We need Mashiach - Badly!

Just a few weeks ago, I wrote an essay describing what is happening in Israel.  I maintained that the mass protests were not really about "Standing up for Democracy" or protesting the Judicial reform but rather about the anger of the Left that they lost the elections, were out of power, and were likely to stay that way.  Since then, the mobs have been whipped up into ever greater frenzies by their leaders, and the country is now at a frightening level of division and hate, and many fear that a real civil war will soon explode.  The leaders of the Left have no bounds of responsibility for what they are causing in their self-righteous hypocrisy, with former Prime Ministers Lapid, Barak, and Olmert, together with many of their leaders, literally calling for War against the current government, while continuing to spout lies and distortion about their true aims.

The truth is, as I argued in that essay – and as anyone examining the proposals of Judicial Reform may plainly see – the reforms are not radical at all.  They are merely an attempt to restore the proper balance between the Knesset and the Judiciary, which was devastated by the undemocratic power grab of Aharon Barak.  In a deceitful and hidden fashion, he and his co-conspirators engineered changes in the Knesset's basic laws, giving himself and the Court unbridled power.  Since then, the power has been used to promote an elitist agenda that has been condemned at various times by parties from the entire political spectrum, including the hypocrites leading these protests.  But they have found a rallying cry to use as a hammer to smash at the government, and unfortunately, they are using it all too effectively.

However, what the protests are really about is not that at all.  Ninety-nine percent of the demonstrators would not be able to put two truthful sentences together to explain what it is about the judicial reforms that so angers them that they have come out to the streets again and again to demonstrate.  What really exercises them is that, for the first time, the ones they consider "the extreme right" are in control and intent on enacting various policies that are antithetical to the Left.   They are angry that Netanyahu, who they now refer to as "the Dictator," is once again the Prime Minister, despite their best efforts to delegitimize him.  They are irate that Itamar ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are senior ministers.  The presence of a long-bearded, Chassidic-dressed minister from the UTJ revolts them.  They are disgusted that Aryeh Deri will once again be in power. 

Most of all, they are incensed, frustrated, angry, and frightful regarding the growth of the religious parties.  UTJ, Shas, and the Religious Zionist parties control thirty-two out of 120 seats.  (That does not consider the more extreme Chareidim, who do not participate in the elections.  If they did, the religious parties would control 3-4 more seats.)  They falsely claim that the government is trying to turn Israel into a theocratic state run by Halachah and that judicial reform is only the first domino that is needed before Israel will be no different than Iran.¹

 

The question now is by which of two proccesses will Israel be ruled: 
Democracy or Rule of the Mob.  

 

The problem we now face – it has become a genuinely existential issue – is whether Israel will survive as a Democracy.  But not because of the reasons the protesters say; indeed, the exact reverse is the case.  The question now is by which of two processes Israel will be ruled – by Democracy or by the Rule of the Mob.  

One possibility is a democratic process of elections, in which the winner rules, and the opposition licks its wounds, learns something about what the electorate wants, and positions itself as responsible legislators who can win the next election.  

The other possibility is what we now face – the losing side forms itself into an unruly mob that refuses to accept the results of the election, sets out to paralyze the country with mass demonstrations blocking all the roads, threatens to refuse to perform vital national functions (for those of them in position to do so like pilots, army officers, diplomats, doctors, etc.), actively encourages foreign investors to withdraw their funds, spreads their lies and hatred to influence the press and leaders of foreign countries who have vital ties, and generally makes life unbearable, all in the name of fighting for "democracy".  It is the big lie on steroids.  It is made possible by using unbounded Chutzpah, reminiscent of the boy – having murdered his parents – who seeks sympathy because he is an orphan.  They are the ones creating the chaos and havoc, and then they blame the "dysfunctional government" for it.

It is only made worse by the veneer of respectability that the mob has gained from those who speak on its behalf.  The President of Israel, who until just a few years ago was the leader of the Left and chairman of the Labor party, has taken the side of the protesters, instead of the position he is supposed to take of being above politics.  Several government minsters, including Yoav Galant, have taken their side.  Galant was Defense Minister, never allowed Bezalel Smotrich the authority over Judea and Samaria, which was agreed upon in the coalition negotiations and did not respond adequately to the reservists who tried to politicize the army, leaving Netanyahu with no choice but to fire him.  This has further led fuel to the protesters' fire, unfortunately.

If the government gives in to the protesters, it will set a terrible precedent and cripple its ability for any meaningful change in the future.  Having tasted blood, the Left will know that anytime they want to oppose a government action, they have to come out and block the roads again in the name of "democracy", and they will get their way.  They will totally forget their former anger and criticism of the Right when such tactics were taken – on a much smaller scale – to block the Oslo accords and the Disengagement, as they have now.  Such tactics are patriotic acts of Democracy – but only when engaged in by the Left.

