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In Bnei Brak, police did the media's bidding

Noga Martin — Sun, 24 Jan 2021 11:22:22 +0000

The night of Jan. 21 will be etched into our collective memory as one of the lowest points in Haredi-Israeli relations and the closest we have ever gotten (which is still thankfully very far from) to a civil war.

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From the conduct and startling anti-Jewish onslaught of a group of radical Haredim to the response from the police, which opted for a kind of collective punishment aimed at teaching all of Bnei Brak's residents a lesson.

The clash put an abrupt end to a very delicate and special moment in which we suddenly saw a rare wave of reckoning and internal criticism within Haredi society. This wave was shattered with the sound of the stun grenades in the heart of Bnei Brak that saw moderate Haredi spokespeople convene amongst themselves and re-emerging later on to defend the public that was under attack. There will be a need to discuss the events that saw the city of Bnei Brak – the Tel Aviv of the Haredim - suddenly transformed into the radical ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighborhood of Mea Shearim.

How did we get to this point? We cannot discuss how this came about without mentioning the role of the media hegemony in fanning the flames and pushing for violence. Last week provided an excellent civics lesson on the power of the media hegemony to lead dramatic processes in Israeli society and tear it apart. The days leading up to the clash were marked by the mainstream media's push for the police to "let the Haredim have it already."

If we want to understand the event, we cannot ignore the connection between the media's incitement campaign that demanded the police lay into the Haredim and the police "obeying" its command, beating up even innocent Haredi citizens who were not to blame for the actions of a small group of disturbed and malignant Haredim.

That's how it works. The hegemony is unaware of its hegemony, and so are we. That's why we absolve it of all responsibility, but it has great power to steer the policies of the police and other institutions.

Report after report, broadcast after broadcast, the demand was made that the Israel Police clash with the Haredim, and that is what ultimately took place. While the media hegemony is not the only, or even central, factor responsible, it's role in getting us to this point in Haredi-secular relations, and at a time when there was a chance for things to turn out differently, cannot be ignored.

The most frustrating part of the decision by police to look the other way at Haredi violations, much as it did with violations by those protesting against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, is that it is part of a smart policy that takes into consideration that sometimes, there is no other choice.

Anyone who has seen the images from that night in Bnei Brak or other attempts by the police to enforce the coronavirus guidelines through force can clearly see that what is taking place contributes nothing to the battle being waged against the pandemic. The opposite is true: Clashes such as these increase the risk of the virus' spread because every time the police try to forcefully disperse a small gathering at a synagogue, half of Bnei Brak shows up for a mass-infection event that puts not just all of the Haredi residents and their families, but the police officers and their families, unnecessarily at risk. So why is the media hegemony pushing for that in the first place?

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Haredim will respond to financial sanctions, not force

Noga Martin — Fri, 08 Jan 2021 08:11:42 +0000

The coronavirus crisis has turned into a research laboratory that allows us to study the relationship between the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) community and the state of Israel.

Haredim flock in masses to leading Torah authority Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky for guidance on lockdown-related issues. But the rabbi does not give any answers, or answers each person differently.

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On Tuesday, Shas chairman Aryeh Deri abstained from voting when the government was deliberating whether to tighten the lockdown. It is a peculiar event as, until now, Deri has consistently supported the government's lockdown decisions.

Perhaps he realized he could not vote in favor of the lockdown if the very people he represents do not support it. Or maybe Haredi politicians find it increasingly challenging to remain key influencers in the machine that runs the modern Jewish state.

When the government considered closing synagogues on the High Holidays, Deri fought to prevent the vote but failed. Afterward, he ran to every radio station and begged the Haredi public not to worship indoors, but pray outside.

Silence can reflect a political stance, too.

When controversy erupted over continuing the country's vaccination campaign on Shabbat, neither Chief Sephardi Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef nor Shas publicly expressed any opinion. As often happens in their interactions with secularism, they chose to turn a blind eye.

Ingratitude hit new heights this week occurred this week when Maj. Gen. Roni Numa, who is handling the coronavirus in the Haredi sector for the IDF Homefront Command, was attacked the Haredi public after saying in a briefing that the lockdown was not enforced in the ultra-Orthodox community due to political pressure and the upcoming election campaign.

Numa took the concept from the relationship between the Haredim and the military and applied it to the current relationship between the ultra-Orthodox and the coronavirus pandemic.

Since the government is unable to conscript Haredim, it grants them draft deferments and other exemptions that allow them to continue studying and avoid enlistment, legally.

