Anti-Haredi fundamentalism
When I read the rabbi’s articles on Haredim, I feel quite a bit that you treat them exactly like leftists treat Ben Gvir and vice versa, that is, not in a matter-of-fact manner but rather “they are so stupid that it is impossible to begin to consider their claims.”
Instead of trying to understand where they are coming from, as you do with secularists and leftists, you don’t consider from the outset that there might be something to their claim.
On the question of conscription, for example (which is really the crux of the discussion about Haredim), I’ve never seen you say that maybe the state is also a little to blame for this. I also agree that the Haredim should conscript, it’s not black and white. After all, since the establishment of the state, the secularists in the state have been trying to use the army as a melting pot so that everyone will think like them. This is expressed today in small things, for example, women serving in the Seder yeshivas conscription, and all sorts of other things like that.
The Haredim are asking for a pure place for religion, and the army is not giving them that (with the Hasmonaean Brigade, perhaps it is already heading in the right direction, and Haredim are indeed starting to enlist a little). I don’t remember the name, but about 15 years ago they opened up the possibility for Haredim to enlist and they had a separate base, etc. In the end, the Ombudsman canceled it because she said that a separate base is not egalitarian.
Besides, the rabbi’s attitude is that it’s better to put the Haredim in prison because no one will enlist anyway. There’s already some Haredim enlisting, and when they arrested three Haredim guys, it only made it go down, not up.
I’m a religious Zionist and in the end I think we should still enlist, but you can’t approach this issue as a black and white thing.
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In my opinion, going to meet them is completely excessive. In the Hasmonaeans, you get punished for being late for the seder or for prayer. In other words, the army is obligated to have them come out as Haredi. This is absolutely unbelievable. It's okay to commit to allowing them to be Haredi, but to require it? What, the army works for Rabbi Lando? This is a scandal. And can a secular person demand that his son be punished if he goes to pray? People have completely lost their sense of consideration for the Haredi.
Even if they are wrong in not enlisting because of the ”minor”halachic difficulties, we will call them that.
In a Jewish state, people should have the right to serve in the army while fully respecting Jewish tradition. Let's recognize that the army does not always consider it 100%. (I know the rabbi's opinion that this should be a secular state… that's not the issue here, but most of the religious public believes that it may not be a fully halachic state, but that it should be fundamentally Jewish. Nevertheless, we all agree that there should be freedom of religion for everyone.)
I don't understand what bothers the rabbi that if a soldier is late for duty, he is punished. I see this as an excellent combination of Torah and the army.
I explained. If you don't understand this simple logic, nothing will probably help.
Why do you think they are evil and not wrong? Don't they truly and sincerely believe that this is what is best for the people of Israel?
As individuals, some of them are. They are brainwashed. That's why I emphasized that this is an evil society.
Why is society evil if it is driven by a desire to do good?
Absolutely not prevented from doing good. Prevented by what she understands as a religious duty and that morality will be burned.
So I will address the rabbi's "simple logic."
There is no such thing as leaving them and allowing them to be Haredi. Because what actually happens is that if there is no framework for a young man, half the time he will not get up for prayer (we see this with the high dropout rates of religious Zionism). Just as it is necessary to maintain kosher, someone needs to encourage young men to pray and study Torah. Because if not, they simply will not do it and will stop being Haredi (and even religious). Regarding the question of the secular parent asking the army to prohibit him from praying, this is an interesting question, and if the public in Israel comes forward and requests it, it can be considered, but just because this request sounds strange, it does not mean that the Haredi's request is wrong. Just as it is right that the army should bring kosher food, it is also right that Haredi should be forced to come to prayer (although it does not hinder, and this is the point of disagreement between us and the Haredi).
Until the Hasmonaean Brigade, the army did not give them this option, because the army leaders (and perhaps the rabbi as well) believed that the army was supposed to be a melting pot.
In any case, all of the rabbi's responses so far only prove my point. The phenomenon that the rabbi described in the article “The Loop That Traps Us” (710), is exactly how the rabbi speaks. Haredi society is of course not evil, just as the leftists are not and the secularists are not and the rightists are not. You could say that they are wrong, you could perhaps say that the leaders are evil (and you would have to prove this somehow, I don't know how you can prove that they are evil and not simply wrong).
In any case, the people are very good people, who intend to do the right thing (they do not have the distinction between the moral and the Torah. From their perspective, obedience to the Torah is the rightest thing there is (which is also not so far-fetched). It sounds from the rabbi's discourse as if he has never spoken to a Haredi.
It's very difficult for me to deal with such a low level of understanding of what I'm writing. So I'll stop here.
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