Washington Report on Middle East Affairs, March 1998, Pages 27-28

Edna’s Essays: An Israeli-American Traveler Along the American Way

Wide-ranging Implications of the Growing Power of Religious Orthodoxy in Israel

By Dr. Edna Homa Hunt

From the very earliest years of Israel's existence, the political power wielded by religious groups (almost an oxymoron) was felt by many—both within the country and elsewhere—to be out of proportion; imbalanced. This power has intensified dramatically through the early to mid-1990s, culminating with the 1996 elections.

Manifestations of the power of Jewish orthodoxy in Israel spill over from the public sector into the personal lives of all Israelis whether they are religiously observant or secular. Without knowledge of these manifestations, no understanding is possible of the "shape of things to come."

For one thing, the world outside Israel has failed to understand the profound political consequences of the 1996 change in the electoral system. Two ballots were cast: one for direct election of the prime minister (much the way Americans elect the president); and the other for a party list of candidates for the Knesset, Israel's parliament. Under this system, in use for the first time, there was a heavy increase in religious representatives, which in turn made it inevitable that the prime minister elected would be tethered to the collars of the rabbis.

Elimination of the scandalous special budgetary allocations meant largely for Israel's religious institutions had been accomplished in prior years in response to loud protests from Israel's secular majority. But in the new electoral situation created in 1996, the religious parties' lobbyists were able to press for access to all of the state's budgets, except for the defense budget. Thus they succeeded in getting their hands on vast amounts, with gusto.

As concerned observers watch the conduct of the struggle for funds, it is clear that the adversaries are unequal. The religious parties are investing enormous creativity and hard work to make their efforts effective, outmaneuvering the opposing secular parties (Meretz is the worst offender) who are idle, verbose and ineffectual.

What is at stake in this struggle for money is nothing less than the substance and essence of Israeli society in the next generation. To be blunt about it, this is a struggle over the children.

The Orthodox understand this fully, while the secular politicians seem to be preoccupied elsewhere, frittering away their energies. But the bottom line is that the source of funds, whether for religious or secular institutions, is the state. Religious educational institutions are tapping into this pocket and offering far more extended school hours and facilities than the national educational system can afford.

The main losers are the children in "development" towns and in impoverished neighborhoods who receive a dull, dreary education, bound to transform them into the unemployed of the future. These kids could, of course, go to the religious schools which provide better services than the state schools, but in the religious schools they would be educated to a parasitical and not a productive, mainstream life.

What is at stake is nothing less than the substance and essence of Israeli society.

It is in the arena of military service that this parasitical life is at least partially reflected. Ever since compulsory military service was implemented in Israel, young people with Orthodox religious affiliation were either completely excused from serving (this applied especially to young women), or they petitioned for postponement. The latter avenue was available especially for students in religious colleges (Yeshivot), where studies were exclusively in religious texts.

Here is a democratic society in which the burden of military service is inequitably borne. In this sense, at least, young Orthodox men act as though they are not part of Israeli society. Yet few voices have been heard in support of the principle of equity essential to mitigate the frustration of those who spend important years performing their military duty.

In 1996, 28,550 yeshiva students were granted postponement, that being a 9 percent increase over 1995. By 1997 the number had grown to 31,000. If this trend were to continue, in 20 years the proportion of exemptees would be 50 percent of that year's class of young men.

Only a third of those granted postponement ever do military service, and sometimes even they do not serve for the full required term. Another more than 30 percent of those granted postponement continue exclusive study until they reach the age of 41, at which time they become exempt from military service altogether; another 16 percent receive exemption before the age of 41 because they are deemed unsuitable for the military.

So far, the most resolute attempt to deal with this troublesome issue of dodging the national responsibility began in 1992, when a public committee was set up by the government to devise regulations to govern the granting of draft postponement for yeshiva students. Although the committee completed its work in 1995, the Rabin, Peres and Netanyahu governments all concealed the committee's report and conclusions! Only in mid-December 1997 did the High Court compel the government to make these public, following a petition to the High Court by two Knesset members.

