Rabbi Michael Leo Samuel

The story is a peculiar one. The Haredi members of the Israeli Kenesset celebrated over passing a new legislation that would deport the children of foreign workers. One Haredi editor named Streimel, claimed, “History teaches us that foreign elements that come to countries offering them work are destined to destroy the absorbing country, or to take it over.” Among Streimel’s other complaints, he blasted the Conservative and Reform movements, and expressed exasperation about the growth of anti-Haredism in Israel and abroad.

When I read the article, I found myself wondering: “Where have I heard these words before?” Let me cite you the famous biblical passage that pretty much says it all: ”Then a new king, who knew nothing of Joseph , came to power in Egypt. ^He said to his subjects, “Look how numerous and powerful the Israelite people are growing, more so than we ourselves! Come, let us deal shrewdly with them to stop their increase; otherwise, in time of war they too may join our enemies to fight against us, and so leave our country” (Exod 1:8-10).

Wait a minute, since when are frum Jews supposed to act like Pharaoh? The answer ought to be obviou for in Deuteronomy 16, we discover a different kind of attitude that the Torah expects us to model:

“If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself to you, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall dismiss him from your service, a free man. When you do so, you shall not send him away empty-handed, but shall weight him down with gifts from your flock and threshing floor and wine press, in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you. For remember that you too were once slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD, your God, ransomed you. That is why I am giving you this command today . . . Remember that you too were once slaves in Egypt, and carry out these statutes carefully.”

Memory of the Exodus must be the ethical foundation of any kind of future Israelite society. Without a memory of our past, we risk becoming like Pharaoh of Egypt, who showed no compassion to the resident alien population that was living among them.

One Haredi spokesman, A. Yitzhaki, added that the government now fears the growth of the ultra-Orthodox population more than it does the growth of the non-Jewish population. “The Haredim,” he wrote, “are the ones against whom a battle needs to be waged in order to stop growth in any way possible, especially by starving their children.”

What Yitzchaki neglects to mention is that the rabbis of the Haredi communities have banned secular education and universities. They decree that the young men should stay and study in the yeshiva, refuse to pay taxes, and avoid enlisting in the army. Is it any wonder why so many of them live in squalor?

No, the ethos of our tradition demands that we consider the welfare of the residential alien; Israel’s experience of anti-Semitism has taught her the meaning of compassion and generosity of spirit. It is a pity that the Haredim seem to have little concern for one of the Torah’s most important ethical teachings.