The State of the Jews

UPDATE: Dan Ben-David rejects the Ha’aretz headline, which he says was a misinterpretation that stretched his original words to places he did not intend. If anything, he notes, folks such as the immigrant volunteer soldiers from Western lands are keeping Israel afloat despite its deep structural problems.

Regardless of the mistakes in this article or the debate raging at JPost about aliya, I urge you to delve into Ben-David’s research and advocacy, a good sample of which was published this Friday in Ha’aretz.

I leave the post up only because I’m loathe to change (too much) the original record. But Ben-David says he emphatically does not mean to discourage aliya, and that his words were misunderstood and taken out of context.

ORIGINAL: First, the JPost claimed aliya from America won’t come. Now Ha’aretz is reporting that even if it does, Israel is doomed.

Here, Ha’aretz reports on a lecture by Prof. Dan Ben-David about how Anglo aliya won’t reverse the destructive social trends that everyone seems to be ignoring.

The boost in Anglo immigration in 2009 will not help ensure Israel’s survival as a Western and Jewish democracy over the next two decades, a leading economist told an astonished crowd of lone immigrant soldiers on Wednesday. “It feels strange to say this to people who chose Israel, but our current trend means fewer people will come here and more will leave as our position deteriorates.”

He told the crowd that Israeli society’s situation is “unsustainable” because of a “growing group which does not work, does not study and does not produce.”

This group, of course, are large swaths of the Arab and Ultra-Orthodox minorities.

If you don’t know Ben-David’s research, you’re seriously behind the curve. Forget the peace process – this stuff is what will make or break Israel’s future.

Anshel Pfeffer, my colleague at Ha’aretz, reports from the frontlines of the ongoing intra-haredi culture war in Israel:

Two Charedi news websites closed down this week and a wave of resignations has hit other sites following the strictest rabbinical ruling against the internet to date.

A letter signed two weeks ago by some of the most senior rabbis of the Charedi community in Israel, including Rabbis Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, Aharon Leib Steinman and the leaders of the main Chasidic sects, reiterates a “severe prohibition of private usage of internet in every home”.

But it particularly singled out the ostensibly Charedi websites which have flourished in recent years, supplying insider news and gossip to tens of thousands of eager readers.

These sites, according to the letter, disseminate “lies and terrible impurity”, besmirch the community and cause many to “use the filthy internet which has caused many to commit many serious sins of the Torah of a nature that should not be mentioned”.

The result so far is that two websites, which had invested large sums in design and a team of reporters and editors, have already closed down. Other sites which are trying to hold out have suffered a rash of resignations by editors and writers who are afraid of the consequences of defying their rabbis.

Hat tip: Religion and State in Israel

A brilliant comment on the haredi protests:

Hundreds of energized young haredim are looking for something to do; looking for something interesting. They have no e-mail, no Facebook, and no place where they can play soccer. They don’t join the army and most of them will never work.

They have no real interaction with the world that rages around them, and this impossible reality coupled with their archaic and unrealistic way of life, along with the strict modesty limits, leads to protests that are sometimes wild and reckless; the type of protests that even haredi leaders don’t know how to stop.

After all, these young haredim are not really committed to the Shabbat. Had they been truly devoted to it, they would not be holding protests that prompt hundreds of police officers to desecrate the Shabbat. They would also not be assaulting reporters and media personnel with such crude violence.

However, the young protestors from the haredi neighborhoods have no commitment to the Shabbat. In fact, they have no commitment or obligation to anything. They do not need to make a living or support anyone, they do not need to join the army, and they do not need to take entry exams for university. All they need to do is pass the time in the great darkness surrounding them.

Hat tip: Dan Brown.