Should the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) be required to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)?
The current system in Israel allows for Haredim to receive a deferment if they are studying in Yeshiva (Jewish institution for the higher learning) until they are 22. By that time most are married and are exempt from mandatory military service. Thus for all intents and purposes the Haredi population is exempted by the Israeli government from serving in the IDF.
The only other Israeli population that receives a blanket exemption from serving in the IDF are the Israeli Arabs who are allowed but not required to serve, though many choose to. Still, for the Israeli-Arab the reasons for such an exemption are clear; if they serve they will likely have to physically confront other Arabs and/or Muslims -it is a legitimate conflict of interest.
For the Haredi this reasoning only applies to a small minority. This minority includes those that refuse to acknowledge the legitimacy of the state of Israel which they object to on questionable Talmudic/Rabbinical grounds. This small minority refuses to speak modern Hebrew, because Hebrew is the language of the holy bible, and shouldn’t be used for mundane speech. They also do not accept government funding of any kind. Thus requiring this minority to serve, is akin to forcing them to turn their back on their beliefs.
Yet the overwhelming majority of the Haredi public do accept state funds, speak Hebrew when required, and are accused of taking advantage of the system. Should they be required to serve?
To understand the implications of this question is to understand the nature of Israeli society. The IDF is a necessary defensive organization that literally foils daily terror plots and prevents Israels neighbors from seriously contemplating war. However, he IDF also enables a diverse mixture of immigrant populations to integrate and to acculturate. In essence, Bedouins, Eastern Europeans, North Americans, South Africans etc. enter the IDF and three years later (two for women) they exit as mature Israeli’s. The importance of serving in the IDF is amplified by the fact that potential employers will usually give preference to veterans of the IDF.
So not only does the fastest growing minority, the Haredi population, not contribute directly to national security they also are not integrated into the workforce. Ironically, those Haredi that choose to pursue a secular education, on average, score higher on reading and reasoning sections of standardized tests. In other words the Haredi choose not to integrate and succeed. Still, because they are generally not employed in the mainstream workforce (either because they do not serve, or spend their day studying) and have little or no secular education, they are a growing burden on Israeli tax payers.
But wait! I’m not one of those religious bashers, there is another side to this story.
You see, it was not always the case that the ultra-Orthodox ALL studied in Yeshiva. Prior to the holocaust, when there were myriad thriving communities spanning Eastern Europe, Jewish boys were given a chaider education (Jewish equivalent of early grade school). Those that showed promise continued their studies often for the rest of their life. Usually they were supported by their local communities, the private wealthy, or their in-laws who believed that it was a great merit and responsibility to ensure that every town, however small, funded the local study of the Torah. Indeed it was seen as a way to ensure that a town was blessed materially and spiritually.
Thus the holocaust did not only destroy Eastern European Judaism but also a complex array of institutions. These included the educational structure that ensured the continuity of, what many consider, Judaism’s most prized inheritance; the totality of the Biblical/Talmudic/Rabbinic tradition. There are a number of extraordinary accounts of efforts to save the institutions that carried this tradition from the fires of the Nazi ovens and/or the cold of Soviet Siberia.
A few yeshivas were saved, or survived, the terror and undertook a massive effort to rebuild the great intuitions of Torah learning that once existed in Europe. Part of this initiative meant that every Jewish boy was encouraged to pursue his Torah studies as long as he wanted so as to replenish the depleted stock of Torah scholars.
From this perspective, the Israeli government is basically continuing a millennia old tradition in the guise of public funds going towards supporting Torah study.
The Haredi position is even more persuasive when considering that they are both the proven guardians of an unbroken chain of Jewish tradition and were the ones that passed on and propagated the words of the great prophets. These prophets very foresaw that the Jews would eventually return to Israel their homeland. In other words, modern Israel, with all its secular tendencies, is basically a mundane interpretation of the Zion that religious Jews have mentioned in their prayers, over a hundred times a day, since the destruction of the second Temple by the Romans in 70 AD.
Could there be a State of Israel (or a Jewish people) without the memory and tradition that was jealously guarded by Rabbinic Judaism since the days of the prophets? Should the Haradi not be rewarded for their contribution to modern Israel?
