Haredim: Israel's Burden

Being a passionate religious believer is quite okay. Especially in Israel, where it has declared itself the "home for Jews." The Haredim, or ultra-Orthodox population have taken their religious beliefs to another level. They rely heavily on donations and Government subsidies to get by. Only 37% of haredi men work, as opposed to around 80% of the secular men. Which means that taxes collected from all the Israeli citizens go as "hand-outs" to 63% of Haredi men who CHOOSE not to work. Among women, about 49% of haredi women are employed, while 70% of secular women work. All the while Haredim society is living outside of "normal" Israeli society. Benjamin, from the chapter on The Haredim, says, "The spiritual wealth of learning Talmud is worth more than any paycheck." Thats easy to say when you rely on OTHER PEOPLE for money. In America there is a saying, "no free lunches," luckily for most of the Haredim they dont live in America...

The Haredim sure love their exemption from military service as well. With the urging of Rabbi Schach, "Ben-Gurion introduced military deferments in 1954, they applied to about four-hundred students; by 2008, deferments were granted to over fifty thousand draft-age yeshiva students" (The Israelis, 186). It is predicted that by 2020, "the number of ultra-Orthodox Israelis will double and make up 17 percent of the total population" (The Israelis, 186). In a country constantly at war, where "every" Israeli citizen is obligated for military service, it is not fare to the people who are required to serve. If in fact the number of Haredim continues to rise, "the fewer potential soldiers, and the fewer taxpayers." This could be detrimental to Israel's long-term survival and a heavier burden on the secular population.

In a poll conducted by the Gesher organization, they found that 37% of Israelis said the Haredim was the most hated group in all of Israel. This percentage was more than double that of the Soviet immigrants. One story from A People's Army chapter goes like this: "When a reservist's father stopped to give a hitchhiking soldier a lift, an ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student also tried to get into the car. "Sorry, I only give rides to Israelis who serve in the army," the father told him. "But I serve in the army of God," the ultra-Orthodox student said. "Good," the father answered. "So ask God for a ride." (The Israelis, 54). The "Jewish-Jewish-Jewish" Haredim confine themselves to be only around each other, but try and impose their beliefs on the general public...why do they care if OTHER PEOPLE dont eat kosher or drive on the sabbath?

The Haredim having been stirring up trouble as of late. At the Intel factory, Haredi men were protesting the fact that Intel hired dozens of workers to work on Saturday (The day in which the Haredim is not supposed to be doing alot of anything). "After almost two hours of relative calm, hundreds of the demonstrators began attacking reporters covering the protest. The haredim hurled gravel and various other objects at the journalists."

The Israelis have made great strides in trying to accomidate the Haredim: technology such as electric milking machines and "Shabbat elevators." On Shabbat, a "real Jew" cant even "pull a twig off a tree, because of the biblical injunction that forbids "reaping" (The Israelis, 191). I guess throwing gravel and stones at people and cars is okay though...

The video below shows instances of the Haredim stirring up trouble against secular people in Israel, and also how ignorant THEY are to the outside world. They get their news from posters on a wall, hung up by who? Haredi Jews!

Blacks in a White Society

OUT OF AFRICA: When the Ethiopians were brought to Israel during Operations Moses and Solomon, the flight from, "Addis Ababa to Tel Aviv took illiterate villagers from one of the world's poorest countries to an urbanized, high-tech center" (The Israelis, 159). The Israelis took great pride in helping the exodus of it's long lost bretheran. In a country of varying consensus, "almost all agreed that the rescue of Ethiopia's Jews was one of the country's finest moments" (The Israelis, 159). During Operation Solomon, the amount of Ethiopian passengers on board set a Guinness book of World Record for most passengers on a plane! The numbers are staggering, "In thirty-six hours, Israelis smuggled 14,324 Ethiopian Jews abourd thirty-three jets" (The Israelis, 158).

Upon arrival into Israel, the Ethiopians seemed very backward in their new state. Israel at this time (1984-1991) was becoming one of the high-tech countries of the world. The Ethiopians called the planes, "big birds with metal wings," the first planes they've ever seen. Ethiopians were placed in converted hotels among other living arrangements. With newly arrived Soviets living in the same buildings, the Soviets thought it was quite odd that, "their new neighbors didn't turn off lights or faucets because they feared the miraculous electricity and water wouldn't reappear" (The Israelis, 159). No other immigrant group in Israel was as un-modern as the Ethiopians were.
Ethiopian Jews, "preserved Judaism for centuries after being cut off" (The Israelis, 160). They ate kosher food according to strict Jewish guidelines, prayed, and celebrated Jewish holidays just as their Israeli Jewish bretheran did. In Israeli society, they were still a bit skeptical of the Ethiopian Jew. According to Rosenthal, "no group has arrived with more handicaps: blacks in a white society, preindustrial villagers in an urbanized postindustrial country" (The Israelis, 166). Because of this, "Ethiopians are the poorest Jewish group in Israel" (The Israelis, 168). In the boarding schools that Ethiopian children attended in Israel, one boy tells a story where, "the boarding schools made the same mistakes they did with the Mizrahim, he says, "making us ashamed of our culture, and our religious traditions" (The Israelis, 169). The Ahkanazi are the "dominant" culture in Israel. They believe that any Jewish traditions must be exactly the way they know it, with no exceptions.

