No, this is not a history article of how the Nazis came to power in 1933. For those of you who don't know German, the title means 'Yes ! Yes ! Jews Out!!'
More Jews were thrown out of their homes this week in Amona, Israel. As with the Jews made homeless in Gush Katif last summer, and in Hebron a week ago, the people who did the expelling were the Israeli government. The State of Israel has been viewed by many Jews as "the first flowering of our redemption." This state expelled Jews from their homes in Israel.
There were no security issues involved. What issues were involved? There was really one issue. Riding into power.
It takes just a bit of background to explain. A radio talk show host, "Tommy" Lapid, a holocaust survivor, decided to jump from talk radio to national politics. The party he founded was called Shinúi - Change. In a few words, Lapid is a loudmouth who used the dislike of the Haredi Jews - the ones with the long black coats, peyess, who had large families and who often expected their wives to work while they studied Talmud all day - that group of Jews, to get votes.
The Shinúi party was the apotheosis of the loud, money-making Ashkenazi Israeli who has only contempt for Sephardi and Mizrahi Jews who make up much of the lower class here, and utter hatred for Haredím. Another way to look at it is rich white people with contempt for poorer dark skinned people and an utter hatred for untouchables.
These people hate Judaism, but they love to be Israelis. In Europe, the term for them would be anti-clerical. But hating Judaism in a state that is a refuge for those of us in the world who are Jews is a bit odd. In addition, the hatred is as virulent as that of the Nazis. And the party was led by a survivor of Nazi death camps.
Article comments
1 - [MR]Chip
Godwin!
/always wanted to do that
2 - sr
Ruvy my friend. As a conservative American the only thing I can say. Israel please get your head out of your ass. United you stand, divided you will fall. What the freck are you doing. Could not believe what Im seeing watching FOX news. Jews against Jews. For sure Hitler would love this. You look foolish to the world. Never in my life have I seen a stupid Jew until lately. Im just pissed. Im sure Ruvy you have heard this one, however for the rest of you, How many Palestinians does it take to change a light bulb? None; They sit in the dark forever and blame the Jews for it'.
3 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
sr,
Nu, you're finally seeing the truth of what goes on here. A friend of mine called this morning, telling me that his father, a retired lawyer in New York called and left a message on the answering machine. It went something like this.
"What the hell is going on there?!!! Blackshirts beating Jews?!! Where are you anyway, Nazi Germany?!!!"
I hope it's not my head you think is in the ass. I'm reporting something I'm ashamed to write.
By the way, if you think there is no such a thing as a stupid Jew, pick up the translated works of Sholem Aleichem. Also remember that all of these following words are from Yiddish.
Shmuck
Putz
Yutz
Shlemiel
Shlemazel
Dumkopf
Shmendrik
Klutz
Yenta
None of these are complimentary terms and all but the last indicate stupidity or or clumsiness, whether mental or physical.
A yenta is a person who never shuts up.
On that note, I'll shut up.
Shabbat Shalom
4 - Elvira Black
Ruvy, I have to admit that I am a yutz who has very little knowledge of what's happening in Israel--though of course the troubles lately have penetrated even my thick skull.
Just one question--could the ousting of religious Jews be more of an economic than a religious thing? In other words, if these groups tend to live in the most depressed/poor areas, would they be more vulnerable because of that? I think I already know the answer, but just from my narrow American viewpoint it seems like that is usually the case when there is some ousting to be done in terms of real estate. For instance, in Williamsburg and the Lower East Side where many Orthodox live, there has been considerable gentrification.
I did have some inkling for years that there were, to put it delicately, some "philosophical" differences between Orthodox and secular Jews in Israel. But this piece of yours really did open my eyes a lot.
5 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Elvira,
Another thing you do not understand about Israel - something one could not reasonably expect you to. The Israel Lands Authority owns most of the land in "Green Line" Israel - the territiory before the Six Day War - and it maintains artificially high prices for it. The Israel Lands Authority does not own land in Judea and Samaria - so the prices are set on the open market - and it's relatively cheap by contrast.
No, money is not the issue here. Real estate prices are most assuredly not the issue. Also the Jews being thrown out are not Hassidim. They are religious Jews. Two very different kettles of fish.
The issues are, unfortunately, what I told you they were.
6 - Elvira Black
Ruvy:
Yes, I am very embarassed that I even brought up the question. I think I worded it wrong as well--not meaning to equate the NYC real estate market with Israel by any means--but what you said about price differences and ownership was also, of course, new to me.
I take it you do not consider the Hassidim to be true religious Jews? I know in NYC there is another group of Orthodox who are perhaps more religious--is it the Satmar? Not sure of the name. Would they be similar to the Haredim?
7 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Elvira,
I do not get to judge who is what in Judaism. My own knowledge of the religion is less than a thimbleful.
