bs"d
Sara Lehman saralehmann21@yahoo.com sent me the following piece. It was too controversial for the Jewish Press. Nonetheless, she would like to share it and would be interested in your feedback and so would I. Feel free to forward.
Thanks,
Robin
Need Breeds Greed by Sara Lehmann
I called a friend in Israel before Rosh Hashanah to wish her a Shanah Tovah and we exchanged news about our families. My friend's nineteen-year-old daughter is currently involved in shidduchim and is looking exclusively for a husband who will be a full-time learner. My friend's description of the process provided revealing insights into the Israeli counterpart of a world that I know well in Chutz LaAretz. Her daughter's wish to marry someone who does not plan on working is quite the "ordre du jour" these days. But in light of current and past wrongs in Israel and their effects on the Jewish people as a whole, it seems to me that this wish involves ramifications that should transcend a personal choice.
My friend's daughter never lacked for anything and seems quite unprepared to live a life of Torah under privation, despite her protests to the contrary. Of course her parents plan to pick up the tab, as many parents in such a scenario do. So many of these girls' idealistic pursuits are buttressed by the pocketbooks of those who enable them. But there are limits, especially with younger siblings in the household. My friend's daughter will not even consider someone who may have a long-term plan to support his family, and my friend's dismay at this extreme attitude is not unlike that of many other families in Israel and in America. I have attended countless shidduch meetings in New York where mothers bemoan this stance that their children have adopted yet seem powerless to confront or negate it.
Torah is the bedrock of Judaism, and Torah learning is what sustains this foundation. Without it we Jews would simply not survive as Jews, as evidenced by those who have thrown off the yolk of Torah and vanished through assimilation. The concept of "Koveiah Itim", setting aside time for Torah learning, is obligatory on all Jewish men. It is imperative that we have amongst us those who devote their lives to such a course so that we have talmidei chachamim to serve as rabbanim, dayanim and mechanchim in our communities. However, Torah scholars are not mass produced, and not everyone has the potential to become one. Today, it unfortunately seems as if the once valuable partnership of Yissachar and Zvulun has been hijacked by one side.
This single-minded manifesto to pursue a kollel life at almost all cost is a relatively new phenomenon. One does not need to go back to the days of the Tannaim to ascertain how the greatest of our sages worked for their livings. My mother grew up in a Rabbinic Chassidic home in Transylvania during World War II and clearly remembers the role of the father as a breadwinner in every household. She recalls how shameful it actually was for a husband to have to rely on his wife's earnings. One would think that if Hashem did not intend for man to work, we would still be collecting mannah each morning outside our doorsteps.
My friend in Israel attributes much of her daughter's leanings to her teachers. She told me that teachers in her daughter's school in Petach Tikvah will now not even use the word "work" when referring to an eligible young man's plans for the future. They have come up with a euphemism to replace the dirty word, and they admonish their students not to even consider dating someone who plans "la tzeit" - "to go out". I wonder if these young men recognize the irony of their now having achieved a similar status to that of the ideal Bat Yisrael, who is extolled by King Solomon for not "going out" in his words, "Kevod Bat Melech Pnimah".
By opting for such a lifestyle, an enormous burden is put on the wife. She usually becomes the sole earner of the family and no longer serves as the Akeret Habayit to her children at home. Invaluable opportunities to teach children basic lessons in manners and inestimable rules of social interaction based on Torah values are frequently squandered without the proper mentors. Notwithstanding our obligation to support a certain amount of talmidei chachamim in kollel, an indiscriminate carte blanche invitation to all has engendered dependency as a matter of course.
In Israel especially, this situation seems to be compounded by the severity of prevalent difficulties. Unlike my friend, many parents are not in the position to support their children. The stipends of the typical kollel do not go a long way, and the benefits of programs in America, such as food stamps, section 8 and medicaid, do not have ready equivalents in Israel. Furthermore, the restrictions of not attending college, not only by the dictates of full-time learning but also by the shunning of the army draft, have limited the options of those who are forced to reconsider a kollel life and provide sustenance for their family. All these can cause a domino effect leading to rampant poverty.
