18 Dec

When Haredim Run Wild


Categories: in American Jewish Issues, Askarabbi, Contrarian wisdom, ethics, good and evil, Halacha, Israel, Judaism and Feminism, The Future of Judaism

This morning, a member of the Haredi (Ultra-Orthodox) community insisted that an Israeli woman sit at the back of the bus. The female passenger, Tanya Rosenblit, refused to comply. Shamefully, a policeman came in and asked her if she would considering “respecting” the wishes of the Haredi passenger by agreeing sit at the back of the bus—she refused a second time as well. Surprisingly, not a single passenger spoke out in defense of her.

Fortunately, the police resolved this situation and threw the Haredi man off the bus. Some folks are referring to Tanya as a modern day Israeli Rosa Parks. I imagine the rest of the passengers probably cheered.

For those of you unfamiliar with Rosa Park’s remarkable woman’s story, here is a brief summary. The date was Dec. 1, 1955. Rosa Parks got arrested for refusing to give up her seat on a municipal bus to a white man. This incident sparked the famous Montgomery bus boycott.

Today, Israeli women wish they had someone like Rosa Parks to lead them in their fight for equality against the increasingly belligerent Haredi Jewish communities.

Tanya is not the first to be confronted by the Haredi thugs. This has been going on for quite some time. Israeli novelist Naomi Raegan also refused to sit at the back of the bus, despite receiving physical threats if she refused to comply. Are the threats real? Yes. Many women have already been beaten by Haredi passengers. About a year or so ago, five Haredi men assaulted a woman and an Israel Defense Forces soldier Sunday for sitting next to each other on a bus bound for Beit Shemesh, near Jerusalem.

Unfortunately, the civil rights movement in Israel has yet to really get off the ground. Prominent Israeli politicians are afraid to stand up against the Haredi centers of power. Even the Israeli Supreme Court has failed to grant the necessary changes to ensure equality for all its citizens.

Tanya wrote about her experience in an article that appeared in the Ynet News. Here are some remarks that I felt really portrayed the dilemma that she and other women face this problem on a daily basis in Israel. The questions she raises are very important for all Israelis to weigh and consider.

  • How could it be that a man in this day and age feels that a woman is not worthy of sitting before him? How would he feel if his mother, sister or daughter encountered such contempt? Ultimately, the police officer accepted my refusal, for lack of other choice. The man who organized the protest remained in Ashdod, while the other passengers, including new ones who boarded the bus later, passed me and sat behind me without an incident . . . Yet I was left with a few questions following this incident: Why is limiting the rights and freedom of someone else considered fair when it comes in the form of adhering to Jewish law demands? Since when does the Torah come before basic manners? How could religion be used so cynically and how come nobody realized until now that this is a social problem, and that its connection to religion is slim to non-existent? How could it be that an entire community chooses to humiliate its daughters, wives and sisters and nobody raises a hue and cry? Who believes that one could really choose to live a life of humiliation and exclusion?

Until recently, the Chief Rabbis in Israel have remained silent on this issue. However the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger finally came out of the closet and condemned the incident, saying, “Israel isn’t Haredi Land . . . We can’t be the world’s landlords. This isn’t the Haredi public’s country,” the Chief Rabbi said in an interview to Kol Barama Radio. “We have no authority to impose our opinion on others. This is a public place . . .”

If you think the situation is bad now, then consider this: The brazen contempt the Haredi Jews have for Israel as a democratic state will probably be getting worse before it gets better. Census experts predict that within 50 years, a third of Israel’s population is going to be Haredi. This jump in growth will eventually pose a very serious social problem. Are we going to allow religious zealotry create a Jewish theocracy that holds democratic ideals and civil rights with utter contempt? Haven’t we learned anything from the last time in our national history, when religious fanatics led an ill-advised war against the mighty Roman Empire, ending in disaster?

If Israel is unwilling to stand up for its own citizens’ civil rights, how are its people ever going to survive as a modern day nation state? Who would imagine that religious zealots would achieve something not even the enemies of Israel have long failed to accomplish by eroding Israeli’s unity from within?

Is our beloved Israel coming to the end of the line?

18 Dec

Drowning in a Sea of Doubt and Cynicism . . .