That said, now that we do have a state of Israel, and numerous yeshivas churning out students of the highest caliber, why should we not return to the pre-holocaust system whereas only the studies of the best are publicly funded? It would be similar to the Western system, (if that system is not itself replicating the Rabbinic tradition) where PHD students and other important institutions of higher learning are funded by the public.
Israel is growing and needs productive citizens, Orthodox or otherwise. Anyone familiar with the Rabbis of the Talmud or the history of the greatest Jewish leaders of every generation, knows that they all had extensive secular knowledge and often supported themselves “with their hands” (they were doctors, jurists, winemakers, water-carriers etc. in fact it is laudable not to live off the Torah, Pirkei Avot). At the same time, there have always been a cadre of our brightest scholars who have spent their entire life in the study of Torah.
Therefore I propose that the Haradi sector be granted a certain quota for each Yeshiva, whereas the brightest students, as the dean so deems, receive a deferment. The rest should be required to serve. The Israeli government has already established a Haredi military unit, which meets all the strict requirements followed by Haredi individuals. One of the most successful programs in the IDF, the Hesder program, allows for religious soldiers to study Torah for 1 ½ years of their three years service.
For those searching for a Talmud-like reasoning to support the above: the influx of Torah-true scholars into the Israeli economy would not only give an already successful economy a massive boost, but it would also help the state of Israel look more like the Land of Israel.
Showing posts with label Talmud. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Talmud. Show all posts
Monday, August 9, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Abraham, Christopher Hitchens, and the Unifying Factor
There is an interesting story recorded in the Talmud (Sanhedrin 102b Yalkut). Rabbi Ashi, one of the two who compiled the entire Babylonian Talmud, was teaching his students about the kings of the First Temple period who, because of their iniquities, were denied a portion in the world to come". At the end of his lesson he told his students “tomorrow we learn about our 'comrade' (chaver) King Manasseh". That night the king appeared to Rabbi Ashi and exclaimed angrily who are you to call me "comrade", do you even know the right place to cut the bread after making a blessing? The Rabbi responded no. The king then told him "it is the place where it finishes baking first" (the ends?). The Rabbi was taken aback, and asked how is it possible that someone as knowledgeable as you worshiped pagan idols? The King responded "had you been in our generation, you would have picked up the bottom of you robes to run there” (i.e. to serve the idols). The next day the Rabbi began the lesson "and now we will learn about our "master" (Rabbenu) King Manasseh.
While one would be hard pressed to find people who worshipped Molech (Middle eastern deity which, as the greatest sacrifice, required that your baby child be placed on the metal hands and the hollow idol would be filled with fire heating the hands until the child was burnt to death, meanwhile the priests would drum to cover up the shrieks of the baby) or Bal (the idol of the Sun), there is certainly pagan worship all around us.
Where? Let me explain.
The underlying difference between polytheism and monotheism:
But first we need to explore how pagan worship differs from monotheistic worship.
The former is premised on the belief that there is no singular force controlling this world. Instead there are a number of governing forces each of which controls elements of our existence. For example "mother nature", human innovation, zodiacs, etc.
Some who believed/believe this, argue that there was One all powerful G-d but that G-d had removed himself after creation, for whatever reason, from day to day administration of this world. The idols where thus deserving of devotion. At the core of this belief is that there is no one unifying force governing existence -polytheism.
On the other side is Monotheism which argues that there is one G-d and nothing else. G-d then created forces of nature that served as mediums for his divine infinite light. This is an analogous to the sun shining through stained glass windows. The same light differs depending on the color of the window. But the color and the window would be meaningless without the singular light shining through. In other words G-d created finite windows -the sun, trees, fire etc.- that color his infinite light in a certain way, heat, food, air etc. so as to allow the existence of the finite, and to provide for the finite. But these colored windows require the constant administration of G-d's light in order for them to fulfill their purpose and to even exist. Thus G-d is intimately involved with every detail of existence, from the leaf falling off the tree to the sinking of the South Korean navy vessel (for more on this please see posts on divine providence and choice, as well as posts concerning the soul).
King Manasseh may have referred to a specific desire that we, like Rav Ashi, cannot comprehend. Still the underlying difference between polytheism and monotheism can be explored in a contemporary light. Just as there exists a contemporary form of polytheism, that you and I may be serving at this very moment.
