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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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Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire
Explosions send smoke into the air in Gaza, as seen from the Israeli side of the border, July 17, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Amir Cohen
The spokesperson for Hamas’s armed wing said on Friday that while the Palestinian terrorist group favors reaching an interim truce in the Gaza war, if such an agreement is not reached in current negotiations it could revert to insisting on a full package deal to end the conflict.
Hamas has previously offered to release all the hostages held in Gaza and conclude a permanent ceasefire agreement, and Israel has refused, Abu Ubaida added in a televised speech.
Arab mediators Qatar and Egypt, backed by the United States, have hosted more than 10 days of talks on a US-backed proposal for a 60-day truce in the war.
Israeli officials were not immediately available for comment on the eve of the Jewish Sabbath.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office said in a statement on a call he had with Pope Leo on Friday that Israel‘s efforts to secure a hostage release deal and 60-day ceasefire “have so far not been reciprocated by Hamas.”
As part of the potential deal, 10 hostages held in Gaza would be returned along with the bodies of 18 others, spread out over 60 days. In exchange, Israel would release a number of detained Palestinians.
“If the enemy remains obstinate and evades this round as it has done every time before, we cannot guarantee a return to partial deals or the proposal of the 10 captives,” said Abu Ubaida.
Disputes remain over maps of Israeli army withdrawals, aid delivery mechanisms into Gaza, and guarantees that any eventual truce would lead to ending the war, said two Hamas officials who spoke to Reuters on Friday.
The officials said the talks have not reached a breakthrough on the issues under discussion.
Hamas says any agreement must lead to ending the war, while Netanyahu says the war will only end once Hamas is disarmed and its leaders expelled from Gaza.
Almost 1,650 Israelis and foreign nationals have been killed as a result of the conflict, including 1,200 killed in the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas attack on southern Israel, according to Israeli tallies. Over 250 hostages were kidnapped during Hamas’s Oct. 7 onslaught.
Israel responded with an ongoing military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
The post Hamas Says No Interim Hostage Deal Possible Without Work Toward Permanent Ceasefire first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel
People hold images of the victims of the 1994 bombing attack on the Argentine Israeli Mutual Association (AMIA) community center, marking the 30th anniversary of the attack, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, July 18, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Irina Dambrauskas
Iran on Friday marked the 31st anniversary of the 1994 bombing of the Argentine Israelite Mutual Association (AMIA) Jewish community center in Buenos Aires by slamming Argentina for what it called “baseless” accusations over Tehran’s alleged role in the terrorist attack and accusing Israel of politicizing the atrocity to influence the investigation and judicial process.
The Iranian Foreign Ministry issued a statement on the anniversary of Argentina’s deadliest terrorist attack, which killed 85 people and wounded more than 300.
“While completely rejecting the accusations against Iranian citizens, the Islamic Republic of Iran condemns attempts by certain Argentine factions to pressure the judiciary into issuing baseless charges and politically motivated rulings,” the statement read.
“Reaffirming that the charges against its citizens are unfounded, the Islamic Republic of Iran insists on restoring their reputation and calls for an end to this staged legal proceeding,” it continued.
Last month, a federal judge in Argentina ordered the trial in absentia of 10 Iranian and Lebanese nationals suspected of orchestrating the attack in Buenos Aires.
The ten suspects set to stand trial include former Iranian and Lebanese ministers and diplomats, all of whom are subject to international arrest warrants issued by Argentina for their alleged roles in the terrorist attack.
In its statement on Friday, Iran also accused Israel of influencing the investigation to advance a political campaign against the Islamist regime in Tehran, claiming the case has been used to serve Israeli interests and hinder efforts to uncover the truth.
“From the outset, elements and entities linked to the Zionist regime [Israel] exploited this suspicious explosion, pushing the investigation down a false and misleading path, among whose consequences was to disrupt the long‑standing relations between the people of Iran and Argentina,” the Iranian Foreign Ministry said.
“Clear, undeniable evidence now shows the Zionist regime and its affiliates exerting influence on the Argentine judiciary to frame Iranian nationals,” the statement continued.
In April, lead prosecutor Sebastián Basso — who took over the case after the 2015 murder of his predecessor, Alberto Nisman — requested that federal Judge Daniel Rafecas issue national and international arrest warrants for Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei over his alleged involvement in the attack.
