Herzl leaning on the railing, what is it in Shanti? As soon as I saw him, I became anti- He's not ashamed to be confused as if it were nothing. In this country everything is on fire, what is it that is closed?? I looked into his eyes closely and carefully. What part of the eye is dilated and the white of the eye is red? Pss... I whispered, I think he's stoned. Gabi said, shut up, play that voice. But I couldn't help myself and shamelessly slammed the state contract. All the details of the bleak and difficult Israeli reality [The fish is a snake, Gabi and Debbie].
The Snake Fish, an Israeli hip-hop band, joins this not-so-subtle song in a series of protest songs that have been growing in Israel in recent years, in which the poets slur sharp social texts in the face of the Israeli reality, which is unsuccessful in their opinion.
But in the sophisticated song "Gabi and Debbi," the snake fish go up a notch, addressing directly the state's contracts and its people. Herzl, who was apparently caught on drugs, takes fire for the traffic accidents, the quarter of a million unemployed and the corrupt politicians, and Trumpeldor, later in the song, which is gracefully identified as "the one with the hand, actually without," is seen shouting "a boat on our country.".
The secularists, it turns out, are not afraid to slap their 'greats' with the whole truth, in their opinion - in their faces, and even describe them as 'stoned' and 'spitting out snot'.
Is this appropriate behavior, a liberal and important critical norm? In other words: Do I think that if any of us Haredim have criticism of our 'greats' in the past and present, we have the right to express ourselves in this way towards them?
The answer in my opinion is of course completely negative, and yet thinking about it has given me a number of insights that are still not clear to me.
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Why don't we speak of our rabbis this way, and be careful not to belittle them in texts? Because we respect them? Because we don't see them as 'ordinary' people who can be treated in an inappropriate manner? Because a great rabbi, no matter how great a spiritual man he may be, is something 'transcendental', a holy personality about whom we have no objections?
So, why don't we listen to them and despise their rulings on a variety of issues (a representative example: racial discrimination in educational institutions)? And what about the internal Lithuanian conflict - on both sides - which does not exactly meet this axiom?
On the other hand, we cannot ignore another social fact regarding rabbis, which is the inherent fear that exists among many of us, of talking about rabbis even if thoughts of this kind are running around within us.
Their sting, the sting of a scorpion, says the Mishnah, which is familiar to everyone, and everyone believes that the meaning of the teaching is as simple as that.
But is this the 'respect' required of us for the rabbis? The thoughts that constantly race within us but are not expressed out of fear of the punishment that comes with it?
This attitude is very prominent among those belonging to the Eastern Jewish faiths, even if they have Westernized - the little Sephardic child who was educated that it is forbidden to talk about the elders still lives within them, but also among quite a few of our natural Ashkenazi brothers.
Thus, one can endlessly hear unintelligent sentences such as: "I, God forbid, am not talking about... but you should know that it's not him, it's this criminal who hangs around next to him and takes over his agenda...".
That is to say, I believe that the actions of that great man are so stupid, and since I am unable, due to the ultra-Orthodox culture that I have assimilated myself, to say it out loud, I blame the actions of the 'great man' on the poor man who is hanging around next to him.
Is this the respect we have for our rabbis?
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