The point is that that anything that detracts from the belief in G-d's unity and absolute providence is a form of idol, and one who believes in this force can be termed a polytheist.
Money for example, if seen as anything more than a vehicle for divine blessing or tool, can be deemed an idol. Specifically if is seen as a great or the greatest ends to achieving. In other words that money has inherent value and "gives" power (as opposed to out window analogy)). Pride and human innovation, is another common form of polytheism –if one believes that they created or achieved by themselves, they are in essence rejecting that they are in fact a window –a cog, if you will, in the larger organism that we call the universe.
If the belief in the popularity/importance of idols is anything like the belief in the popularity/importance in money today, is it any wonder that King Manasseh was enticed by the pagan idols of his day? This may explain the wise king’s admonition of Rav Ashi.
A common mistake:
If we place pagan worship in this light it seems less insidious. It’s one thing to sacrifice your children to idols of stone and copper, it is another to pursue personal success and fulfillment. In other words it seems that the real evil of idol worship has passed, and plays a more positive role in society -the pursuit of happiness or material possessions. One can go so far and declare that this pagan drive that sees money as a real force, amongst many in this world, is at the heart of capitalism.
True many are discovering that, like the idols of old, money does not have any innate power, and does not bring real happiness -only temporary elation. Non-the-less the mistake of attributing power to money just seems, at worst, greedy and individualistic. So why not pagan worship?
The implications of the above conclusion:
It goes back to Abraham the first monotheist. Abraham, the first Jew, taught not the belief in Judaism, but the belief in one G-d and the 7 Universal laws (AKA, the Seven Noahide laws These laws are do not kill, steal, belief in one G-d, set up courts of justice, do not commit adultery, do not be cruel to animals, and do not use/curse G-d's name). While many may know about these laws, here is an interesting fact. Maimonides, the great philosopher and Rabbi, explains that one can only fulfill the seven universal laws if they accept that they come from G-d.
I hope you are asking,
"why should that matter, who cares as long as they are followed for rational/moral reasons" (as Hitchens and co. would indignantly exclaim)? The answer is clear, if we use rational as the foundation for not killing, then what stops an angry man with a mustache from writing a book rationalizing the murder of millions of Jews and others. In other words by not accepting the belief that the seven laws must be followed without exception, i.e. because an unseen force said so, we leave a proverbial loop hole for the continued murder, war, and depravity (think the man/boy love association of America [NAMBLA], seeking to rationalize then legalize pedophilia).
Abraham introduced the one potential cure for all war and violence, belief in the One immutable power.
This perspective asserts that the danger of polytheism does not lie in a specific kind of worship that can be measured on s subjective scale of good (money) and bad (sacrificing children). Rather it points to the danger of attributing inherent power to any finite creation, because that attribution undermines the belief in the unity of the one higher force. Abraham understood and foresaw the ability of that higher force to be a source for universal laws of good, that are beyond human rational and therefore equally applicable to all, and was/is a prerequisite for world peace.
Monotheism is the foundation of the unifying factor, without it we cannot discover that all of humanity, all of the world, is really one. It is high time that the "kings" amongst us considered this.
PS: I do not refer here to eastern beliefs, 1. because I know very little about them. 2. The little I do know seems to indicate a belief in a underlying cause that affects everything, i.e. providence.
While one would be hard pressed to find people who worshipped Molech (Middle eastern deity which, as the greatest sacrifice, required that your baby child be placed on the metal hands and the hollow idol would be filled with fire heating the hands until the child was burnt to death, meanwhile the priests would drum to cover up the shrieks of the baby) or Bal (the idol of the Sun), there is certainly pagan worship all around us.
Where? Let me explain.
The underlying difference between polytheism and monotheism:
But first we need to explore how pagan worship differs from monotheistic worship.
The former is premised on the belief that there is no singular force controlling this world. Instead there are a number of governing forces each of which controls elements of our existence. For example "mother nature", human innovation, zodiacs, etc.
Some who believed/believe this, argue that there was One all powerful G-d but that G-d had removed himself after creation, for whatever reason, from day to day administration of this world. The idols where thus deserving of devotion. At the core of this belief is that there is no one unifying force governing existence -polytheism.
