Rabbi Argue Like Children

Here is a paragraph from a post by cross -currents:


"In the period immediately preceding the declaration of the State, Ben Gurion reached an accord with R. Yitzchak Meir Levin zt”l [the status quo agreement] delineating certain limited areas where the State would recognize the primacy of Torah over secular norms – most notably in family law. Ben Gurion understood, as his subsequent silent agreement to accept the Chazon Ish’s view on giyus banot (conscription of women) would suggest, that there were areas that demanded that the secular majority forego its natural rights, perhaps recognizing that the State would only be viable if it gave Torah a visible role. Many have speculated about Ben Gurion’s motivations; whatever they were it formed the basis for a modus vivendi that held up for a considerable number of years.

Read more: http://www.cross-currents.com/archives/2010/06/20/we-are-all-emanuel/#ixzz0rafStMw7
Under Creative Commons License: Attribution"




Here are problems with the argument:


1) The Haredi Jews despise Ben-Gurion. These orthodox Jews talk about Ben-Gurion like he was the devil. Except when they can find one point that they like, when he made a verbal agreement with a rabbi, then all of a sudden Ben-Gurion was a god who must be obeyed beyond the letter of the law. The orthodox are complete fakes who would ignore all the evil they attribute to Ben-Gurion if they can get their thirty pieces of silver.


2) He said so: the same argument my kids make. The fact is whatever Ben-Gurion said in a private deal with a rabbi has no relevance today. The state of Israel is not a theme park for jews and Ben-Gurion was not the King of the Jews who made a law for all time. Ben-Gurion was a man and a politician who was instrumental in the founding of the state. However, just because he said so does not make it so. The state of Israel is a real state with real laws and real systems and reals courts. The orthodox don't get to ignore all that developed in the creation of a country and rely on the flimsy protexia of the words of a single man who they hate from a time long gone by.


The facts are this: Israel is a real country with real laws. The public school system is the public's schools system. If the orthodox would like a school that demands that dark skinned children need to prove their worth before admittance, they may be able to do that in a private setting. But the words of one man to a rabbi should have no bearing on the developed state that exists today. It is the height of foolish arrogance to demand that a public system should not be subject to public oversight.

Israel's Downfall

Today is the day I recognized that Israel is doomed. Iran and Hamas and all the other haters should just sit back and let Israel implode. Many argue that Israel survives because she faces existential threats. The protests in Immanuel today are the writing on the wall for the fate of Israel.


Let's recap: (please correct any errors, I don't claim to be perfect, just generally clever)

The Israeli public school system is divided into 3 tracks. Orthodox Jews, Secular Jews and Arabs. There are also private schools which operate independently from the ministry of education's public schools.

In the town of Immanuel there is a public school for orthodox Jewish girls. Many ashkenazi (jews from european/white heritage) who are parents in the school do not want their children to attend classes with sephardi girls (jews from spanish/middle eastern/dark skinned heritage).

The school decided to separate the dark from the light. The supreme court said no you don't. The white parents said, well we're not sending our kids to school with darkies.

After a few months went by and the court was ignored, the court gave a group of parents 2 weeks to integrate or go to prison. And today, over 100,000 orthodox Jews, protested in Israel, for the right to segregate the public school system based on race.

Just because a country exists on a map, does not mean it is surviving. After the fall of Rome, there were countries in the hinterlands, that for hundreds of years later still thought they were part of the Roman Empire. Israel does not have the luxury of allowing a theocracy to take over. When a significant segment of the population claims that the courts have no authority over them, and that their version of god is more important than the legal authority in a public school, that is a problem. When that group holds mass protests in the streets, with the support of mainstream politicians and significant rabbinical leaders, that is the writing on the wall.

Israeli Ortho ism

The Israeli court system recently ruled that schools which were barring admission to Sephardi children  were breaking the law.

According to the article in Haaretz: 
http://www.haaretz.com/news/national/high-court-desegregate-west-bank-school-or-face-jail-time-1.296299
This is what the attorney for the parents had to say for disobeying the ruling:

"According to the parents' attorney, whenever there is a faith-oriented religious dispute, the rabbis' decisions overrule the courts "which is more powerful than the decision of any other authority."

1st. A lawyer cannot make a claim that there is law to supersede their obligation as members of the court: why is this argument allowed to be made by a member of the court?

2nd. Until now this was just a few parents who were the face of the Ashkenazi side, according to this lawyer, these parents are following orders. Whose? Which rabbis are really behind banning sephardi children from schools based on their geographic heritage?

3rd. This is a more general thought on the image created by the Israeli Haredi community:  Why are orthodox Jews so docile and subservient in other countries? The behavior the Haredi group exhibits in Israel does not occur outside of Israel.

South Park and the path to Middle East Peace

Which of these things is not like the other?


'South Park' Creators Could Face Retribution for Depicting Muhammad, Website Warns
http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2010/04/20/website-warns-south-park-creators-face-retribution-depicting-muhammad/?test=latestnews

Islam stops First Amendment right of free speech
http://www.examiner.com/x-23325-Tampa-Deism-Examiner~y2010m4d22-Islam-stops-First-Amendment-right-of-free-speech

Dutch court clears Muslim group over Holocaust cartoon
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1164949.html


It is flat out racist to have a set of subhuman standards which are acceptable for the Muslims and another set of Humane behavior which is acceptable for Western society.

Until the Western World realises that Muslims are not sub-human, their behavior will remain understandable and acceptable. Only when we demand that the Muslim world behave with equal humanity will there be equality.

And the same logic follows the true path to middle east peace. Until the Muslim world is forced to accept a code of conduct that is on par, there will be no peace. Unless of course Israel adopts the Muslim standards and then commits genocide. But that would be unacceptable, because they are a western society.