"Revenge will come," vowed MK Moshe Gafni, of United Torah Judaism's Degel Hatorah faction, in response to the enlistment law. "It will be cold and it will be painful. At the first opportunity, I will make sure to strangle the budget and shutter the hesder yeshivot." Gafni is not alone. Ultra-Orthodox politicians have been intimating the possibility of a haredi boycott against settlement products. Shas MK Yitzhak Cohen suggested the initiative on Army Radio. Yated Ne'eman, the Degel Hatorah daily, has joined forces with the Left and European supporters of boycotts, publishing several pieces attacking the settlement enterprise and its funding. Meanwhile, Shas leader Aryeh Deri issued a warning: "Don't take the ultra-Orthodox public in the national referendum for granted. The opposite may happen." Hearing is not believing. Is this the Torah, which the haredi politicians claim to uphold? In all fairness, United Torah Judaism MK Meir Porush and Shas MK Eli Yishai are disgusted by these pronouncements. Are you out of your minds? Were you shot in the foot? Perhaps. But now are you shooting yourself in the other? Are you planning to die with the Philistines? "My enemy" shall take vengeance against me, even if we fall together? Does one act of "betrayal," as you've defined it, warrant another? And against whom? The settlers? So many of them study the Torah just like you. But they also serve in the army. According to such logic, you also need to throw wrenches in the wheels of the Old City's glorious settlement. On Hagai Street, near the Iron Gate, Jews, especially haredim, were expelled during the Arab riots of 1929 and 1936-39. Indeed, religious Zionists live there today. What would Rabbi Zerah Epstein, the "haredi" head of the Torat Haim yeshiva, who was attacked and forced to flee during those same uprisings, have said? Would he have welcomed the onslaught against the very community working to revive the voice of Torah and promote Jewish settlement in the heart of Jerusalem, simply because such individuals weren't haredim? Isn't settling the land of Israel a mitzvah in your Torah? Have you read Nahmanides' "Book of Commandments," Chapter 4- Keep your revenge -- whether justified or not -- in the political realm. "Settlers," lest we have to remind you, at least according to the U.S. and the Palestinians' definition, also include the residents of several of the largest haredi towns: Beitar Illit and Modiin Illit, Immanuel and Kokhav Yaakov. Some 125,000 people reside in those towns alone -- about one third of the Jews in Judea and Samaria. Are you planning to boycott them as well? As deputy housing minister, Porush made sure to have the same concern for haredim and settlers. Yishai, unlike most haredim, went to Gush Katif to mourn the loss of a region rich in Zionism and Torah. And now all the little political wheeler-dealers have surfaced with no idea where to direct their indignation, threatening to pander to dangerous support for concessions to the Palestinians and catering to Israel-hating boycott lobbyists. One can understand (while disagreeing with) the anger among haredim against Habayit Hayehudi. However, if we're already talking politics -- it was the haredim who rejected the idea of forming a united front with Habayit Hayehudi in coalition negotiations when the haredim thought they could join a Netanyahu-led government that would include Labor while shutting out the religious Zionists. Settling the land of Israel is part of the Torah, which is not exclusively the property of the ultra-Orthodox or the religious Zionists, but belongs to all of us.
The absurdity of anti-settler haredi rage
מערכת ישראל היום
מערכת "ישראל היום“ מפיקה ומעדכנת תכנים חדשותיים, מבזקים ופרשנויות לאורך כל שעות היממה. התוכן נערך בקפדנות, נבדק עובדתית ומוגש לציבור מתוך האמונה שהקוראים ראויים לעיתונות טובה יותר - אמינה, אובייקטיבית ועניינית.