The details boil down to a simple rule: yeshiva students who seek postponement of service, or exemption, must sign an undertaking that "religious study is their only vocation." In other words, they are not to be gainfully employed in any other work. Even when some were found to violate this undertaking, the courts never imposed any punishment beyond a very minimal fine.

Religious Orthodox power therefore makes it possible for 190,000 yeshiva students to drink deeply from the public trough. Not only do many shirk their part in the national duty, they have to be financially supported. And they do not have to pay a single "agora" for their studies!

In depressing contrast, the total number of students in all the [secular] universities in Israel is under 100,000! This year, each student in a secular university will have to pay 9,280 shekels a year ($2,650). This means that the total fees to be collected from university students this year will be equivalent to the amount the government intends to pay the 190,000 yeshiva students so that they may continue to be good enough to remain idle.

This power of financial extortion could not be mitigated even by the forceful intentions of the incoming minister of finance, Dr. Ya'acov Ne'eman. He embarked on his new job by proclaiming loudly that he would "put an end to the parasitical 'Yeshiva-ism,' force increased compliance with military service, cut down on financial support of idleness and compel the beneficiaries of handouts to become integrated into productive society."

Sadly, the brief and loud campaign quickly fizzled, as attested by the 55-page budget of Israel's "Ministry for Religious Affairs." In fact, its budget was increased from 1.33 billion shekels to 1.55 billion.

Because almost a billion shekels of the ministry's budget will be devoted to subsidizing yeshiva students this year, the "parasites" will enjoy an even sweeter year than last.

One more feature of that budget deserves mention. The Ministry for Religious Affairs is supposed to take care of the needs of people from all religions in the country, and not exclusively of Jews. Of the approximately 5.9 million population, 20 percent—or 1.2 million—are not Jewish.

Their rightful share of the budget allocation, therefore, should have been approximately 310 million shekels. In fact, the share of the 1.55 billion budget devoted to the religious affairs of one and a quarter million Muslims, Christians, Druze, Kara'ites, Samarians and others, is 34 million shekels. That is barely 2 percent of the budget, and it represents a decrease from last year's 2.5 percent!

Religious Terrorism

There is more than money at stake. Some examples illustrate the nature of the power wielded by Jewish Orthodoxy in the personal sphere, in the lives of individuals and families.

A recent criminal outrage against a Jewish family in Tiberias continued for more than two months. Perpetrators of the violent acts against the Dahaan family were the occupants of a Hassidic yeshiva that established itself in a house next door.

The conflict began with waves of letters sent from the Hassidim urging the Dahaans to "return" to their faith. (It should be said that the Dahaans are Sephardic Jews and very "traditional" in their way of life; but they are not Orthodox.) Quite often, Hassidic men would enter the Dahaan house and press Yossi Dahaan to join them to make a minyan of 10 men (necessary to conduct prayers.)

Further intrusion arose with noise from the neighboring house as prayers were shouted all night long. Pleas for some peace and quiet were met with mocking laughter, but no diminution of shouting.

A few weeks later, the confrontation intensified when the Dahaans' 15-year-old daughter turned on her stereo on a Saturday (the Jewish Sabbath). A shower of stones followed, accompanied by screams of: "You whore, turn off the radio!" At this point, Yossi Dahaan called the police, who arrived and separated the parties.

Days later, a few of the Hassidim came calling. Assuming they had come to apologize, Mrs. Dahaan invited them in and offered them tea. One of the men took his cup of hot tea and smashed it on the head of Yossi Dahaan, sending him to the hospital for four days.

This was followed by harassing phone calls in which the Dahaans were told: "We will kill you and burn your house." And indeed, the Dahaan family car was destroyed by fire while a series of Molotov cocktails were thrown onto the roof of their house during the night. Had not a heavy rain doused the flames, there could have been a big fire and possibly loss of life.

