August 21, 2007

I have finished my studies at the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies, a Yeshiva in Jerusalem. It was a three week stint. I determined that I really know very little about Judaism, especially Talmudic studies, where I know less than I know about nuclear fusion. I have reached a state if inquiry that has inspired me to actually read the Tanach.

Jerusalem is so different from Tel Aviv. I wanted to see if that city was better for me than Tel Aviv. I found Jerusalem is a magical spiritual city. You feel it as you walk the cobbled streets, as you explore the neighborhoods of the houses made from ancient stone. Yet, there is a tension between the peoples that lands between simmering and latent. The black hat Haredi Jews, dressed in the black robes and some in fur caps of the Polish aristocracy tend to keep to themselves as they would in Brooklyn. What a strange breed this is and it seems to be growing.

I was fortunate to get to spend some time with a 24 year old Israeli who recently made Aliya from Canada, was raised Reformed, and who is getting deeper and deeper into the Haredi culture. His goes by Yermiyahu instead of his English name of Jeremy. He does not yet dress completely in black. The top of his head is shaven to about ½ inch and he wears a black yarmulke that covers most of his head. The tassels of his tsi tsit dangle from beneath his untucked shirt and he always wears long pants in the summer. He is a gangly 6’6” bearded young man with long curled payot (side locks of hair) that droop toward his shoulders from behind his ears, giving him the closest resemblance I have ever seen to the Disney character, Goofy. http://www.thefineartcompany.co.uk/Disney/fd1381.jpg.
He is a kind, bright, and patient young man and was willing to respond to my many questions. His mother studied with me, married an atheist, and couldn’t understand his commitment to all of the cumbersome rituals and constant prayers that her son had chosen.

The word, “haredi” means “frightened” or “paranoid”. Their every move seems to be in fear of “not doing it right”. That is, they dig so deeply into the Tanach and Talmud that the findings can only be vague and the subjective in interpretation. We have all seen how they walk so briskly and never make eye contact or smile. Their thoughts are constantly on what they have to do to avoid displeasing G-d. Many of the rituals seem obsessive. His mother rolled her eyes many times as he said 15 minutes of prayer after every time he ate something larger than a golf ball – and we were eating all day. I spent Shabbat with him and his mother. He walked 20 minutes each way, three times a day to get to the shul to pray. The black hats, strange haircuts, and obsessive rituals, are usually traditions created by their respective rabbis over the ages than something out of a sacred document, making these people appear more like Amish than a sect of Judaism. With the exception of the Chabad sect of the Haredi, who actually reach out to non-observant Jews to become even slightly more traditional, these groups have preferred to stay among themselves in a late 18th century time warp than to fulfill what most Jews refer to as the commandment of Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). The vast majority of Jews believe in getting out and making a difference. Of course, many Chabadniks believe that the messiah has come in the form of their Great Rebbe Schneersen who died a few years ago. They await his resurrection. There have always been false messiahs over the millennia.

While walking with Yermiyahu to shul, he asked me what I thought about the Palestinian situation. I explained that I go along with the masses toward a two state solution. He explained that the Haredim are generally neutral on the question of the Jewish State and Zionism. He said, however, that there are a few religious Zionists that believe that the Jews should expel all of the Arabs from the land that G-d promised the Jews and that G-d originally commanded the Jews to kill the inhabitants of this land. These are a small minority but these are the crazy’s that are often cited when Israel is criticized. They remain a small minority but, as many of the settlers are from these ranks, that is who is in the media. If Israel’s enemies knew better, they would leave Israel in peace, accept it, and watch it destroy itself in a civil war between its different sects. A common enemy binds different groups.

There are some racists here. There is still a noticeable tension between Arabs and Jews. An Israeli classmate said out loud that “The Arabs in Israel are the worst in the Middle East”. The instructor verbally jumped on him and prevented me from saying tongue in cheek: “The Jews in Israel are the worst and they belong with those ‘Arabs’”. It reminds me of the Blacks in the 1960’s. Arab neighborhoods are considered dangerous. I wanted to hike through some of them in the daytime but was warned not to go alone. There are no really dangerous Jewish areas. You can see the anger and resentment in the Arabs. Where the Jews see this as their land to nurture, you can see Arabs throwing trash on the ground and roaming in what seem like gangs. This causes resentment. In Jerusalem, many taxi drivers are Arabs. Some are great and some are sneaky. Three hours before I went into the old city, a young Arab grabbed the pistol from a security guard, shot him, and ran. He was later killed after he wounded many others. I have always been a proponent of reaching out to the Arab Israeli population to give them dignity and help their masses get more into the mainstream – sort of an affirmative action. This is needed so that they feel they are respected the next time there is a war. It would be nice to know that you can count on all of the population to support you in a war.

On Friday night, you can go to the Western Wall and see the hundreds of Yeshiva students singing and dancing along side the hundreds of black hated Haredim. Tourists and less religious watch the melee. It is a powerful experience. Shortly after nightfall, you hear the minarets from the golden Dome of the Rock and the Al Aqsa Mosques blasting out the prayers to the Muslims to call them to pray. This echoes over the masses at the Wall. With Jesus’ shrines so close, you can really feel like you are in the center of the Universe. Many believe that this is the spot where G-d began the Universe; that it expanded from here. It’s believed to have been the spot where Abraham offered his some Isaac to be sacrificed. It’s where Mohammed ascended to Heaven on his horse. It’s where the 1st and 2nd Jewish Temples stood, and it’s where the continents of Africa, Asia, and Europe meet.

Maybe this is why the world is obsessed with every action taken by Israel and ignores atrocities elsewhere.
Randy