AAQ – “I think you are right. And probably the best thing you can do in Israel is to provide non-observant Jews with an example of an ehrliche community that they’ll be interested in joining.”
How would one do that? Believe it or not, most observant Jews are in fact ehrlich (I’m assuming you mean in בין אדם לחברו), something many Arachim Seminar (for example) graduates, and (secular at the time) Shabbos guests (another example) have attested to… That doesn’t stop the secular media from depicting us as caricatures from Der Sturmer. If you mean ‘sharing the burden’ etc. in terms of military service, the Dati Leumi do that MORE AND BETTER than Chilonim HANDS DOWN, and they still are vilified in the secular media as much as the Charedim are, (and never promoted past Colonel…) This is the real problem. I live in a mixed neighborhood, with Chiloni neighbors across the street. I have a friendly neighbor relationship with them. It is very common to hear Chilonim say to Chareidim they know “if only they all were like you”… When in fact most are… I have seen cartoons in secular newspapers here that look literally as if they were copied from Der Sturmer, complete with the exaggerated hooked nose and unkempt beard… And the Settler types depicted look like cartoons from Al Jazeera…