What the government now faces is whether to stand for democracy, and against mob rule, or whether to capitulate.  It is a terrible quandary – I do not envy PM Netanyahu.  We hear that the government is intransigent in not agreeing to pause the Judicial reforms until after Pesach and Yom HaAtzmaut.  While that sounds like a good idea, the government knows that the Left will not use such a pause to cool the tempers and engage in rational discussion, mediation, and compromise because they are not interested in compromise.  They want to bring down the government, and will accept nothing less.

My father-in-law Rabbi Monni Weisberger ע"ה would say, "We need Mashiach to come – badly!"  I don't know what resolution is possible here.  We did see a wonderful evening of respite when the protesters came to cause trouble and havoc in Bnei Brak and were met with cholent, hamantashen, drinks, and music playing Shalom Aleichem!  I was very proud of how this was handled in that case, completely defusing the protest.  Unfortunately, I don't have any illusions that this will be replicated nationally.

May Hashem bring us a Festival of Freedom in which the truth will prevail, and all Four sons will be able to sit together peacefully to await the Mashiach as the Mighty one, Adir Hu, Yivneh Baiso B'Karov

1. In my humble opinion, the government is doing itself no favors by pushing for the Chametz law and to reinstall Aryeh Deri at this time, which only adds fuel to the fire.  They should have gone slower in introducing these items at a later time - it just gives the haters arguments to pile on.

 

Judicial Reform? It's Just an Excuse for a Civil War

משנכנס אדר מרבין בשמחה!  The month of Adar ushers in a time of happiness and joy . . . but it sure does not feel like it this year.  There have been too many tragedies and difficulties have occurred in the Jewish world in the past few weeks.  Three sets of brothers – Paley in Yerushalayim, Yaniv in the Shomron, and Boyer in Phoenix – perished in terrible ways.  Moreover, in Israel, storm clouds continue to gather as we face a dangerous split in society that is threatening to tear apart the country as never before, with their ideological counterparts in the Diaspora joining the fracas with the New Israel Fund is pouring millions of dollars into the well-funded protests. ...  

I don't know what Heavenly message was communicated when three sets of brothers perished one after the other, but it seems plain to me that we are being told something about not valuing our brotherhood enough.  At the time of Esther's Purim message — "Gather all the Jews together" – the underlying theme of all the mitzvot of Purim – the opposite seems to be happening.  We need to reflect deeply on this before it is too late.

At the time of Esther's Purim message — "Gather all the Jews together" – the opposite seems to be happening.  We need to reflect deeply on this before it is too late.

According to many reports, nothing less than a civil war is about to happen in Israel as protests and demonstrations grow by the day.  The purported cause of the unrest is the allegedly radical judicial reforms that the current "extremist" "dictatorial" government is committing to pass at all costs.  According to the protesters, the reforms will destroy the fundamental democratic processes and allow the government to pass unjust, theocratic, discriminatory laws without a check on its power.  Furthermore, they claim that the urgency to pass the law is only a cynical attempt to relieve PM Netanyahu of the legal troubles that have dogged him for the past few years.  The inciteful rhetoric is at frightful levels; three former prime ministers (Olmert , Lapid, Barak) are calling for civil war and for the army and police to stop obeying the "Putsch" dictatorship government.  They claim the ruckuses they are raising are principled objections to the proposed judicial reforms in the best spirit of patriotism. Increasingly, they refer to the judicial reform effort as a power coup designed to destroy democracy, which much be stopped at all costs.

If you believe that, then the lies and slander that the Left is using to hoodwink the Israeli public and the whole Western world have successfully fooled you as well.

The truth is that the judicial reforms are not at all radical.  Even if, for argument’s sake, one would grant that some of its particular points are stronger than they need to be, the truth is that the government has repeatedly said they are willing to discuss compromise while continuing the legislative process.  The need for judicial reform is very apparent to anyone familiar with the excesses of Aharon Barak's power grab.  However, it is crucial to know that it is all a smokescreen; the real issue is something else entirely. 

The issue exercising the Left is simple and stark — the growing realization that they have lost their grip on power.  They are angry and frustrated that “their State is being taken from them”.  

