Coercion and Cohesion

In the face of keeping the dead cease fire alive (clearly the result of diplomacy skills learned at the Generalissimo Francisco Franco School of International Relations), there is a constant and  consistent rattling of sabres at us here in Israel. Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and Turkey are all in on taking us down. This is disturbing, of course. Every now and again something internal happens, some events that actually are as important as they are unrecognized as important. These things tend to be about  the fundamental essence of who we are as a people – what we are now, and what we are growing into.  

    Two stories reported in the last few days may seem like nothing in all the noise around us. One is the decision by the Ministry of Education ruling that students in secular state-run schools will be permitted to put on tefillin at school. This became an issue over the last year. In the wake of the attack by Hamas, students in different parts of the country took a turn toward a more ritualistic interaction with being Jewish. What anyone does in the privacy of their own home is (meant to be) their own business. School is in the public domain, and personal expression can be complex. After all, we do not want to feel forced or compelled. The issue here is students making a choice, and that choice being respected. Why this is important is that there are those who see this as a threat to those who choose to not put on tefillin. I am not sure how they get there, but I can tell you as a teacher and as a parent – in religious (hate that word) schools, students who choose to not participate in the morning – or any prayers, for that matter – are not required to do so. This is not an enforceable activity. 

    The other story is of a café in Jerusalem that remains open on Shabbat. The city generally shuts down from Friday evening to Saturday evening, but there are places that do remain open. This particular place is in a neighbourhood close to a religious (don’t like that word, either) neighbourhood, and it apparently has created friction by conducting business on Shabbat. There have been protests and confrontations. What I do not understand is the need on the part of the religious to protest. What is the goal here? It is not as if the people in the café don’t know that it is Shabbat; it is not as if the café owner  is out on the street, dragging people in to drink coffee that was prepared that day. Is this really the best way to deal with the issue? Is this really the best way to spend a Shabbat afternoon? 

    My point here is that how we interact/participate in the spiritual/ritual aspect of who we are as a people has to be a personal decision, not imposed or inflicted by personal or governmental interference. Businesses want to stay open on Shabbat, restaurants and stores want to sell bread and leavened products over Pesach, and certain communities wish to have public transportation on Shabbat and holidays. Whatever we do to deal with these issues, we better learn how to do it with an understanding that insisting that “others do/say/think as I do” will create a threat that no exploding cell phone or iron dome can deter.