10 Reasons Not To Hate Chareidim

23
>>Follow Matzav On Whatsapp!<<

chareidimThe following, written by C. Ungar, appeared in Times of Israel last year. Now that it is open season in Israel to attack chareidim, the following is a refreshing look at the truth:

It’s open season on the haredim again. But why shouldn’t it be? How can anyone in their right mind not hate a bunch of medieval, draft-dodging, parasitical fanatics, right?

Wrong.

As a self described harediya – that’s female for haredi – someone  who actually joined this much-maligned group, I find a great deal to admire.  Here’s a short list. Feel free to add to it.

1. The haredim take the continuity crisis seriously. Everyone else talks about it, but haredim do the only logical thing – they produce lots of Jews  (with Hashem’s, help of course). The average haredi household has eight kids. Many families have more.

By the way, I don’t think it’s outrageous to grant draft and national service  exemptions to people who are willing to spend 10 to15 years pregnant (women) or experiencing their spouses’ pregnancies, morning sickness, exhaustion, hospitalization etc and the ensuing Everest of dirty diapers.

Let’s beef up the grant to families, so kids don’t have to go to sleep hungry. And let’s cheer on the Haredim, the demographic corps of the  Jewish nation for saving us from extinction.

2. Haredim are Israeli society’s leading  humanitarians. Yad Sarah, Yad Eliezer, Zaka, Ezer Miziyon, Hatzala, andChai Lifeline are all haredi initiatives and they serve everyone. Yad Sarah even has branches in Arab neighborhoods and Druse villages.

3. Haredim are the most literate group in Israeli society. Go into any haredi living room. Instead of a plasma screen TV you’ll find a shelf full of books – not Ken Follett thrillers either (those are in the bathroom).

4. Haredim are the guardians of our classical culture. What is Jewish culture – the oeuvre of  Sacha Baron Cohen and Etgar Keret or Rashi and the Rambam?

The haredim ply open the classical texts of our people and study them – an excellent workout for the brain and soul. What’s not to like about that?

5. Haredim respect the elderly. In haredi society old age rocks. Look at our leaders, nontegenarians and older. Haredim still believe that older means wiser. In our youth culture, that’s not something to sneer at.

6. Haredim look out for society’s weakest links. Haredim don’t abort their Down Syndrome babies. They see them as elevated souls and care for them with great love..

7. If a haredi asks you for money in a dark alley, chances are it will be for a donation. If you don’t donate the worst you will get will be a dirty look..

Of all the groups in Israeli society, haredim have the lowest proportion of prison inmates and almost no violent crime.

8. Haredim are the last  bastion of family values. Father, mother, brother, sister, etc all living together is the norm

The haredi divorce rate is minimal. Kids are raised by two parents and the father is an active partner. Walk through any haredi neighborhood and you’ll find men pushing baby carriages and escorting kids to school and play.

9. At any given moment of the day, thousands of haredim are praying for you. The haredim pray for all Jews, including the secular ones, even for Jews who hate haredim. Open a siddur. You’ll see that Hebrew prayers are in plural. They are uttered for the benefit of all.

Ever wonder why so many thousands of missiles happened to land in open fields? Those prayers create a spiritual force field that’s guarding us all.

10. Haredim are us. Look through your family album. Thumb back through the generations and you’ll find Bobba and Zeyda or their parents. Anyone who identifies as a Jew today has haredi ancestry. It doesn’t make any sense to hate your own DNA.

{Matzav.com Newscenter}


23 COMMENTS

  1. “The average haredi household has eight kids”
    “Let’s beef up the grant to families, so kids don’t have to go to sleep hungry”
    This is a welfare mentality- have more children and let the government give you a “raise”. Will these children receive an education that will make them productive members of society or will they -like their parents be a burden on the tax paying members of society?( A vicious cycle). If these Chareidim happen to have parents or other family members who can help them live this life style- how long is that going to last?
    Is the author insinuating that modern orthodox families lack literacy – or family life?- Well then who is making all the technological advances in Israel? – surely not the Chareidim.
    Is the author also insinuating that you cannot be Chareidi and go out and make a living to support their large families- that they have to be destined to a live of poverty (financially- not spiritually) and worry where the next meal will come from.
    No- this is not the torah way of life – as long as the author mentioned the bubbies and Zeidies- they broke their backs trying to make a living and keeping a torah life. They had PRIDE and refused to take handouts- even though they were well entitled to them from the government. There is Torah and Avodah – they have the Torah – now let them go out and work as well.

  2. Firstly, you must take comments in this article with caution.

    She writes:

    “As a self described harediya – that’s female for haredi – someone who actually joined this much-maligned group, I find a great deal to admire.”

    Quite evidently, the author is a “ba’alas tshuvah”, someone who became shomer Torah u’Mitzvos later in life.

    Accordingly, to her, everything in the Haredi world is better.