Since before the State’s founding, the non-religious, secular Labor Zionists ruled the country with total control over all branches of government, media, academia, and culture, and treated the right-wing and religious population as second-class, unenlightened primitives.  In 1977 Menachem Begin successfully tapped into the frustration of the former underclasses and created nothing less than a revolution.  Conservative, capitalist secular forces joined with Sephardim and the religious right to form a new government that put the Left socialists and hardline secularists out of power for the first time in Israel's history.  For most of the next forty-five years – despite the condescending and sneering objections of the elite that would rule the country – Likud has been in power with few exceptions.  The reality is that the majority of Jews in Israel have moved steadily to the right, particularly as they have seen the folly of the Oslo accords and the excesses of the Left. 

Supreme Court end-run

In order to retain its hold on power, the Israeli Left followed the example of its counterparts in the United States.  Since the 1960s, as liberals realized they were unable to accomplish their objectives through elections, they turned to the U.S. Supreme Court to "legislate from the bench" on many issues which they would never be able to win at the ballot box.  Upon assuming his position, Chief Justice Aharon Barak instigated new policies through which the Israeli Supreme Court became the most powerful Supreme Court in the entire world.  Sitting as the High Court of Justice, it can control anything and everything in Israeli society, not bound by whether or not it has standing, as according to the Barak doctrine, “everything is justiciable.”  Not only does the Supreme Court not have to rule based on precedent, but if it finds any law or decision by the government or the army "unreasonable" in its superior opinion, it has arrogated itself the power to invalidate it.

Furthermore, by controlling five out of the nine votes needed to elect new Justices, they rigged the system so that the current Supreme Court justices control who gets elected to the Court, and thus ensure that those with their (liberal) bias will control it in the future.  This terribly biased, politicized overbearing Court has been a blot on fairness in Israel. Over the years, many commentators, including some of the hypocrites now in the opposition, understood that the Supreme Court had gone too far and needed to be reined in.  (For an excellent review of the history of the Israel Supreme Court and the need for Judicial Reform, see this article by Jonathan Rosenblum, who has written about this for years).

That is what the judicial reforms are about; they seek to bring the Supreme Court back to the way it operated before Aharon Barak started his dictatorial power grab.  This is something that a majority of Israelis would agree with — if it were presented to them fairly. 

Judicial reform is not the primary issue – it is a smokescreen.  The Left sees the results of the last election; they are out of power and likely to stay that way.

Why, then, are there hundreds of thousands demonstrating weekly?  Why are so many prominent professionals – pilots, doctors, army officials, and others – so moved to threaten strikes and anarchy?  Is it because they have suddenly grown so concerned about the workings of the Supreme Court and legal processes? 

Judicial reform, in fact, is not the primary issue – it is a smokescreen.  What is really going on is that the Left and sees the results of the last election; they are out of power and likely to stay that way.  They see that, for the first time, the ones they consider "the extreme right" are in control and intent on enacting various policies that are antithetical to the Left.   They are angry that Netanyahu is - despite their best efforts to delegitimize him - once again the Prime Minister.  They are irate that Itamar ben-Gvir and Bezalel Smotrich are senior ministers. They are revolted by the presence of a long-bearded, Chassidic-dressing minister from the UTJ. They are disgusted that Aryeh Deri will once again be in power. 

Most of all, they are incensed, frustrated, angry, and frightful regarding the growth of the religious parties.  Between them, UTJ, Shas, and the Religious Zionist parties control thirty-two out of 120 seats.  (That does not take into account the more extreme Chareidim, who do not participate in the elections.  If they did, there would be 3-4 more seats controlled by the religious parties.)    As a result, it is now impossible for the Left to form a government without either joining with the Arab parties or forming a national unity government with the Likud, unless they incorporate the religious parties in their coalition.

(In this, they are joined by the ultra-secular Right, in particular, the despicable Avigdor Liberman and his Yisrael Beiteinu party.  It was he who put Israel through the trauma of the five elections in the previous three years, as he absolutely refused to sit with the Chareidi parties and thus prevented a stable government from forming.  Now that his seats are no longer needed by the rest of the Right, he is left whining with the Left.)

They, therefore, gnash their teeth as they decry "the end of democracy," "the rise of fanaticism," and so on.  They spread lies that the government is trying to institute Halacha as the law of the land.  They fabricate slander that the current government is anti-women, will persecute LGBTQs, and so forth.  They claim to be upset about the corruption of Netanyahu. What really upsets them, however, is that they recognize that the rule by the secular Left, who controlled Israel, is effectively over. 

An Understandable Frustration

This feeling of desperation is very understandable and justified from their perspective.  It is the secularists who mainly built the country's infrastructure, fought its wars, established the government, sacrificed enormously, and did many heroic things that created the modern State of Israel, a paradise compared to anything else in the Middle East.  They deserve major credit for all the good that they have done.  It is obvious that they are angry and frustrated in being pushed to the side in terms of holding the reins of power.

