Religious Zionism is stuck between a rock and a hard place, the secular anti-Zionists who were determined to invent a "new Jew," rooted in the Land a free from the restrictions of Jewish Law, and Chareidi Jews who value living in the Land but reject the Zionist institutions.
Religious Zionism began by partnering the secular Zionists in order to develop state-supported religious institutions, while suffering an inferiority complex about its more "lax" than the Chareidi observance of Jewish Law.
Contrary to the laws of nature, common sense, rather than being crushed and destroyed, religious Zionism has grown, developed and prospered. Religious soldiers make up a large percentage of elite army units, and it is becoming more and more common for them to be promoted to the much higher ranks. Religious Zionists are at the forefront of all settlement and farming activity replacing the secular, whose children are much less interested.
Torah-learning, for religious Zionist men and women, is on a very high level and popular. There are also religious-academic institutions which combine religion and technology, even specializing in application of Jewish Law and innovative technology.
This, not surprisingly, has caused jealousy.
The true aim of Disengagement was to "break the settlers." And this year's Shemitta (farming sabbatical) began with a major controversy concerning whether or not heter mechira, a solution rooted in Jewish Law for "selling farmland" and still farm it, would be accepted. The recent firing of Rabbi Druckman is another battle on that front.
Just like the Jewish Calendar combines both the lunar and solar years, Judaism combines kodesh and chol, the Holy and the Profane. Religious Zionism struggles to integrate Torah with governing the Land of Israel in a Jewish way. It's a long and difficult process. We are far from its completion. It will take much more hard work to make the State of Israel a Jewish State.
G-d willing, we will succeed.
5 comments:
B"H
You raised some important points here.
Thanks for posting.
Batya, you often sign off [maybe only at Me-Ander?] with "We CAN change the world." So why in the world are you holding on to these distinctions between the RZ and Chareidi world? If we want to change the world, we need to see each other as Jews, regardless of our political affiliations. We need to see what we have in common, not what makes us so different. United we stand...etc.
We will never bring the Geula by holding onto dogma - that goes for both the Chareidim and the RZ world!
ya'aqov, thanks
yitz, good point
Funny, how for a long time, actually most probobably until a couple of years before we left Bayit V'gan, I was totally oblivious to any "separation." That's just like I grew up not knowing there were different ethnic groups among Jews.
I don't like all the adjectives. And I don't like that not all Israeli Jews see army service as a great mitzvah. Life is a market place. So, if all Jews, even the stricted to Torah, were willing to be drafted in the army, the army would adjust. It's not going to be a Torah army unless it's filled with Torah-loyal soldiers and Torah-loyal officers.
Real life is filled with divisions, labels. Sadly, it's human nature.
And yes, we must change the world.
Sorry if this is a bit late. You have already seen on Cosmic X's site that the Rabbi Druckman-Conversion issue is no simple matter. There are Halachic issues here that are beyond the ken of both of us. I would suggest that the Hetter Mechira issue be viewed in a similar light. It is not an us vs. them issue, it has very strong Halachic implications. And not all of the RZ world holds of it - notice how much more popular the Otzar Beit Din option has become.
AS to the army, the Chareidi position is that the army is too risky for young unmarried men; some of this concern has been borne out over the years. They also consider their learning a form of protection for the state, in a similar way that Mercaz HaRav does. But even here, there has been progress, and the Nachal Chareidi, while not accepted across the Chareidi board, is here to stay!
Thanks, some good points.
On shabbat, Yossi (father of Noam HaYa"D) Apter spoke about how he's helping potential converts. You probably would have problems with his approach to the issue.
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