  3. It’s easy to extrapolate blame on an entire segment of society for the errors of the relatively few outliers.

    It’s refreshing to step back out once and a while and look at what we REALLY have. We should do it more often around here.

    Mi k’Amcha Yirael!

  4. In ancient times only Shevet Levi was exempt from military service. The rest of the men were honored to serve in Hashem’s army.

  5. in other words..the term “heredi” has replaced original Judaism. as the generations get weaker so gets weaker the original Judaism. so first there were one term for all Jews “JEWS” then some got weaker so we had to term “Orthodox” the original traditional ones and inside those orthodox some got weaker so we invented the term “ULTRA ORTHODOX” to describe the original one….now Ultra usthodox is not enough so we added another Ultra hence “ULTRA ULTRA ORTHODOX” ……I think we get the picture,,,,,while Judaism remains the same…..we give it a newer name…so we can Justify our newer assimilated version of it. Then….(GRRR) we Judge the original ones as “Extremist” because we invented a more convenient “modern version” of Judaism. LUNACY!!!!

  6. To comment 1:

    Ingenuity is not a hence forth blessing. It takes years of perpetuation of Torah and dignity to keep Israel socially and literately prosperous. If a couple has more than a few children and feels that they can amiably raise them all in Torah then we are blessed with each and every child that follows in the pathway of Moses.

  7. great article maybe the anti-frum people should read this. #8the israeli army isn’t exactly Hashem’s army, but you’re right only Tzaddikim served in it because their Zechusim won the war not their sword, but the tzahal, don’t get me wrong they do great things and israel needs an army with the way things are, but drafting women, trying to pull Bochurim and Yingeleit out of the Beis Medrash with the excuse of share the burden, but really to influence them to become not frum, you need to be crazy to think this is Hashem’s army, it’s the opposite of Ratzon Hashem

  8. #1) your comments betray your won personal prejudices. NO ONE says chareidim shouldn’t go out and work so as to support their families. No one in the chareidi world anyway. Just look at the chareidi world in the US. The welfare dependencey you decry is the direct result of hateful zionist policies which tells the chareidim “if you won’t join our army and integrate (assimilate) into OUR society/culture, then we won’t let you work (lagally).” Zionists created this by refusing to allow the charedim to earn an honest living. So, #1, get your facts straight before casting aspersions.

    #3) Why is it relevant if the author is a baalas tshuvah? Except maybe things ARE better in the chareidi world, which is part of WHY she made tshuvah?

    #8) Tzahal may be a fine army but it is NOT “HaShem’s Army.” It is the tool of athiests and agnostics who wanted to build a “new Jew” that rejected religion in favor of ethnic nationalism as his/her core identity.

    #9) I prefer “ortho-max.” Shomer Mitzvot PLUS I kill bugs and weeds 🙂

  9. To comment # 10
    I quoted the author specifically stating they should get government handouts.
    And what skills do they have that they can find work in? And what skills are their children taught so that they can find work?
    Please you are just ranting and you are the one who doesn’t have the facts

  10. Nice article

    For all you critics, I suspect u find the truth painful. Sorry to hear that, perhaps you could start today with a little cheshbon hanefesh.

  11. What Chareidim cannot fathom is the amount of work it takes to build and run a Hadassah Hospital, and make sure that doctors have medical schools to go to, get proper training, set up labs, train lab technicians, manufacture and supply drugs, and set up research centers to produce the knowledge to design new drugs and medical devices. It requires an electrical system to supply electricity and water purification and pumps to supply water to the hospital. This requires engineers and chemists and knowledgeable workers who must go to college and study engineering and chemistry. This requires teachers and professors and experts. Then somebody has to pay for the medical services. The Medinah gladly does that through Kupat Cholim. It makes money by setting up a beautiful economic system that is profitable and has the resources and expertise to generate funds to devote to medical care without going bankrupt. It then pays for the monthly stipends of these chareidi families, so they have food on their table, and for the social workers and health care workers to take care of handicapped kids and sick patients. They treat all the wounded, once Zaka brings them in after an attack chas vshalom. In order to get the doctors and patients to the hospital, there must be roads. The Medina paves them and safeguards them with police and soldiers.

    I could obviously go on for many pages. But I think you get the idea. So any chessed done by these organizations, while very kind and greatly appreciated by all, does not approach a zillionth of a percent of the chessed done by the medinah.

  12. To comment 21.
    Sorry to break it for you, but most of your cherished hospitals were created by frum, (or that hateful word “charedim) yidden. Right off the mind. Sharre tzedek, laniado. Etc..

  13. #8 you are sorely mistaken! The Rambam writes clearly that the exemption from army service was not restricted to shevet Levi, but also applies equally to ANYONE who accepts the yoke of Torah on themselves.

    Please get your facts right before posting!

Leave a Reply to Anonymous Cancel reply

Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here