The UnIsraeli Jews

Being Jewish isn’t only about religion, especially here in Israel, and particularly in today’s fraught times. Having returned to our beloved homeland, Eretz Yisroel, after a 2,000+  year journey and exile, the State and Nation of Israel need and expect its populace to build it up, to contribute toward its growth, to see it flourish and flower, to be a light unto the nations, and of course, as with every state and country, to help and contribute toward its security and protection.

In many countries, as in my native Canada, this last goal-helping to secure the state, is not a goal the everyday Canadian concerns him/herself with. This is not the case here in Israel, where treacherous and murderous enemies surround us on all sides directly, and as we all know from faraway distances too.

David Ben-Gurion decided, in the spirit of compromise always necessary in nation building and in politics, to allow the relatively miniscule haredi population of 1948 to be exempt from army service, this represented then under 1,000 army-able men who were given the privilege, not the right, to be exempt.

When the tribes of Reuben and Gad asked to remain on the east side of the Jordan River, before having to conquer the population there and go to war, Moshe, Moses rebuked them and said, Numbers 32, Bamidbar, “Shall you remain here while your brothers go to war?” Reuben and Gad assured Moses that they would indeed join their brothers and fight , as they did for the years that it took.

Fast forward to the present, post October 7th (2023). What may have been tolerable, never correct but previously tolerable, is no longer tolerable nor remotely sustainable. My close friends’ son, aged 42, a husband and father of 5, is soon completing at least his 3rd tour of duty up North- this one for 90 days, a week on , a week back with his family. Why is he, and 10’s of thousands of other miluimnikim, reservists- husbands, fathers, sons, required to undertake this arduous, dangerous and onerous task, while 10’s of thousands of able bodied haredim continue to enjoy an exemption?

The answer, regrettably, lies with who I refer to as the UnIsraelis, the significant portion of our Jewish brethren, citizens living here in Israel who are strongly Jewish, quite religious in their daily practices, but live apart and separate from the everyday Israeli-physically, emotionally, practically speaking and in their gut. Most are commonly considered a part of the Haredi community. Here I exclude the Chabad movement, whose outreach and Ahavat Yisrael, love of Israel are legendary, and the many haredi institutions who do tremendous chesed, goodness for all sectors and communities throughout Israel.

I am a Chabad and university educated person, and today I consider myself a modern orthodox religious Zionist. During my nine plus years living in Jerusalem, thank G-d, I have volunteered for Sar-El, a volunteer IDF civilian volunteer program on a number of occasions, packed food for IDF soldiers, picked produce on farms, etc., all on a volunteer basis.  Not to want to toot my horn, just to point out that I try to practice what I preach.

The rabbinical leadership of the Ashkenazi and Sephardic haredi communities and their myopic political representatives, through many months of ardent “negotiations”, have shown no apparent willingness for any significant compromise on this existential issue of army recruitment. Just as past modern day rabbinical decisions/ decrees related to a), remaining in Poland and other Eastern European countries before World War II or b), not emigrating to America proved woefully misguided and tragically incorrect, this existential decision of near total (excluding Nahal Haredi and similar) non-participation in this holy mission of defending Israel in this defensive war and in the future, as ordained by the Torah, has shown that the UnIsraelis  and their leadership see themselves as apart, separate from the rest of us.

Whatever happened to the famous commentary from Shavuot, 39A,Kol Yisroel Aravim Ze Bazeh, All of Israel are Responsible One for Another.

Alas, what to do in these circumstances? May I offer my modest suggestions, speaking politically, hopefully realistically, and not just utopian.

Under one major assumption- that a Bennett/Aisenkot party will win the most seats in the next elections and will be given the 1st opportunity at forming a Government, I propose the following;

1. The following Zionist parties should all swallow very hard, think 1st, 2nd and 3rd about the good of the country only, (yes, I know how excessively naive this sounds!) and come together; they are Bennett, Likud, Leiberman, Gantz, and Lapid. This should represent about 75-80 seats of the 120 member Knesset. A government of narrow parties of 61-65 seats would be insufficient to make the changes necessary for the good of the collective of Israel. They could blackmail each other, with 75-80, it allows for defections, quitting threats etc.
2. 80 of 120 is two thirds, and is representative of the mainstream of the country.
3. Non-Zionist and extreme Left and Right parties should be excluded.
4. I wish that an NRP-type Party be reconstituted for the faithful, middle of the road national religious community.
5. Benjamin Netanyahu should be granted an absolute pardon and thanked for his immense past service to the country.
6. Equality must be the guiding principle, army service or national service for everyone in the country, including haredim and the Arab-Muslim population.
7. A Constitution should be attempted. This should include intelligent, compromising judicial reform, responsible changes and adjustments are greatly needed, including separating the roles of the Attorney General, as in Canada and other countries.
8. An October 7th Inquiry should be established.

While the above is certainly somewhat utopian, however if perhaps disparate personalities can come together for 3, 4 years under the guiding principles enunciated above, and with love of Israel, its people and the Land,  it could really make a difference and repair many of the deep fissures now present in Israeli society. May G-d guide our leaders and us all.