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Haredi and Secular Jews Must All Serve the Israeli Nation, and Find Purpose Together
I have just returned from a week in Israel, where, together with a delegation from our Beverly Hills community, we visited countless places, met diverse people, and absorbed the atmosphere of a nation still reeling from October 7th — acutely aware that the challenges they face are far from over.
This was my fourth visit to Israel since that horrific October day, and each time until now, I have been struck by the remarkable resilience and unity of purpose of Israel’s population, even as tensions between various groups simmer below the surface.
But this time was different. While Israelis are still united in their resolve to destroy Hamas and resist external attempts to halt their prosecution of the war, on other matters, they are deeply divided, with tensions on full display.
Protests in Jerusalem near the prime minister’s residence are back in full swing, focusing on Benjamin Netanyahu’s seeming inability to bring the remaining hostages in Gaza safely home — either by negotiation or by military means. But the backstory is more about broad dissatisfaction with Bibi’s leadership.
The setting aside of political differences after October 7th has been abandoned, and conflicts are back on display. Even within Netanyahu’s coalition, rifts are widening, and the government hasn’t fallen yet only because his coalition partners know a Bibi-led coalition emerging from an election is wishful thinking.
While we were in Israel, in a landmark ruling, Israel’s High Court of Justice unanimously mandated the drafting of Haredi yeshiva students into the military, ending the blanket exemptions that have been in place since 1948. The court declared a June 2023 government decision to delay drafting eligible Haredi men illegal, and instructed the government to start conscription, although gradually.
The real bombshell was the judges’ unanimous decision to bar state funding for any yeshiva whose students shun military service.
The court’s decision was widely anticipated. Last Shabbat, in a private gathering for our delegation, we heard a detailed prediction of the outcomes from Professor Yedidia Stern, President and CEO of the Jewish People Policy Institute (JPPI). Despite his Religious Zionist convictions, Professor Stern is sympathetic to Haredi ideals and concerns. As a libertarian, he believes it is not right to impose an integrated Israeli life on those who wish to live purely religious lives, even if they are citizens of Israel.
Nevertheless, he told us, the steady growth of the Haredi sector in Israel — currently 1.2 million out of a population of 10 million, with 7.5 million being Jews — makes the blanket exclusion of Haredim from military service, or any mandated national service, untenable in a country where every other Jew is expected to serve and where national service is a necessity. Unconditionally continuing to fund the Haredi community out of state funds, particularly when many who claim to be in full-time yeshiva study are not, is no longer sustainable.
Public reaction from Haredi leaders has been as expected. This week, Rabbi Dov Lando, the 94-year-old head of Bnei Brak’s Slabodka Yeshiva, visited the United States to urge American Haredim to help save Israel’s Torah institutions, now struggling with a combined $100 million shortfall resulting from the High Court ruling. “The authorities hate Torah scholars, and the situation is dire,” he thundered at a fundraiser, “there are already yeshivas that have closed down!”
Although the campaign organizers claim to have raised the full $100 million, next year’s shortfall will be closer to $300 million according to Professor Stern — and there is no way America’s Haredi community can fund its Israeli counterpart at such levels indefinitely. In any event, the solution doesn’t lie in the United States, it lies in Israel, where the seeds already exist for resolving the issue.
The only thing lacking is bravery. According to one Israeli Haredi insider who spoke to me on condition of anonymity, Haredi leaders “are afraid to express their opinions openly … in their chumashim, the commandment ‘Do not fear any man!’ (Deut. 1:17) has been erased.”
It is an open secret that out of the 12,000 annual exemptions, over half do not meet the standards of full-time Torah study, or even close. The past is the past, but right now, finding some form of military or national service for the thousands of Haredim who are not eligible for exemption is the only way out of the hole which the Haredi community has dug for itself, at least if it wants to remain a viable part of Israel’s present and future.
