The Haredim- Heros or Hethans?

The Haredim are often considered to be ultra orthodox "God fearing" Jews and the pinnacle authority on living life according strictly to the Torahs teachings. The Haredims strict adherence to the Torah and ancient Judaism have earned them a reputation for being very affiliated with ritual, prayer, and sacrifice. "Haredi Judaism places heavy emphasis on ritual as a way of getting closer to God. Haredim think about how they perform nearly every act, from preparing food to washing hands before eating to making love on a Friday night, because each act is a spiritual link to God." (Rosenthal, 179) While the Haredim are considered by most to be holy figures who help their fellow Jews in Israel by means of charitable acts ranging from helping the disabled to cleaning up carnage after a suicide attack, the Haredim are also attributed as being arrogant, sheltered, social parasites who receive most of their income from subsidizing their fellow Jews tax dollars. So this begs the question: Are the Haredim charitable hero's trying to preserve the core values of Judaism or ambiguous, arrogant, social leeches?

The Haredim pride themselves on their very literal practice of the Torah. Some of the practices seem arbitrary and strange to Orthodox and non-Orthodox alike. Haredim men show no affection for their wives in public; Hand holding or verbal affection is prohibited. (Rosenthal, 182-183) Strict adherence to what is and isn't considered koshur effects purchasing choices for Haredim, ranging from a chicken for dinner to detergent used for laundry. (Rosenthal, 182) Haredim use some modern appliances but avoid popular devices like television and computers (largely because of the Internet). This suggests that the Haredim are not against the use of technology but are against tools that can be used to "poison ones soul," and draw a Haredim away from Ultra Orthodox influence and study. (Rosenthal, 188)

The Haredim seem to hold a grudge against outsiders to their communities including non Ultra Orthodox Jews. Haredim seem to consider themselves "real" Jews and Orthodox and secular Jews as seemingly "lesser" Jews. This is evident by the fact that on the Sabbath when Jews are not supposed to use technology or anything that may be considered "kindling a fire" Haredim Jews may ask a "lesser" Jew to turn on a light or push a button for a Haredim Jew. This suggests that a Haredim will not sin but will ask a "lesser" Jew to sin in their stead. This depicts a sense of arrogance surrounding Haredim.

Haredi "Shabbat cops" police Bar Ilan Street for people who drive cars on the day of the Sabbath. They will throw a variety of objects at people disobeying the Sabbath ranging from rocks to dirty diapers. To throw a dirty diaper suggests an elevated level of preparation in protesting; Clearly the Haredim are deeply offended by those who break Jewish religious law. These actions give rise to a great deal of irony. The Haredi ridicule "lesser" Jews, yet, they rely on these Jews to protect them via the armed forces and also to support them by means of government subsidizes. Haredi Jews are not required to join the Israeli Defense Force like the rest of the population because Haredi Jews insist that it will interfere with their religious studies. Also because of their intense religious studies, most Haredi Jews make poverty incomes and rely on tax dollars to survive. Many of the non Ultra Orthodox Jews recognize these issues and shun the Haredim as ungrateful outcasts who don't contribute. Since the "lesser" Jews are protecting and supporting the Haredi, why do the Haredi look down upon the other Jews that they depend on for so much? In their defense, the Haredi claim that they use prayer as their weapon and are therefore helping the IDF just as much as if they were in its ranks. On the other hand, it can be argued that the enemies that the IDF face are praying just as hard for a IDF defeat and that prayer is not an effective weapon.

Video depicting Haredi culture. Notice the boy hiding from the likely "Outsider" camera man, clearly portraying a isolationist practice in Haredi culture. Also note the extreme measures that Haredi will take to further their religious agenda by torching a pork vendor and a crematorium.

Mizrahi Jews- The Forgotten Refugees

A Mizrahi Jew is the term coined to reflect a Jew who is indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa. The Mizrahi faced a great deal of trouble from the formation of Israel in 1948, which led to a wave of anti-semitism towards Arab Jews in Arab countries. These unique Jewish people are often over looked and their story is largely unknown.

A video commemorating the forgotten refugees:

Interview with the creator of the documentary linked above entitled- The Forgotten Refugees

"With the establishment of Israel, Zionism became a capital crime. In Baghdad, which was nearly a quarter Jewish, cheering crowds gathered to see Jews hanged in the central square. The Iraqi government nationalized Jewish property and jailed and killed hundreds of Jews." (Rosenthal, 116) By 1951, nearly all of the 150,000 Mizrahi Jews in Iraq fled to Israel to escape anti-semitism. Hundreds of thousands escaped from other Arab lands like Cairo, Damascus, Iran, Morocco, and Libya. Their hardships were not over upon settling in the new Jewish state. Many Jews in Israel discriminated against the Mizrahi. They were looked at as being a "apathetic, primitive, backward people who did not like to work." (Rosenthal,116-117) These allegations were largely false; Many of the Mizrahi Jews came from urbanized areas and had educations and skillful work experience.

The Mizrahi were enduring a cultural repression. They were encouraged not to speak Arabic, though most could not speak Hebrew. Many who had been skilled workers in their birthplace were not deemed to be skilled in Israel. Some had to change their difficult to pronounce Arab names in exchange for Hebrew names. The Mizrahi cultural seemed to not count for much in the lands of Israel. (Rosenthal, 114-117)

Loolwa Khazzoom tells his story about the confusing times of being a Mizrahi Jew:

"My family remained on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates rivers for [sic] 2,500 years until 1950, when the modern Iraqi government forced Jews to flee as refugees. With a history like that,Iraqi Jews are as authentically Iraqi and Jewish as you can get. Nonetheless, throughout my life, neither the Jewish nor the Middle Eastern communities have been keen on accepting us fully. In Jewish communities in America, I experienced contempt, ridicule and discrimination based on my heritage and religious traditions. I was expected to assume my identity in favor of some kind of pan-Jewish yearning for my European roots. What European roots?"

