Israelis Need to See a Change in Haredi Attitudes

I agree with just about everything Rabbi Yehoshua Pfeffer wrote about the necessity of change within the haredi community. That is why, even though I am not haredi, the new haredi party with which he is associated has been on my shortlist of possible parties to vote for ever since it was first registered: I think it is important for both the haredi community and the broader Israeli public to see haredi Knesset members who support such change. It’s important for Haredim because seeing MKs from their own community who support a new approach could make them more comfortable adopting that approach themselves. And it’s important for the general public because, for many Israelis, haredi MKs are their only window onto the haredi world, and currently, those MKs represent the most insular and reactionary trends within the community.

The “new Haredim” are still a minority within their community, and it’s not clear how large a minority they actually are. Nevertheless, the changes that have occurred in haredi society are very real. Here’s one small example: since October 7, as Haaretz reported earlier this month, haredi comic books for children have for the first time started featuring Israel Defense Forces soldiers and Mossad agents as heroes. Some of these heroes are even secular—another first. Others are shown wearing kippahs; a few soldiers are even haredi. And the plots revolve around war-related themes—the wars with Iran, the war with Hamas, the pager operation against Hizballah, the hostages. The books were commissioned by publishers who presumably saw a market for them. And needless to say, children who grow up reading comics in which soldiers and Mossad agents are the heroes are more likely to be open to joining the army when they grow up.

Nevertheless, I am deeply worried that the changes are moving too slowly for the current Israeli mood, and that the result will be a cataclysmic rupture. This, too, is an outgrowth of October 7. Israelis were once prepared to live with gradual change because both the army and the economy were doing fine even without the Haredim. But today, that is simply not the case. Reservists who once served 30 days a year at most are now spending well over 100 days a year in the army, with serious consequences for their families, their jobs, their businesses, and/or their studies. Almost all of my friends have at least one son or son-in-law in this situation; many have more than one. As a result, most Israelis no longer share Sagi Barmak’s view that the army can do without the Haredim. And the economy is also being hurt by the reservists’ nonstop absences, on top of the strain that Barmak correctly notes it is under due to the growth of the haredi population.