Get A Job!

There is a great Facebook group called Yisrael Chofsheet – Free Israel that is part of the growing effort among secular Israelis to counter the Haredim.  Unlike here in the U.S. where fundamentalist Christians appeal to patriotism for support, most Haredim are actually anti-patriotic.  The fact that they are able to yield as much power as they do is largely a result of the coalition politics of Israel.

Among the loudest and most justified kvetches of the non-Orthodox majority is the widespread draft-dodging and unemployment of the Haredim.  Not able to even add two numbers together – because their men receive no secular education – they are permanently listed as “Torah scholars” who life’s work is religious study.  They live on state and private handouts with too many children and in poverty.

One of the newest ads was actually created by the Masorti (Conservative) movement’s Israeli youth group and it’s brilliant.  At the top is a quote from Mishnah Pirkei Avot 2 (strengthened by a number of halakhic rulings), “Any Torah [study] which is not accompanied by labor leads to idleness and transgression.”

The illustration is of an Israeli phone book with the names of various rabbis of old and their professions.  Shammat was a builder, Rav Hillel the Elder was a woodcutter, Rav Hanina was a shoemaker, Rashi was a vintner, Rambam was a physician…you get the idea.

Any Torah [study] which is not accompanied by labor leads to idleness and transgression