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I Come From the Haredi World — But It Must Change to Help Israel and Ensure Its Own Survival
An attendee at Kosherpalooza 2024 hugging an IDF soldier as part of the “Hug a Chayil” interactive part of the kosher food and beverage festival on May 30, 2024. Photo: Provided
“Go to the ant, idler; consider her ways and be wise” (Prov. 6:6).
This vivid call to action from Hebrew Scripture elevates a tiny, industrious insect as a timeless model of diligence and foresight. But what is it about ants that the Bible considers so critical for us to emulate? Across rabbinic literature, numerous interpretations and insights shed light on the deeper meaning of this ancient directive.
What makes ants genuinely remarkable, as Proverbs reminds us in the very next verse, is that they don’t have bosses, managers, or rulers telling them what to do. They simply get on with it — tirelessly, effectively, and without hesitation — doing what is best for themselves and their colonies.
Ants’ success lies in their adaptability, collective organization, and ability to balance individual roles with the greater good of the colony — qualities that Edward O. Wilson, a leading biologist and expert on ants, described as making them “arguably the most successful life forms on Earth.”
The Talmud asserts that the real brilliance of ants lies in their adaptability — a quality as crucial for humans as it is for ants. Proverbs describes the ant as a model of provident industry: it prepares its food in summer to ensure survival through the winter.
Ralbag highlights both the ant’s resourcefulness and humility. Despite its small size, it accomplishes great things by never allowing a challenge to stand in its way.
Rabbi Isaac Arama, in Akeidat Yitzchak, goes a step further by explaining that no creature can rely on divine providence alone. While God ultimately determines everything, diligent effort — like that of the ant — is essential. Adaptation and planning are not signs of weakness or lack of faith, but acts of partnership with God in shaping our destiny.
During my recent visit to Israel, I reflected on these lessons, particularly in the context of the never-ending debate over the contentious issue of Haredi enlistment in the IDF. Just last month, a Knesset bill — ostensibly about daycare but in reality aimed at addressing social welfare support for Haredi families whose members don’t serve — was derailed at the last minute.
Likud MK Dan Illouz, a freshman lawmaker who is fully Orthodox and observant, publicly opposed the bill. Speaking afterward, Illouz made it clear that he opposed the bill because it undermined efforts to expand the conscription base in Israel, a goal he considers vital to the country’s future.
“Reality dictates that there must be a ‘tectonic’ shift in the Haredi draft to the IDF,” he said.
I met with Illouz in his Knesset office, where he explained that although he was the only one to speak out before the vote, many of his Likud colleagues felt the same way. “The need for Haredi involvement in the broader national effort, particularly in the IDF, is too important for it to be sidelined just to preserve the coalition,” he told me emphatically.
Meanwhile, the rhetoric from Haredi leadership remains as strident as ever.
Already short by over $100 million in social welfare handouts for 2024 — and facing the looming threat of a $400 million shortfall in 2025 — one might have expected a push for meaningful solutions. Instead, their responses seem anything but constructive.
The ant, “which, having no chief, overseer, or ruler, provides her bread in the summer and gathers her food in the harvest,” sets a clear example. Unfortunately, the chiefs, overseers, and rulers of Israel’s Haredi community have struggled to meet the ant’s example — showing no humility, no adaptability, and offering no meaningful solutions for the challenges their community faces.
But there is a solution — the path set for us by our forebear Jacob, which has shaped Jewish survival throughout history.
Jacob’s journey in Parshat Vayeitzei marks a turning point. He transforms from the “simple man, dwelling in tents” of Parshat Toldot into a resourceful and adaptable personality who succeeds at every turn.
Arriving in Haran penniless, without resources or allies, Jacob could have relied solely on God’s promise to protect him. But he understood that Divine promises are no substitute for personal effort.
Like the ants, Jacob didn’t wait for external guidance to act. He took the initiative, balancing faith in God’s promises with his own resourcefulness and determination. Far from home and the support of his parents, Jacob recognized that something had to change — and change it did.
Without compromising an iota of his principles — Rashi famously teaches that Jacob never abandoned any of the 613 commandments — he became a skilled and successful animal farmer, outshining even his wily father-in-law, Laban, who had been in the business his entire life.
