Hatred of the Haredim

We have people who consider themselves superior to everyone else — gatekeepers, and various elites — for whom what applies to others is not supposed to apply to them.

In recent years they have been fueling hatred against the Haredim, because, according to them, all Haredim evade military service, choosing instead to sit idly and unproductively and study the Torah all day long.  In their eyes, these leeches receive enormous budgets and entitlements, while the mainstream, secular population has to serve (both mandatory service and reserve duty) and contribute the majority of its earnings to fund them.

It is clear that the world view of the enlightened haters stems from the fallacy that Israel is first and foremost a democracy, solely a democracy, that just happens to be the home of the Jewish people.  Thus, they see little of any value in studying the Torah or the power of prayer.  These concepts are utterly foreign to them, thus have zero (or negative) value.

How many comedy sketches have there been about the unequal sharing of the burden—the secular work for a living and pay income tax, while the religious receive numerous benefits yet do not perform mandatory service in the IDF and do not serve in reserves.

So far, this is the commonly accepted perception.

So first, we need to be precise:

(1) Lumping all religious people together under the heading “Haredim” is nonsense. Today, the backbone of the IDF is made up, segment by segment, of the the people derisively called “settler-terrorists” – namely, the “knitted yarmulkes” (Kippot Srugot) community.  Calling all religious Jews “Haredim” is similar to thinking the Pope is the head of all Christians in the world.

(2) When Dalia Itzik was Speaker of the Knesset and Acting President of the State, she spoke from the Knesset podium about the fact that more than half of those required to serve in the military (Jews, secular; there was no talk then about “religious” or “Haredim”) were not. Exemptions because “I don’t feel like it,” for “psychological reasons” or for any other excuse were an extremely widespread phenomenon at the time. People were proud of it; it was the norm, not the exception.

(3) Since the massive immigration from Russia and the other countries of the former Soviet Union, the need for large draft cohorts has steadily declined. Perhaps it was the combination of Israel’s birth rates and the additional immigration (from Russia, from Ethiopia, and also a handful of French immigrants—although most of them returned to France), but the army simply did not need so many service members. There was even talk of turning the military into a professional army only, without the need for universal conscription. This fact was reflected in another way as well: shortening the length of service. In my day, compulsory service was 36 months (and for the privilege of attending officer training school we paid with an additional year). So when people today talk about extending military service, that is simply how things were in the not-so-distant past. True, people do not want it, but it is not the end of the world either.

(4) The Arabs, who constantly demand equal rights and equal treatment, do not serve—not in the IDF and not in national service. There is nothing like the High Court of Justice to protect and advance their rights, while also preventing rights from others who actually deserve them (for example, the Druze, more than 90% of whose sons serve in the IDF and so very many who have sacrificed their lives for the Jewish state). The main thing is that the Haredim are blamed for everything, because they too, like the privileged ‘North Tel Aviv’ crowd and like the Arabs, do not serve.

(5) The whole idea of exemption from compulsory service originally applied to at most 500 Torah scholars—exceptional prodigies. This is no different from young people who excel in sports, music, and so on. How such small numbers turned into almost 100% of the population is beyond my understanding, but nowadays it seems to be treated as though it were a law of nature, and any attempt to change it would amount to an assault on the order of Creation itself.  [It is to be pointed out that another change that took place over the past few decades is the Israeli Supreme Court amassing power to itself; and now they refuse to let go, even if that meant civil war and the destruction of Israel, a was seen on October 7th, 2023.]

(6) There is no Commandment in the Torah to study Torah while neglecting one’s obligations to one’s family and to society as a whole. Quite the opposite. When it appeared that two and a half tribes might not share in the common burden, they were sent first to war and to the conquest and settlement of the land.