According to the insider I spoke to, even Rabbi Lando has privately admitted that the current refusal by Haredim to compromise and find a solution is unmaintainable — but he claims not to have the strength to be the one who proposes and pushes for such a dramatic shift. In the meantime, American Haredim are being forced to pay the bill for Israeli Haredim kicking the can down the road.
A future of mutual respect and coexistence was on full display in Kibbutz Be’eri, where our group visited the synagogue, built in a joint effort between Rabbi Shlomo Raanan, a Haredi outreach rabbi who lovingly works with secular Israelis, and Rachel Fricker, a secular Israeli who lived in Be’eri for 33 years before terrorists overran her home on October 7th and utterly destroyed it. Miraculously, she survived the terrorist attack and now lives in a hotel at the Dead Sea until her return to Be’eri, which remains uncertain.
Incredibly, the synagogue was left intact by the terrorists. It is a tiny space, but very warm and homely. In the weeks and months following October 7th, the shul became a haven for IDF soldiers who converged on Be’eri and the surrounding area. Rachel explained how tough it was to get the synagogue built in her secular kibbutz, but that she regularly spoke to God to seek His help as the project progressed.
In 2015, when the idea for a shul in Be’eri was first raised, members of our Beverly Hills community donated money so that it could be built. This was our first visit there, and the experience was overwhelmingly positive.
Rachel Fricker is an inspiration. So is Rabbi Raanan. And when they work together, these two forces of nature are an exponentially greater inspiration. They represent the future for Israel, in which Jews of every stripe and color see themselves as part of one whole, not as exclusive groups existing in isolation alongside each other.
If every Haredi was like Rabbi Raanan, and every secular Israeli was like Rachel Fricker, Israel would become the unconquerable force we all know it could be. There are many who are like them, but right now they remain select individuals. If only these individuals could be the bridgeheads for their respective groups to join forces, no enemy could ever prevail over the united energy of an Israeli society dedicated to the common destiny of Jewish peoplehood.
Bottom line: Israeli Haredim must come up with a workable solution that finally casts the scourge of Haredi separatism to history. This is not the moment to widen the gaps. If October 7th and the Gaza war have revealed anything, it is the importance of finding ways of working together and being united. It can definitely happen. Let’s pray that it does.
The writer is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post Haredi and Secular Jews Must All Serve the Israeli Nation, and Find Purpose Together first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Strikes Houthi Targets in Yemen
Smoke rises after Israeli strikes near Sanaa airport, in Sanaa, Yemen, Dec. 26, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah
Israel struck multiple targets linked to the Iran-aligned Houthi terrorist group in Yemen on Thursday, including Sanaa International Airport, and Houthi media said three people were killed.
The head of the World Health Organization, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, said he was about to board a plane at the airport when it came under attack. A crew member on the plane was injured, he said in a statement.
The Israeli military said that in addition to striking the airport, it also hit military infrastructure at the ports of Hodeidah, Salif, and Ras Kanatib on Yemen’s west coast. It also attacked the country’s Hezyaz and Ras Kanatib power stations.
Houthi-run Al Masirah TV said two people were killed in the strikes on the airport and one person was killed in the port hits, while 11 others were wounded in the attacks.
There was no comment from the Houthis, who have repeatedly fired drones and missiles towards Israel in what they describe as acts of solidarity with Palestinians in Gaza.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said following the attacks that Israel will continue its mission until it is complete: “We are determined to sever this terror arm of Iran’s axis.”
The prime minister has been strengthened at home by the Israeli military’s campaign against Iran-backed Hezbollah forces in southern Lebanon and by its destruction of most of the Syrian army’s strategic weapons.
The Israeli attacks on the airport, Hodeidah and on one power station, were also reported by Al Masirah TV.
Tedros said he had been in Yemen to negotiate the release of detained UN staff detainees and to assess the humanitarian situation in Yemen.
“As we were about to board our flight from Sanaa … the airport came under aerial bombardment. One of our plane’s crew members was injured,” he said in a statement.
