Q&A: Civil War
Civil War
Question
Hello Rabbi Michi,
Do you think we are on the way to a civil war between the religious and the secular? It seems unavoidable. One has to thank God that no blood has been spilled so far in Beit Shemesh, Ashdod, Arad, and during the road blockades of the Jerusalem Faction.
Do you think a person like Ron Kobi is a result of religious coercion? For my part, I think that in this situation quite a few politicians and operatives are benefiting from it (on both sides), making political power and money out of it. What do you think?
Answer
I don’t know what exactly counts as a civil war (actually shooting at each other?). There is already a struggle right now, and I can’t predict how far it will escalate, if at all. Clearly there are those who are making political capital out of it, but there are also genuine and substantive issues in dispute that are hard to resolve. Not everything is self-interested.
Discussion on Answer
I don’t think so. On the contrary, such a victory would only increase the motivation to impose coercion. But that’s speculation about the future, and I don’t see much point in discussing it.
I don’t think it will get to shootings,
but I can definitely see a scenario in which secular people organize in response to Haredi demonstrations, which could end in bloodshed, Heaven forbid. It seems clear to me that what needs to be done to prevent this is to eliminate the element of coercion completely (you wouldn’t even need to separate religion and state for that). If secular people could use public transportation on the Sabbath as they wish, or sell beer on Passover without getting fined, etc., then none of them would care that an event for Haredim is held with gender separation using public funds.
What do you think?