Sunday, July 22, 2007

Chareidim and Violence

A point worthy of thought is the apparent disposition of certain sectors of the Chareidi community in Eretz Yisroel towards violence. Where does this come from? There is no history of violence from Jews in thousands of years, and here in only recent history.
Firstly, I would like to deal with some of ideas I've seen thrown around. One is a suggestion that this is due to the insularity of chareidim, a general reluctance to engage the wider world. I question this. This insularity is widespread within the chareidi world, even some communities in the States have very little exposure to outside society. Our history is crowded, literal, with ghettoes. Many were the times and places with large groups of Jews who simply couldn't speak the host country's language (Russian, Polish etc.), and we didn't see any violence. Furthermore, abhorrence of violence is not a value that is derived exclusively from outside secular sources. Jewish sources alone should be a more abundant source for correct behavior.
It has also been suggested the opposite. It is the small exposure to world events and the learning of what others get up to. It is the fault of just that little bit of modernity without the tempering of good healthy dose of modernity. This solution is even worse. It too ignores any possibility that our own sources might be a sufficient source for appropriate behavior, if not superior, and only recognizes the modern world as a source of good. It also ignores thousands of years of Jewish history. Why is there no precedent.
Both these solutions overlook a basic observation which I believe is the correct interpretation.
Rock-throwing does not happen in Bnei Brak. It doesn't happen in Kiryat Sefer. Nor in Beitar. Or Ashdod, Emmanuel, Rechasim, RBS A, Arad, Petach Tikva, Tzfas and all the other centers of Chareidim. It doesn't happen in almost all the Yerushalayim neighborhoods. It certainly doesn't happen anywhere in chu"l. It ONLY happens in Mea Shearim and RBS B. Why?
I believe there are several factors working here.
The first is the education of that particular sector in recent history (meaning the past 60 odd years). Most of chareidi Jewry has come to terms with the State. We may hate it. We may feel it's the biggest chillul Hashem since the churban habayis. We may be infuriated by it's conduct and abuse of basic Jewish principles, values and laws. And we may not recognize it's legitimacy. But we do recognize that it's a fact of life and you have to live with it. So we act as good citizens, reap the benefits of organized, lawful society and recognize the positive.
But some have grown up with a world view that the zionist state is the Ultimate Source of all Evil and Tumah in the world. It is 100% evil. It has no redeeming factors. Anything associated with it must too be a great evil. That includes traffic police (and traffic lights). It includes garbage collectors and street cleaners, (as an aside, I can't understand why these people are so free to drop garbage on the streets - why do you think is going to clean up?) and their property. It includes bus companies and their buses. In short, everything evil is now viewed in the light of it's zionism. However bad other governments may have been, they were recognized to be legitimate.
So when faced with something that has no positive value whatsoever and is nothing but evil, so why not react with violence. Smash it! Destroy it!
This may be compounded by a feeling that EY is different. Here, it is OUR country. Here it is or right to call the shots and enforce correct behavior. This recalls a famous story with the Brisker Rov who accused a 'kanoi' of being a zionist. "In Russia you wouldn't have reacted this way. Why is here any different?"
There is perhaps one further factor which I am somewhat afraid to mention. It is easy to misinterpret, so I request from you, please, don't read what you want me to say, or what you think I should be saying. Listen to what I say the way I want to say it.
Many people have an attitude towards those in full-time learning that relates to them as people who are engaged in Torah and mitzvos in any form that they present. If someone needs a minyan, well, just pick up a few bochurim or avreichim. They're available for all Torah and mitzva related purposes. Need a chesed? Need someone to do mishnayos? No problem. That's what they're there for. Due to this attitude, I've noticed many yeshivas are highly reluctant to allow their students to get involved in any external activities, however righteous the cause. The students need to learn that right now, they are far too busy at their 'jobs' to do anything else. But I could imagine a setup where the attitude is actually the former, and encouraged. You are engaged in avodas hashem. Most of the time that means serious learning. But it could allow many other things as the need arises. This creates a very flexible schedule amongst people who feel obliged to direct their efforts towards the good of their society.
I am NOT advocating a change in kollel acception or in widespread enrollment. In fact, I'm not advocating any change at all. I simply observe that these people may be in a better position than their working counterparts, or in their counterparts in other yeshivas and kollelim. This part is really conjecture, so consider it on the basis of your own knowledge of their setup (and not your own conjecture).