Wars of the Jews

YomKippur eve. At the very same hour that leftwing activists clashed withreligious worshippers in Dizengoff Square, I was praying in the synagogue on mymoshav. I was a secular Ashkenazi Jew standing alongside religious Sephardicresidents of my community. Listening to melodies I wasn’t familiar with, I wasvery much out of my comfort zone, yet I felt very welcome. Isn’t this whatJudaism is supposed to be like? The news from Tel Aviv suggested we are farfrom that.

Themore I think about those events, the more I am abhorred. After the SupremeCourt ruled that the Tel Aviv Municipality has the right to bangender-segregated prayer services in public spaces, a provocateur gatheredlikeminded right-wingers and set up a mechitza divider of Israeli flags so thatthey could conduct Yom Kippur services there.

YisraelZaira, head of the extremist Rosh Yehudi Orthodox group, insisted on violatingthe court ruling to pray in public with men and women separated. Zaira hassaid, “When you see the secular world, you have to think of how to change it.”Instead of allowing him to freely act against the secular world, he should bearrested for his infractions.

Onthe other hand, leftwingers who have played a major role in the 38-week-longprotests against the government, a battle to keep Israel’s democratic valuesthat I completely support, took the law into their own hands and clashed withthe religious Jews. They screamed at the worshippers, swore at them with criesof ‘Shame!’, physically assaulted them, and spouted hatred at their fellowJews.

Leftversus right. Religious versus secular. Jew versus Jew. And all this on theholiest day in the Jewish calendar. Two wrongs don’t make a right. In theseclashes there were no winners. We are all losers.

Whereis the government?

Youwould think that in a time of clashes in our society, there would be an adultin the room to referee between the sides and calm everything down. In normaltimes we would assume that this role should be played by the prime minister.But these are far from normal times. Our prime minister declared that “leftistshad rioted against Jews”, implying that he doesn’t consider leftists to beJews. By siding with the rightwing extremists he brought into his government,Netanyahu has become a rightwing extremist.

Thereis a government outcry now, when secular Jews attacked religious Jews, but whyis the government silent when religious extremists attack Women of the Wallprayer goers at the Kotel, Judaism’s holiest site? Where is the government whenreligious Jews attack Conversative and Reform Jews celebrating family eventsand prayers near the Kotel plaza?

Askfor forgiveness

Weare all Jews, yet we are far from living up to what is expected of Jews.

YomKippur is the holiest day on our calendar, when we are supposed to cometogether as a people and beg forgiveness for our sins. In the violent acts wehave witnessed, we have sinned against our fellow Jews, our religion, and ourGod. We need to ask for a lot of forgiveness.

Meanwhile,on my moshav, Yom Kippur prayers went on. I was entranced by the Sephardicmelodies and customs, so different from the Kol Nidre services I have attendedin the past. There are many types of Jews, with different backgrounds andcustoms, and yet we are all one people. I felt welcome praying on my moshav. I,too, was asking forgiveness. We should all be praying.

Originallyposted on the Times of Israel

Photo by Maayan Nemanov on Unsplash