In recent days I’ve been quarreling with all my friends. They are good people, these friends – liberal, tolerant, moderate and sensitive to any injustice. These are people that in our complex reality were never confused between good and bad. This is why I love them, among other things. I’d like to think that we are cut from the same cloth. That’s why I’m so amazed to see how uncaring and hateful they become when a group of people known as the haredim comes up for discussion.
My liberal friends propose various steps against the haredim and religious: A cadet who cannot bear female singing will not be an officer in the IDF, said one friend. As simple as that (“as simple as that” or “at once” are words that always accompany discussions about the haredim.) A segregated bus shall be stopped! The driver and bus operators should be sent to jail. A yeshiva that will not teach the core curriculum shall be closed at once! We shall not allow primitive ignoramuses to be raised here, and at our expense no less. A neighborhood that features separate sidewalks for women shall immediately lose its municipal services! They can go ahead and choke in their own garbage.[...]
There is a complete clash in values. For example, I don't think secular world understands what the issue of Kol Isha is about. They see it as something going in opposition to their own beliefs, and anti women. But this is not the same group of people who attack women in Beit Shemesh for example. But perhaps they see it as one encroaching whole. That around the corner there will be a transformation of society into one where women cannot publicly sing, or make their voice heard, or dress in anything other than how the extremists dictate, and public transportation will be separate - as in every other part of life, eg supermarkets, shopping centres, beaches etc. That is why they make comparisons to Iran, Saudi etc.
ReplyDeletePlenty of Shomrei Torah u'mitzvos Jews contribute to society, serve in the army, and learn the core curriculum. The "hatred" has nothing to do with religious Jews or Torah. The hatred is directed at a segment of religious Jews and their sociology. As an example, most secular haredim who move to America do not harbor the same ill feeling against haredim in NYC, and indeed, a good friend of mine (secular) told me that it was only upon moving to America that he was able to "tolerate" and understand religious people and viewpoints.
ReplyDeleteContrast that with the hatred of the secular by the haredim which is not predicated on any real or substantive complaints. I went to haredi yeshivos and know full well how they speak of secular Jews - as subhuman!