A Prisoner Cannot Free Himself… But We Can
This transcript was produced automatically using artificial intelligence. There may be inaccuracies in the transcribed content and in speaker identification.
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Table of Contents
- "A prisoner cannot free himself from prison"
- Deep identification with the Haredi model
- Conscription as a symptom, not the problem
- The call to the public — it all depends on us
- The solution — applying force and bringing down the walls
Summary
General Overview
A short and sharp speech by Rabbi Michael Abraham at a demonstration on the issue of Haredi conscription. The Rabbi argues that the real problem is not the Haredi public itself, which is like a "captured child in relation to itself," but its political partners — especially the representatives of Religious Zionism — who enable the continued draft evasion. The Rabbi calls on the public to stop giving power to representatives who cooperate with the existing situation, and presents the Third Path movement as one that is trying to address the root of the problem.
"A prisoner cannot free himself from prison"
The Rabbi opens with the Talmudic parable: the Haredi public is "imprisoned" in a jail that it itself built. We should not expect the Haredi leadership to get itself out of the situation it brought itself into — that is not realistic. The task falls to "the others," those who are outside the prison and can help bring down its walls. The Rabbi asks: where are the representatives of Religious Zionism? Where are the other coalition members?
Deep identification with the Haredi model
The Rabbi rejects the common explanation that this is "just coalition constraints." In his view, there is a deep internal identification on the part of Religious Zionist leaders with the conservative Haredi model. His proof: the Haredi rabbis threaten to break up the coalition if there is a conscription law, but the Religious Zionist rabbis do not threaten to break it up if there is no conscription law. This is an asymmetry that points to identification, not surrender.
Conscription as a symptom, not the problem
The Rabbi emphasizes that the issue of conscription is only a symptom of a deeper problem — the conservative religious model that leads both camps, the Haredi and the Religious Zionist. The Third Path movement is trying to address that problem: to say that the religious model on which the public is built is the wrong model, a model led by people who hold a mistaken outlook.
The call to the public — it all depends on us
The Rabbi directs his call not to the Haredim and not to the politicians, but to the public itself. Until the public stops giving power to representatives who cooperate with the draft evasion — in conscription, in budgets, in the corruption of the Chief Rabbinate — nothing will change. We can go on demonstrating for another ten years with no result.
The solution — applying force and bringing down the walls
The Rabbi argues that the Haredi worldview will not be changed through demonstrations or persuasion, but only by applying force and imposing sanctions. But once the walls fall, the Rabbi believes that many people within the Haredi public itself will emerge who agree with the need for conscription, core curriculum studies, and cooperation — people who are fed up with their leadership but are trapped inside the system.
Full Transcript
[Rabbi Michael Abraham] To talk to the people who live there across the bridge is like talking to walls. We're dealing with captured children.
[Speaker B] The problem
[Rabbi Michael Abraham] The biggest problem is that they are captured children at the hands of themselves. They themselves built the prison in which they are imprisoned. And in a situation like that, of course a prisoner cannot free himself from prison; a captive cannot free himself from prison. I don't expect the Haredi public and the Haredi leadership to get out of the situation they got themselves into. I do expect it, but it's not realistic. So where is the problem, then? The problem lies with the people who don't live across the bridge. With the people who can make it possible for them, help them, to get out of that prison. The question is: where are the others? Where are those who can free this captive from prison? Where are the representatives of Religious Zionism? Where are the representatives of Likud? Where are all the other members of the coalition? I'm not talking about the opposition. Why aren't they helping those prisoners get out of prison? In the end, this is saving them from themselves, not just saving us. It's saving them from themselves. Why isn't that happening? I think it's not happening for two connected reasons. One reason is that these wings that are leading the Religious Zionist public today are wings that fundamentally identify with this outlook. These are groups whose leadership, both rabbinic leadership and political leadership, ultimately feels a kind of deference toward the Haredi model. And that's why I don't accept the claim that this is just some kind of coalition pressure and they're forced to give in and all things of that sort. That's part of it, yes, but it's not only that. There's something much deeper here. The Haredi rabbis say: if there is a law — if there isn't a conscription law, we'll break up the coalition. But the rabbis on the other side don't say that if there is a conscription law, we'll break up the coalition. So I don't buy the claim that they're only being forced. That's not true. There is a deep internal identification here with the Haredi religious model. That's where the problem lies. The draft is a symptom. And I think the Third Religious Movement, in whose name I am speaking here, is trying to address this problem. It's trying to say that the religious model on which we are sitting is not the right model. It is a model led by people who hold the wrong model — that's perhaps more precise. And the time has come for us, in the end, not to let this happen. The problem is — I'm not directing this call to the Haredi public. I'm also not directing this call to Smotrich, nor to the rabbis who back him. There's no chance. I want to direct this call to us. The question is: how long will we continue to give power to these people so they can go on cooperating with this scandal — and not only with this scandal, but with many other scandals that I won't get into here, though everyone can understand what I'm referring to. And until we understand that in the end someone else has to free these captives, and until we understand that we cannot go on giving power to people who ultimately cooperate with this thing, there is no chance of solving the problem. I really, really call on you. In the end, this demonstration is not directed at the Haredim. This demonstration is also not directed at the Haredim's other partners; unfortunately, they are their partners. This demonstration is directed at us. We need to stop giving power to these people who ultimately perpetuate the situation. They tell us that it's only coalition constraints, that really they're with us, that really they also disagree. I don't buy it. I don't buy it. Because if they didn't agree, this wouldn't be happening. In the end, this surrender to so-called rabbinic authority, this surrender to the idea that we must preserve the partnership with the Haredim even at the cost of these scandals of conscription and budgets and the corruption of the Chief Rabbinate and the corruption of everything that moves here — and the Religious Zionist representatives are cooperating with all of that too. Let that be clear. And if we keep giving them power, it will just go on and on, and we can keep standing here for another ten years. Nothing will happen until we wake up. Not the Haredim and not our representatives in the Knesset, no. We need to understand that in the end everything depends on us. This partnership that exists today, which enables the Haredim to do what they are doing here — that is the problem, not the Haredim. You will not change their outlook through demonstrations like this, or in any other way. That outlook has to be changed by applying force. Applying force, imposing sanctions, making sure they can no longer continue. But once they can no longer continue, in the end I believe that when the walls fall, many, many people who agree with us will emerge, many people who want to cooperate, who want to enlist, who are fed up with their own Haredi rabbinic and political leadership. I meet those people. In the Third Path, the partnership between Haredim and Religious Zionists. And on both sides they agree that there needs to be conscription and there need to be core curriculum studies and there needs to be cooperation, but there is some kind of problem here. The prison walls need to be brought down. And that will only be done from the outside. So the draft is a symptom, and until we understand that, and as long as we keep demonstrating here about the draft, I don't think anything will really move. I hope this message will sink in, and with God's help we will hear good news soon — that the hostages return, that we succeed in all the goals of the war, and also that in the end the prison walls will be brought down. Have a good week.