The same with COVID – since the government is incapable of closing Haredi schools and yeshivas, it creates exemptions for them.

But those who say that Haredim should be forced to comply with lockdown restrictions are wrong. Forceful policing is not only ugly, it is ineffective. When the police arrive in Bnei Brak to close a synagogue, half of Bnei Brak goes outside to watch and gets infected while standing in the street.

The only solution is to deny the Haredi community budgets and fine them for violations. IN the first lockdown, when fines for breaking rules were more substantial, many Haredi school principals ran to their rabbis for permission to close the institutions.

Why should the Haredim allow the government to impose fines and deny budgets? Because if they do not, they will continue to clash with police and will end up with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in the Opposition, which will see the funds allocated to them by the government shrink much more considerably.

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Has the Torah defeated science?

Noga Martin — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 09:05:22 +0000

The COVID era has been a "fun" time for researchers of religion, and even more so for those who study the Haredi society, whose outright rejection of modernism is tied to the working assumption that modernism equals secularism. Among other things, the challenging COVID era is showing us that we have reached a new stage of the already fraught battle between medicine and faith, between Torah and science.

In the old world, there was already tension between the strength of a person's faith in God and the obligation to seek medical treatment. Famously, the Ramban asked why a person of faith should seek a doctor's help, a question we hear repeated today.

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The second stage of the modern era, after the scientific revolution – which is an important chapter in the secularist revolution – heightened that tension. Science pushed religion back, not only in terms of religious "truths" such as the earth being the center of the solar system, but the very status of religious figures as people who had the answers to existential questions.

In the third stage, the Zionist revolution ramped up the conflict. This is an exciting development within Jewish society: the prestige of Torah study was intended to fill an important role in holding the Haredi world up against a huge challenge, the appearance of the secular Jewish pioneer, the secular Jewish IDF combat soldier who defends their people and their homeland. To keep Torah scholar's image from being damaged when compared to these figures, and facing what could be interpreted as the intellectual superiority of the secular work in general and the benefits of life-saving science in particular, there was a need to bolster the status of Torah study and Torah scholars.

So we saw a growing ethos of the prestige of Torah study and efforts to present yeshiva boys as the defenders of the Jewish people, no less than and possibly even more than IDF soldiers.

Incidentally, that ethos began to strengthen back in the 18^th and 19^th centuries after another crisis: the fight to maintain the status of scholarship in the face of the irrational charm of Hassidism. Paradoxically, to defend against the mystical Hassidic threat and uphold an intellectual approach to Torah study as the superior experience, it was necessary to mysticize Torah study itself and present it as a way of protecting the entire cosmos.

Now we are at the fourth stage, soaring heavenward under the unique leadership of Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, the foremost teacher and mystic, who issues instructions based on mysticism rather than rationale, like other leaders. The conflict is becoming clearer: it's no longer "faith vs. medicine," or "religion vs. science," or even "Torah scholars vs. IDF soldiers." All these were philosophical battles waged on religious grounds. Now there are practical aspects. Rabbi Kanievsky is putting things to the test: in the first wave, it appeared that mysticism had been defeated. Kanievsky put out a message that the Torah protects and saves us, and orders were issued to ignore public health regulations about COVID. But then Bnei Brak became a hotbed of infection, and IDF generals were called in to save the embarrassed Haredim.

In the second wave, Kanievsky once again issued instructions to ignore the government regulations and go back to Torah study, which would save everyone.

The prevailing assumption was that the Haredi cities would experience a third wave and turn "red" quickly. That didn't happen. The way the Haredim see it, the opposite occurred. The more the Haredim flouted COVID regulations, the more the numbers of new cases in that sector dropped. The Torah had defeated science. It could be that this is a turning point, for good or ill, in the battle between rationalism and mysticism.

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Bennett is actually Likud's greatest asset

Sharon Gilad — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 09:20:33 +0000

I have long argued that Benjamin Netanyahu need there to be a right-wing party that will the political home for voters who are convinced by what can only be called the nasty propaganda campaign being waged against the prime minister.

After all, not everyone has what Netanyahu's base offers: an ideological and identity-secure backbone, as well as a degree of integrity that manages to withstand the pressure of hegemony.

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There are plenty of stand-up Israelis who cannot believe that criminal investigations into Netanyahu's affairs reflect an almost violent attempt by the judiciary to undermine the political system and to transfer power from democracy to hegemony. They need a transitional party.

Regardless, Netanyahu a satellite party because there are Israelis who may not be "anti-Bibi," but still cannot bring themselves to vote for Likud.

