Shas & UTJ Stuck in the Ghetto !
Shas and United Torah Judaism threaten to bring down the government, saying they will support a vote in favour of dispersing the Knesset on Wednesday unless a last-minute compromise is reached regarding a bill to regulate haredi service in the IDF. Once again, these ultra-Orthodox parties reveal their narrow, self-serving agenda. An agenda that ignores the well-being of the Nation, its security, and its viability. Their leaders, along with the majority of their followers, remain stuck in the Ghetto mentality prevalent amongst them.
This agenda hearkens back to a time when, for the Jew to survive as a Jew, they grew accustomed to the exile. They found in the Torah and the Talmud the means of preserving their Jewish identity while living as unwanted guests amongst hostile societies and dubious cultural values. As the centuries passed and the lost Land became a distant but constant memory, the majority of Jews’ understanding of the Land’s central importance in uniting them as a nation in the Land faded. Subsequently, the critical study of Gemara, detached from its prophetic sources, confined the Jew to a somewhat illusory spiritual world; nonetheless, this deep commitment to Torah study preserved them in a perilous environment.
On the other hand, this casuistry perpetuated an abnormal situation, characterised by a loss of historical perspective and a reluctance to study the prophetic teachings of the Torah. Paradoxically, the world of the Yeshivot does not excel in Bible knowledge. It knows the Torah through citations given in the Gemara, resulting in the divorce from the Nation in the Land. Thus, ignoring the mitzvah of the Return to the Promised Land. The exception is to be found in the Yeshivot of the Dati Leumi today.
It is this ossified mindset that motivates the likes of Shas and United Torah Judaism and perpetuates the narrow interpretation of their responsibilities to the Jewish State and Torah institutions.
