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| Sephardi Chief Rabbi, Yitzchak Yosef (TOI) |
And yet ideology is an important driving force in the world of religion and politics. It motivates action in service to those vital institutions. It is when the two combine that a Halachic State in Israel can be created. That is something observant Jews would in theory like to see.
But as I have recently said - in practice that would be a disaster. That’s because it would clash with the majority population in Israel that is not observant and does not want to be hampered by Halacha in which they do not believe. If a Halachic state were to be implemented, it could conceivably end in a civil war.
What works is compromise. And yet compromise would seem to be the enemy of ideology. To compromise means giving up some of your ideology for the sake of peace. An ideology that allows for compromise is the best way forward for any society that includes people with disparate values. That is the only way they can live together peacefully.
The irony is that ideological purists that do not believe in compromise can and often does lead to death and destruction.
There are two factions in Israel that appear to have this kind of uncompromising attitude: The extremists of the Religious Zionist right - and extremist Charedim.
Which is why you have ideologically uncompromising people like Itamar Ben-Gvir going up to the Temple Mount despite the prohibition against it by the Israeli Chief Rabbinate (as well as virtually all Charedi Poskim). An uncompromising ideologue like that does not listen to reason regardless of what the consequences of their actions might be. Their purism makes them impervious to the negative consequences of their actions. They are going to follow their ideology regardless and rationalize away any Palestinian retaliation that might result with comments like this: ‘They attack us anyway!’
That they exacerbate that danger by their actions doesn’t even occur to them. After all the Temple Mount belongs to the Jewish people and therefore they have every right to go up there. They even have Religious Zionist Poskim that permit going up in certain parts of it.
That there has been no retaliation (yet) for Ben-Gvir’s recent appearance there doesn’t mean there never will be. Especially if he continues doing so as minister in the Israeli government.
That innocent Israelis might get caught in the cross fire doesn’t seem to matter to him. He just chalks it up to the general Arab animus against Israelis – never once considering that ‘spiting in their face’ might have had something to do with any retaliation that might occur.
Now he’s doing it as a high government official. That makes that doubly dangerous.
Ben-Gvir is ideologically correct about Jewish sovereignty over the Temple Mount. But asserting those rights against the wisdom of the majority of Poskim, including the Chief Rabbinate, is foolhardy at best and at worst will cause such a strong rage on the part of devout Palestinian Muslims that could lead to massive amounts of death and destruction. God forbid!
Ben-Gvir’s ideological purity does not allow him to recognize that reality. He rationalizes it away as noted.
The same thing is true about extremist Charedim. They too have uncompromising ideologies. They will not concede any kind of compromise. An attitude that has caused serious injuries to innocent bystanders. (As one of their burning dumpsters recently did to a Charedi woman.) They will not compromise. They constantly participate in violent protest and are completely oblivious to death and destruction that so often follows.
I’m glad to see that the Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel has weighed in on both issues and condemns them both. Here is what he said about Ben-Gvir:
Sephardi Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef criticizes National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir for visiting the Temple Mount as a government minister.
“As a minister representing the government of Israel you should be acting according to Chief Rabbinate instructions, which have long forbidden visiting the Temple Mount,” Yosef writes in a letter to Ben Gvir.
Yosef calls on Ben Gvir — who regularly visited the site before becoming a minister — to stop doing so moving forward “in order not to mislead the public.”
R’Yosef had also recently commented on extremist Charedim:
The Chief Rabbi of Israel and President of the Chief Rabbinate Council, the Gaon Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef, came out this evening (Motzei Shabbos Koidesh), during his weekly class at the 'Yazidim' Synagogue, against the demonstrations taking place on Bar Ilan Street in Jerusalem in protest of the construction of the light rail
During the class, the Rabbi said:
"It's also a public nuisance, you close the entire Bar Ilan street, causing traffic jams, a person wants to get to the house, to get to the court, they delay everything."
The chief rabbi called out to the public:
"These things should be avoided, the rabbi (Maran Rabbino Ovadia Yosef Zatzuk'l. 10-20) was not in favor of these things, it also caused a chillul Hashem, this was filmed all over the world. for what? We have a lack of incitements? we have to add more incitement?
This is the danger of an ideology without compromise. Fortunately there are rabbinic leaders like R’ Yosef whose ideology includes compromise and who are willing to speak out. But speaking out is not enough. More needs be done to end this kind of dangerous activity by purist ideologues - once and for all.