Moreover, there are many Israelis who fail to understand that there is nothing more romantic and classic at this time than to stand up against the hegemony fighting Netanyahu. Not everyone understands the magic of the simple phrase, "I'm with the people."

Naftali Bennett's Yamina party may not want to be one that gathers the so-called commune people, but are not keen on voting for any of the leftist parties, either.

After elections are called and Bennett takes votes from the Left, he will support the inception of a strong and solid government led by Netanyahu.

If Bennett seized this opportunity he will place himself in a good position to be named the next leader of the traditional national camp. But if he leads the charge against Netanyahu – a leader who has become a national symbol – he will have severed ties with the national camp with his bare hands.

The hegemony will not be able to resist the temptation of building up Bennett as a potential leader. As for him – he may not enjoy – or even believe in – the current political bickering, but at this point in time is serves his interests.

Deep inside, Bennett is a Netanyahu and Likud supporter. He also shows real respect to national symbols and recognizes that Netanyahu has become one. Chances are he also understands the political realities in which he operates.

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The integration myth has finally been dispelled

ErezL — Fri, 09 Oct 2020 06:02:14 +0000

What we are witnessing over the past several days is nothing short of an earthquake: The Haredim, as a sector, have all but announced that they would not abide by the various coronavirus restrictions.

These High Holidays may ultimately become a historic inflection point in which the myth of gradual Haredi integration is dispelled. Unless policymakers sober up and face reality, we will soon wake up to find out that this grand delusion was just a beloved mirage.

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Haredi towns have pursued an official policy that publicly flouts Health Ministry regulations. Yes, it is an official policy that includes some of the largest Hassidic courts as well as various non-Hassidic Haredim.

Rabbis have skirted the laws by refusing to outright ban gatherings at synagogues, asking congregants to just "try" and find an outdoor venue for services nearby. This has led many to simply go about praying inside synagogues, making them hot spots for community spread.

During Rosh Hashanah, when all Israeli schools were told to shut down, many Haredi education facilities continued operating as if no restrictions were imposed.

Now we have to brace for what may unfold during the Simchat Torah celebrations this weekend. The Haredim could try to find a way to strike a balance between the regulations and the public festivities, or opt for clashes with law enforcement by violating the law en masse.

The Haredim have pointed a finger at police, saying that the recent clashes erupted because officers entered Haredi neighborhoods. But the police were there to enforce the lockdown after it became apparent that the Haredim had been violating it in synagogues and other venues. In effect, the Haredim have been telling the officers that they should be left alone to violate the coronavirus restrictions as they please. "Just trust us, and everything will turn out just fine," they say. Yeah right.

The Sephardi-Haredi party Shas and its followers has taken a different path. This underscores the difference between the Ashkenazi and Sephardi approaches in the Haredi sector. The first sees the over-arching objective as preserving its purity and wholesomeness, whereas the second sees the bond with the other, less observant Jews, as paramount. But it is hard to see how Shas maintains this approach as its followers look over and see what unfolds on the other side of the Haredi spectrum.

Israelis must undergo a paradigm shift. The country must go back to the drawing board and scrap the integration plans; they are a joke. Rather than trying to educate the Haredim, we should try to bolster those who actually choose to serve in the military or join other parts of society, because that is where the practical solution lies. Those who choose to serve, as well as all other soldiers, should get a massive pay hike. This will not only draw Haredim into the IDF, but also bolster Israeli society as a whole.

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Break the ultra-Orthodox monopoly on Judaism

Noga Martin — Tue, 29 Sep 2020 09:30:34 +0000

With all the enormous respect to the Haredi society and its leaders, and maybe because of that respect, the last few days of embarrassing arguments about how synagogues should function during COVID have given us a national mission – to take decisions about synagogues for the public at large out of the hands of the Haredim.

In the public discussion, an argument from Chief Rabbi David Lau and Shas chairman and the most important political leader in Haredi Judaism Aryeh Deri stood out. That argument was that no order could be given to close synagogues, as the public would not follow it because people were demonstrating outside the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem. They are right, but only when it comes to the Haredi public. It's not pleasant to admit, but not even a decision to restrict the Balfour St. protests would have caused many Haredim to forgo prayers in synagogue. Given that, can a decision be made that applies to the general public and puts it in danger on the ground that there is a core of Haredi society that will not comply? Can a sector that does not obey the law determine the rules for everyone?

