Unlike the other posters here, I do live in Israel. I am not going to whitewash everything and say that everything is wonderful, because it isn’t. The yeshivas are struggling; the kollels are struggling; families are struggling, there is definitely an anti-hareidi sentiment in the knesset, but you know what – even if the Israeli government gave us a fraction of what they give now – we would still be obligated to have hakaras hatov.
We have to understand that the majority of people in Israel (and in government) are not Rashaim – they fall into the category of tinok sh’nishbar. They have no appreciation for authentic Torah – they fail to understand that Israel can’t survive only by physical power. It’s sad but facts.
We have to also understand that H’ in his ultimate wisdom has deemed that the dire financial situation is what we deserve right now. Perhaps (and I don’t claim to be a “Nasi” here), if there was less sinas chinam, there would be less financial problems.
As of right now I know of 5 good kids, from good families who don’t have yeshivas for next year – all of them Sephardim. How many tears can a Mother weep? How much begging of Roshei Yeshivas can a Father do? How many families are being forced to changed their names – Dagan becomes Fisher; Ben Lulu becomes Lobenstein; how much already? How much suffering do these good families have to bear?
Ahh – perhaps the answer to our initial point of “What can the Country to for you” lies in our attitude to lack of hakaras hatov, and too much sinas chinam.