Beyond Walls: The New Haredi Manifesto

I am Haredi and I am Israeli. These are not contradictory identities. Despite what they might try to tell you. Despite what the political operatives, politicians, Haredi media, and secular media might say. I reject the unfortunate narrative that one must choose between the two.

We have a problem. A big problem. A problem that, if we don’t solve it now, will destroy everything we’ve built. 20,000 draft orders, 230 reported for duty. This isn’t a victory; it’s a moral defeat. It’s communal weakness.

The Road Ends Here

For 70 years, we’ve wandered in the desert following a path of “sit and do nothing.” For 70 years, we’ve managed to evade, maneuver, delay, and pray for budgets, creating temporary solutions. For 70 years, we’ve pretended that the state is a temporary problem, that secular Israelis are a passing phenomenon, that if we just wait long enough—everything will resolve itself.

It’s over. This path has reached its end. The economic model is collapsing, the social model is disintegrating, the political model is losing its relevance. Now the choice is simple: either we change or we crash.

A New War on the Horizon

Look around you. A new covenant is forming in Israeli society. They call it the “Alliance of Those Who Serve.” They’re writing books, establishing movements, organizing conferences. They’re not just protesting and shouting. They’re building something real—an alternative model for the State of Israel. A model where anyone who doesn’t serve, doesn’t work, doesn’t pay taxes—is not on the inside. They’re outside. Not a second-class citizen. A guest.

This isn’t fear-mongering. This isn’t another political exercise. This is a grassroots movement growing from the bottom up. It crosses political lines. It’s much stronger than you think. It’s waiting for the right moment, the right opportunity. And then it will shut off the power.

And what will we do then? Protest in front of the Supreme Court? Block roads? Cry out to our religious leaders? All these are worn-out tools. They won’t help when the power is cut.

We Are Not the Torah

Over the years, we’ve created a dangerous confusion. We’ve identified ourselves with the Torah itself. “Whoever is against us is against the Torah.” “Whoever criticizes us criticizes the Torah.” “Whoever demands we change is demanding to change the Torah.”

This is a lie. Throughout generations, people knew how to distinguish between the eternal Torah and the human, temporary, flawed institutions we build around it.

The Torah doesn’t need our protection. It withstood Pharaoh, Nebuchadnezzar, Titus, Constantine, the Inquisition, Hitler. It will withstand Barak, Gantz, Lieberman, and Saar too. But our community? Our children? Our grandchildren? They do need protection. And the best way to protect them is not to retreat behind walls but to go out and make a difference.

A New Haredi Identity

I call for a new Haredi identity. A Haredi identity that isn’t afraid of the outside world. A Haredi identity that doesn’t see every change as an existential threat. A Haredi identity capable of looking reality in the eye and saying: “How do we integrate without compromising our values?”

It’s time to break through the imaginary boundaries between “us” and “them.” To recognize that our fate is intertwined with the fate of the State of Israel. That our security depends on everyone’s security. That our economy is part of everyone’s economy.

It’s time to stop behaving like guests and start behaving like partners. To stop thinking in terms of “what we deserve” and start thinking in terms of “what we can contribute.” To stop being a community that settles for preservation and start being a community that strives for influence.

Not a False Prophecy

And there are those who will say: “This is a false prophecy. These words are surrender to secularism. Abandonment of sacred values. Compromise with Zionism.”

I say: this is the opposite of surrender. This is taking responsibility. This is standing tall. This is declaring that we won’t let others dictate our identity, our education, our way of life—but that we are willing to bear our share of the common responsibility.

And more importantly: this is the only path that will allow our continued existence as a large, influential, and thriving Haredi public in the Land of Israel. Because the old path leads to destruction.

What to Do Now

1. **Move from defense to leadership.** Stop reacting to what others initiate and start initiating ourselves. Come with our own model for civic-national service that respects our values but takes responsibility.

2. **Develop a new educational model.** Don’t compromise on core values, but do incorporate genuine core studies, not just for appearances. Prepare our children for the world’s challenges, not hide the world from them.

3. **Respect work.** Stop seeing work as a “lesser option” and learn to respect a working Haredi Jew as much as we respect a studying Haredi Jew.

4. **Develop Haredi civic leadership.** Not just “fixers” who mediate between the community and state institutions, but genuine leadership that offers vision, leads change, creates new connections.

5. **Step out of the bubble.** Create genuine dialogue with other parts of Israeli society. Not from an inferior position, not from a superior position. From a position of partnership.

Who Are Our Real Enemies?

Over the years, we’ve learned to see the secular, the leftists, the Zionists, the Supreme Court, the media—as our enemies. But our real enemy is fear. Fear of change. Fear of confrontation. Fear of the price we might have to pay.

Our real enemy is passivity. Waiting for someone else to solve our problems. Relying on temporary solutions for permanent challenges.

Our real enemy is disconnection. The disconnection between the Torah we study and the reality we live in. The disconnection between the values we talk about and the values we actually implement.

The Hour of Decision

Others have found their voice. The “Alliance of Those Who Serve” is consolidating its narrative. Initiatives like “The Fourth Quarter,” “We’re Rising,” “To the Flag,” “Sheaves”—they’re all creating a new framework for thinking.

And us? Will we continue to recite the same old answers? Will we continue to believe that reality won’t change? Will we continue to think that “the eternity of Israel will not lie” means that Haredi politicians will always win?

I call to you, my brothers and sisters: Wake up! Time is running out. The collision between the two movements—ours and theirs—will be painful. The price will be heavy. And no one will come to save us.

Only we can save ourselves. Only we can choose between remaining within the walls of social withdrawal or going out and spreading our light in the public sphere.

This is the hour of decision. And the choice is in our hands.