What Khazzoom describes is a typical scenario for Mizrahi Jews. Though Khazzoom discusses the need to assume his European roots in the eyes of Americans, Ashkenazim Jews also wanted Mizrahi Jews to embrace European like roots. The problem is of course that the Mizrahi have no ties to Europe or European culture, hence the identities they are expected to assume are not familiar to them.

Naomi is a young Mizrahi Israel Jew who has a cultural clash with a non Mizrahi boy in her class who stops by her house:

"He saw the peeling paint and wall-to-wall people. My parents were eating with their hands, speaking Yemeni Arabic, and looking unkempt. I nearly died of shame. I knew I hadn't done anything wrong, but I could tell in his eyes what he thought of our 'backwardness.' He had seen the 'Other Israel,' my Israel." (Rosenthal, 114)

Naomi has a cultural shock at school and while visiting classmates homes, which are much tidier and less congested than her own. The text books at her school speak from the Ashkenazi perspective and go into depth on the horrors of the Holocaust and overshadows all of the history of the Mizrahi. Naomi explains her predicament:

"I was losing myself in their world. I learned about the heroic pioneers, all Ashkenazim, who established a new state and the kibbitzim, but not the stories of the other half of our people- people like me, the poor Mizrahim, the Arab Jews. I wanted to belong but my story was not in the books. Our culture didn't seem to count." (Rosenthal, 114)

The Mizrahi deserve to have their tale told. Michael Grynszpan, director of The Forgotten Refugees, deserves commemoration for his work on exploring these over looked and forgotten peoples history.

The Unique Dating and Mating of Israel

"Israelis tend to have a macho bravado in dating and everyday life and reassure themselves that everything will be fine even if it won't." (Rosenthal, 23) This quote does well in summarizing Israels personality as well as its perspective on life and dating. There is such a grave amount of uncertainty of the outcome of day to day life that most Israelis try to indulge their desires as a means of escaping the horrors of violence and also, in case they become a victim of it. This is best illustrated by Ori, a young boy on the verge of loosing his virginity with his girlfriend when Iraqi scud missiles began raining down in his vicinity. Ori and his girlfriend hid and put on their gas masks and tried again to have sex, though, the presence of the scuds naturally killed the mood. The next time Ori's girlfriend slept over, they once again tried to have sex and once again had to deal with Iraqi scuds raining down. This time, remarkably, Ori did not let the scud threat intervene with his sexual conquest; Ori and his girlfriend made love despite the threat of scud missiles. (Rosenthal,24-25)

Ori and his girlfriend display a common theme portrayed in daily Israeli community which is not to let the threat of terror dictate Israeli life. Ori explains, "We have what I call national Alzheimer's disease-no one wants to remember the morning's news. Life is uncertain, so eat your dessert first." (Rosenthal, 25)

While it may seem as though Israel possesses a very promiscuous generation of youth there is a variety of reasoning for this. While many Americans in comparison also experiment with premarital sex in their late teens and through out their twenties, they are usually starting blue collar jobs or attending college while Israeli young men and women and being drafted into the armed services. Americans are also relatively safe especially when compared to residents of Israel who constantly live with the uncertainty of a terrorist attack. Israelis arguably have more of a purpose for pursuing casual sex than Americans. It undoubtedly helps them find pleasure in a region afflicted with uncertainty and at times, morbid chaos. This perhaps explains why flirting and sexual harassment vary in such a large degree between the two countries. A pat on a woman's buttocks or a comment about her lovely breasts would land some severe disciplinary actions against a man in America though Israelis view it as a compliment or flirting. Israeli women are also promiscuous and look for common encounters with men in order to achieve some temporary enjoyment. One example of this is when Efrat, a woman in the Israeli army, was deeply infatuated with her commanding officer on a romantic level. When she confessed her feelings to him, he told her he must adhere to the rules and could not have a relationship with her. After his military service expired and he was discharged he and Efrat had a relationship. It didn't last long and when Efrat was asked how the romance went she replied "Wonderfully. Intense. After I got out (of the army), I broke up with him. I want to experience lots of men." (Rosenthal, 44-45) In Efrat's case, she ended her relationship with her former commanding officer (which was going well according to her) because she wanted to start all over with another man. Efrat and many Israeli youth treat relationships like a shower, you stay in while it's hot and get out when it starts to get cold. Even if a relationship is going well, once that initial spark of being in a new relationship begins to extinguish, they jump ship.

Many youth eventually outgrow their rampant sexual urges and eventually settle down with a spouse. This is an important aspect of Israeli culture do to the fact that they are a small nation and need to continue to grow. Therefore, "For a strong Israel, Jews need to marry and multiply." (Rosenthal, 36-37) Despite this fact, roughly one third of the population of Israel that is of childbearing age, is single. (Rosenthal, 36) To compensate for this, a variety of Israeli dating sites have been established to help these individuals get hitched. In some instances, these sites encourage foreign Jews to immigrate to Israel to meet their spouse. This way the population will increase slightly more rather than if to Israeli's were getting married. It's also important to note and emphasize the significance that Jews are marrying Jews. Ironically, despite all of the anti-semitism Jews have faced in recorded history, they display a drastic amount of anti-semitism towards couples that consist of only one Jew. Vandalism, threats, and even being disowned by ones family can result from one of these relationships. Naturally, because of the consequences, these relationships are discouraged and are often rare in Israel. (Rosenthal, 37-38)