This narrative of Jacob’s transformation has echoed throughout Jewish history. Each era has brought new challenges to our spiritual identity as Jews of faith, demanding steadfast devotion to heritage alongside a dynamic flexibility that allowed us to adapt to new circumstances.
While IDF exemptions for yeshiva students were a necessary strategy to rebuild Torah scholarship after the Holocaust, the thriving Torah world today, coupled with the explosive growth of the Haredi demographic, has created a new reality that requires a reassessment.
Today, there is more Torah study and knowledge than at any time in Jewish history, and this flourishing has expanded well beyond the Haredi world. The Religious Zionist community boasts scholars and scholarship that rival their Haredi counterparts, ensuring that Torah remains vibrant and central to Jewish life in ways unimaginable during the dark days of the 1940s.
More significantly, even the most learned scholars of the Religious Zionist world are part of Israel’s national effort, with many of them serving in IDF combat units.
For much of recent history, the Haredi world has viewed itself as under siege, building walls — both literal and metaphorical — to protect its values. This strategy allowed the community to survive and even thrive against overwhelming odds. But today, the greatest threat to the Haredi world isn’t secular society — it’s internal resistance to change.
I proudly come from that world, and would not be who I am without it, but I have watched this phenomenon develop over my lifetime with great sadness — and, more recently, with deep concern. In the past, refusing to adapt may have been necessary. Today, it poses the most significant risk to Haredim in Israel and is severely straining the relationship between Haredim in Israel and Haredim in the Diaspora.
Rabbi Shimon ben Chalafta’s experiment with ants, recounted in the Talmud (Chullin 57b), offers a profound lesson. Observing an anthill, he tested whether ants truly function without a ruler, as described in Proverbs. During the heat of summer, he shaded an ant hole with his cloak, knowing that ants avoid intense sunlight.
One ant emerged and noticed the shade. It returned to the colony, and appeared to communicate the news, prompting the others to emerge and begin working. Then, Rabbi Shimon removed the cloak, allowing the sun to shine directly on the ants.
The colony immediately turned on the marked ant, attacking it until it died. Reflecting on this, Rabbi Shimon concluded that ants have no king, for “if they had a king, would they not need the king’s edict to execute their fellow ant?”
The Israeli Haredi world, like those ants, cannot rely solely on the existing leadership to solve its challenges. Instead, individuals must draw on their instincts and take initiative — just as Jacob did in Parshat Vayeitzei.
By embracing their shared purpose and actively contributing to Israeli society and the wider Jewish world — without compromising core ideals — Haredim in Israel can show that tradition and modernity are not opposites but partners, ensuring the survival of what matters most — not just for their community, but for all of Klal Yisrael.
The author is a rabbi in Beverly Hills, California.
The post I Come From the Haredi World — But It Must Change to Help Israel and Ensure Its Own Survival first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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‘Deplorable’: Anti-Zionist Activists Pour Concrete Into Toilets at Columbia University
A student protester parades a Palestinian flag outside the entrance to Hamilton Hall on the campus of Columbia University, in New York, US, April 30, 2024. Photo: Mary Altaffer/Pool via REUTERS
Columbia University was a victim of infrastructural sabotage on Wednesday when an extremist anti-Zionist group flooded the toilets of an academic building with concrete to mark the anniversary of an alleged killing of a Palestinian child.
“Restroom facilities at the School of International and Public Affairs were vandalized with graffiti that included disturbing, personal attacks,” the university said in a statement issued after the attack. “Acts of vandalism of university buildings and property and attempts to harass and intimidate members of our community are unacceptable and abhorrent and will not be tolerated at Columbia.”
Stating that an investigation to identify the culprits — widely believed to be members of the anti-Israel group Columbia University Apartheid Divest (CUAD) — has been launched, the university continued, “Our buildings and our classrooms are spaces for teaching and learning and we cannot permit them to be disrupted and defaced. We are acting swiftly to address this misconduct and will update the community as we have more information.”
The targeted bathrooms are located on several floors of the Columbia School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), according to Keren Yarhi-Milo, dean of the school, who addressed the matter. She called the behavior “deplorable, disruptive, and deeply unsettling, as our campus is a space we cherish for learning teaching, and working, and it will not be tolerated.”