“The air traffic control tower, the departure lounge — just a few meters from where we were — and the runway were damaged,” he said, adding that he and his colleagues were safe.
There was no immediate comment from Israel on the incident.
More than a year of Houthi attacks have disrupted international shipping routes, forcing firms to re-route to longer and more expensive journeys that have in turn stoked fears over global inflation.
The UN Security Council is due to meet on Monday over Houthi attacks against Israel, Israel‘s UN Ambassador Danny Danon said on Wednesday.
On Saturday, Israel‘s military failed to intercept a missile from Yemen that fell in the Tel Aviv-Jaffa area, injuring 14 people.
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Controversial Islamic Group CAIR Chides US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew for Denying Report of ‘Famine’ in Gaza
US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew. Photo: Alchetron.
The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) has condemned US Ambassador to Israel Jack Lew for casting doubt on a new report claiming that famine has gripped northern Gaza.
The controversial Muslim advocacy group on Wednesday slammed Lew for his “callous dismissal” of the recent Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) report accusing Israel of inflicting famine on the Gaza Strip. The organization subsequently asserted that Israel had perpetrated an ethnic cleansing campaign in northern Gaza.
“Ambassador Lew’s callous dismissal of this shocking report by a US-backed agency exposing Israel’s campaign of forced starvation in Gaza reminds one of the old joke about a man who murdered his parents and then asked for mercy because he is now an ‘orphan,’” CAIR said in a statement.
“To reject a report on starvation in northern Gaza by appearing to boast about the fact that it has been successfully ethnically cleansed of its native population is just the latest example of Biden administration officials supporting, enabling, and excusing Israel’s clear and open campaign of genocide in Gaza,” the Washington, DC-based group continued.
On Monday, FEWS Net, a US-created provider of warning and analysis on food insecurity, released a report detailing that a famine had allegedly taken hold of northern Gaza. The report argued that 65,000-75,000 individuals remain stranded in the area without sufficient access to food.
“Israel’s near-total blockade of humanitarian and commercial food supplies to besieged areas of North Gaza Governorate” has resulted in mass starvation among scores of innocent civilians in the beleaguered enclave, the report stated.
Lew subsequently issued a statement denying the veracity of the FEWS Net report, slamming the organization for peddling “inaccurate” information and “causing confusion.”
“The report issued today on Gaza by FEWS NET relies on data that is outdated and inaccurate. We have worked closely with the Government of Israel and the UN to provide greater access to the North Governorate, and it is now apparent that the civilian population in that part of Gaza is in the range of 7,000-15,000, not 65,000-75,000 which is the basis of this report,” Lew wrote.
“At a time when inaccurate information is causing confusion and accusations, it is irresponsible to issue a report like this. We work day and night with the UN and our Israeli partners to meet humanitarian needs — which are great — and relying on inaccurate data is irresponsible,” Lew continued.
Following Lew’s repudiation, FEWS NET quietly removed the report on Wednesday, sparking outrage among supporters of the pro-Palestinian cause.
“We ask FEWS NET not to submit to the bullying of genocide supporters and to again make its report available to the public,” CAIR said in its statement.
In the year following the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas’s invasion of and massacre across southern Israel last Oct. 7, Israel has been repeatedly accused of inflicting famine in Hamas-ruled Gaza. Despite the allegations, there is scant evidence of mass starvation across the war-torn enclave.
This is not the first time that FEWS Net has attempted to accuse Israel of inflicting famine in Gaza. In June, the United Nations Famine Review Committee (FRC), a panel of experts in international food security and nutrition, rejected claims by FEWS Net that a famine had taken hold of northern Gaza. In rejecting the allegations, the FRC cited an “uncertainty and lack of convergence of the supporting evidence employed in the analysis.”
Meanwhile, CAIR has been embroiled in controversy since the onset of the Gaza war last October.
CAIR has been embroiled in controversy since the Oct. 7 atrocities. The head of CAIR, for example, said he was “happy” to witness Hamas’s rampage across southern Israel.