Categories: in American Jewish Issues, Bible, biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Current Events, ethics, good and evil, Heart-Centered Judaism, Maimonidean Wisdom, The Future of Judaism, Theology and Philosophy

This article is the first of a new series dealing with faith-or better yet, the loss of faith we are witnessing in our society today. Two excellent sayings capture much of the message found in tonight’s blog:

“Doubt is the beginning, not the end, of wisdom,” (Spanish proverb), or, “If there is room for question, something is wrong” (Yiddish proverb).

One of the first Jewish thinkers to seriously grapple with the role of doubt and religion was the ninth century Jewish philosopher Saadia Gaon. He pondered: Why do so many people have doubts about their faith in God and religion in general? Although he was speaking to a medieval audience, his ideas are very relevant for the people of 21st century who have become deeply disenchanted with traditional faith for a variety of different reasons. Saadia writes:

  • My heart grieves for humankind and my heart is affected on account of my own people, Israel, who I see in my own time. Many who follow their faith, but they have a distorted understanding of their faith; consequently, their faith is replete with unenlightened views and absurd beliefs that are current among those who follow Judaism. Others, who deny their faith, proudly denigrate their unbelief, ridiculing those who truly believe . . . I also saw people drowning in a sea of doubt, overwhelmed by the waves of confusion with no diver to raise them up from the depths, with no swimmer to bring them to rescue . . .[1]

Had Saadia lived in today’s era, he most certainly would have spoken about the state of spiritual anarchy that is so pervasive in today’s religious societies. Men of all faiths have abdicated their responsibility to care and shepherd their people. Everyday there are countless stories of clergy either participating or covering up crimes of pedophilia. Religion has in many circles become increasingly militant, often encouraging its followers to commit acts of terror and mayhem against its foes; this problem has been especially virulent in the Middle East, but with the Al Qaeda attack on the Twin Towers, even quiet Western societies have now been affected by the forces of religious intolerance.

Such behavior hardly inspires belief in a kind or benevolent Deity, whose followers commit the worse kind of human atrocities and moral indecencies. I am amazed how mute religious leaders have been in chastising the fanaticism and moral corruption of their zombie-like followers.

The Jewish community has certainly not been altogether immune to these accusations. Various institutions of higher and advanced Jewish learning prefer to castigate the Government as well as sincere minded Jewish citizens who are demanding moral accountability. In Israel, where the religious parties exert a powerful influence on the affairs of State, the corruption is even more ubiquitous. Religious coercion and draconian laws have become a way of life, along with politicians receiving kickbacks and bribes.

Whether it be well-known Hassidic rabbis fleecing poor widows of their wealth in the name of their religion, or whether it be rabbis trafficking human organs, or committing acts of fraud in the areas of fraud, Jewish education, sexism, or endorsing the sexual exploitation of females—the end result has darkened the light of faith.

Is it not any wonder why more serious-minded people have come to the conclusion that religion is an illusion that has long outlived its contemporary usefulness? Yes, legions of once devoted followers find it difficult to believe in a faith that enables the worse kind of human behavior—and they are absolutely right.

But Saadia was only partially correct. In his day, many people were drowning in the sea of doubt, but today countless numbers of people are drowning in a sea of cynicism—produced by charlatan shepherds who have made it their life mission to fleece the flock.

Yet, Saadia offers an important prescription: doubt can serve a positive function, for it is the first step toward discovering a knowledge that is self-authenticating. It is precisely through skepticism one refuses to accept things as they present themselves; it is only by questioning, one can arrive a better understanding of what it truly means to believe; doubting is essential, if one is ever arrive at pure concept of truth.

Yet, Saadia offers an important prescription: doubt can serve a positive function, for it is the first step toward discovering a knowledge that is self-authenticating. It is precisely through skepticism one refuses to accept things as they present themselves; it is only by questioning, one can arrive a better understanding of what it truly means to believe; doubting is essential, if one is ever arrive at pure concept of truth. Moses Maimonides actually concurs and explains that before we can arrive at a truth belief in God, we must first shred all the inauthentic conceptions based upon a distorted theological understanding of the Divine. How true!

Just as Jacob wrestles with God, so must we wrestle with God; our questioning, our dissatisfaction with glib and stupid answers simply won’t do. Continue Reading