enjoyment of the Sabbath if to them it means a visit to the beach.
Babushka’s family should serve as a model.