“The people of Gaza only decided to break the siege — the walls of the concentration camp — on Oct. 7,” CAIR co-founder and executive director Nihad Awad said in a speech during the American Muslims for Palestine convention in Chicago in November. “And yes, I was happy to see people breaking the siege and throwing down the shackles of their own land, and walk free into their land, which they were not allowed to walk in.”
CAIR has long been a controversial organization. In the 2000s, it was named as an unindicted co-conspirator in the Holy Land Foundation terrorism financing case. Politico noted in 2010 that “US District Court Judge Jorge Solis found that the government presented ‘ample evidence to establish the association’” of CAIR with Hamas.
According to the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), “some of CAIR’s current leadership had early connections with organizations that are or were affiliated with Hamas.” CAIR has disputed the accuracy of the ADL’s claim and asserted that it “unequivocally condemn[s] all acts of terrorism, whether carried out by al-Qa’ida, the Real IRA, FARC, Hamas, ETA, or any other group designated by the US Department of State as a ‘Foreign Terrorist Organization.’”
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Jewish Civil Rights Group Representing Amsterdam Pogrom Victims Slams Dutch Court for ‘Light Sentences’
Israeli Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters are guarded by police after violence targeting Israeli football fans broke out in Amsterdam overnight, in Amsterdam, Netherlands, November 8, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ami Shooman/Israel Hayom
The international Jewish civil rights organization legally representing more than 50 victims of the attack on Israeli soccer fans that took place in Amsterdam last month has joined many voices in lambasting a Dutch court for what they described as a mild punishment for the attackers.
“These sentences are an insult to the victims and a stain on the Dutch legal system,” The Lawfare Project’s founder and executive director Brooke Goldstein said in a statement on Wednesday. “Allowing individuals who coordinated and celebrated acts of violence to walk away with minimal consequences diminishes the rule of law and undermines trust in the judicial process. If this is the response to such blatant antisemitism, what hope is there for deterring future offenders or safeguarding the Jewish community.”
On Tuesday, a district court in Amsterdam sentenced five men for their participation in the violent attacks in the Dutch city against fans of the Israeli soccer team Maccabi Tel Aviv. The premeditated and coordinated violence took place on the night of Nov. 7 and into the early hours of Nov 8, before and after Maccabi Tel Aviv competed against the Dutch soccer team Ajax in a UEFA Europa League match. The five suspects were sentenced to up to 100 hours of community service and up to six months in prison.
The attackers were found guilty of public violence, which included kicking an individual lying on the ground, and inciting the violence by calling on members of a WhatsApp group chat to gather and attack Maccabi Tel Aviv fans. One man sentenced on Tuesday who had a “leading role” in the violence, according to prosecutors, was given the longest sentence — six months in prison.
“As someone who witnessed these trials firsthand, I am deeply disheartened by the leniency of these sentences,” added Ziporah Reich, director of litigation at The Lawfare Project. “The violent, coordinated attacks against Jews in Amsterdam are among the worst antisemitic incidents in Europe. These light sentences fail to reflect the gravity of these crimes and do little to deliver justice to the victims who are left traumatized and unheard. Even more troubling, they set a dangerous precedent, signaling to future offenders that such horrific acts of violence will not be met with serious consequences.”
The Lawfare Project said on Wednesday that it is representing over 50 victims of the Amsterdam attacks. It has also secured for their clients a local counsel — Peter Plasman, who is a partner at the Amsterdam-based law firm Kötter L’Homme Plasman — to represent them in the Netherlands. The Lawfare Project aims to protect the civil and human rights of Jewish people around the world through legal action.
Others who have criticized the Dutch court for its sentencing of the five men on Tuesday included Arsen Ostrovsky, a leading human rights attorney and CEO of The International Legal Forum; Tal-Or Cohen, the founder and CEO of CyberWell; and The Center for Information and Documentation on Israel.
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