Friday, July 27, 2012

THIS DIVIDE CAN'T BE BRIDGED

The State of Israel will end the military service exemption for the Ultra-Orthodox on August 1st and that has many of the latter very upset.  I didn't realize how bigoted the Ultras were until I came across this.
Behind dispute over military service, two very different views of Israel
By Sheera Frenkel | McClatchy Newspapers
Posted on Friday, July 27, 2012

“We have always been our own country within the country,” said Sarah Ben Tzvi, a 31-year-old mother of three who lives in Mea Shearim. She likes it that way.

“From the outside it might look like we are all Jews,” she said. “But to us the Jews who don’t obey God’s laws are not like us at all. To send our children to them, to serve in their military, it is like to send your child to pagans in Africa. That is really how we see it.”

3 comments:

Ken Hoop said...

Not exactly.

One, there are Ultra-Orthodox in recent years who have compromised their original doctrine and do service in the Israeli military (unluckily.)

But the real "Ultra-Orthodox" as here represent what was once merely Orthodox. Historic Judaism which held the Jews could not return to the land until the Messiah came. This is not bigotry.

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/

Had Jews not fallen for Zionism there would still be Palestine intact, though perhaps not yet a designated nation. Of course there is also a wing of "liberal" Reform Judaism which has also always opposed Zionism, but its ranks were depleted during the six day war.

Steve J. said...

But the real "Ultra-Orthodox" as here represent what was once merely Orthodox. Historic Judaism which held the Jews could not return to the land until the Messiah came. This is not bigotry.


I didn't know that...Thanx Ken!

Ken Hoop said...

Maimonides codified it, not that there weren't scattered minorities of dissenters on this and other of his codifications, but he was the man.