Racism in the name of halakha
Rabbis are exploiting fears and inflaming emotions under pretense of enforcing Jewish religious law.
Haaretz EditorialThe letter circulated by three rabbis in south Tel Aviv in which they direct residents not to rent their apartments to migrants and refugees trying to settle in the city makes a pretense of concern for the welfare of the residents and compassion for asylum seekers. But it hardly manages to conceal the blatant racism lurking between the lines.
The rabbis warn residents not to give access to their homes to "illegal workers," but it is clear that maintaining the rule of law is not their concern, inasmuch as they are not demanding similar treatment for Israeli citizens. As for the argument that the presence of the foreigners is causing a rise in crime and intermarriage, the rabbis are even taking the law into their own hands and bypassing city hall and the police.
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Children of migrant workers protesting in Jerusalem, April 17, 2010. |
| Photo by: Olivier Fitoussi / BauBau |
The weaker population groups living in south Tel Aviv find themselves pressed to take in refugees, migrant workers and collaborators. This situation creates troubling friction that aggravates the residents' sense of unfair treatment and alienation. It's hard to ask the inhabitants of these deprived neighborhoods to take in the outcasts of the world with open arms without feeling threatened. In this complex reality, the role of religious and secular leaders is to try to bridge the gaps and find creative ways of living together.
The rabbis who signed the letter are not civil servants. However, the public is greatly influenced by their opinions. The Tel Aviv municipality has expended more than a little effort in taking care of migrant workers and could have used the rabbis' help in making contact with the migrants and their leaders and attempting to integrate the newcomers into the neighborhood in the ways that have been done in many other countries. The rabbis, however, prefer to exploit residents' fears and inflame emotions in the name of halakha, Jewish religious law.
Over the weekend, a courageous leader, Rabbi Yehuda Amital, who founded the Meimad political movement, passed away. His party carried the banner of tolerance, humanism and the search for peace in the name of religious faith, and though the members of his movement were always a minority, they provided an important alternative to ultra-Orthodox-nationalist radicalization.
In recent years, Rabbi Amital's students and followers have fallen silent, and the status of rabbis such as those who wrote the letter about the migrants has grown stronger. It can be hoped that the municipality will understand the damage they are doing and will publicly disassociate the city from their questionable activities and instead provide the option of an alternative, one of coexistence for all of the city's residents - both temporary and permanent - a coexistence free of fear and racism.
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"The current israeli governmental system needs to be replaced with the Halacha and the Jewish Law. Secularism has only brought prostitution, drugs, and crime to Israel. Nothing more. Israeli relgious City of Bnei Brak, while the most poorest, does not have a single police station. That has to tell you something." Aron qute. Are you seeing a resemblence here ? I see Sharialaws as a very close resemblence. Politics and religion dont go hand in hand. Just sad to see Israel transforming to a pure apartaid state excluding its own people.
These illegal immigrants at least rent homes and do not build illegal ones like Palestinian Arabs do.
Some of those commenting have stated that the problems are only a result of differences in the interpretation of legal niceties. Others have indicated that the basic problem is one of the ethical recognition of the "other" and his needs. It is not too simplistic then to suggest that the Rabbis, that is to say, Religion, is ultimately tribal and anything but altruistic.towards "unbelievers". We accuse the Ayatollahs of just that moral infirmity, I do not see how the Rabbis can remain untarnished by the same brush.
a single public library--the zealots who live there burned down the previous one and it was never rebuilt. A fitting tribute to the prevalent attitude of that city towards seculary wisdom and wordliness.
I'm afraid this is happening all over the world. When I was in high school in the '60s, my Civics class teacher told us this would happen decades down the road, when Earth's population would grow so much that refugees would be breaking down doors to get into countries where their lives might improve. The U.S. is experiencing it now with about 11,000,000 illegal residences from Mexico and Central and South America. The political debates are fast and furious over what we must do, with the State of Arizona making anti-immigration laws that the U.S. government says are unconstitutional. Mexican culture has always been a large part of Southwest United States' traditions, but when the numbers are increasing by millions, many U.S. citizens are calling for fast action. Obama wants to begin citizenship preparations for these people, and beef up the border to keep new arrivals out. All this and a war with drug cartels going on at our Mexican borders.