It is not improbable to correlate claims of privation among this sector and ill-fated decisions in the Israeli government. Many of these citizens have grown accustomed to hand-outs in some form or another, and there is no shortage of willing politicians eager to fill the demand at any cost. It is no wonder that the Torah insists that the judges of Israel be independently wealthy (as were many of the leaders) and thus impervious to bribes. Needy leaders who represent needy followers are easy bait for corruption, and the ills of bribery cast long shadows after their acceptance.
To the irreparable detriment of the Jewish people, it seems as if Israel has sacrificed much on the supposed alter of Torah learning. The leaders of political parties in Israel who represent the vast majority of this segment of society have supported Knesset policies that have slowly destroyed the lives and security of their fellow Jews. Shas's endorsement of the Oslo Accords enabled them to pass in the Knesset, a debacle that spiraled downwards into tragic consequences. How can a party steeped in Torah knowledge have agreed to give up parts of the holy land that Hashem promised His children? If one were to excuse their judgement as a mixture of naivete and a desire for peace for the sake of pikuach nefesh, how can one forgive subsequent decisions? After thousands of Jews were slaughtered and maimed as a result of Oslo, how can Shas now sit in the government of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, a traitor to his G-d and his people, who plans to give the Palestinian Authority a state in Judea, Samaria, Gaza and much of Jerusalem?
How did UTJ (United Torah Judaism - Agudah) justify joining the government coalition that approved the Disengagement from Gaza? What amount of shekalim can absolve a religious party from receiving support for its constituents at the expense of ruining 10,000 lives and endangering their fellow countrymen? For that matter, why were so many of their American counterparts silent at the time? If ever a time of pikuach nefesh warranted action, that was it.
And what can one make of the endorsement by Rav Ovadiah Yosef, spiritual leader of Shas, of a man who is the antipathy of Judaism to serve as president of the State of Israel? Shimon Peres, a pariah of politics who has made a career of castigating the Jewish religion at every ample opportunity, won approbation from the likes of Rav Menachem Porush of the Agudah and won the presidency through the enabling of Shas. Such a Chillul Hashem is monumental. It has already had ripples of repercussions as this serpentine president usurps maximum power from a role that until now has been largely symbolic. His very first speech gave tacit support to the notion of relinquishing holy and strategic land, and he continues to take advantage of a pulpit to push his agenda of delusional capitulation.
Israel's politics has been hijacked by the suicidal leanings of the Left, and its culture has been dying a slow death at the hands of the irreligious policies of its educators. The moral compass of a land that should have been directed by Judaic values has been increasingly off kilter. The religious right could have been at the forefront of combating this sickness and taking stands that would have made a Kiddush Hashem. Unfortunately, not only were opportunities of this sort wasted but too many were exploited. With their success at halting the Gay Pride Parade last summer in Jerusalem, the strength of their numbers and purpose should not be undervalued. They have the potential of being a force worth reckoning with. Their dedication to Torah study has the potential of linking with Torah action to achieve results.
It seems as if the personal dilemma which my friend in Israel is grappling with has national consequences. Her daughter's decision to subscribe to a system of living that does not promote working can have ripple effects on more Jews than just those who adhere to it. Troubles of dependency in Israel cannot be viewed in a bubble. The rumblings against the Israeli government cutbacks affecting Chareidi families underscores how intertwined their lives are with the government. It highlights the necessity of division between the two based on financial independence in order to avoid corruption. The lives of all Jews are connected, and the manipulation by some, whether they be by those on the right or the left, have repercussions for all.
The November Conference looms ahead and forebodes disaster. Relinquishing any part of Eretz Yisrael, especially Yerushalayim, Yehudah and Shomron, is relinquishing the Jewish heart in its heartland. It poses an immediate and irrevocable threat to Jewish lives. At this juncture we cannot afford to witness more tacit support in or out of the Knesset for such perfidy. The Jewish people are waiting for the rabbanim and leaders in Israel and America to stand up and make a Kiddush Hashem worthy of the imprimatur of Torah scholarship.
This will be posted on http://shemittahrediscovered.blogspot.com
