Secular Israel Needs a Dialogue With the ultra-Orthodox, Not Misdirected Rage

Ultra-Orthodox boys watch a protest march against transferring public funds to Haredi communities, in Bnei Brak,

Bnei Brak was chosen simply because it is the largest Haredi town and is close to Tel Aviv. But its residents are hardly the ones to blame. They have no say on the Knesset candidates of the parties they vote for or the policies they promote. These are decided by the senior rabbis on the councils of Torah sages that control the parties. And while no one actually forced, in the privacy of the voting booth, 60 percent of the city’s voters to choose United Torah Judaism and 30 percent Shas in the election last November, they didn’t really have much choice in the matter. They belong to a community whose organizing principle is to obey their rabbis’ edicts, and that goes for voting as well.

There’s something not quite right about protesting against an entire community. Not because, as some Haredi spokespeople have tried to claim, that protesting against them is akin to antisemitism. That spurious claim is based on the false assumption that there is something about Haredim that is more “authentically Jewish” than non-Haredi Israelis. But since there are no protests against other communities where the overwhelming majority of residents voted for the parties of the coalition, why should Bnei Brak be singled out?

Yitzchak Goldknopf, a senior ultra-Orthodox politician, consulting with Benjamin Netanyahu in the Knesset last month.Credit: Ohad Zwigenberg

A better case might be made for protesting outside the homes of the Haredi politicians or senior rabbis, as regularly takes place outside the homes of several cabinet ministers. But even that would be a bit incongruous as the protests in this case are not against the judicial overhaul, a new policy peculiar to this government. The “coalition money” system for buying off the support of the Haredi parties has been going on for decades, under many different governments, and not just those led by Benjamin Netanyahu. It is a system that has underpinned the growth of the Haredi autonomy within Israel that has existed since the state’s foundation and with the tacit blessing of all Israeli governments. The only element making this government’s use of “coalition money” different is the scale and the rapaciousness of it.

So why march on Bnei Brak now?

There are two connected reasons. One immediate and the other long-term.

The immediate reason is that the Haredi parties were key backers of the judicial overhaul, now suspended indefinitely, and will back it again if and when the government relaunches the legislation. And though less the lawmakers of Shas and United Torah Judaism account for less than one-third of coalition MKs, the fact that they represent a community which is underrepresented in the workforce, by choice, and insists on not sending its sons and daughters to military service, makes it particularly galling to many Israelis when they seek to eviscerate Israeli democracy. Which brings us to the long-term fear.

Today the Haredim are still a minority, around 13 percent of the population. But due to their much higher birth rate, if current demographic trends continue within 50 years the Haredim, together with their religious Zionist allies, will be a majority. If they choose they will be able to impose on Israel a theocracy that the remaining secular minority, if they choose to remain, will have to finance. The march on Bnei Brak is a preemptive strike on that grim future.

But unless someone has a plan to start deporting and denying Haredim of their voting rights, and I haven’t heard of one, there’s no realistic way anyone can prevent such an outcome. So what’s the point?

It doesn’t mean that outcome is assured, however. A lot can happen in 50 years. External events could cause another mass influx of non-Haredi Jewish immigrants, like the million who arrived in the 1990s from the former Soviet Union. Haredi birth rates could decline, and there are some signs that it is already happening. The attrition rate – people choosing to leave Haredi life – could go up, and that seems to be happening as well. And the young people who choose to remain Haredi could also change their outlook, become less insular and more liberal, get a better education for themselves and, most crucially, for their children, that will allow them join the workforce and in better jobs. As they say, demography is not destiny.

An ultra-Orthodox man looking at a billboard showing an election ad for Benjamin Netanyahu and his Likud party, in Bnei Brak last week.Credit: Avishag Shaar-Yashuv

And yes, government policy needs to change as well, toward rewarding parents who work and choose a broad education for their children. That’s not the policy the coalition is currently pursuing, so it will take a change of government. But it won’t be enough without the cooperation of at least a significant part of those Haredim who voted UTJ and Shas in November, so there must be some form of dialogue with them as well. On balance, a march of rage on Bnei Brak is probably not the best way to get such a dialogue going.

The root of the problem is that the protest against the Haredim has no clear idea what it wants, only what it doesn’t want. The protesters against the government’s judicial “reform” have some idea of the form of democracy they are trying to safeguard. But those against the Haredim seem to be focused on just stopping time, or at least buying a bit of time before demographics kick in. The Haredim, however, have at least an idea of what they stand for. Ultimately, the Haredi ideal is a socially and financially unsustainable model, but at least they have an idea of their ideal Jewish society, even if it’s a myth.

Secular Israel has forgotten what it stands for. That it is actually the most successful Jewish society in history. Secular Israelis constitute the only Jewish community that succeeded in founding a Jewish state, building a prosperous economy, social institutions that deliver universal health care and education, one of the world’s most powerful armies and, on top of it all, reviving an ancient language and transforming it into today’s vibrant Hebrew culture.

A protester against the judicial overhaul speaks to an ultra-Orthodox man in Bnei Brak, in April.Credit: Tomer Appelbaum

These are unique achievements that are worth not only fighting for, but taking pride in as Jews. They are more remarkable than the Haredi community’s success in rebuilding itself, in isolation, after the Holocaust, phenomenal as the ultra-Orthodox renaissance is. Because the miracle of Jewish statehood sustained both secular society and the Haredi autonomy.

In the past few months, the protesters have won a hard-fought and valuable battle against the government’s anti-democratic plans. There will undoubtedly be additional battles. But preserving Israel’s liberal society alongside a growing Orthodox community will not be achieved through protests. Instead, Israelis have to redefine for themselves what makes them special as the most successful Jewish community ever.

This article is published in its entirety.