Q&A: A Folk Story That Reflects the Situation?
A Folk Story That Reflects the Situation?
Question
There is a popular Haredi story, with some basis in fact, about a kollel fellow who was immersed in Torah study but had no connections to political fixers, and his wife had studied in seminary to become a teacher… and of course in the Independent Education system the jobs are reserved for people with connections. The home of that dear kollel fellow was empty, and he did not know what to do.
In the building he had a Religious Zionist neighbor who saw his distress and suggested: My daughter studies in the state religious school across the street, and next year the third-grade teacher is retiring and they haven’t found a new teacher.
Your wife is certified to teach, so let her apply, and I’ll recommend her. She seems successful and suitable.
The kollel fellow and his wife debated: on the one hand, they need a livelihood; on the other hand, to teach in a state religious school? Religious-Zionist content?
They decided to go ask Rabbi Shach. They asked, and Rabbi Shach said it was an excellent idea and there was no problem at all with her teaching the content written in the state religious school books, etc.—she just had to be careful not to catch from the Religious Zionists the “love of the Jewish people” that they are full of.
Careful, it’s contagious. Bottom line: she interviewed, was accepted, taught, and to this day they live happily ever after, etc.
That’s the first half of the story, which everyone knows.
The second half is less well known.
About 30 years later, roughly the same thing happened with the son of that same kollel fellow, and he and his young wife decided to ask Rabbi Gershon Edelstein the same question, on the assumption that what had been right for his mother and mother-in-law would be right for them as well.
Rabbi Gershon heard the question and said it was an excellent idea and there was no problem with the content of the state religious school, that she should teach according to what was written in their books, etc.—she just had to be careful not to catch from the Religious Zionists the “hatred of the Jewish people” that they have toward other Jews—leftists, LGBT people, opponents of the regime overhaul, etc.
😄
So that’s the full story.
Now for the question:
What happened to them, and how?
Answer
Let’s skip the riddles. Do you actually have a question?
Discussion on Answer
You’re just making a blanket generalization. In the past too they had hatreds, and now too there are those who don’t. Beyond that, reality has also changed (the “liberals” have become more violent). And finally, everyone today hates more, and as in water face answers to face.
How and why did the Religious Zionists, within about a generation, turn from champions of “love of the Jewish people” (despite secularism)
to spreaders of hatred of the Jewish people? (Including toward fully religious people like Bennett, Alsheikh, Mandelblit, and also religious people on the left, and certainly secular people, LGBT people, opponents of the regime overhaul.)