At the beginning of the last century, Shalom Aleichem wrote the play "It is difficult to be a Jew."
He grew up in the Kyiv region and in his adulthood settled in Odessa, both of which were under Russian rule.
Difficulties, God willing, were not lacking for him: his mother died, his father married a woman whom Shalom the boy hated so much that he dedicated a notebook full of curses to her.
Then there was an inheritance dispute, losses on the stock market, difficulties in earning a living, and in 1905 a special bonus was added to all of these, for Jews only, in the form of a wave of pogroms.
He understood the hint and boarded a ship to America.
Shalom Aleichem, like all Jews of his time, knew exactly why it was difficult to be a Jew.
There was this matter of Gentiles occasionally slaughtering you, your wife and your children.
Having died in 1916, he did not get to see the organized mega-pogrom of the Nazis.
What he knew in the field of the seat was quite sufficient for him.
One hundred years have passed and a little more, the State of Israel has existed for 74 years, and it seems that in the eyes of some of its citizens - the only difficulty in being a Jew is observance.
Rightly so.
It is easy to be a Jew in Israel even without the yoke of observance.
The Jewish state provided a envelope of Judaism, even by virtue of the Jewish majority, with the addition of armed sovereignty that stands the constant existential test.
Both the thirteenth and the bloody Jewish history were forgotten from the heart, as if they were a piece of nostalgia for filing in the archives.
Under these conditions it is easy to relate to the unique difficulties of the Jewish state in a mixture of repression and contempt.
Obedience?
Religion.
Strong IDF? Militarism. Palestinians? Two states for two peoples. Iran? Okay, there really is a difficulty here, but it does not happen at this very moment so there is no need to bother ourselves to think what these lunatics have against us. According to this view the ultra-Orthodox should Recruit only for the sake of good order, not because we need more fighters, especially not those who will have a problem with meds and with chametz.
Some have forgotten what it means to be a Jew, until it is convenient for him to be a Jew.
For example, when the absorption of infiltrators or non-Jewish refugees comes up for discussion, and legally they are not refugees either.
But because state education, media publicity, and the Supreme Court are wary of Judaism and nationalism as preparers, substantial Judaism was born for use when needed, a kind of universal, well-seeking, nationalism-based universal Buddhism, based on two or three hits that every secularist knows.
"And love thy neighbor as thyself" - this is a great rule in the Torah that they are unfamiliar with and do not live by, "a man in his faith shall live", is a convenient distortion for the use of "a righteous man in his faith shall live".
Who is a Jew?
The one who loves everyone.
The "and love" cadets forget that Rabbi Akiva practiced the Torah all his life, kept Shabbat and kosher and was executed for the sanctification of Gd.
He did not establish a hippie commune of free love for members of all religions.
From time to time the essential Jews are required to decide whether to absorb here thousands of infiltrators from Africa or Filipino workers whose work visas have expired.
So, instead of arguing for a universal morality (which allows the expulsion of both types) or acknowledging a desire to abolish Israel's being a Jewish nation-state - remember that the Torah commands to love Hagar.
And just as the essential Jew does not really deal with trifles like mitzvos, so the essential Israeli does not need the national and religious component of Israel.
Essential Israel is a state of all its refugees.
"We as a Jewish state can not and can not afford, and do not want to allow ourselves in any way to turn our backs on refugees and refugees from Ukraine," Merav Michaeli said this week on a regular basis.
"We were in this situation so recently."
Diaspora Minister Nachman Shai also supports plitocracy: "The State of Israel, the state of the Jewish people, must reach out to refugees in Europe."
Michaeli and Shai's Judaism is refugees, and public transportation on Shabbat.
There is no need for Judaism to extend aid to the Ukrainians.
Israel does help, and it is good that it does.
But if it can be used, why not?
"It is our duty to be not only good Jews but also good people," said Yair Lapid, implying that Judaism is lacking in the first place.
In fact, Lapid has many claims against Judaism.
In 2007, Lapid presented his Judaism: circumcision is a matter of hygiene and integration in the school toilets, Shabbat is an opportunity for a family gathering, it is also possible with shopping.
He loves all the Ten Commandments, especially "Honor your father and your mother," but "Thou shalt not bear the name of thy God in vain" is an opportunity to remind the religious that God does not support bypasses in the West Bank and "a proper rebuke in all the strange culture of amulets Reds. "
On Yom Kippur he "tries to get to my synagogue - 'Beit Daniel' - at least for the prayer of all vows."
For him, Yom Kippur is a day of mutual respect.
He would cancel Purim.
"
In many ways, for people like Lapid, Michaeli, Shai and many like them, it is difficult to be even more Jewish than Shalom Aleichem.
He at least knew his place in the ecosystem.
Secular sabras who grew up in Western culture find it hard to believe that from a world point of view the Jew's head is still under food just by being a Jew.
They do not feel their Judaism - a feeling that only the State of Israel can provide, but not without effort and cultivation.
Not everyone wants to strive to be Jewish.
There are those for whom it is time to throw down the ladder that brought us here, in the hope that it will be all right, and that the world will finally impress us for good.
But Judaism is not a circle with a New Age flavor.
Israel is not the United States in tiny Anpin, a country of immigrants from all over the world. It was not established for refugees but for Jews. It is based on a common religion, a common story, a common language, a common book, a common calendar and a common and bloody fate that went nowhere. Yair Lapid and others like him can try to convince themselves that Israel is just another state and pull out of Judaism only what is appropriate at that moment.
Were we wrong?
Fixed!
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