'Its pretty shiity but when democracy doesnt work you should just forget about it...
Dear Lord!!!
What this country does to people can be ridiculous. People you consider to be your friends or to be rational, sensible human beings or perhaps even both...shockingly! They can unsuspectedly turn out to be right of Atilla The Hun on the political spectrum. Back in the 'halcyon' days of living in the midst of the stable, (un)representative democracy that is the United Kingdom, Atilla The Hun was a title we jokingly slurred my dad with, when he proved time and again to have the social conscience of erm, well Margeret Thatcher, actually.
Here, my father's political foible's pale into insignificance against views that are becoming increasingly main-stream. I think here in Anglo South Jerusalem we like to believe we are atleast liberal enough to care about deomocracy and the right of other people to their opinions. Its one of the reasons why, for all of its irritations we like our bubble and, indeed, it is at times just that, our protective barrier from the outside world of mushaganah israelis and israeliness.
The title of this post is quoted from my 'Gym Man', if i were more protentious I would say Personal Trainer - oh look i just did, but if only i had the circumstances to match how that makes things sound in my life! (of which more later...). He is my age, fairly recently married and even more recently a father. He made aliyah seven years ago from Brooklyn, yeah hes frum, but not like that. He has definately been around...always regailing me with stories of his illicit, if not shocking, past and astounding me with the depth and breadth of the musical collection contained within his i-pod. It took me several visits to figure out that he was frum. Not what I would describe as the most obvious candidate for leitent facism then....
Yet, he like 15% of the Israeli electorate voted for Yisrael Beitenu, a party with a vehmently anti-Arab agenda and ex Ukrianian, ex night club bouncer for a leader. Yes its clearly horrific that his party got 15% of the vote and that he will soon be confirmed as Foreign Minister (dear Lord Bibi, WORST IDEA EVER!!!), but that, for now is off topic and belongs to a future post. There are two things that i find particulary troubling about The Gym Man's political outburst , one is that he is clearly content to dispense with democracy to preserve the Jewish nature of Israel if it were to become necessary in the not so distant future. This religiousization of the idea of statehood is dangerous and increasing prevalent in religious zionist circles. Should Israel exist under any circumstances? Does G-d want the Jewish State to exist in all circumstances? What the Gym Man says also worries me because it shows how people from liberal countries who seem pretty rational and well-rounded can be made into nutters in the combustible political crucible of Israeli Society...Oy!
Whenever the two of us get into political discussions not only does it make me depressed, it also raises a larger question in my head. Is democracy of religious value? Those of us raised in democratic societies prize it often as highly as a religious value and yet clearly democracy has no voice in the halachic world or process. I mean, after all it did always erk me that the prayer for the State of Israel that they read every week at Ramat Orah on The Upper West Side praised Israel's democratic nature in terms that made it clear that 'G-d believes in Democracy' so to speak. That always struck me as wrong and arrogrant, I mean who says G-d has a preference for democracy?!
Of course this prayer and value is easily and inconsequentially recited in America by apparently halachically concerned Jews. Yet, here in Israel this quandry and tension is a live one. I, for one am not ready to give up on democracy or allow Israeli to become in actuality a democracy exclusively for Jews. For me this is a value even above the Jewish nature of Israel. But apparently, believing fiercely in deomocracy leads to the logical conclusion that I am a bad or at best misguided Jew. Sad and proud to say I still insist on having my cake and eating it, I want to live in the constant challenge, tension and balancing act of playing my part in a Jewish AND Democratic state.
Sorry Gym Man!
What this country does to people can be ridiculous. People you consider to be your friends or to be rational, sensible human beings or perhaps even both...shockingly! They can unsuspectedly turn out to be right of Atilla The Hun on the political spectrum. Back in the 'halcyon' days of living in the midst of the stable, (un)representative democracy that is the United Kingdom, Atilla The Hun was a title we jokingly slurred my dad with, when he proved time and again to have the social conscience of erm, well Margeret Thatcher, actually.
Here, my father's political foible's pale into insignificance against views that are becoming increasingly main-stream. I think here in Anglo South Jerusalem we like to believe we are atleast liberal enough to care about deomocracy and the right of other people to their opinions. Its one of the reasons why, for all of its irritations we like our bubble and, indeed, it is at times just that, our protective barrier from the outside world of mushaganah israelis and israeliness.
The title of this post is quoted from my 'Gym Man', if i were more protentious I would say Personal Trainer - oh look i just did, but if only i had the circumstances to match how that makes things sound in my life! (of which more later...). He is my age, fairly recently married and even more recently a father. He made aliyah seven years ago from Brooklyn, yeah hes frum, but not like that. He has definately been around...always regailing me with stories of his illicit, if not shocking, past and astounding me with the depth and breadth of the musical collection contained within his i-pod. It took me several visits to figure out that he was frum. Not what I would describe as the most obvious candidate for leitent facism then....
Yet, he like 15% of the Israeli electorate voted for Yisrael Beitenu, a party with a vehmently anti-Arab agenda and ex Ukrianian, ex night club bouncer for a leader. Yes its clearly horrific that his party got 15% of the vote and that he will soon be confirmed as Foreign Minister (dear Lord Bibi, WORST IDEA EVER!!!), but that, for now is off topic and belongs to a future post. There are two things that i find particulary troubling about The Gym Man's political outburst , one is that he is clearly content to dispense with democracy to preserve the Jewish nature of Israel if it were to become necessary in the not so distant future. This religiousization of the idea of statehood is dangerous and increasing prevalent in religious zionist circles. Should Israel exist under any circumstances? Does G-d want the Jewish State to exist in all circumstances? What the Gym Man says also worries me because it shows how people from liberal countries who seem pretty rational and well-rounded can be made into nutters in the combustible political crucible of Israeli Society...Oy!
Whenever the two of us get into political discussions not only does it make me depressed, it also raises a larger question in my head. Is democracy of religious value? Those of us raised in democratic societies prize it often as highly as a religious value and yet clearly democracy has no voice in the halachic world or process. I mean, after all it did always erk me that the prayer for the State of Israel that they read every week at Ramat Orah on The Upper West Side praised Israel's democratic nature in terms that made it clear that 'G-d believes in Democracy' so to speak. That always struck me as wrong and arrogrant, I mean who says G-d has a preference for democracy?!
Of course this prayer and value is easily and inconsequentially recited in America by apparently halachically concerned Jews. Yet, here in Israel this quandry and tension is a live one. I, for one am not ready to give up on democracy or allow Israeli to become in actuality a democracy exclusively for Jews. For me this is a value even above the Jewish nature of Israel. But apparently, believing fiercely in deomocracy leads to the logical conclusion that I am a bad or at best misguided Jew. Sad and proud to say I still insist on having my cake and eating it, I want to live in the constant challenge, tension and balancing act of playing my part in a Jewish AND Democratic state.
Sorry Gym Man!
posted by Ben at 5:40 pm
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