To cap this violence, a telephone threat to the local medical clinic, where Mrs. Dahaan worked as a nursing supervisor, demanded that she be summarily dismissed, or else more than 100 Orthodox families would leave the rolls of this clinic and enroll in a competing institution.

Although the police acted to protect the family, no legal action was taken against the perpetrators. In fact, the local court ordered the release of two suspects who had been briefly detained. But the main significance lies in the political maneuvering that ensued. Even though the house occupied by the rabbi, his wife, family and the group of students/followers is the property of the Tiberias municipality, only one member of the municipal council publicly declared that: "the rabbi and his entourage must be forced to leave the house and thus end the domination of Tiberias by this 'Khomeinism.'"

It was the victims of the violence who almost paid the biggest price: they decided to sell their house and leave Tiberias, where they had lived for 12 years.

Only as they were on the verge of carrying out their decision and after loud public protests did the mayor intervene by offering to find alternative housing for the Hassidic college and its rabbi.

If it were not so fundamentally atrocious, the hooliganism indulged in by some Orthodox groups could be dismissed merely as acts of delinquency. But can anyone doubt that similar actions against a Jewish family abroad would have led to loud cries of "anti-Semitism" and clamorous demands for firm police and legal measures?

What Israelis Need to Know If They Wish to Marry

Before any Israeli Jewish couple decides to marry, they had better find out if any of the unbelievably arcane "facts" "known" to the local Rabbinate will lead to a last-minute refusal by a rabbi to marry them.

There are many potential obstacles to their union, even beyond the by-now-familiar "secret black list" kept by the Rabbinate, which is alleged to include all manner of "bastardy."

What might prove to be an immovable obstacle to their union could be the country of origin of any of their respective parents or grandparents, the residential quarter where a great-grandfather lived, or a distant ancestral affiliation that renders a bride or groom unworthy of the family into which they wish to marry.

Although reports of rabbinical refusals to grant couples permission to marry are legion, and the issues involved seem not to be the stuff of great public concern, when multiplied by the thousands the subject is revealed as another tip of a very troublesome iceberg.

Early last November a local rabbi refused to register the request for a marriage license by a young couple because of the Indian parentage of the bride. Indeed, several rabbis still do not recognize the Jewish "authenticity" of Bombay Jews, even though in a 1957 poll conducted among the then-leaders of Halachic scholarship the majority agreed to recognize the authenticity of Jews from Bombay. The local rabbi in question refused to accept that ruling and denied the petition, claiming that he will not "accept the gentiles of this town."

Some years ago a rabbi forbade a couple to get married because of the Kara'ite origins of the groom! He based his decision on various Halachic texts that "determined" Kara'ites were probable bastards and could only marry among themselves. The origin of that "belief" lies in a 2,000-year-old past when—it is alleged—the ancestors of the Kara'ite sect accepted only the written books of the Torah and repudiated oral law.

Does anyone remember what indignation was expressed throughout the world when it was learned that the Nazis searched three or more generations back to ascertain if there had been a Jewish great-grandparent in the family of "Aryan" German citizens?

All of these destructive acts against individuals have been accompanied for a number of years now by a range of sustained actions by the Orthodox in the public-political arena, signaling alarming trends in Israeli society.

Apart from the continued festering conflict with the Palestinian Arab people, spilling over into the relationships with the Arab citizens of Israel, there is a very troubling separation growing within Jewish society itself.

Neighborhood by neighborhood, Jews are closing themselves into exclusivist ghettos in which a non-Orthodox Jew is an unwelcome stranger who would be unable to survive. This is definitely the situation in "Judea and Samaria" (occupied Palestinian territory). It is also becoming a problem in parts of Jerusalem and other cities and towns where in old, established quarters the Orthodox are replacing "ordinary" Jews.

When this happens, as it has in Romema, one of the Jerusalem neighborhoods in which my parents once lived, nothing and no one can stand in the way. This was the case when newly arrived Orthodox residents harassed a Romema paraplegic in a wheelchair, finally burning his specially equipped car to "punish" him for "riding" his wheelchair on the Sabbath.