{"id":428,"date":"2012-01-10T18:48:00","date_gmt":"2012-01-10T18:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/01\/haredi-power-could-one-day-spell-doom-for-israel.html"},"modified":"2012-01-10T18:48:00","modified_gmt":"2012-01-10T18:48:00","slug":"haredi-power-could-one-day-spell-doom-for-israel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/01\/haredi-power-could-one-day-spell-doom-for-israel.html","title":{"rendered":"Haredi Power Could One Day Spell Doom For Israel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

I realize that I\u2019ve been somewhat single-mindedly focused on Israeli Haredim over the last several posts.\u00a0 It\u2019s difficult to ignore the situation.\u00a0 It\u2019s upsetting and it has implications for the State of Israel and, therefore, world Jewry.<\/p>\n

Joshua Hersh, writing in HuffPost, has done a praiseworthy job of summing up the issues<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The Haredim do not work, and they refuse to serve in the Army \u2014 indeed, the most extreme of them reject the legitimacy of the state of Israel itself.<\/p>\n

At the same time, they are largely dependent on nationally-provided welfare to feed and clothe their families; their education system, which does not include most of the core Israeli curriculum of math and sciences, is also funded by the state.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Haredim are guilty of three violations,\u201d Yossi Klein Halevi, a prominent Israeli essayist and fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem, said. \u201cFirst, they are separate from us, and they don\u2019t share in the burden of defense or taxes. Second, they demand that we subsidize them. Third, they propose to force their religious beliefs on us. It\u2019s a level of chutzpah that I don\u2019t think any minority in the world would allow for itself.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Is there, indeed, any other minority in the entire world that fits the pattern of the Haredim?\u00a0 This is an important question that I\u2019ve been asking myself for a long time.<\/p>\n

The Haredim like to portray themselves as a helpless minority in Israel, but the reality is quite different:<\/p>\n

As it is, the Haredim compose only a small fraction of the national population \u2014 around 10 percent, experts say. But their birthrates are much higher than the general population, and by mid-century, according to some estimates, Haredim could make up between a quarter and 40 percent of Israeli society.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Haredim members of the Knesset, Israel\u2019s parliament, have also long-held important roles in governing coalitions, and have lately begun aggressively pushing legislation that would codify some religious rules.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Haredim love to say that they\u2019re a minority,\u201d said Shahar Ilan, a former religion correspondent for the Israeli daily Haaretz. \u201cBut they have been part of our political majority for 35 years \u2014 and a brutal part. This is how they have to be understood.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It is highly unlikely that Israel could survive as a modern state with Haredi power of this magnitude.\u00a0 And I\u2019ll go on record right now.\u00a0 If Haredi power and influence continue to re-define the state to the point that I no longer recognize it, I will renounce my Zionism.\u00a0 And my Zionism goes back generations to when my family befriended and supported Naftali Herz Imber<\/a>, who wrote \u201cHatikvah.\u201d<\/p>\n

Everyone already knows that there is a way to turn this around.\u00a0 Cut the handouts.<\/a>\u00a0 Force them to go to work and integrate with society and into the army.\u00a0 That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n

For the very reason that Haredim are not a powerless minority, this is unlikely to happen again for a long time.\u00a0 Ironically, it was Netanyahu, who in 2003 as finance minister in a government with no Haredim, made the last cuts.\u00a0 And they worked.\u00a0 The birthrate went down.<\/p>\n

This is not just an Israeli issue.\u00a0 This is a Jewish issue.\u00a0 Israel is the largest Jewish community in the world and what happens there affects the future of us all.\u00a0 At a time when Diaspora Jewish leaders are concerned for the future of our own communities, an Israel transformed into a Haredi state will be the harbinger of doom for non-Orthodox world Jewry.<\/p>\n

We have been warned.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I realize that I\u2019ve been somewhat single-mindedly focused on Israeli Haredim over the last several posts.\u00a0 It\u2019s difficult to ignore the situation.\u00a0 It\u2019s upsetting and it has implications for the State of Israel and, therefore, world Jewry. Joshua Hersh, writing in HuffPost, has done a praiseworthy job of summing up the issues:<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2281,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[13,20,31],"class_list":["post-428","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blogentries","tag-haredim","tag-israel","tag-orthodox-judaism"],"yoast_head":"\nHaredi Power Could One Day Spell Doom For Israel<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I realize that I\u2019ve been somewhat single-mindedly focused on Israeli Haredim over the last several posts.\u00a0 It\u2019s difficult to ignore the situation.\u00a0 It\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/01\/haredi-power-could-one-day-spell-doom-for-israel.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Haredi Power Could One Day Spell Doom For Israel\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I realize that I\u2019ve been somewhat single-mindedly focused on Israeli Haredim over the last several posts.\u00a0 It\u2019s difficult to ignore the situation.\u00a0 It\u2019s\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/theatheistrabbi\/2012\/01\/haredi-power-could-one-day-spell-doom-for-israel.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Atheist Rabbi\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2012-01-10T18:48:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jeffrey L. 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