Yosef "Tommy" Lapid is the leader of Israel's Shinui party, which won an impressive 15 seats in the new Israeli Knesset last week. Lapid and his party are somewhat controversial due to their avowedly secular slant and their well publicized antipathy toward the influence of Israel's religious sector on public law and policy. Imshin discussed Lapid at some length recently. So did Diane (but it's scattered through both Letter From Gotham and Gotham 2003). Alisa has added some commentary, as well.
But my opinion of Mr. Lapid sunk dramatically yesterday after reading this open Letter to the Orthodox at Israel Insider.We aren't talking about religion, but equal rights and equal duties. The minute you recognize this, we will no longer have any disagreement. We will live our lives and you must live yours - but not on our account. You must understand that secularism is not the dismissal of religion, but a way of life. Freedom of individuality is holy in the secular public's perspective just as the laws of the Torah are holy in the orthodox perspective. When you forbid a secular person from drinking coffee after he ate a steak, it is like a secular person forcing you to eat non-kosher meat. When you forbid a secular man from riding the bus on Saturday, it is the same as a secular man forcing you to ride a bus on Saturday. Secularism is not a network of people sinning against the Halacha (Jewish law), but a way of life that a majority of the population lives according to.
This letter is, to begin with, disingenuous. It isn't directed to the Orthodox. No Orthodox Jew could possibly take this nonsense seriously. It's directed toward secular Jews who already agree with Lapid and secular Jews who don't know enough about Orthodox Judaism to disagree with Lapid. I'm not an Orthodox Jew, or anything even close. But I know enough to call his bluff on this.
There are many complex problematic aspects to the religious dictatorship over certain parts of Israeli life. Many of them are explained quite succinctly by Imshin, Diane and Alisa. But it's nothing short of ludicrous to assert that "Freedom of individuality is holy in the secular public's perspective just as the laws of the Torah are holy in the orthodox perspective." There is no parallel whatsoever between forbidding a secular person from riding a bus on "Saturday" and forcing an Orthodox Jew to ride that bus. One is an inconvenience, an annoyance, an imposition. The other is a violation of deeply held principles, a horror, an abomination.
Throughout our history, Jews have been forced to eat non-kosher meat and desecrate the Sabbath by their persecutors as a means of insulting both their persons and their religion. Many Jews have given their lives rather than do so. How many secular Jews would give their lives for the God given right to put real cream in their coffee at a restaurant? Not many, I expect.
I'll repeat. I have absolute sympathy for the secular Jews in Israel whose lives are often turned upside down by the imposition of Orthodox rules and regulations. In a country where there's only one day off a week, how is a person without a car to accomplish anything in the absence of bus service, with most of the stores closed? Why should secular Jews be forced to observe Orthodox restrictions on marriage and divorce? Why shouldn't restaurants be permitted to serve non-kosher food without penalty if they wish to cater to non-religious clientele? These are problems that Israeli society should and will have to deal with. But to start a "dialogue" in the demeaning manner that Tommy Lapid has done, as if he has no understanding of or interest in the most deeply cherished beliefs and traditions of Judaism is, in my opinion, nothing short of disgraceful.
For a different take on the value of tradition to Israel and an understanding of why these issues are so much more complex than they seem at first glance, I refer you to Caroline Glick's excellent article in yesterday's Jerusalem Post, "A Tribute to Ilan Ramon's Legacy" (for those who don't want to endure the JT registration ordeal, you can also find the full text here):Ramon made clear at every opportunity that he went to space, not simply as a citizen of the State of Israel, but as a Jew. As the representative of the Jewish people he recited kiddush on Friday night. As a Jew he said Shema Yisrael as the space shuttle orbited over Jerusalem. As a Jew he insisted on eating only kosher food in outer space. And as a Jew he told the prime minister from his celestial perch, "I think it is very, very important to preserve our historical tradition, and I mean historical and religious traditions."
In so doing he showed that there is no limit to what a person can accomplish as a Jew. He said to all Jews, here in Israel and throughout the world, even as anti-Semitism again threatens us, even as Jews in Israel are being murdered just for being Jews, our enemies will never define us or tell us there are limits to what we can do.Ilan Ramon (z"l) clearly "got" what Tommy Lapid seems to be missing. Reciting kiddush on Friday night and eating kosher food are positive manifestations of Jewish identity, even though not all Jews choose to observe them. Col. Ramon chose to positively affirm these manifestations of his identity in front of the entire world, with great pride. In this, as in so many other things, I do hope others will follow his example.
