How pluralism imperils Israel's Jewish future
Many secular Jews are perplexed by the harsh Orthodox response to Israel’s High Court ruling regarding Reform conversions, but when confronted, not every religious Jew knows how to give an answer. Here’s the way I do it
I’m what you call a chareidi Jew, and although you call yourself chiloni, I want to speak to you beyond the barriers that the media has placed between us, and above the heads of the politicians who like to pretend that they are speaking in your name and in mine. I want to talk to you directly about a matter of mutual interest: our shared concern for the continued existence of Israel as both a Jewish nation and a Jewish state.
If you see yourself solely as a citizen of the world, if you have no interest at all in the Jewish nation, and just by chance you happen to live here, on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean Sea; if you are unconcerned that with time, the character of the State of Israel will be altered, meaning you do not care if it becomes a pronounced Levantine state, devoid of any exceptional Jewish history; if it’s not important to you that your grandchildren be “Israeli” in some form or another, without any reference to its Jewish past — then don’t continue reading this.
But if you’re like me, perhaps you too are worried. If our nation’s increasing assimilation worries you (despite the Hebrew language and IDF service), if you deeply desire that the State of Israel remain the Jewish state, perhaps we can find some common language that will form a bridge of understanding over the abyss of differences of opinion that lies between us.
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