The Midrash speaks about four fifths of the Jewish People in Egypt not being worthy of Divine deliverance. I am not sure how the rest of the Jewish People might have taken this then. More to the point, I am afraid how a similar Divine proclamation would be received by some of the remaining fifth today.
All the efforts at outreach notwithstanding, tremendous walls now separate the Orthodox from the rest of our people. Part of these walls are deliberate historical creations intended to protect the replanted sapling that many felt orthodoxy was outside of Eastern Europe. Other walls are more recent additions caused by the increasing decadence of Western culture. Whatever the cause, we have increasingly less in common with the non-Orthodox.
When my wife and I first made aliyah, we approached a particular vendor at a housing fair. We were immediately rebuffed with the information that this was not a religious housing development.(He was not referring to the fact that they weren't putting two sinks into the kitchens.) Though obviously anachronistic, I wonder how Rav Kuk would have responded if they had told him that about Nevi'im St. The fact is that an ever-increasing amount of orthodox Israelis seek to live exclusively among their own kind. While I also live in such a neighborhood and the immediate benefits are great, the historical ramifications are staggering. We are protecting our children from the negative influences of the majority culture. As we do so, it becomes increasingly difficult for these children not to see that culture as ideologically antagonistic, and ultimately evil.
My sense of the historical ferment that swept the Jewish people in the century and a half preceding World War II is that of an internal family conflict. While invective, scorn and antagonism grew to feverish levels, it was so precisely out of a sense of common destiny. The debate was carried on as to the future of the Jewish people with all sides mustering every weapon at their disposal to win the day. Whether orthodox responses were effective or not, there was deep concern about the Jewish People as a whole.
As orthodoxy and the rest of the Jewish People move in separate cultural directions, we no longer speak the same language. When secular Zionism challenged the basically orthodox status quo, it did so quoting Tanach and Talmud. Today when Meretz challenges the orthodox, it does so inspired by Pearl Jam. In the spirit of the times , we live and let live. R. Hirsch anticipated a comfortable place for orthodoxy in liberal secular society by officially separating out part of the orthodox community from the rest of the Jewish community (Austritt). While comfortable and acceptable by liberal standards of democratic interest articulation, it has proven to be an abdication of responsibility to try to determine the fate of our entire people. The result is orthodox political parties in Israel which build the brunt of their platform on how many new housing units, schools and the like which they have pressed the government to build for their constituencies. We have lost something very fundamental. In my mind, any such party has lost its national vision which should be its raison d'etre.
I try to avoid building a whole theory around a Rashi, but I have always been puzzled and fascinated by his words on the midrash that Ya'akov was punished as a result of LOCKING Deena in a trunk to avoid arousing Esav's interest in her. The midrash (B.R. 76:9) admonishes him from PREVENTING her from his brother. Rashi explains that she MIGHT have been able to reform Esav. It is interesting that Rashi chooses to bring this in spite of the despicable character that he has painted of Esav. One cannot possibly think of such a man as a suitable match for a bat yisrael - would any of us be less protective with our own daughters? The key may be in the actions of Ya'akov: discouraging the match and educating our children as to what to seek are entirely acceptable - actively preventing all contact with less righteous brethren is allowing them to perish spiritually. The midrash seems to indicate that this is entirely unacceptable in the eyes of our common Creator.
Many Jews are very concerned about the loss of 13% of Eretz Yisrael - of the abandonment of the dream of having the entire land in Jewish hands. Where is the concern about losing 80% of our people - little is said and less is done. I am frightened.
(The views expressed in this essay do not necessarily reflect the views of Tzemach Dovid)
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