Displays of hatred toward the ultra-Orthodox have increased lately to an unprecedented level. As someone who has sympathetic feelings toward them, contrary to the norm in secular and liberal society; as someone who believes that they are victimized for being different, and who believes that the settlers are deserving of much greater opprobrium for their violence and for the momentous damage being done by the whole settlement project, the growing hatred for the Haredim is giving me great pause.
The Haredim and their leaders are partly, but not wholly, to blame for this. The fact that among the secular liberal public, there is hardly a shred of sympathy, understanding or compassion left for them, despite their terrible poverty, should seriously concern them. Even for someone who does not hate them, it has become very hard, nearly impossible even, to empathize with them or support them. They cannot ignore this.
This is ostensibly their greatest hour, a time of unlimited funding and legislation to their liking, a time when the government is dependent upon them for its survival. Their leaders are grabbing as much as they can get. Opportunities like this don’t come around every day. Yitzchak Goldknopf is on top of the world right now, laughing all the way to shul, sporting a stylish Louis Vuitton scarf on his shoulders. But he, and the public he represents all the more so, also need to think about the day after. It will surely come, even if not so soon. The hatred that is accumulating now will ultimately hurt them. It is already hurting them. Try walking around in a shtreimel in certain cities and neighborhoods. Demography may be on their side, but that doesn’t mean they are invincible. Being a hated community, even if that community is a large one, is no simple thing. This hatred will blow up in their face one day, and they could pay a heavy price for it.
They are hated because they are insular and different – in their clothing, their language, their culture, their lifestyle, their faith, their whole world. This hatred is unacceptable and must be opposed. Israel also does not like the poor and worships the rich, and the Haredim are poor. But in recent years, hatred for them has spiked due to their perceived greed and aggressiveness and power and arrogance. This hatred will be harder to oppose. They will pay the price for it.
It’s a shame that the liberal camp is so quick to take them to task for not performing military service – not serving in the army as well as serving in the army should both be highly problematic for any enlightened person. But that is only one reason that leads people to hate them. The main issue is their mass unwillingness to work. This cannot be defended, not even by someone who does not share the general hatred for them. This can no longer be excused or explained.
They and their leaders need to understand this. To go on living in a hated ghetto won’t do them much good over time. The flames of hatred toward the Haredi poor, whom the state funds with all kinds of perks and special budgets, will be fanned by the non-Haredi poor who work hard and yet remain mired in poverty without any support from the state. Right now the Haredim don’t care – they’re impervious to the growing hatred. But when the government changes one day, and different priorities are set, they are liable to find themselves in a situation unlike anything they’ve known before. Beyond being the target of ostracism and offensive comments, they could well find that the Israeli state and society has turned its back on all their needs.
Already, one hears no compassion for their poverty, and any mention of it is considered heretical. Their cities are the poorest in the country, their cupboards are often painfully bare, but very few secular Israelis are touched by this anymore. Now the Haredim are being blamed for it all, including their poverty, and with some justification. The fact that in recent years their racism towards the Palestinians has greatly increased, as well as the fact that they’ve become one of the largest settler populations, makes it even harder to find liberal sympathy for them.
They could just ignore all this, of course, and keep acting the same way. But perhaps there are some among them who will also ask, as they should: Why are we so hated? What part have we played in causing this hatred? And is there any way to lessen it, even just a little?
Israel's Liberal Camp Will Pay for Its Hatred of the Haredim
17
1
28.05.2023
Displays of hatred toward the ultra-Orthodox have increased lately to an unprecedented level. As someone who has sympathetic feelings toward them, contrary to the norm in secular and liberal society; as someone who believes that they are victimized for being different, and who believes that the settlers are deserving of much greater opprobrium for their violence and for the momentous damage being done by the whole settlement project, the growing hatred for the Haredim is giving me great pause.
The Haredim and their leaders are partly, but not wholly, to blame for this. The fact that among the secular liberal public, there is hardly a shred of sympathy, understanding or compassion left for them, despite their terrible poverty, should seriously concern them. Even for someone who does not hate them, it has become very hard, nearly impossible even, to empathize with them or support them. They cannot ignore this.
This is ostensibly their greatest hour, a time of unlimited funding and legislation to their liking, a time when the government is dependent upon them for its survival. Their leaders........
© Haaretz
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