(7) True Torah scholars, in all the yeshivot of 19th- and 20th- Century Europe until they were completely destroyed by the Holocaust, studied and worked for a living. One did not come at the expense of the other. Most families did not have a single worn coin to their name; many had no shoes on their feet (yes, even in frost and snow), or the shoes they had were full of holes. Who would have said, “I study Torah, so I’m exempt from milking the cow, cleaning the cowshed, or going out to sell something to bring a penny home?” Would the community Butcher have provided meat on endless credit without payment? Of course not. People had to work to earn a living in order to survive, and they also studied Torah as a way of life. One did not contradict the other; rather, it made the other possible.

(8) With our return to the land of our forefathers, to the Promised Land, to our own land, many of the Commandments specific to the Land of Israel once again became possible to fulfill. It is a tremendous privilege that we have the State of Israel, that we live in it and can fulfill Commandments and study Torah, and therefore we must also fulfill our duty and defend the land, its people and our homes.  The power of prayer is immense and mighty, but it is not enough. Why? Because the Holy One, blessed be He, will not hear our prayers or answer our supplications if their essence is: “We will sit and study Torah, while you go out to work and defend us.” This is a division of labor that any reasonable person, merely upon hearing it, would say, “What nerve! Is this really how you dictate to the Holy One what He is supposed to do?!?”

(9) Another inaccuracy, although not the last on the list:  Coalition agreements and political horse-trading are not unique to the current government. Quite the opposite:  Over the course of decades, the demands kept growing larger, until at a certain point they reached or exceed a billion Shekels and a politician stood up and said, “I am not willing to agree to this,” and in doing so gave up what had been a very distinguished political career.  Tzipi Livni, who had risen to second in the hierarchy, behind only the Prime Minister, believed the State of Israel did not have the ability to bear the burden and stood firm on principle, paying with her future.  In previous decades, these payoffs and the negotiations that led to them were described with very colorful language centered on the word “harlot’s fee,” and perhaps it is better not to continue with the other descriptions that were given to payments extracted by force from our shared public purse.  Every political party, past or present, has participated.

Anyone troubled by coalition agreements or disgusted by them should remember that this is simply the nature of our electoral system—a plethora of parties, and no party capable on its own of coming close to 60 or 61 seats out of 120 in the Israeli Parliament. And for those who are truly horrified, for three and a half years the State of Israel went through five election cycles that cost billions, and each time… the same result. Until the current Knesset, which has just voted to dissolve itself after a full term.  This current Netanyahu’s government has been the most stable in years.

To sum up:

It is easy to accuse. It is even easier to flood the public sphere with false accusations, with things that are patently absurd, yet no one fights nonsense and lies.

This is very similar to the situation of the State of Israel.

“Every year the State of Israel destroys 24,000 homes belonging exclusively to Arabs.”

Is that true?

To demolish a single house requires fighting through the High Court and mobilizing an entire reserve division to ensure that it is carried out (because the European Union, anarchists, and Jewish organizations such as the New Israel Fund immediately rally to their side against the State of Israel).

Who invented the figure of 24,000 houses every single year? Does anyone care whether it is true or not?

The lie spreads around the world in the speed of light, and the damage is done.

This enormous lie is so easy to recycle:

“Twenty-four thousand, 24,000 Arab homes, 24,000 large families that the State of Israel dispossesses every single year with the help of the Nazi stormtrooper army that they call the Israel Defense Forces. Twenty-four thousand… just think of all the helpless victims!”

It is catchy, easy to remember, easy to repeat, and sounds especially believable—and the world celebrates: “Israel is Apartheid, Israel is Satan, Israel must disappear, it must be wiped off the map!”

So it is with Israel.

So it is with the “Haredim.”

I have tried to bring a little order to all the accusations and inaccuracies, to dispel some of the myths told and repeated with so much passion.

I am convinced you will be able to add further points.

Remember:  We are brothers.

The religious should remember as well:  It is a great privilege that we have the Jewish state in the Land of Israel.

We share a common fate and we must journey together.

We must help one another and support the community as a whole.