Let's see if I can break this out for you so you understand. The Hassidim and Hareidim are petty muc the same bunch, but not precisely. The Hassidim follow a rebbe who is usually hereditary They tend to view any state as just a state and basiclally just want to make a living and follow the law as they understand it. The different names of the different groups of Hassidim come from the different towns in Europe they originate from. For example, the Satmar originate in Szatmar, Hungary. The Shkvirer Hassidim, who built "Squaretown" in upstate New York, originate in Szkwyra, Poland. The Lubavicher come from Lubawicz, etc.
The Haredim (this is an Israeli term) include all the Hassidim plus all the Jews who dress like Hassidim but don't necessarily follow rebbes. They include lots of small groups too numerous for me to mention here. They consider themselves Jews, and it is not for me (an unimportant uneducated immigrant) to say otherwise. They may not consider me Jewish, or Jewish enough, but if they don't, that is their problem. On my Teudát Zehút (ID) it says Yehudí. So far as I'm concerned that's all that matters. Essentially you run into that problem only with the Satmar Hassidim.
In common parlance, the Hareidim are often known as black hats - for obvious reasons. But there are other groups of Jews who dress in white shirts and black pants. They are not considered Haredim. The different groups of Jews dress differently - you could almost call it gang colors.
Now the people kicked out of Atzmona were religious but not Haredim. The Haredim won't get bothered by the government until after the elections - if they are held.
The other group of religious Jews - commonly known as the national religious - used to believe that this state would evolve into a messianic Jewish state. They are rapidly changing their minds due to events in Gush Katif, Hebron, Atzmona and elsewhere. More and more of them are beginnning to realize that the government needs to be overthrorwn, as I figured out a long time ago.
What you really need to pick up from this piece is that the government here is evil. In a demonstration on Thursday, cops, male cops, kicked down a woman, and tore off her sweater and her blouse. She fled in shame.
There will be more and more violence here until we see a civil war.
8 - Christopher Rose
Ruvy, would you be so kind as to clarify something? I've kind of got in the back of my mind a memory fragment about religious Jews being subsidised by the state; is that the case?
9 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Chris,
Yes, and no. Heh, everything here is yes and no.
Mothers here get a mothers' allowance, presently NIS 148 (about 26 euros) per child. It used to be more per child, and then as you had more children, it really went up. Since religious Jews tend to have larger families than secular Jews here, they made out like bandits on the mothers' allowances. Of course, so did Arabs - who also have large families.
The Shinúi party, mentioned above in the article, used to scream bloody murder about the child allowances. The government, running short of money in a bad economy, cut the allowances to NIS 120 per child, froze it that level (normally everything is indexed to inflation), and thus effected a drastic cut in income to many Arab families and religious Jewish families particularly, Hareidim.
There used to be a Ministry of Religions here. The ministry paid the salaries of the rabbis (of shuls - there are loads of rabbis here who do not have shuls), priests, kadis, imams, etc. The ministry also paid for the religious courts that deal with personal status issues, like marriages, divorces and inheritances (there is no civil marriage in Israel), for the people who wash dead bodies before burial, for the people who certify kashrut (or the Islamic equivalent), etc.
In another "savings measure", the government disbanded the Religions Ministry, spinning off its various branches to other ministries. This was another "good government" measure pushed by the Shinúi party and their friends on the extreme "left".
There are several different school systems operating simultaneouly here. Three of them, the regular public schools, the government Jewish religious schools, and the Arab school system, are subsidized by the government. All other schools are private.
I don't know if this answers your question or not. In spite of my own training in public administration, I haven't worked out how subsidization flows here yet. Give me a few more years, Chris. I'm just a new immigrant.
10 - Christopher Rose
I was wondering if subsidies to the hard core religious encouraged them in their journey into the mystic at the taxpayers expense, further exacerbating the tension between modern and traditional management techniques...?
11 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
The answer to that is no. Secular Israelis respect and fear m'kubalim, but will not subsidize them. The mystics are subsidized on charity, so that they can effectively study. Effective study of a holy text requires concentration for at least four hours. Otherwise, it is time wasted.
Ironically, mystics come up with the most effective methods of management, the most imaginative ways to think outside the box. The not so smart, albeit religious individuals, are often sheeple who can't do that and are tiresomely conventional.
When you have mystics who are also top flight mathematicians, you have a scary, but powerful combination.
12 - Christopher Rose
Mystical Mathematicians!
Holy Numbers, Batman!
13 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
Aw come on, Chris,
One of our writers here is just such a fellow, or he has the makings of just such a fellow. Gonzo. He calls himself a heretic - but he writes like a mystic - and has the skills of a mathematician. And if you looked at the last piece he posted, he thinks outside the box.