Grapevine, July 10, 2024: Economic sanctions against haredim ineffective

Economic sanctions against haredi institutions and individual young men who ignore army recruitment orders will have little or no effect, judging by the efforts of six prominent rabbis who are heads of ultra-Orthodox yeshivot.

In the last week of June, the six went on an emergency fund-raising mission to North America in the hope of raising $107 million to cover the deficit that will be suffered as a result of economic sanctions following the ruling of Israel’s High Court of Justice that eliminates exemptions from army service for yeshiva students.

Since then, there have been some violent protest demonstrations by haredi adults and youth.

Calculating the financial loss that would be incurred with the ruling going into force, the six rabbis went to New York and beyond, and within four days, at several mega gatherings, managed to raise more than $83 million from donors in the tristate area and Toronto.

Of that figure, $14.8 million was raised in Lakewood, $13.3 m. in Brooklyn, $12.4 m. in Manhattan, $11.5 m. in Deal, $9.9 m. in the Five Towns, $8.5 m. in Monsey and $6m. in Toronto. Money was also forthcoming from places they didn’t visit. A million dollars was donated in Chicago and $5 m. in Brazil.

It is anticipated that some $25 million will soon be raised through the establishment of Keren Olam HaTorah, a religious studies fund that will enable continued Torah study in yeshivot and kollels in Israel.

For those who leave the haredi life

STRANGELY, at the same time that the haredi establishment is fighting the draft for haredim, Hillel, the organization that cares for young men and women who have left haredi communities (not to be confused with Hillel International, the world’s largest Jewish university campus organization), has mounted a campaign for the creation of a center for such people, based on the estimate that over the next decade, 30,000 young men and women will leave haredi communities. The large campaign advertisements feature reservist soldier Shneur Sett, a former haredi who is now an IDF reservist, as their poster boy; and Rikki Ferster, a female soldier who recently joined Hillel, as their poster girl. The two are featured separately and together.

Sett still sports a beard. But whereas it was probably untrimmed in the past, it is now a fine example of hirsute architecture.

For Hillel to campaign at this time lends support to haredi arguments that army service will lure young haredim away from their religiously observant lifestyles and their heritage. It makes no difference that the people who come to Hillel do so after losing their faith, or that haredim who have served in the army have maintained their faith and are perhaps even stronger in their adherence to Jewish religious values. Unfortunately, they are considered to be the exception to the rule.

As for those leaving the haredi world, many still cling to certain religious traditions such as lighting Sabbath candles, and eating a Friday night meal together, even though they may be smoking cigarettes between courses or checking the messages on their cell phones. There is no guarantee that people raised in a particular milieu will follow the ideological path and customs of their parents.

As they grow older and are exposed to diversity at school, on public transport and in sports clubs, youth groups and social circles, many begin to question their parents’ political and religious beliefs and some move in the opposite direction. In some cases, they are disowned; in others, their parents try to dissuade them from being independent thinkers; in a few, they are accepted. 

The most important thing is for both sides to be respectful of each other. Nationalist parents should not be critical when their children defend the interests of Israel’s minority communities, and children of haredi parents should stick to the rules when visiting their parents’ home.

Mutual consideration and understanding will keep families united despite their differences.

Down under

DURING THE period that he was government spokesman, Eylon Levy, who rose to fame with an international following of the type reserved for rock stars, did a fair bit of traveling. However, he did not get as far south as Australia. He will remedy that lacuna in September when he pays his first-ever visit down under to launch the Jewish National Fund campaign for 2024.

Levy will be speaking in New South Wales on September 3, in Victoria on September 5 and in Western Australia on September 8. A JNF solidarity mission from Australia is expected to arrive in Israel just a few days after mid-September.

Australian Jewry has been a strong supporter of Israel since before the establishment of the state through organizations such as JNF, WIZO and Keren Hayesod as well as Zionist youth groups.

Since the state came into being, Australian Jews have invested in Israel’s industry, and have joined many friends – organizations that support medical, cultural, educational, sports, agricultural, security and scientific organizations, institutions and enterprises.

Levy will be preceded to the Lucky Country by Channel 13 senior military reporter Alon Ben David, who for more than twenty years has been covering conflicts in the region. On August 8, Ben David is due to address the Young Leadership division of Keren Hayesod-United Israel Appeal, which is raising funds to support children orphaned by the October 7 massacre and events since then. Ben David will speak on the military and political issues in which Israel is currently embroiled.

