The unfortunate remark by Deputy Finance Minister Mickey Levy about the ultra-Orthodox public on Wednesday -- calling them parasites -- was made in the "heat of the moment," as Levy later explained. But more than anything else, the remark is indicative of how far society has deteriorated when it comes to the haredi population. The stereotype, once only present in print media and online comments, has now seeped deep into the public's general sense and collective awareness. The average Israeli now truly believes that the haredim are to blame. For what? For everything. The stereotypes suggesting that haredim don't pay taxes, don't work, don't serve in the army, control the budget, hog government funding, and whatever else, have entrenched themselves so deeply in Israeli public discourse that even a man who once served as a senior police commander, and actually knows the haredi public inside and out, can blurt out such a dangerous and horrible remark. Fortunately, Levy apologized immediately after the incident, but his trip-up is proof of a trend that we haredim are sadly all too familiar with. Haredi society has become one of the most reviled communities in Israel. Would anyone dare make such derisive remarks when describing Mizrachi Jews, Ethiopians, Russians, Arabs or settlers? When a haredi man goes to a job interview, these stereotypes cause any potential employer to imagine the candidate finding a Jewish grave under the desk and staging a mass demonstration, or yelling out "Shabbes" in the middle of the weekly staff meeting. In the past, harsh and dangerous remarks were made against haredim but failed to gain much media attention. Former Mossad chief Efraim Halevy compared the threat of haredi extremism to the Iranian threat; Avi Simhon, a former adviser to the finance minister, blamed all of society's ills on the numerous children haredim have; and there were plenty of others who added fuel to the fire of haredi hatred -- a fire that spread slowly until it reached the mainstream of Israeli society. To me, Mickey Levy is just a symptom of the dangerous process that has unfolded here. About a year ago, I hosted a group of students who had been asked to prepare a work plan for a specific sector of society. They were given three options: the Druze population of the Golan Heights, illegal infiltrators from Sudan, or haredim. They chose haredim, and they approached me to find out about the sector. When we first sat down, I asked them what they knew about haredim. The first student answered with embarrassment: You don't serve in the army. The second student said: You don't work. The third said: You purposefully disrespect the siren marking the minute of silence for Israel's fallen soldiers on Memorial Day. This went on for several minutes. When I asked them if they knew anything positive about haredim, they didn't have an answer. Finally, they came up with something: Oh yeah, ZAKA, the voluntary community emergency response team made up primarily of haredim. Those young men and women were living in utter ignorance when it came to my and my friends' lifestyle. Those students, like most of the citizens of this country, feed off the media and public discourse, where the only information about haredim is general, inciting, derisive and one-sided, and the haredim are never given the opportunity to respond. When all anyone ever reads about a certain population is negative, it is no wonder that a deputy finance minister, a respectable, worthy man, suddenly blurts out such a hurtful and terrible word to describe a community of hundreds of thousands of people. As long as the public discourse continues as it has, Mickey Levy will not be the last to do so. Yerach Tucker is a haredi media adviser and a spokesman for MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism).