Prejudice against Ethiopians from Israelis comes more or less from ignorance rather than overt racism. The "Big Outrage" as the Ethiopians call it, came during a blood drive. Israeli officials were throwing out blood donated by Ethiopians becuase they thought that it might contain HIV. An uproar of Ethiopian protesters, "pelted police with rocks and bottles filled with fake blood. Others held banners that read "Our blood is as red as yours" and "We are just as Jewish as you are!" (The Israelis, 174). I believe that Israelis were oblivious to the situation in Africa. Obviously they assumed that people from Africa all had the chance of having AIDS.

The Rabbinic establishment insists on rituals that Ethiopian Jews must do in order to prove their Jewishness. The Ethiopian people are outtraged by this! Nonetheless, "the Chief Rabbinate insists they go through a symbolic conversion ceremony to remove all doubts about their Jewishness" (The Israelis, 177). The Kessim, which was the religious authority of the Jews in Ethiopia, now has little to no authority. Solomon, an Ethiopian Israeli, tells a story about when his mother passed away. In the tradition of Jews in Ethiopia, the Kes handles the burial/funeral. At his mother's funeral, "fifteen learned Kessim [were] there and they all knew how to bury my mother according to our traditions, which are right out of the Five Books of Moses. Sadly, in Israel, none of them could" (The Israelis, 179).

New steps of intigrating Ethiopians into Israeli society have been slowly underway. Education programs, University scholarships, and the ENP (Ethiopian National Project) have been making strides toward furthur intigration. Ethiopians as well as Israelis know the importance of education. Most of the new programs for Ethiopians are for just that, education. Not all Ethiopian-Israelis are poor and uneducated. Sadly, the majority of them are!

BELOW IS A GOOD STORY OF AN ETHIOPIAN IN THE KNESSET.

The People's Army

According to the book, The Israeli's, The IDF is truly the People's Army. With the exeption of a few ultra-Orhodox men, at the age of 18, everybody serves in the Army. Unlike most countries, this includes women. Former Chief of Staff Yigal Yadin once said, "every Israeli citizen is a soldier on 11 months annual leave" (The Israelis, 51). Israel has a standing Army of about 140,000 and a reserve Army of about 400,000. What is amazing about the people of Israel, is their willingness to fight Hamas. By this I mean that the amount of people that volunteer their services for Israel. Even people that finished their mandatory time in the Army still volunteer when an uprising occurs. Since the war against Hizballah, 70% of the female recruits requested combat units. The women feel that a desk job is not helping against terrorism. You have to respect that! I really like that (with the exception of the ultra-Orthodox), all Israeli citizens are willing to shed blood for their country.

From a young age, the range from "non-Orthodox to Orthodox, right-wing to left-wing, teach behaviors valued by the army: camaraderie, resourcefulness, and group cohesion" (The Israelis, 55). The notion of togetherness is a big deal in Israeli society. All the citizens are affected by the common struggle against Hamas, and in order to protect Israel, they must stick together. Jewish children learn early on that rememberance "is a key part of Israeli education" (The Israelis, 56), children also "learn the importance of selfishness and Jewish interconnectedness" (The Israelis, 56).

The people of Israel have a tight bond, they "refuse to let terrorists terrorize" (The Israelis, 13). As a result, the people of Israel know that if they do not stick together, the whole country of Israel will be lost. One of many instances of Israeli togetherness is, "in the People's Army, the return of soldiers bodies is sacrosanct. (As a result, Israel's enemies have exacted exorbitant prices in lopsided prisoner exchanges)" (The Israelis, 62).

The common bond of Israelis comes through Army service, daily threats, Religion, and their family-oriented society. It is not rare in Israel for two generations to be serving at the same time in the army either; the son in obligatory service and the father in reserves.

Although the IDF is "almost" representative of the Israeli people, within the IDF certain predjudices occur. Secular and non-secular groups within the IDF often conflict with one another. In one story from jpost.com, "the secular atmosphere in the army barracks...in the face of the Ahkenazi, secular elite that dominated the IDF's command that caused impressionable young religious zionist men to remove their kippot and hide that they came from Orthodox homes." According to the same article, "now the IDF has ceased to be the "People's Army" envisioned by the state's first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion." From the outside looking in, the IDF represents the people of Israel in the common struggle, although other people suggest differently. Certain groups of people within the IDF suggest that certain "high risk" missions are left for certain religious groups, and purposely excluding others. If the IDF is truly the "People's Army," don't you think it is odd that using certain religious groups for higher risk tasks is almost a way of "ethnic cleansing" without killing them yourself. What does that say to the people associated with the particular group?

Other arguments to the "People's Army" is the Tal Law. The Tal Law exempts certain people from military service. Harsh responses within the IDF to the Tal Law came recently when the Israeli officials refused to renounce the law.