Who has the power in Iran?
Who is the Supreme Leader?
Who is the Grand Ayatollah?
The answer to all three questions is: Grand Ayatollah Ali Hosseini Khamenei.
The haredim in Israel would like Israel to become a theocracy like Iran, with their preferred rabbi as the equivalent of the Grand Ayatollah.
Who would it be?
Rabbi Yisroel Hager, a/k/a the Vizhnitzer Rebbe,
Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman, the (interim) leader of the Lithuanians following the death of R. Yosef Shalom Elyashiv.
Iraqi Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, head of Shas, a “Sefardi” religious party.
R. (choose one) Teitelbaum, assuming he would relocate to Jerusalem.
Grand Rabbi Yaakov Aryeh Alter, the Gur admore.
Rabbi Yissachar Dov Rokeach, the leader of the Belz sect.
If any of these men were given the Grand Ayatollah’s power, can anyone imagine the state of Judaism in Israel – and around the world?
It is enough that the rabbinute is politicized; elections for multiple “chief” rabbis selected – as are presidential candidates in Iran – by only a handful of “approved” people.
Is Israel ready for a pope who, in today’s era, seems more reasonable - or at least less warlike – than his Muslim counterpart in Iran.
What happens if, for example, Shas’ Yosef is named Grand Rabbi and the others are told to sit at his side as advisors. Will any Ashkenazi follow a Mizrachi? On the other hand, will Yosef follow the rulings of the Gur’s Alter?
Still, travel today to some parts of Bnei Brak, Jerusalem, or Bet Shemesh and prepare to be abused.
A HAREDI soldier in the Israeli army home on leave: expect to be insulted by children responding to their parents’ encouragement.
An “Orthodox” girl, modestly dressed, walking with her mother to school accosted by a haredi for not passing his modesty muster.
A bearded Chabadnik taking modestly dressed American children on a school tour on Mea Sharim attacked by a haredi as being “not Jewish enough.”
Many of the haredim don’t acknowledge Israel’s existence and a few reject any contact with the state. I have no problem with that; in fact, let the PA have Mea Sharim as its “capital in Jerusalem.” Let like-minded folk from Beni Brak and Bet Shemesh move into any hovels vacated by haredim who want to live in Israel and who are willing to accept – if not respect – other Jews’ approaches to Judaism. Let them assume a Sefardi perspective: We all are Jews; some are more observant than me, some are less observant than me, and some are as observant as me, but we all are Jews.
I understand some haredim have reason to dislike helonim because if the way some helonim disrespect them, but has anyone heard of a haredi being attacked by helonim? Cursed, probably. Shunned, most assuredly. But hit; spit on? Told to ride a separate bus and told to stay out of sections of town? I have yet to hear of any heloni treating a haredi as the helonim are treated by some of the haredim.
If the haredim worked harder at being Jews – and encouraging people to become more observant rather than attacking anyone not like them; if the haredim hiding out in the many yeshivot would show their faces and offer to take part – even if only a few hours-a-day – in the life of Israel, maybe the heloni non-violent attacks might cease.
Haredim outside of Israel seem to manage to juggle study and participation in the world while, I suggest, gaining a new appreciation for the talmuds and commentaries to which they devote much of their time.
Come out of the cloistered yeshivas, see how the rest of us live, how we struggle to make time for study, work, and family. See how the Torah applies to Jews in 2013.