A truly talented journalist 

THERE ARE brilliant investigative journalists who are not good writers or broadcasters and there are journalists who write or broadcast well, but are not sufficiently familiar with their subjects. Then there are journalists who are simply good at everything they do professionally.

Among them is political journalist Suleiman Maswada who broadcasts on KAN 11 television and Reshet Bet radio, and is arguably amongst the busiest journalists in Israel. In a relatively brief span of time, he has advanced from being a reporter to being both a reporter and analyst. His explanations are lucid and comprehensive and his focus is mainly on negotiations aimed at bringing home the hostages who, after more than nine months, are still languishing in Gaza.

Maswada appears on the majority of news and current affairs programs from as early as 6:30 a.m. till late at night with updates on the situation. In accumulating information, he speaks to the different sides of those involved, and because his mother tongue is Arabic, he is able to discern nuances in language and attitude when interviewing Arab spokespeople or reading reports emanating from Qatar, Egypt or Hamas. Never patronizing, he is always polite and maintains a light, conversational tone, which may be part of the reason that program anchors often allow him more time to speak than they give to other people.

Accepting defeat

IF CONCEDING defeat with grace is a noble characteristic, former British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, who lost out in last week’s elections, is a class act. Sunak took full responsibility for his party’s defeat and remembered to commiserate with his supporters and thank them for their efforts. Most important of all, he blamed no one but himself – even though it wasn’t all his fault – and acknowledged that there is much to be learned.

Labour meets Labor

IT’S CUSTOMARY for heads of state and government to send congratulatory messages to newly elected heads of government in other countries. But when President Issac Herzog sent greetings to Britain’s newly elected prime minister Sir Keir Starmer, it was more than a matter of protocol.

Starmer is head of the UK’s Labour Party; Herzog is a former head of Israel’s Labor Party. His father Chaim Herzog was a Labor MK when he was elected president in 1983.

The current president’s paternal uncle, Rabbi Dr. Yaacov Herzog, was an adviser to prime minister Levi Eshkol, who was a prominent Labor leader, and his maternal uncle by marriage, Abba Eban, was foreign minister in a Labor-led government. As president, 

Herzog is apolitical, but he could return to politics in four years’ time. That’s not without precedent. Yitzhak Navon returned to the Knesset after serving as president and served as education minister.

Yoni Netanyahu z"l

AS HE DOES every year, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu visited the grave of his elder brother Lt.-Col. Yoni Netanyahu, who lost his life in a daring rescue operation in Entebbe, Uganda, on July 4, 1976.

The prime minister was accompanied to the military cemetery on Mount Herzl by his wife, Sara, their younger son Avner, and the prime minister’s younger brother Ido and his family.

The two brothers recited the memorial kaddish prayer, and their wives laid flowers on the grave. Also in attendance were Knesset Speaker Amir Ohana, along with several ministers, Members of Knesset, IDF commanders and friends of the family.

Many of the people critical of the prime minister’s handling of the hostage situation bring up the name of Yoni Netanyahu, who led the reconnaissance unit in conducting a successful rescue of hostages whose plane had been hijacked by terrorists from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the German Revolutionary Cells during a stopover in Athens. The plane, with 248 passengers on board, including children, was diverted to Entebbe. Two days later, 148 non-Israeli hostages were released and flown to Paris.

Three of the Israeli hostages were killed. Other than Yoni Netanyahu, no Israeli soldiers were killed, but five were wounded. All the terrorists were killed, as were 45 Ugandan soldiers who had aided them.

Family members of the hostages in Gaza say that Benjamin Netanyahu was not able to accomplish in nine months what Yoni Netanyahu accomplished in the space of a week.

An added expense

THE RETURN of the hostages, and pre-empting a discussion on conditions for their release by publishing an announcement on his perceived outcome of such discussions, are not the only area in which Bibi has recently goofed. Some might say that he’s on the verge of committing political suicide. One of his latest outrages is to give a green light to Foreign Minister Israel Katz to take his wife Ronit with him on official trips abroad at the expense of the state – namely the expense of the taxpayer. This involves an additional business class seat, additional hotel expenses and other incidental costs. 

As the foreign minister travels abroad several times a year, his wife will cost the taxpayers a pretty penny. After all, she has no official role, and does not sit in on the official meetings that the foreign minister has with officials in the host country. So what does she do when he’s busy with official business? 

There used to be a protocol that if the counterpart of a president or a minister in the host country did not have a spouse then the visiting dignitary would leave his or her spouse at home. But that rule faded into oblivion a long time ago. When Shimon Peres was president, his visiting counterparts usually came with their spouses, though foreign ministers and secretaries of state did not. The Americans were very good about that, and even a few American presidents, before, during and after Peres, came without their wives.

