Former Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin appeared as a speaker in the eighth annual Hamodia Conference in Binyanei Ha’uma in Yerushalayim on Wednesday, 25 Tammuz 5773. He told participants that “chareidim cannot be excluded from the decision-making table for the chareidi sector is not a minority. The chareidi sector plays an integral role in shaping the path and nature of being Israeli”.

Rivlin added that the participation of so many in the kenos serves “as a thousand witnesses to the genuine desire of the chareidi tzibur to find its place in the Israeli experience and workplace. The integration of the chareidi sector is not just a national interest of Israeli society, but an existential component of the State of Israel.”

Rivlin did not ignore today’s realities, the mounting tension between the chareidi tzibur the remainder of the country. He touched on the chareidi determination to cling to its independence regarding education and serving in the military. He told his audience “I often tell my friends that they must remember the chareidim are no longer a minority segment. When we are dealing with a community that represents 10% of the nation it would be a bitter mistake to think that critical decisions such as these can be made by compelling a majority’s desire upon them. Given the magnitude of the effect that the chareidi community has on the economy and society, it is obvious that chareidim may not be excluded from the table where decisions are made.”

“The chareidi sector has a significant role in shaping the destiny of being Israeli… and I believe one cannot remove being chareidi from being Israeli, not numerically or for today the chareidi element if a fundamental component of being Israeli.”

“I believe wholeheartedly that the challenge facing us is to convert the same faulty relationship of the majority and the minority, the chareidim and the general population – to convert it to a relationship of partnership. It is only chance to ensure a future partnership of prosperity and gain. This must be developed together. On the one hand, Israeli society only permits one group and this is particularly so with the chareidi sector. We must protect with a zealousness the religious and cultural ways, while on the other hand finding a way to live in one country and not chas v’sholom splitting into two.”

He addressed how many release lofty phraseology regarding ‘sharing the burden’ but when it comes to hiring a qualified chareidi person the reality is quite a different one.”

Rivlin added “an equal burden demands equal opportunity as well”. He concluded by warning if the administration continues on its current path of ‘sharing the burden’ it will lead to a tragic split that brings an end to the building cooperation between the chareidi and general sectors of Israeli society.

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)