Will you vote tomorrow to prevent Israel’s upcoming existential crisis?

By Rabbi Yehuda Oppenheimer, candidate for HaTzibbur HaChareidi

Tomorrow Israelis go to the polls. Most of the recent discussions have been about the familiar questions: Who will be prime minister? Will Likud or Yashar finish first? What will happen with Iran? Those questions matter. a threat to this country that I believe is greater than Iran and deeper than the old split between right and left. We must face this question: what will happen as the Haredi community grows, while becoming more separate from the rest of Israeli society?

Close to a third of Jewish children entering first grade are enrolled in Haredi schools. Many of them are growing up with an ethos that becomes more extreme every year, the same ethos that has brought young Haredi men into the streets shouting that they would rather die than enlist, which is a blight on all of us, and an insult to those who served for hundreds of days serving in the army, and where their families have carried the burden with them.

Those first graders will be eighteen in twelve years. If nothing changes, a third of this country’s Jewish youth could be in those same streets, saying those same words. Add to that number the percentage of Arab and other citizens who don’t serve, and we will be looking at an untenable situation in which the military is receiving less than 40% of the potential manpower.

The workforce of the country will be likewise diminished, as the majority of Charedi students are not receiving core curriculum subjects and will not be able to gain meaningful employment to keep Israel’s current economic achievements going. The dissonance between the Charedi population and the rest of Israeli society will continue to grow into a schism so vast it will be irreparable.

I am a Charedi Jew. I believe change has to come from within our community. Attempts to impose it from outside have not worked. Financial penalties have not solved the problem, and neither have incentives on their own.

We have to start with education, and we cannot keep putting it off. Parents who want their children to learn basic math and English should have that choice. Young people who are not learning full-time should have a way to serve the country in a framework that respects their Chareidi way of life. Those who are learning full-time should be able to continue. We need to build these frameworks together, with the Chareidi community and the government working in partnership.

The existing Chareidi parties have not only not brought about this change. but this term they pushed to give Torah study a place in a Basic Law while blocking a real path to service. Right-wing parties have spoken about the issue for years but have not acted. The left did not act when it had the opportunity, either, and may also need the Charedi parties to form a government. Degel HaTorah has already said it is willing to sit in a left-wing government.

HaTzibbur HaChareidi is the only party in this election committed to making this change from within the Charedi community. There are more and more people, many of them Charedim, who want a different future. They want to remain part of the Haredi world while also taking responsibility for the country and for what they can contribute.

Iran will remain a threat, and the arguments between right and left will continue. But we cannot ignore the growing divide inside Israeli society. Tomorrow, when you enter the voting booth, you will be deciding what kind of country today’s first graders will inherit. I hope you will vote for HaTzibbur HaChareidi while there is still time to change direction.