Since then, from 1984 until 2013, for a period of almost three decades, these three Charedi political blocks were in competition with each other for positions in government alliances and national, regional and local rabbinates, allocation of government funds and for general political influence. At times the Ashkenazim of Degel HaTorah and Agudah united for elections to form Yahadut HaTorah (United Torah Judaism [UTJ]) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Torah_Judaism formed in 1992, and competed head to head with the Sefardi Shas party. At other times, the Shas party joined the government and UTJ sat it out. But there was little overall unity as each set of Gedolim and rabbis went their own way fighting for their own slices of the big pie in and out of government to fund various yeshivas, schools, programs and getting help for its people from the Israeli socialistic welfare state in myriads of ways.
No more! With the rise of Yair Lapid and his activist progressive Yesh Atid party, founded in 2012 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yesh_Atid , becoming a key partner in the latest Israeli government coalition whereby they insisted that "no Charedi" party be in the government coalition -- the Charedim of Israel have been thrown out of government and are now forced to be united in the face of the common threats against them.
What they could not do on their own, Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid party and agenda have done for and to them. Like when the Maskilim and Zionists of old became emboldened, the Misnagdim and Chasidim closed ranks and united against the common threat against them that is part of the history of the rise of the Agudah movement https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Agudath_Israel : This phenomenon sounds familiar (from Wikipedia): "World Agudath Israel was established at a conference held at Kattowitz (Katowice) in 1912 after the Tenth World Zionist Congress had defeated a motion by the Torah Nationalists Mizrachi movement for funding religious schools."
Precisely one hundred years later, it looks like we are back to square one! There have now been a series of anti-Charedi proposals and actions that have been emanating from the new Israeli government that is "free of Charedim" with raw insults emanating of "parasites" and worse -- while of course every ruling clique must have it's "court Jew" and Yesh Atid has ensured that it has a modern progressive American Charedi in its ranks as well, namely Rabbi Dov Lipman who has been a lightning-rod for much criticism from his own circles in America and Israel.
The main thrust and weapon of the new coalition is encapsulated in a grand new slogan of "shivyon banetel" ("sharing in [the] burden") whereby Charedim are being threatened with criminal prosecution and jail-time if they don't sign up for and then join the Israeli army. There is even a political czar or commissar who is fittingly a former head of the vaunted Shin Bet security services Yakov Peri who heads a Knesset commission to plan and implement all of this.
This is furthermore backed up with threats of financial blackmail towards the oldest bastions of Torah, the yeshivas that have been the backbone of the Jewish people for over 2,000 years, and their roshei yeshiva, who will face cutbacks and penalties or criminal charges unless they deliver their talmidim to the army. Suddenly the secular Yesh Atid party is an expert concerning the most complex core of the Jewish people as a Torah nation.
It does not stop there. The Israeli tax authorities, under the guidance of both Yair Lapid as Finance Minister and his political partner "Minister of Industry, Trade and Labor" Naftali Bennett from the new Bayit Yehudi party http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Jewish_Home founded in 2008, have agents investigating and prosecuting all sorts of Charedi-owned and run businesses and operations that are unique to Israel and the frum world. Even regular Israeli politicians are saying this is just obviously a Charedi "witch hunt"! Minister Lapid has been noticeably absent from important economic panels, forums and international meetings with all sorts of excuses. While he does not hide the fact that he does not have a background in economics, in fact his education did not go beyond high school, here is what Wikipedia says about Lapid's "education" http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yair_Lapid#Education : "As a teenager, Lapid struggled with learning disabilities, and dropped out of high school, and never earned a bagrut (high school matriculation certificate)..." yet this is the "expert" on economics who now wants to tell all the Charedi "Gemora Kups" how to run "Yiddisha Gesheften" ! And in spite of the fact that General Moshe Yaalon, the current Israeli Defense Minister OPPOSES the forced mass conscription of Charedim, yet Minister Lapid threatens to bring down the government if he does not get his way.
