A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
Charedim and Zionism

In an op-ed in The Jerusalem Post (the original JPost link is unavailable), David Flatto, my law school classmate, criticized the lack of mention of Israel at last month's Siyum Hashas.

Flatto wrote, in part:

I was completely taken aback by the near complete omission of another theme from the speeches on this night. Disturbingly absent from almost all of them was mention of Israel.

Let me be clear - I do not refer to Zionism. A haredi-sponsored event clearly will not be colored with blue and white. Rather, I speak of an acknowledgment of the indisputable centrality of Israel for every Jew in the world no matter what his or her religious and political orientation...

[Israel] constitutes the focal point of the most basic existential challenges that the Jewish people have faced in the past half-century. Its welfare and security are now synonymous with Jewish survival and rebirth...

Any celebration of Jewish survival and rebirth has to describe the seminal role Israel plays in our collective lives and national destiny.

The failure of an entire program to acknowledge Israel's distinctive standing in contemporary Jewry is beyond my comprehension.

I'm not sure Flatto is right that Zionism is distinct from Israel's dominant role in contemporary Jewish life. In any event, political Zionism, as opposed to the religious Zionism given lip service by most of modern Orthodoxy, is something that most charedi Jews subscribe to and believe in, even if many of them think otherwise.

As the Flatto article implicitly notes, little or nothing about Israel - positive or negative - was spoken at the Siyum Hashas. Flatto's shock at the failure of the charedi rabbinical leadership to mention the State of Israel is not surprising, since he has always lived in modern Orthodox communities and attended modern Orthodox schools. For those of us with more exposure to charedi life, it is obvious that the rabbis could not mention Israel because they have no coherent theological position on the State that has any relevance 57 years after Israel's establishment. Outside of Satmar and certain fringe groups, the pre-state anti-Zionism is now moot and obsolete, even if it survives on some sort of irrelevant ideological level. The ideological battles with the State are certainly not completely over, but unlike in Israel's first decade, they are now a fairly marginal issue.

Agudah's line is now one of non-Zionism instead of anti-Zionism, something that makes little sense given the realities of the State's daily existence. "Zionism" is still bad, because before the State was formed the rabbis said so, and because Ben Gurion wanted a very secular state and was therefore condemned too. Thus, participation in state related rituals, like serving in the IDF, is out for Israelis, and charedim in America are not to recognize Yom Haatzmaut (Independence Day) and say the prayer for the State. As a result, as one example, the idea of reciting hallel on Yom Haatzmaut is completely alien to charedim.

Putting these rituals aside, charedim in America are actually fairly Zionistic, even if most of them would reject the "Zionist" label. They visit Israel, buy apartments there, take strong positions on the future of Judea, Samaria and Gaza, attend pro-Israel rallies, praise the IDF and express contempt for anti-Israel media outlets. They know well, to use Flatto's apt description, "the seminal role Israel plays in our collective lives and national destiny." Thus, while the prayer for the State is out, more and more moderate charedi shuls are reciting the prayer for IDF soldiers.

Since the charedi rabbinical leadership (as opposed to individual charedi rabbis) cannot express a nuanced position on Zionism and Israel that appears to renounce the charedi pre-state position, they generally have nothing to say on the matter. Was the mass pro-Israel rally in 2002 kosher? They took no position, though many of their constituents sure did, heading to DC in large numbers. Occasionally they perk up when Justice Barak's Supreme Court issues an objectionable ruling, but generally they offer complete silence.

It is in this light that the silence at the Siyum Hashas should be understood.
posted on 4/28/2005