Egypt – and remember Russia
Egypt has an interim president replacing deposed Mohammed Morsi, Egypt’s first “democratically elected” president.
The people who deposed his predecessor, Hosni Mubarak, toppled Morsi after only a year in office.
The Egyptian army is back in control and the politicians are puppets, at least for now.
Was Morsi any good?
Was his sponsor, the Muslim Brotherhood up to the job?
Will American-style democracy even work in Egypt?
We’ll never know the answer to the first two questions; I doubt we’ll learn the answer to the third in our lifetime.
Egypt’s “democracy revolution” and the Russian’s “capitalist revolution” are very similar.
In both places, transition was difficult for the people. Their immediate expectations and gratifications failed to materialize.
In both places, the army was the power behind the throne.
In Russia, the former Communist leaders knew how to use the army to put down dissent; it did, often ruthlessly.
In Egypt, the army decided to align itself with the average person rather than the theo-political (and therefore dangerous to the army) Muslim Brotherhood. Rather than go against the masses, it elected to remove the object of the masses anger.
Russia still is “transitioning” into a capitalist society. It’s painful, especially for the average Russian, but “progress” is being made.
In Egypt, the people must start over. Hopefully this time “democracy” will be given a chance. Sacrifices will be required, and the leadership must lead by example.
The Muslim Brotherhood won its political power by filling a gap in Egypt’s social services area. As long as it continues this role, it will maintain a base with the Egyptian poor. The army – the true “power behind the throne” – must replace the Brotherhood and provide the services if it hopes to wean the poor from the Brotherhood.
As far as “American-style democracy” coming to Egypt – or Russia – the question is “Why should it?” Let Egypt, and Russia, develop their own, unique types of democracy. “Democracy” in the UK is different than in the US; ditto in Israel and France and – you name any “democratic” country. Bottom line: The US should never try to force American-style democracy on anyone. Encourage, maybe. Insist, never.
Chief rabbi
The politics of the chief rabbi – Ashkenazi and “Sefardi” (Mizrachi) – in Israel are a disgrace. To Judaism. To Israel. To the rabbinute, both political and rank-n-file.
It appears that none of the candidates is above reproach or their decisions “questionable” in light of the times.
R. Ovadia Yosef, long-time kingmaker of the “Sefardi” chief rabbi, the Reshion l’Tzion, wants his fourth son, Holon’s chief rabbi, Avraham Yosef, to be the next Hakham Bashi, a position his father held from 1973-1983. He prefers Avraham over another son, Yitzak Yosef.
Avraham Yosef opines, following in his father’s lead, that (civil court) judges “cannot be allowed to have a presence and they cannot be included [in a minyan] or speak in a synagogue. They have to be ignored, as if they were nothing but air. Even if he [the judge] knows how to pray well, once he has agreed to be named a judge he has disqualified himself from participating in a minyan."
Rabbi Avraham Yosef's main rival is Rabbi Tzion Boaron, endorsed by outgoing Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar and Zefat Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu, endorsed by the national religious party, Habayit Hayehudi.
The remarks that got R. Eliyahu into hot water with Hatnuah Justice Minister Tzipi Livni include:
“A Jew should not flee from Arabs. A Jew should make the Arabs flee. There is a silent war going on here for land”; “most of the violence in Israeli society stems from the Arabs”; and “the Arabs have a different code, and violent norms that have become an ideology” — these were among the statements Eliyahu made in a 2010 interview with the Maariv daily.
He also generated controversy over the past few years for a variety of statements and rulings, including one ruling that forbade the rental or sale of Jewish-owned property in the city to Arabs. (Never mind that in PA-controlled Israel selling land to a Jew is a capital offense.
Eliyahu is the son of former Hakham Baski Mordechai Eliyahu who served from 1983 to1993.
Both current chief rabbis – Shlomo Amar and Yona Metzger – have an undistinguished history with the civil authorities.
The rabbinute wars on the Ashkenazi side are no better.
IMO, the last time the chief rabbinute had men of quality was the 1993-2003 period when R. Yisrael Meir Lau and R. Eliyahu Kakshi-Doron held the positions. I also have a great respect for R. Mordechai Eliyahu (1983–1993).
The “bottom line” for Israel and the chief rabbinute can be summed up in two words: “Who cares?”
The hard-line haredim follow their own rabbis to the exclusion of all others.
The heloni Israeli follows no rabbi.
The observant Israeli Jew, if he aligns with any specific rabbi at all, probably takes his questions and concerns to his local (city) rabbi.
Perhaps the real question ought to be: Do Jews even need “chief rabbis?”