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The government needs to realize that the Haredim do not make up all the synagogue-attending pubic, and are far from representing them. Most synagogues in Israel are not Haredi. Most of the people who pray and most of the synagogues are responsible and governable and follow the government's decisions. The State of Israel is the focal point of the Jewish people in this generation, both in terms of identity and practice, and in some senses it is the one who makes the decisions. The state is taking over the historic role of the community as the entity that decides on Jewish public customs, which is why riding bikes is surprisingly not seen as desecration of Yom Kippur, because it's a charming community tradition created here.

Therefor the most important task in preserving Judaism in Israel is for the state to stop letting the Haredim dictate the religious order. Unlike them, the majority of synagogues in the country will follow public health rules and act responsibly. If the authorities decide that to save lives, prayers must not take place inside synagogues, and what we need is social solidarity, worshippers will follow the rules and pray outside.

The government cannot continue to allow the Haredim to make decisions for society as a whole. Haredi leaders operate in a system of internal pressures that does not allow them to take a moderate line as they sometimes did in the time of Shas under Rabbi Ovadia Yosef. This week, we could hear Deri on the Haredi radio station Kol Hai, recommending – but not able to go all the way – the courageous ruling by Yosef's son, Rabbi David Yosef, that prayers must take place outside and that synagogues should be closed.

This is a fact that they must understand: the historic Haredi decision was made in order to preserve a tiny, pure group. It was a heroic and honorable decision, but it means that we cannot allow the Haredim to manage all religious affairs for the religious, traditional, and traditional-secular sectors in Israel.

A few years ago, I published a book in which I claimed that the last 30 years or so have seen a breakdown of Haredi society and that radicalization in Haredi society would lead to it becoming almost impossible for Haredi representatives to be a core part of managing the modern Jewish state. Since then, United Torah Judaism leader Yaakov Litzman has resigned twice from ministerial posts, and we are now seeing the stately and responsible Deri, with his good intentions, nearly helpless in the face of intra-Haredi extremism without the support of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.

The government cannot make decisions for all those who worship here out of fear that the Haredim will not obey. Israel as a whole, the traditional Israel, religious and secular, must take responsibility for Judaism. It belongs to them, too.

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The elites' new stronghold

ErezL — Mon, 25 May 2020 12:52:23 +0000

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's trial can be seen as a major victory for the old elites in Israel, but also as an epic fail.

Let's start with the failure: Upon entering the courthouse Netanyahu said that democracy began in the American Declaration of Independence in 1776. For Netanyahu, as well as those who consider the French Revolution to be the birth of democracy, what those events heralded was the participation of the masses in politics.

This is the biggest moral and practical challenge the noble classes and the elites have to face: How to let the people partake in the political game, how to allow equality and a fair division of the resources and how to give up feudal privileges.

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The Israeli elites have failed to meet this complicated challenge and have been unwilling to give up their special status.

When it turned out, after the Right won in the watershed election of 1977, that democracy and equality threaten the elites' hegemony, they launched what would become a lengthy process to chip away at the masses' rights to take part in democracy. They did that through the weakening of the political system. This was their success.

This was done through legal violence that has been directed at figures representing the Israeli religious and political Right, but by extension also toward the overall political system.

The elites have managed to essentially paralyze the political system, and by doing so, gave it the power to limit democracy and turned the judiciary into a holy institution, as the new bastion of state power for the old elites.

The Zionist Left has also undergone an ideological transformation. First it championed socialism and the utopian vision of an egalitarian society. But when it realized that this clashed with reality, it began to worship peace as its new ideal Utopia. But this vision collapsed and it had to resort to sanctifying the judiciary.

The elites turned the judiciary into the new institution that is above the fray so that it preserves their hegemony and wealth, but also so that it can replace the classic national ethos and symbols, including through the undoing of the symbolic meaning of the institution of prime minister.

But unlike the stereotypical narrative that the elites are trying to set, support for Netanyahu is not support for corruption and not even a form of retribution of "primitive" oriental Jews against the Ashkenazi founders of the state.

It is a responsible and patriotic position that respects the institution of the prime minister and its occupant for so many years, who has become the most representative Israeli and Jewish figure in the 21st century.

This attempt to suppress the emotional attachment toward the leader is part and parcel of the liberal elites' efforts to suppress the national sentiment and almost delegitimize the term Jewish, almost to the point that it is not politically correct to use that term to define one's ideology.

But casting the judiciary as an alternative to the national and classical ethos and the patriotic symbols, you cannot escape the thought that Netanyahu's trial is a post-national and post-Zionist event.

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