Numerous reports indicate the attack may be the premeditated result of planning sessions which took place many months ago at an event held by Alpha Delta Phi (ADP) — a literary society, according to the Washington Free Beacon. During the event, the Free Beacon reported, ADP distributed literature dedicated to “aspiring revolutionaries” who wish to commit seditious and subversive acts. Additionally, a presentation was given in which complete instructions for the exact kind of attack which struck Columbia on Wednesday were shared with students.
Columbia University told the Free Beacon that it has notified law enforcement of the event, saying, “We immediately launched an investigation which is ongoing.”
CUAD has proven to be one of the most disruptive pro-Hamas student groups in the country since last academic year, when Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel set off an explosion of anti-Zionist activity.
In April, its members commandeered a section of campus and, after declaring it a “liberated zone,” lit flares and chanted pro-Hamas and anti-American slogans, according to reports. When the New York City Police Department (NYPD) arrived to disperse the unauthorized gathering, hundreds of students reportedly amassed around them to prevent the restoration of order.
“Yes, we’re all Hamas, pig!” one protester was filmed screaming during the fracas, which saw some verbal skirmishes between pro-Zionist and anti-Zionist partisans. “Long live Hamas!” said others who filmed themselves dancing and praising the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Hamas terrorist organization. “Kill another soldier!” they also shouted.
In September, during the university’s convocation ceremony, CUAD distributed literature calling on students to join the Palestinian terrorist group’s movement to destroy Israel.
“This booklet is part of a coordinated and intentional effort to uphold the principles of the thawabit and the Palestinian resistance movement overall by transmitting the words of the resistance directly,” said a pamphlet distributed by CUAD, a Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) spinoff, to incoming freshmen. “This material aims to build popular support for the Palestinian war of national liberation, a war which is waged through armed struggle.”
Other sections of the pamphlet were explicitly Islamist, invoking the name of “Allah, the most gracious” and referring to Hamas as the “Islamic Resistance Movement.” Proclaiming, “Glory to Gaza that gave hope to the oppressed, that humiliated the ‘invincible’ Zionist army,” it said its purpose was to build an army of Muslims worldwide.
After almost two years of being accused of cravenly ignoring unlawful and discriminatory behavior, Columbia University has recently made steps towards holding lawbreakers accountable. Earlier this month, it banned from its campus multiple, and suspended another, masked individuals who disrupted an active class last week and proceeded to utter pro-Hamas statements while distributing antisemitic literature.
The agitators had stormed into Professor Avi Shilon’s course, titled “History of Modern Israel,” on the first day of classes of the new semester last Tuesday. Clad in keffiyehs, which were wrapped on their faces to conceal their identities, they read prepared remarks which described the course as “Zionist and imperialist” and a “normalization of genocide.”As part of their performance, which they appeared to film, they dropped flyers, one of which contained an illustration of a lifted boot preparing to trample a Star of David. Next to the drawing was a message that said, “Crush Zionism.”
Columbia University’s handling of campus antisemitism and political extremism will continue to be scrutinized, as it is now legally bound, via civil settlement, to protect the civil rights of Jewish students. In June 2024, it settled a lawsuit in which it was accused by a student of neglecting its obligation to foster a safe learning environment amid riotous pro-Hamas protests that were held at the school throughout the final weeks of the academic year.
The resolution of the case called for Columbia to hire a “Safe Passage Liaison” who will monitor protests and “walking escorts” who will accompany students whose safety is threatened around the campus. Other details of the settlement include “accommodations” for students whose academic lives are disrupted by protests and new security policies for controlling access to school property.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
The post ‘Deplorable’: Anti-Zionist Activists Pour Concrete Into Toilets at Columbia University first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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UFC Head Dana White, Israeli Fighter Natan Levy Respond to Fighter Calling Hitler ‘Good Guy,’ Jews ‘Greedy’
Natan Levy steps on the scale for the official weigh-in at the UFC Apex for UFC Fight Night – Font vs Vera on April 29, 2022 in LAS VEGAS, United States. Photo: Sports Press Photo via Reuters Connect
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White and Israeli UFC fighter Natan Levy slammed American featherweight Bryce Mitchell for “dumb” and “disgusting” comments he made this week, which included praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and denying the Holocaust ever happened.
