'The 'Enlightenment Movement' that raged in Europe about two hundred years ago wreaked havoc and undermined for many good people the truth of the path that has been handed down to us from generation to generation. Its founders succeeded in assimilating the insight that it is possible to combine a life of Torah and mitzvot with the values and views of a foreign and corrupt culture, and its members encouraged the study of secular science and the culture of the time in combination with a life of Torah.
The leaders of the generation of that period fought fiercely against the Enlightenment movement: 'A combination of the profane and the sacred, a combination of Judaism with the culture of another people, will end up being bad and bitter' - they claimed, and they were not wrong.
'"The educated is worse than the secular," they warned. "The secular knows that the yoke of Torah and commandments is being lifted and knows his place. The educated transgresses all transgressions and is confident in the righteousness of his path.".
In recent years, Haredi Judaism has been "blessed" by a new breed of fruit that has sprung from its soil, calling itself "the working Haredi." No, I'm not referring to Shlomo Zalman Gissweiswasser, who wakes up every morning at sunrise, immerses his body in the purification bath, studies in one breath for three hours until prayer, after which he devotes another two hours to his Talmud, and only then goes out to work his day in a leather processing factory for tefillin.
With a shtreimel, without a beard
'The 'working Haredi' is essentially the 'tired Haredi' or the 'new Haredi.' This is a type of Haredi who wishes to continue living in his natural environment on the one hand, but will not give up the pleasures of this world on the other - and will spend his entire life trying to combine them.
As technology advanced, the image of the 'working/tired/new Haredi' took shape. While faithful Haredi Judaism barricaded its doors, sealing all its openings so that even the slightest gust of foreign wind could not penetrate, the 'new Haredi' decided that a bar with handsome, arched openings was enough for him, certain that sealing the openings was unnecessary and that an evil spirit could not harm him even if it penetrated through the handsome, arched bar he had erected for himself.
''The working/tired/new Haredi' - will buy Yad Rashi matzot - his first oven, but will make sure to eat them on a stunning vacation in Italy. He will come to the Daf Yomi class every evening, but sometimes he will be absent due to the importance of watching a sports game in his living room on online media.
He will crowd the staircase to receive the blessing of the Torah minister, Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, for an emergency operation or a proposed matchmaking, and will rush to meet friends in a Tel Aviv cafe. He will arrive with his children for 'Tish' and to light candles with the Rebbe, but will quickly leave for one of the Tel Aviv theaters to watch a Hanukkah performance intended for the general public.
He will ask for a kosher certificate at the entrance to the restaurant, but precisely in a place where it is better not to see a person wearing a kippah. He will not give up wearing the shtreimel, but he will flaunt like a peacock with a fashionable haircut and a clean-shaven beard.
He will call the posek to inquire about halacha, but - with the latest generation smartphone. He will come to family gatherings, but will be available and active on every online social network from his mobile phone and like him... he will also educate his wife and children - wine in one hand and vinegar in the other.
Every person has the right to live their life according to their conscience, to juggle the sacred and the profane in the same breath, and no one has the right to intervene and dictate to another what way of life to live.
However, a farmer who continues to work his land in the seventh year due to a 'sale permit' will never be able to force the Badatz to grant him a kosher certificate.
Don't forget your place.
These are 'election campaign' days.
Loyal Haredi Judaism is mobilizing with all its might for the success and increase of representation in the Knesset and naturally turns first to all those who wear the black kippah, its natural supporters.
And here, the 'ultra-Orthodox worker' rises to his feet again and demands recognition of his way of life through a 'realistic place', and threatens that if not, it will not be enough for him not to cast his vote, but he will do everything to thwart the mobilization of votes.
Once every four years, the opportunity is given to declare membership and belonging to loyal Haredi Judaism by voting for a party and mobilizing for it. This is the right of every person and their family who wish to 'continue living in the natural environment' and do not allow it to slip away from you.
PS The writer of the lines 'Haredi working/new and very, very, very tired'. However, despite this, he mobilizes with all his might and integrates himself into the election headquarters for the success of the Haredi Judaism list, out of a feeling and knowledge that 'we have no other home' and 'we have no rest but this Torah.'.
The writer of these lines calls on all his new/working/more and less tired friends to join in the success of the list, out of a full sense of belonging to the faithful and old Haredi Judaism, even though we have adapted a few changes for ourselves out of fatigue and not out of recognition of the righteousness of the path.
• Also published in 'Religious Press Line''
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