On the other side is Monotheism which argues that there is one G-d and nothing else. G-d then created forces of nature that served as mediums for his divine infinite light. This is an analogous to the sun shining through stained glass windows. The same light differs depending on the color of the window. But the color and the window would be meaningless without the singular light shining through. In other words G-d created finite windows -the sun, trees, fire etc.- that color his infinite light in a certain way, heat, food, air etc. so as to allow the existence of the finite, and to provide for the finite. But these colored windows require the constant administration of G-d's light in order for them to fulfill their purpose and to even exist. Thus G-d is intimately involved with every detail of existence, from the leaf falling off the tree to the sinking of the South Korean navy vessel (for more on this please see posts on divine providence and choice, as well as posts concerning the soul).
King Manasseh may have referred to a specific desire that we, like Rav Ashi, cannot comprehend. Still the underlying difference between polytheism and monotheism can be explored in a contemporary light. Just as there exists a contemporary form of polytheism, that you and I may be serving at this very moment.
The point is that that anything that detracts from the belief in G-d's unity and absolute providence is a form of idol, and one who believes in this force can be termed a polytheist.
Money for example, if seen as anything more than a vehicle for divine blessing or tool, can be deemed an idol. Specifically if is seen as a great or the greatest ends to achieving. In other words that money has inherent value and "gives" power (as opposed to out window analogy)). Pride and human innovation, is another common form of polytheism –if one believes that they created or achieved by themselves, they are in essence rejecting that they are in fact a window –a cog, if you will, in the larger organism that we call the universe.
If the belief in the popularity/importance of idols is anything like the belief in the popularity/importance in money today, is it any wonder that King Manasseh was enticed by the pagan idols of his day? This may explain the wise king’s admonition of Rav Ashi.
A common mistake:
If we place pagan worship in this light it seems less insidious. It’s one thing to sacrifice your children to idols of stone and copper, it is another to pursue personal success and fulfillment. In other words it seems that the real evil of idol worship has passed, and plays a more positive role in society -the pursuit of happiness or material possessions. One can go so far and declare that this pagan drive that sees money as a real force, amongst many in this world, is at the heart of capitalism.
True many are discovering that, like the idols of old, money does not have any innate power, and does not bring real happiness -only temporary elation. Non-the-less the mistake of attributing power to money just seems, at worst, greedy and individualistic. So why not pagan worship?
The implications of the above conclusion:
It goes back to Abraham the first monotheist. Abraham, the first Jew, taught not the belief in Judaism, but the belief in one G-d and the 7 Universal laws (AKA, the Seven Noahide laws These laws are do not kill, steal, belief in one G-d, set up courts of justice, do not commit adultery, do not be cruel to animals, and do not use/curse G-d's name). While many may know about these laws, here is an interesting fact. Maimonides, the great philosopher and Rabbi, explains that one can only fulfill the seven universal laws if they accept that they come from G-d.
I hope you are asking,
"why should that matter, who cares as long as they are followed for rational/moral reasons" (as Hitchens and co. would indignantly exclaim)? The answer is clear, if we use rational as the foundation for not killing, then what stops an angry man with a mustache from writing a book rationalizing the murder of millions of Jews and others. In other words by not accepting the belief that the seven laws must be followed without exception, i.e. because an unseen force said so, we leave a proverbial loop hole for the continued murder, war, and depravity (think the man/boy love association of America [NAMBLA], seeking to rationalize then legalize pedophilia).
Abraham introduced the one potential cure for all war and violence, belief in the One immutable power.
This perspective asserts that the danger of polytheism does not lie in a specific kind of worship that can be measured on s subjective scale of good (money) and bad (sacrificing children). Rather it points to the danger of attributing inherent power to any finite creation, because that attribution undermines the belief in the unity of the one higher force. Abraham understood and foresaw the ability of that higher force to be a source for universal laws of good, that are beyond human rational and therefore equally applicable to all, and was/is a prerequisite for world peace.
Monotheism is the foundation of the unifying factor, without it we cannot discover that all of humanity, all of the world, is really one. It is high time that the "kings" amongst us considered this.
PS: I do not refer here to eastern beliefs, 1. because I know very little about them. 2. The little I do know seems to indicate a belief in a underlying cause that affects everything, i.e. providence.
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