The future of Israel’s Orthodox Jews? Strong!
How do I know? The answer is in Acco. In a fortress that used to be a British prison.
In that fortress, there is a museum dedicated to those who gave their lives there al kiddush hashem for Am Yisroel and Eretz Yisroel. And in that museum, there is a pair of tfilin. They belonged to Dov Groner. Groner was executed by the British for his activities in the Irgun. He was and is an inspiration to generations of Israelis. He was a yeshiva educated frum Jew.
He wasn’t ordered to leave a yeshiva, and he didn’t stop learning. He recognized his responsibility as a Jew in a Jewish land and he fought as well as learned.
He lived and died for the future of Am Yisroel.
The Israel that he helped to create has seen the most incredible expansion of Torah learning in the History of Am yisroel. Much of that has been subsidized by the state. A state interested in shmad doesn’t “waste” its precious resources on something it does not value.
The Israel he helped create has yeshivos where talmidim and kollel learners reach heights of dveykus and amilus in Torah learning, and then get in a tank or a jeep and protect Jewish lives. They aren’t in bnei brak. they are in Maalot, Maaleh Adumim, Ashdod, Gush Etzion, and all over the country. A state interested in subjugating and persecuting Torah learners doesn’t train them to arms they may take up against their “persecution”.
The Israel he helped create has had Prime Ministers who every motzei shabbos for decades brought the leading scholars from all fields together to study Torah in their households. A state interested in shmad isn’t led by those who value Torah.
The Israel he helped create has members of Knesset who learn gemoro from the podium of the knesset chamber, and who establish shiurim weekly for the MK’s to be inspired by Torah. Decades of chareidi politicians never did this. It took a woman, from a party being accused of shmad, to bring more holiness to the manhigut of the country.
The future is bright for those who actually care about the future, and who can think beyond their entitlements. It is an egregious, yet smug and self satisfying lie to insist that those who do not wear a particular levush or follow a particular hashkafic approach are not “frum”, are not “orthodox”.
For the first time in almost 2000 years we can think as a nation and take up once again the responsibilities we have as a nation. For centuries we had no outlet for this aspect of our existence but now we do. It is the opportunity we have to demonstrate to the eibishter that we can be a complete people, not a collection of individuals doing individual mitzvos. That requires both more responsibility and more ahavas achim than many are used to. Israel is the place and now is the time to show HKBH what we can be.
We can turn away from the challenge, turn inwards, if we choose to shut out the rest of the orthodox world who are moving towards that future. But if so, we should never again falsely claim that we look forward to the geulah. We will have refused to recognize its birth pangs. We will have made our insularity a liability.
We are all, chareidi, dati, secular, all of us, better than that.
May we all be zocheh to a complete geulah bimhero biyomenu. Chag kosher vesomeyach, everyone.