In an address delivered in Tel Aviv University, attorney Yaakov Weinrot explains that the chilonim simply want the chareidim to disappear, Makor Rishon reports.

One must appreciate just who the man is. He is affiliated with the chareidi community and is viewed as among the most prominent attorneys in Israel today, a man who has represented government ministers and laypersons alike, as well as acted in an advisory capacity to state leaders.

Weinrot was a participant at a kenos honoring the memory of National Religious Party official Prof. Avner Chai Shaki z”l. Also present was Elazar Stern, a retired IDF major-general who is affiliated with the dati leumi community and infamous among many for his efforts to shut down hesder yeshivos and integrate bnei yeshiva in the IDF with the mainstream population. His ultra-modern religious hashkafa has been a constant source of abrasive comments against bnei yeshivos and chareidim.

Stern was true to form, speaking first and pointing an accusing finger at the chareidi tzibur and its leaders, blaming them of “fostering a culture of lies”. He stated that in his own personal opinion at least 50% of the chareidim not serving in the military do not learn in yeshiva either. This is what he was referring to by the culture of lies.

“I am willing to permit Ponevezh to remain full at all times but are you aware just how many yeshivos there are with talmidim registered who are simply no shows? They simply lie, the roshei yeshiva lie, and the Israeli society simply remains silent and has tolerated this for decades”.

The retired IDF Chief of Personnel Branch explained “the danger is that this culture not only permeates elsewhere, it legitimizes [draft] evasion among the secular and spreads to the dati leumi. The extremism is not only manifesting with kol isha, but among those registered in hesder yeshivot. The directors of hesder and roshei yeshiva come to me today and tell me I was correct then. In hesder yeshivot, 40% are not learning and then they want us to say ‘thank you’ because they did not claim torah study is their profession [as the chareidim do].”

Weinrot on the other hand explained that he feels the enlistment of chareidim is not the problem, but a symptom of the problem. There are the chilonim and the chareidim and the former is genuinely interested in the latter disappearing.

“When you appear before an audience you must ask yourself what this audience thinks. The prototype of what a chareidi is is actually quite clear. He is a draft evader. He works off the books. He is a parasite. He is a leech, a terrible creature. He also smells during summer months. A black penguin. He is someone disliked by Israeli society and we don’t know what to do with him. This is what the Israeli public thinks about chareidim and therefore we must see to what extent. We should work to arrive at the truth”.

The problem is not about drafting the chareidim but how to conceal this awful phenomenon. The desire to conceal the chareidim hinges on two bases. The first is the need to hate. This need exists in every society. A need to place this on ‘the other’, to hate the other, to despise his existence. This is certainly true in Israeli society, a Jewish society. What can we do that this is our lot that we are not intended to be a nation like all others. They despise us around the world, from one end to the other. And those who are despised must in turn find others to despise”.

He continued that the chareidim are the loathsome bunch that is the target of the chilonim as was evident in Yaron London’s article recently. (See YWN-ISRAEL report from May 7, 2012)

“For the Israelis, this phenomenon has existed in the kindergartens since the enlightenment period towards validating Zionism. The chareidi is the antichrist of the enlightened and the Zionist. The chareidi is the same person described by London, the non-productive man, the parasite, the Jew consumed with learning pages of Gemara. It prevents the process of Jewish progress. This prevents being emancipated. He must oust him to light the torch of light and if we do not take action to suppress this, our light will be muffled. There is a danger. There is a risk that the orbit will not take its destined path if this boorish society is not removed. And this is also what characterized the Zionist movement.”

“The Zionist movement did not want to solve the problem of the Jewish existence, the physical existence of the Jewish People. Anyone who believes this is Zionism does not understand what Zionism is. Zionism wants to solve the Jewish problem by redefining the Jewish prototype. The galus Jew is the negative of this. Who is the ultimate galus Jew? Who is his representative if not the chareidi?”

“The political doctrine is a war against the chareidim. If you beat them down you move ahead. This is the cheapest ticket to the club of advancement, beating down the religious. If you wish to explain a political failure, you explain it is because of the chareidim.”

Weinrot went on to explain that what really irks the chilonim is that not only did the chareidim not vanish, they grew and became a significant sector. He explained that from their perspective, “the chareidim simply continued to grow, having six children at a time. Now they are here. We didn’t even manage to get rid of the Eastern element and the primitive backward other reappears anew. And where does he pop up? How did he suddenly gain power? How did Rav Ovadia become so powerful? And yes, this is what the chiloni public sees in the chareidi and it does not want them in the IDF. He actually wants him out of the army so it can spit at him. He needs to justify the prototype that exists in his head and this is the truth and for as long as we don’t admit the truth the debate will not be genuine”.

He told the audience that there is no solution, at least not in this generation, and therefore the need exists to create common models of integration into Israeli society starting from the edge of chareidi society working towards the core. “This process will continue for generations and they will not be completed in the coming years”.

“Coercion will not compel one to enlist. He doesn’t possess a minimal identity with this goal. We don’t share a common language. Oh dear, if one day 60,000 chareidim enlist, believe me, Elazar Stern will run from the army. He will never admit to this. The IDF simply does not wish to deal with being chareidi”.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)