“I’ve heard a lot of dumb, ignorant s—t in my day, but this one’s probably the worst,” White said during a press conference. “Hitler is one of the most disgusting and evil human beings to ever walk the face of the earth, and anyone who even tries to take an opposing position is a moron. That’s the problem with the internet and social media — you provide a platform for a lot of dumb, ignorant people.” He added that the UFC reached out to Mitchell regarding his comments and said the company is “beyond disgusted.”
Mitchell made a series of antisemitic and shocking comments during the first episode of his new podcast “ArkanSanity,” which he co-hosts with fellow Arkansas native Roli Delgado. The two were discussing Elon Musk’s speech at Capital One Arena after US President Donald Trump’s inauguration earlier this month, and how Musk stretched his hand out to salute in a pose that many observers said was reminiscent of the Nazi salute.
“I honestly think that Hitler was a good guy based upon my own research, not my public education indoctrination,” Mitchell then said during the podcast episode, which aired on Saturday. “I really do think, before Hitler got on meth, he was a guy to go fishing with. He fought for his country. He wanted to purify it by kicking out the greedy Jews out that were destroying his country … when he got on meth and turned on Russia, I believe that’s when he [Hitler] got full nutty.”
“W[as] Hitler perfect? No. But he was fighting for his people and he wanted a pure nation,” he added. “These Jews were controlling his country … and now that [Hitler] lost the war, he’s the bad guy.” Mitchell then went on to state, “I’m not a Nazi, I don’t love Nazis, I’m just saying they were in a bad spot and Hitler come to power.”
Levy responded to Mitchell’s comments in a series of posts on X/Twitter on Thursday. “Crazy how a guy blessed by God with so much success and opportunity chooses to pay it forward by spreading hate and division every time he gets a mic,” Levy wrote in one post. “Anyway, next time you see me, you’re welcome to have a real conversation and actually learn about Judaism our history and culture, firsthand. Or, if you’d rather, you can call me a greedy Jew to my face, and we’ll see what’s up.”
He additionally offered to take his UFC rival to a Holocaust museum, to educate him about World War II, or even on a trip to Israel. Levy said he wants Mitchell to learn that “[Israel is] a beautiful land with people just like him, we don’t have horns, we don’t all conspire to take over the world, we just trying to live our lives and enjoy the sun.”
“I’ll make it simple for everyone, Keep my people’s name out your f—king mouth,” he added in another post on X. Levy said that for those defending Mitchell’s freedom of speech, his response was: “Yeah! every idiot is free to speak and I am free to tell them to shut the f—k up.”
During the podcast episode on Saturday, Delgado argued that Hitler was wrong for persecuting Jews, such as forcing them into Nazi concentration camps. In his response, Mitchell denied the Holocaust. “That’s what your public education will tell you, Roli. Because you believe your public education. Because you haven’t done your own research,” Mitchell insisted. “When you realize there is no possible way they could have burned and cremated six million bodies, you’re gonna realize the Holocaust ain’t real.”
“History is HIS-story. History is written by the victor. Hitler lost so you didn’t get to hear his side of the war, you didn’t get to hear how the Jews took his country over,” he suggested. “Do I believe that he tortured Jews to death and killed them and all this stuff for fun? No. I believe they were work camps and they starved to death because [Hitler’s] very army were starving to death … I don’t believe he’s that bad of a guy … Hitler — he was for freedom. Hitler just wanted to free his people. But we can’t talk about the Holocaust like it was a real thing because I don’t believe it. I don’t believe the bulls—t that they try to tell you at the public school.”
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University of Michigan Suspends Anti-Zionist Group for Two Years
A person carrying an American flag cuts into a pro-Palestinian march through the University of Michigan on Oct. 7, 2024, marking the first anniversary of the Israel-Hamas war. Photo: USA Today Network via Reuters Connect
The University of Michigan has suspended an anti-Zionist group responsible for several infractions of school rules for a maximum period of two years, ending on its own terms a dispute with the group which started after Hamas’s massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023.
Dean of Students Laura Blake Jones decided to suspend and revoke recognition of Students Allied for Freedom and Equality (SAFE) following an investigation of the group’s conduct that lasted several months, according to The Michigan Daily, the campus newspaper. The university’s intention to discipline the group was first announced in November, with reports that an internal office had filed a complaint against it which, according to SAFE, alleged that a Nov. 17 sit-in violated school policies on peaceful assembly.
