A Haredi looks at Independence Day
Who cares whether the Haredim wave the Israeli flag on Yom HaAtzmaut or not? Who is going to dictate what constitutes loyalty and script the text? In America, we don't judge a citizen's loyalty to the State by whether he is a flag-waver or not. In a world where so many secular Israelis consider themselves post-Zionists or by some other new title, we need to come up with broader definitions of what it means to be a proud member of the State of Israel as a vehicle that serves the Jewish nation. If we set the bar too high, we make it unfairly and unnecessarily uncomfortable for whole groups to say that they belong. We shoot ourselves in the foot with our elitist and outdated attitudes.
Non-Haredim have to invite the Haredim to become a part of the healthy (and always passionate) debate about what this State should look like, instead of having them look in as outsiders. Haredim have to become more comfortable with the facts of their situation and not to fight the battles of yesteryear. Non-Haredim should nurture and facilitate trends toward work and army that are happening, instead of making easy political capital by trying to solve it in one fell swoop with legislation. Haredim should continue to value Torah-study above all, but ensure that they have the means to support their values. Non-Haredim should remember that for 2,000 years it was almost exclusively Haredim who kept a continuous presence on this land, often at the expense of their lives. Haredim should know the sacrifices that our non-Haredim brethren have made to hand us the wonderful gift of this country. Non-Haredim should tap into that deep love of Israel -- of its land and its people -- that Haredim have in spades.
Come my brother: You are a Jew and so am I. Let us hold hands and begin to talk! L'chaim to this wonderful people and its magnificent country. I have never regretted the 33 years that I have felt this was my home!Read the whole thing.
Labels: Haredim, Yom HaAtzmaut
posted by Carl in Jerusalem @ 11:50 AM
1 Comments:
Well, my dear, it is so off, so off-putting, SO OFFENSIVE, to read on Yom HaZikaron something that ends with a Le-Chaim!!
I guess that is the best illustration of how the charedi are not part of today's Am Israel, but still live in some European Ghetto, where they don't know, don't care, whatever, that today we spend our day visiting graves and thinking about the MANY dear ones that WE lost, and that YOU DID NOT.
Shame on you and all those who do not even have the basic DEREKH ERETS to respect OTHER PEOPLE'S MOURNING.
I guess some people's blood is better than some others', in a world where people call sheigetz the good Jews who do not wear black goishe clothing from XVI Century Poland, and shiksa good Jewish women who don't fit your ignorant world of chumrah.
This time, intentionally or not, you really overdid it.
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