It gets worse. Latest reports are that the Israeli tax authorities are demanding that Charedi families who have made weddings and simchas show proof of how they paid, where the money came from and who it was paid to. This is a new level of obnoxious intrusiveness that has started to alienate many prospective Olim and, well, what can one say, it is just downright crazy if not plain evil!
So what has all this produced besides all the headlines and recriminations back and forth? One BIG thing! The Charedi world is now united as never before! Now that Shas and UTJ are in the opposition in the Israeli Knesset, they have united in the face of the common threats they face.
Rav Shteinman sounds like Rav Yosef who sounds like the Chasidic Rebbes who sound like all the other Gedolim in the Charedi Torah world. It's not just the rise of a united political front, as symbolized by the fact that the Litvish Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Degel HaTorah and the Chasidish Moetzes Gedolei HaTorah of Agudah have recently met JOINTLY for the first time since
1988, bringing Litvaks and Chasidim together, but also Charedi Sefardim have united with the Charedi Ashkenazim and Rav Yosef comes to dance with the Belzer Rebbe who it appears is emerging as a key mastermind in the Charedi struggle against the Yesh Atid onslaught against the Israeli Charedi world.
Even more, in one fell swoop, Yair Lapid and Yesh Atid have STRENGTHENED Torah learning. Now all the Gedolim from all the spectrums are calling for more intense Torah learning. Even New yeshivas are being set up, such as by Rav Moshe Shternbuch. A recent letter from Rav Shteinman says that perhaps these challenges against the Torah world are coming about precisely because there has been a slackening of Torah study. But this message is coming from ALL the Charedi rabbis of all walks, and it is all thanks, paradoxically of course, to the loud and clear and unambiguous threats emanating from Yair Lapid and his Yesh Atid colleagues.
So if one wanted to know how Charedim are thinking in the face of all the threats, what would be a typical "lesson" to point out? There is a famous Chazal and it's worth repeating here because it seems that so many enemies of the Charedi Torah world just do not grasp just who they are dealing with:
" (From: Rabbi Akiva's Teachings
http://www.jewishmag.com/123mag/rabbi_akiva/rabbi_akiva.htm ): ...Amongst Rabbi Akiva's teachings was that a person should accept suffering with humility and be prepared to give his life for G-d and His Torah. Rabbi Akiva practiced in life what he taught. When the wicked Roman government decreed that study of the Torah was forbidden on penalty of death, Rabbi Akiba continued to study and teach Torah. When he was asked by Pappus ben Yehudah whether he feared the government and its decrees, he replied with a parable of a fox who was walking along a stream and saw some fishes gathering together. The fox asked the fishes why are they gathering at this point, the fish replied that they were hiding from the fishermen's nets. The fox said to them that they should
come up on the dry land and dwell together with the fox. The fish answered that if in the water which is their natural habit they are in danger, how much more so if they leave it and try to dwell in a place with no water!
'So it is with me,' Rabbi Akiva explained, 'If while we study Torah we are in danger, how much more so if we neglect it!'
A few days later Rabbi Akiba was arrested and imprisoned. Pappus ben Yehudah was also placed in the prison with him. Rabbi Akiba asked him for what reason is he imprisoned, Pappus replied, 'Happy for you Rabbi Akiba that you have been imprisoned for learning Torah; woe unto me who has been imprisoned for vain things.'
When Rabbi Akiba was taken out to be killed his flesh was raked with iron combs to increase his suffering. As he recited the Shema Israel for the last time, his face had a beautiful smile of pleasure. His torturer called to him to explain his pleasure. He replied that all his life he wanted to fulfill the edict of the Torah that one should '…love G-d with all of one's heart, and of one's soul and all of one's might' He said he had been saddened to think that he knew not how he could love Him with all of his soul (life). However now that he was giving his life at the time of saying Shema, how can he not be pleased..."
So, thank you Yair Lapid and Yesh Atid for bringing the Charedi Torah world to such similarly high levels of mesiras nefesh (self-sacrifice) because the Torah world will now PARADOXICALLY become much stronger and better because of you and your "proposals"!
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