“Protests are welcome at U-M, so long as those protests do not infringe on the rights of others, significantly disrupt university events or operations, violate policies, or threaten the safety of the community,” the university told The Daily in a statement which explained its decision. “The university has been clear that we will enforce our policies related to protests and expressive activity, and that we will hold individuals and student organizations accountable for their actions in order to ensure a safe and inclusive environment for all.”
However, Jones issued glowing statements about SAFE in a letter which notified the group of its suspension, describing it as “instrumental” and having “a history on campus and impact as a legacy organization supporting Palestinian students.” Jones also offered the group a chance to end its suspension early by agreeing to “work in good faith to complete the education and restorative measures outlined in this decision,” an opportunity of which SAFE can avail itself as soon as the winter of 2026.
In a statement, SAFE rejected any notion that the university offered grace and a chance to correct its behavior.
“While admin [sic] continued to attempt to repress and silence Palestine on campus, we know that the movement for liberation only grows stronger under attack,” it said, writing on Instagram. “This ploy to isolate SAFE from the campus community will prove unsuccessful because admin fails to understand, yet again, that the demands for divestment and Palestinian liberation are part of a popular, mass movement.”
As previously reported by The Algemeiner, SAFE has long been a source of anti-Israel activity on campus. In 2023, its members staged an anti-government protest against the former US presidential administration, represented by then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who appeared at the school to discuss climate change. They chanted “Kamala, Kamala, you can’t hide, you’re committing genocide” and called for mass casualty events inspired by Islamist terrorism, screaming “There is only one solution: Intifada revolution” while waving Palestinian flags. The student who appeared to be leading the demonstration condemned the Biden administration for approving aid to Israel, which she referred to as “the Zionist entity.”
In 2022, during observance of the Jewish New Year, SAFE erected an “apartheid wall” on campus and led an anti-Israel protest in front of it. Some University of Michigan students approached the protesters and urged them to become fully apprised of the complexities of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, The Michigan Daily reported at the time. Standing atop a nearby structure, they made a “thumbs-down” gesture when they perceived the protesters’ remarks as offensive or lacking nuance.
SAFE was also one of many anti-Zionist student groups which commandeered school property during the conclusion of the 2023-2024 academic school year and refused to surrender it unless the university agreed to boycott and divest from Israel. It was nearly a month before the university cleared the “Gaza Solidarity Encampment” erected on the occupied school grounds, during which both students and non-students destroyed school property, disrupted university business, and amassed outside the homes of school officials.
University officials are not the only ones resisting extreme anti-Zionism.
Last semester, members of the Central Student Government impeached and convicted former president Alifa Chowdhury — the controversial leader of the Anti-Zionist “Shut It Down” (SID) party who led a failed and unpopular effort to freeze funding for student clubs until school officials enacted a boycott of Israel — resulting in her removal from office. Chowdhury had faced three charges in total: incitement to violence, defamation, and dereliction of duty, the last of which she was found guilty of on Dec. 23, according to a statement issued by the Central Student Judiciary (CSJ). Her vice president, Elias Atkinson, was convicted of the same offense.
Chowdhury’s anti-Zionist zealotry led her to allegedly commit several disqualifying acts which blighted her office and shocked her CSG representatives. In the articles of impeachment filed by Rep. Margaret Peterman, the now-former president was described as having “gravely endangered” students — for example, by participating in a protest of CSG which led to threats and an assault by spitting — as well as the “integrity of the democratic system.” She also failed to perform key functions of the presidency, including submitting reports, preparing committee members for their roles, and convening meetings with CSG’s executive council — a pattern of neglect which led to her conviction for dereliction of duty.
The takeover of CSG by Chowdhury’s party, SID, in March led to a historically dysfunctional administration, prompting the involvement of school officials at key moments when its brinksmanship threatened to derail core functions of the university. In August, the administration resolved to fund student clubs over Chowdhury and SID’s objections, effectively stripping the new government of the power of the purse. Explaining the intervention to The Algemeiner at the time, university spokesperson Colleen Mastony said it was prompted by Chowdhury’s “senior” colleagues in the CSG Assembly.
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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