This year I participated in one of the most inspiring Yom Kippur Services I’ve ever attended. It was in a very Charedi Shul called Maassas Mordechai. It is in its new home which is still under construction and just barely usesable.
You could feel the sincere Teshuva coming out of the Mispallelim (those in prayer) and the attendant joy in their hearts at this great occasion of a hopefully succesful atonement. The singing of virtually every single member in unison of the various Piyutim (texts in the Machzor) throughout the day was outstanding. I was very moved by it. The feeling in the air was palpable. And I have yet to be disappointed by the wonderful and warm hospitality of the people of this Shul.
In the main, they represent the Charedi mindset in Ramat Bet Shemesh. It is one of firm conviction of belief in the Mesorah as transmitted by the rabbinic leaders of our generation, Dikduk b’Mitzvos (extra care in their Mitzvah observance), a wonderful display of camaraderie among themselves, and friendship to the visitor making him feel like one of their own.
That said my enthusiasm was immediately tempered by the following article in the Jerusalem Post. The article is a synopsis of many of the issues written about here. And it reminded me that all is not well in the larger Charedi world in Israel... and that if things continue as they are, it could lead to disaster for the entire ountry.
It is certainly not the fault of these wonderful people in Ramat Bet Shemesh. They are merely citizens of the virtual 'Charedi ‘State’ and they listen to their leaders in complete faith.
The fact is that no matter how you look at what is going on in Israel and to a lesser extent in the rest of the Charedi world outside of Israel is a Chumraization in the extrme. Why is this happening? The reasons are complex and have been discussed here before, but the author of this article makes a valid point:
THE DECLINE of moderation can be traced to the influence of haredi teachers employed in national-religious educational institutions. That coincided with a trend among Israeli rabbis to compete with one another in demonstrating greater stringency in halachic interpretation of ritual observance.
The fact is that extremism is the order of the day in Charedi Israel and all ofn the recent bans only serve to corroborate that. The voices of reason have been silenced. Reasonable people in the Charedi world are afraid to speak out. And those who speak out from outside the Charedi world are either ignored or vilified.
The religious extremism is enhanced by the new found political power of the Charedi parties who are now in a position to get what they demand from political leaders in exchange for their votes. And as the article continues to point out, extremism does not stop with Charedim. It has found a home among religious Zionists too.
The article shows how damaging this could all end upbeing. And if the trend continues it can only have one result, the biggest backlash in modern times!
Rabbi Lau puts it nicely: "It is unacceptable for rabbis to scream while the public remains apathetic."
And that brings me back to the wonderful Charedi citizens of Ramat Bet Shemesh. They seem to be doing quite well materially. Many live in their own relatively new homes and many oif those are nicely furnished. Many have their own cars and/or vans. They are relatively well dressed. And many of the men in this community learn full time. I’m not exactly sure how they do it. Nor am I exactly sure how they are building a new Shul from the ground up, but I tend to doubt that this is a typical Charedi setting. I do not believe that this community is truly representative of the larger Charedi world who so struggle to make enough money for the bare necessities and in far too many cases they do not succeed.
I will close with the following excerpt which addresses the most current of Chumros, the ban on the Heter Mechira. It nicely summarizes my feelings:
The potentially catastrophic repercussions of the shmita crisis on the state should act as a catalyst for exchanging the current, haredi-controlled religious leadership for responsible, moderate rabbis, attuned to the people and motivated by a genuine desire to harmonize the application of Halacha with the national interest.
