generalspeaking

Civil Travesty

Adherence to religion should bring comfort to people. But as with all matters spiritual inspiring humankind when observation is taken to extremes, intelligence, if it is there at all, becomes irremediably corrupted. People seem to require - some of them, at least - stringent guidelines on how to live their lives. And without precise parameters of do's and dont's, demarcations of behaviour and observance beyond which they are cautioned not to venture, they seem incapable of governing themselves independently, responsibly.

In their strict adherence to religious dictums which may at one time have had a solid reason for being imposed, reasonable accommodation is shunned and moderation is seen as sinful. In Israel, originally visualized as a secular state for world Jewry to return to the region of the world that represented their history and heritage, the state found it needful to accede to the demands of Orthodox Jews, giving them a measure of prominence in the affairs of the country.

While still a secular state, because of the country's political proportional representation, majority governments are an unknown, and the religious minority, through various parties and platforms, holds disproportionate power in the country through their support of one secular political majority party or another. The ultra-Orthodox in Israel are like religious fanatics of any stripe, anywhere they exist. Belligerently uncivil, unsuited to modern life and socially disruptive.

In the areas of old Jerusalem where the Orthodox Jews and their various sects predominate they insist that the Sabbath be kept according to Jewish Orthodox tradition. No work may be done, no businesses functioning, no vehicles driven, no mechanical-electrical devices used; Friday to Saturday an imposed 'day of rest'. Cars driven through Orthodox areas on the Sabbath will be stoned. Businesses daring to open will not be countenanced.

Through the week-day, public transportation buses in the religious areas of the city are strictly separated, men sitting in one half of the bus, women in the other. It is an affront to ultra-Orthodox men to have to witness the mode of relaxed dress of irreligious women. These people are uncouth in their incivility and a trial to most people among whom they live who see no utility nor need to practise strict religious Judaism.

These are the people, many of whom adamantly refuse to recognize the status of Israel as a state - because of their insistence, through holy scriptures that it is written that the creation of a Jewish state can only be accomplished with the appearance of the Messiah - who make common cause with the likes of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Hamas and Hezbollah.

And currently, in the districts of Geula and Mea She'arim in Jerusalem, violence has exploded in a display of vile disaffection between the ultra-Orthodox and the civil authorities.
Such groups hold non-practising Jews in contempt, claiming they are not Jews at all. And they refuse to become a part of the State of Israel, but they do not refuse accepting welfare cheques from the State.

Which, for most such Orthodox comprises their only available means of financial support for their extraordinarily large families. Yet in rampaging through the streets in a violent demonstration against the authorities for daring to arrest one of their own, a mother who has severely neglected her child to the point of starvation, they wreak havoc, attacking authority figures and destroying civic fixtures.

Municipal workers have been injured. The local electricity provider refuses to restore service after the municipality cut those services fearing its workers would be abused by protesters. The hareidi-religious community in those districts have gone collectively berserk in their denunciation of authorities for hospitalizing a three-year-old child who weighed 7 kilograms, arresting his mother for neglect.

A Jewish mother, they claim, would never starve her child. It is thought, however, by medical authorities that the woman has a mental illness, although her lawyer has rejected an offer by state prosecutors for her to submit to a psychiatric examination in exchange for house arrest. "Zionists!" rang out the Orthodox pejorative against municipal authorities.

Ironically, two welfare offices have been damaged by the rioters, the very people completely dependent on the largess of the State in supporting their families where the men dedicate themselves to studying Torah rather than debasing themselves through taking their place in the paid workforce of the country. A group for whom it is seen as anathema that one of their young people serve in the armed forces.

As far as these Orthodox Jews are concerned they will have no part in defending the country they feel has no business existing, and they are complacent at the thought that it can be destroyed by viciously antagonistic enemies of the state. Seeming, somehow, to overlook in the process, that should the state no longer exist their guaranteed income through welfare will also cease.

Labels: Israel, Religion, Traditions, Troublespots

posted by Pieface @ Friday, July 17, 2009