I am a Jew. I am proud of being Jewish and am raising my girls to be proud Jews. We are also Black (Haitian, Indian American). I can't help but notice the "illegals" look like me and my children. Is this the land, the country, the Isreal I will bring them to in the future. I am a lawyer who believes in order, logic, and an Almighty G-d. Is this the land he has promised me and my daugthers? Will we be, or we welcome here among our brothers and sisters?
there are many racist laws in Israel, which are accepted by mainstream left. One of them is the law of return, but there are others. It is commonly accepted that, in these times, such laws have to be tolerated, and they do not receive much criticism if any. On the other hand, behavior of religious people is not tolerated at all by secular left, and is the target for much criticism. It seems that everybody is racist in a some way, but other people racism always seem much more gross. Perhaps looking in the mirror is advisable before criticizing your peers.
Racism is not just the problem of Israel. It is a universal problem which arises from the factually proven occurrence of idiocy among all human societies. The paradox has always been: how do you get rid of idiots without becoming one of them, since the desire to get rid of a problem with expediency has always been a trademark of idiocy? Surprised to find idiots in Governments, why is that? Surprised to find idiots in Israel, why is that? I submit that in order to overcome idiocy in high places we demand to see the proven IQ tests and independent psychological evaluations of political personalities and officials, renewable every year. I think it's the best way to avoid a fusion between top and base of the idiotic pyramid.
on these racist rabis.Being jew means being liberal humanist and universalist.
non-jews in Israel have to pass the status of geyr toshav otherwise they should be deported. Halacha is not racist but it has requirements and obligations for anyone who lives on the soil of the Holy Land. These refugees cannot be treated like Jewish Israelis...and that's not racist, it's just the requirement for living on that soil just like living in the US has its own requirements. We have many illegal migrants in the US too. Many of these people are from countries that gained independence from colonial masters. Now they are flooding the capitals of their colonial masters because, in their independence, they have trashed their own countries.
when jews are in other countries all over the world, they expect to get first class treatment from their governments, but people who go to israel are treated like vermin. just the way they do it with the palestinians. international governments should stop treating israel with decency. they don't deserve anything. look what those illegal settlers do, they steal the land from the palestinians and they build and build and build, even swimming pools. and do you know what they and those wise rabbis say to the world? shove it! and do you know why? because they are slaves to insolence.
If you feel that migrants are causing problems in your area you wouldn't rent to them as your first choice. That's common sense and a feeling for protecting your community. For Rabbis to sign an official statement on this sensitive subject is anything but common sense.
What's the big deal? This was done before, except that then it was called: "Jews and dogs forbidden". The rabbis learned! By the way: those who speak in the name of Almighty should show power-of-attorney entitling them to speak in Almighty's name.
I could never live in a state which can contemplate such horrible discriminatory practice. It does not matter that I am a Jew I stand 100 percent against these rabbis.
I am from the UK and I spend a lot of my time trying to support Israel and promote her to friends and family. It becomes very hard when this type of thing happens. This is what happens when people become obsessed with the letter of "religious law" instead of the spirit of it. The Rabbis of old often changed religious laws when they seemed unjust. These days they are so fixed in the past that they won't look from a broader perspective. A very famous Rabbi said that the core of the Torah was "do to others what you would like done to yourself and the rest is just footnotes". What happened to his spirit? Halakhic law seems to be full of racism, sexism and xenophobia. Whether these immigrants are legal or illegal, there should be a much more humane approach to this. Can't we show the world how wonderful Judaism is instead of the ugly side?
It has nothing to do with race God or the wind the reality is that compassion can’t always trump the law, because then the country to which people flee for refuge will no longer be able to offer that refuge.
"Das Boot ist voll" (the boat is overcrowded). Thanks a lot.
It has nothing to do with race. They welcome our Ethiopian brothers and sisters- like the rest of us- not illegal foreigners.
You seem to forget that many thousands of Jews (my own grandparents included) were illegal workers under the British mandate. They were smuggled into Palestine, despite the white paper, to escape persecution. The governmet should manage its immigration processes better - but the answer is not this sort of discrimination.