Incidentally, the scaled down American Independence Day reception at the ambassador’s residence in Jerusalem last week was not quite a men-only event – although it came close, because wives weren’t invited, even though the ambassador’s wife was present.

As for Katz, he is currently in Washington attending the NATO conference. The summer sales are in full swing, so his wife can enjoy herself in the DC shopping malls.

Incidentally, it’s not only the foreign minister whose spouse has an undefined legal status. The spouses of the president, the prime minister, the defense minister and all the other ministers as well as the spouse of the Speaker of the Knesset are in the same boat. They are neither elected nor appointed, and do not have specific duties, though they do take up certain causes.

A global affair

AS MENTIONED more than once in this column, few events in Israel these days are held without mention of the hostages in Gaza, and the perilous conditions under which they are still being held. Although there were some members of the diplomatic community at the Peres Center for Peace and Innovation a few weeks back for last month’s opening of the photo exhibition October 7 by photojournalist Ziv Koren, many more attended an emotional and powerful meeting this week as Koren led them through the exhibition, which remains on display as an important historical documentation of horrific events of that day. 

Ambassadors and other senior diplomats from France, Austria, Switzerland, Ireland, Canada, Singapore, Vietnam, Russia, the Netherlands, Argentina, Germany, Australia, Azerbaijan and elsewhere filled the exhibition space, indicating that interest in this significant chapter of Israel’s history continues to interest representatives of the global community. 

That interest is sparked by the fact that many of these foreign diplomats were in Israel when Hamas attacked. Another factor is that no country is immune from terrorism from across the border or even from within. Some countries like Australia and New Zealand are islands without any immediate neighbors, but they can have terror from within as witnessed by recent protest demonstrations and the security breach by pro-Palestinians who hoisted their flag and chanted slogans from the roof of Parliament House in Canberra.

By the way, when they call Israelis occupiers of Palestinian land, how do they explain their own continued presence in Australia where the indigenous population was attacked and humiliated and had its land taken away by the British conquerors?

9 months in

ANOTHER RELATED photo exhibition by Sharon Back opened this week at the TLV Mall under the title of 9 Months. Among those who came to see it were TLV CEO Ori Smith, exhibition curator Ilana Klein, some of the released hostages, women who had witnessed the October 7 carnage by Hamas, and relatives of victims of the October massacre as well as relatives of hostages. They included Adi Marciao, Moran Stella Yanai and her sister Lea Yanai, Shelly Shem Tov, Nurit Sharabi, Mia Leimberg, Ricarda Louk, Ayelet Epstein among others. The exhibition, which features sensitive and thought provoking portrayals of 21 inspiring women, will remain on view till July 21, after which it will go on tour to Berlin, Buenos Aires, Los Angeles, South Korea, Paris and beyond.

Opportunities for people with disabilites

IF ANYONE is looking for a reason to remember that people with disabilities are not necessarily totally disabled, they only have to read a biography about theoretical physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking to realize that abilities that are not always obvious to the naked eye exist in bodies that in one way or another have been disabled. In Hawking’s case, his brilliant mind remained unaffected, and he was courted and honored by prestigious universities around the globe.

Israel’s Bar Ilan University has embarked on a heart-warming project of empowerment to enable adults with intellectual disabilities to receive university degrees. Six students who are enrolled in the Empowerment Project will receive their bachelor’s degrees today (Wednesday, July 10). Naturally, they are all excited – and their families perhaps even more so. Their graduation ceremony will take place at BIU’s Faculty of Education, followed by a reception in their honor, recognizing them as achievers. The six are Ruti Bar-Or, 46, from Jerusalem; Tomer Gad-Barak, 35, from Petah Tikva; Hofit Gilad, 41, from Ramat Gan; Henia Greengarten, 42, from Kfar Saba; Oded Naftali, 34, from Rishon Lezion; and Lior Shmualevitz, 35, from Hod Hasharon.

Bar-Or, who was born with Down syndrome, writes poetry and short stories, keeps a personal diary, and sees it as her mission to work as a lecturer to people with special needs.

Gad-Barak has mild cerebral palsy. His mottoes are: “Don’t say anything that can’t be heard” and “If I don’t understand something, I try hard until I do.”

Gilad, who has a daughter, Abigail, has the ability to see the good in each of her friends, cheering them on and caring for each of them. She’s also good with numbers and has an admirable understanding of certain basic concepts in statistics.