Moreover, from the perspective that the secular media have constantly fed them, the religious are primitive Neanderthals who do not participate in the country's defense nor pay taxes, expecting to be protected and supported by the secular naïve freiers (an Israeli term meaning suckers).  This is unfortunately magnified when "religious" fools misbehave and cause Chilul Hashem.  Particularly reprehensible are the idiots who riot and demonstrate on foolish issues, and call soldiers and police Nazis while mocking and spitting on them.  The secularists are seething that – in their eyes – these people are taking the country away from them. 

However, they fail to understand that this didn't happen in a vacuum.  While they did many great things and promoted the building and protection of the State, they also neglected many crucial issues that have now come home to roost.  Despite all of their noise, the secularists are becoming a minority due to the growing acceptance of traditional values, the high birth rate among the religious, and, unfortunately, the high rate of emigration by secular Israelis who no longer live in Israel.

This is no accident.  Young Jews brought up on the values of the secularists made one of three choices.  Some sensed that there ought to be much more to a Jewish State than to be a vapid cheap imitation of western values.  They thus decided to increase their connection with Judaism, become more connected with the traditional communities, and now vote for religious parties.

Others who made the same observation but were not moved to become more traditional decided that if western values are most important, why pursue them in Israel?  One can make more money, live in a nicer home, enjoy more of the same pleasures, and not be bothered with annoying things like army service, high taxes, and the irritating Orthodox elsewhere.  Over a million secular Israelis have voted with their feet and moved to America, Canada, and many other places. 

This leaves the third group of secular Israelis; those committed to staying in Israel for whatever reason but who are not interested in becoming more traditional.  It is that group – that used to be the great majority in Israel – that has seen its numbers dwindle.  To the point that the once all-powerful Labour Party barely exists, the Meretz party did not make the electoral threshold.  (Even much of the opposition today is more to the right, and only in opposition due to personal animus toward Netanyahu and/or the Chareidim.) As a result, the only way they could put together a government last time was by lying to their voters, voiding campaign promises, electing a Prime minister who controlled only six seats, incorporating Arabs into the government, and insisting that it was legitimate under the rules of "democracy".

These are the people leading all the protests and spreading the lie that judicial reform is the issue.  Their slogans claim that they are standing up for democracy, which is the biggest lie in itself.  Democracy is government by the will of the majority; the Jewish majority has voted (not only in this but in the previous elections) for the Right/Religious.  Belief in democracy should be to accept that election's result and understand that their political opponents are legitimately in power.  But they refuse to accept that.  Instead, they have convinced themselves that by calling for civil disobedience, for the army to refuse to be subject to the government, and for anarchy in the streets, they are standing up for democracy.  It would be laughable if it weren't so sad.

Our Responsibility as Orthodox Jews

Where will Israel go from here?  That is anyone's guess.  The forces of the Left will not stand down and will be satisfied with nothing less than destroying the country they claim to care so much about unless they get their way.  But that, of course, is something that the majority cannot let happen.

In my perfect world, the message that the Right must be sending out is one of understanding the frustration and the anger of the Left and seeking ways to compromise on those issues on which they can afford to compromise.  The religious parties, in particular, must be zealous in promoting their issues with great care and understanding for the hurt feelings and disappointment of those who used to be in power.  They must be greatly concerned that what is done is with love, compassion, and flexibility while not compromising on fundamental values.  

All of us must be extra vigilant in being stellar examples of the beauty, light, and kindness that the Torah teaches us 

While there is little that individuals can do about that, every Orthodox Jew, both in Israel and the Diaspora, needs to be very aware that – more than ever – non-Orthodox Jews feel under attack and alienated and disparaged, for this is what their leaders are telling them.  The truth does not matter much here, but perceptions matter a great deal.  They are looking to confirm their prejudice that Orthodox Jews are corrupt, mean-spirited, bullying, and power-hungry and seek to delegitimize the non-Orthodox as second-class Jews.  Therefore, all of us must be extra vigilant in being stellar examples of the beauty, light, and kindness that the Torah teaches us and not, G-d forbid, the opposite.

History seems to be progressing ever more powerfully toward some great vortex in which the Jewish people, the land of Israel, and religious Jews are under attack.  Many sources say that these conditions are a harbinger of the coming of the Mashiach, as we all fervently hope.  In the meantime, we must heighten our resolve – and up our game – to be worthy of the arrival of the Mashiach and not, G-d forbid, misuse this tremendous opportunity.

Published in the Jewish Press March 10, 2023