Since 2006, Argentine authorities have sought the arrest of eight Iranians — including former president Ali Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani, who died in 2017 — yet more than three decades after the deadly bombing, all suspects remain still at large.
In a post on X, the Delegation of Argentine Israelite Associations (DAIA), the country’s Jewish umbrella organization, released a statement commemorating the 31st anniversary of the bombing.
“It was a brutal attack on Argentina, its democracy, and its rule of law,” the group said. “At DAIA, we continue to demand truth and justice — because impunity is painful, and memory is a commitment to both the present and the future.”
31 años del atentado a la AMIA – DAIA. 31 años sin justicia.
El 18 de julio de 1994, un atentado terrorista dejó 85 personas muertas y más de 300 heridas. Fue un ataque brutal contra la Argentina, su democracia y su Estado de derecho.
Desde la DAIA, seguimos exigiendo verdad y… pic.twitter.com/kV2ReGNTIk
— DAIA (@DAIAArgentina) July 18, 2025
Despite Argentina’s longstanding belief that Lebanon’s Shiite Hezbollah terrorist group carried out the devastating attack at Iran’s request, the 1994 bombing has never been claimed or officially solved.
Meanwhile, Tehran has consistently denied any involvement and refused to arrest or extradite any suspects.
To this day, the decades-long investigation into the terrorist attack has been plagued by allegations of witness tampering, evidence manipulation, cover-ups, and annulled trials.
In 2006, former prosecutor Nisman formally charged Iran for orchestrating the attack and Hezbollah for carrying it out.
Nine years later, he accused former Argentine President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner — currently under house arrest on corruption charges — of attempting to cover up the crime and block efforts to extradite the suspects behind the AMIA atrocity in return for Iranian oil.
Nisman was killed later that year, and to this day, both his case and murder remain unresolved and under ongoing investigation.
The alleged cover-up was reportedly formalized through the memorandum of understanding signed in 2013 between Kirchner’s government and Iranian authorities, with the stated goal of cooperating to investigate the AMIA bombing.
The post Iran Marks 31st Anniversary of AMIA Bombing by Slamming Argentina’s ‘Baseless’ Accusations, Blaming Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jordan Reveals Muslim Brotherhood Operating Vast Illegal Funding Network Tied to Gaza Donations, Political Campaigns
Murad Adailah, the head of Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood, attends an interview with Reuters in Amman, Jordan, Sept. 7, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Jehad Shelbak
The Muslim Brotherhood, one of the Arab world’s oldest and most influential Islamist movements, has been implicated in a wide-ranging network of illegal financial activities in Jordan and abroad, according to a new investigative report.
Investigations conducted by Jordanian authorities — along with evidence gathered from seized materials — revealed that the Muslim Brotherhood raised tens of millions of Jordanian dinars through various illegal activities, the Jordan news agency (Petra) reported this week.
With operations intensifying over the past eight years, the report showed that the group’s complex financial network was funded through various sources, including illegal donations, profits from investments in Jordan and abroad, and monthly fees paid by members inside and outside the country.
The report also indicated that the Muslim Brotherhood has taken advantage of the war in Gaza to raise donations illegally.
Out of all donations meant for Gaza, the group provided no information on where the funds came from, how much was collected, or how they were distributed, and failed to work with any international or relief organizations to manage the transfers properly.
Rather, the investigations revealed that the Islamist network used illicit financial mechanisms to transfer funds abroad.
According to Jordanian authorities, the group gathered more than JD 30 million (around $42 million) over recent years.
With funds transferred to several Arab, regional, and foreign countries, part of the money was allegedly used to finance domestic political campaigns in 2024, as well as illegal activities and cells.
In April, Jordan outlawed the Muslim Brotherhood, the country’s most vocal opposition group, and confiscated its assets after members of the Islamist movement were found to be linked to a sabotage plot.
The movement’s political arm in Jordan, the Islamic Action Front, became the largest political grouping in parliament after elections last September, although most seats are still held by supporters of the government.
Opponents of the group, which is banned in most Arab countries, label it a terrorist organization. However, the movement claims it renounced violence decades ago and now promotes its Islamist agenda through peaceful means.
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