Greengarten, who has Kabuki syndrome, a rare congenital disorder that affects different parts of the body but mostly facial characteristics, has an abiding thirst for knowledge. She always knew she was different, but has likewise been aware that all humans are born different but equal. She volunteers in pre-schools, and studies librarianship at David Yellin College, with the goal of eventually working with children in a public library.

 Naftali, who also has Down syndrome, served in the IDF and earned an outstanding soldier medal in 2018. He is tech savvy and a team leader. But he used to be painfully shy, and came to university in an effort to overcome his shyness. He succeeded in that ambition and says that all shy people can learn. Though initially hesitant to ask questions when he didn’t understand, he has no problem asking questions these days.

Shmualevitz has Williams syndrome, which is most evident in facial features such as an unusually broad forehead, an underdeveloped chin, puffy cheeks and a small nose. Some also have a mild to moderate intellectual disability and have difficulty drawing images. But they have a friendly, outgoing personality and a happy disposition, and engage easily with other people. Shmualevitz, knowing how difficult it is for most people to talk about their disabilities, is not the least bit shy about discussing hers – a factor that puts her interlocutors at their ease.

The BIU Empowerment Project, which serves 120 students at all levels of intellectual disability, was established by Prof. Heftziba Lifshitz.

In memory of a great man

IN APRIL of this year, the personal archives of the late Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks, a former Chief Rabbi of Britain’s United Hebrew Congregations, an inspiring philosopher, orator and prolific writer, were transferred to the National Library of Israel.

In order to perpetuate the Sacks legacy, a Sacks Scholars program was established whereby international cohorts of educators, academics, and community leaders get together in Israel to study and discuss Sacks’ teachings.

The second cohort, which included twenty participants from Australia, Canada, Israel, Mexico, South Africa, the UK, and the US met recently for a five day learning experience in Jerusalem that included a visit to the National Library to see the archives for themselves. The archives, which are still being cataloged, are not yet available to the general public, so it was a special treat for members of the cohort to be able to see them.

Among the many documents in the archives is a letter that Sacks wrote to the Lubavitcher Rebbe Menachem Mendel Schneersohn to consult with him about his candidacy for the Chief Rabbinate. There is also a handwritten note from King Charles when he was still Prince Charles.

Among the sessions held by the Second Cohort of Sacks Scholars was a panel discussion on “Leadership in Difficult Times” that featured Rabbi Doron Perez, whose son Daniel, an IDF tank commander, was murdered by Hamas on October 7.

Perez was not the only participant who had lost a son to terrorists. Also present was Racheli Fraenkel, the mother of yeshiva student Naftali Fraenkel who was kidnapped and murdered by terrorists ten years ago. Another very current discussion on “The Challenges of Global Antisemitism” was led by Michal Cotler-Wunsh, Israel’s special envoy for combating antisemitism.

Rabbi Jeremy Bruce, Director of Programming at The Rabbi Sacks Legacy, said: “Rabbi Sacks called for a Judaism engaged with the world, and the Sacks Scholars will develop new ways to meet this vital challenge. They join a growing global network of Sacks Scholars, following the trailblazing efforts of last year’s inaugural group, who answered the call to advance Rabbi Sacks’ teachings.”

Farming following Oct. 7

IT’S FAIRLY well known that Joseph Gitler, the founder of Leket Israel has a long and ongoing relationship with Israel’s farmers who allow members of his team and Leket supporters to harvest surplus crops for distribution to the poor and needy.

Many farmers were forced to abandon their fields and their orchards because they had been evacuated from their homes. Some return daily to do what they can in relation to their crops, but it’s very difficult and so much is going to waste.

Gitler cites as an example Asaf Shwartz, the orchard manager at Kibbutz Yir’on on the Lebanese border. Less than a year ago, the kibbutz generously donated 3,000 tons of apples and pears to Leket for the benefit of the needy.

On a recent return visit to meet with Shwartz, Gitler found him at Kibbutz Hulata, some 32 kilometers southwest of Yi’ron from where his family had been evacuated. They had been living at Hulata for several months, and although they had received a warm welcome, it isn’t home, and they feel the difference.

Shwartz actually stayed at Yi’ron for varying periods.

“This isn’t our home, and I don’t know when we will return,” said his wife, Ytav. “Asaf stayed behind to protect the home my grandparents built. He won’t give up on any tree, leaf, or plot of land on the kibbutz.”

In a video taken with Shwartz on Yi’ron, he is seen holding up a piece of fruit that he said is totally unsuitable for export, and not even worthy of being sent to local markets.

Financially, the bulk of Israeli farmers are in the pits.

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