Ultra-Orthodox establishment denies that secular people have values
Equal status of women a central and important value in the Israeli experience
The last few days have provided us with a striking example of Israel's volatile religion/state terrain, which has consumed considerable media attention: The fight that led to the cancellation of a fundraising concert for Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Firer's NGO Ezra LeMarpeh.
07/11/2019 19:55
Tags: equality of women · women · Ezra Lemarpeh · gender equality
Shlomo Artzi, source: Wikipedia
Many people ask us whether battles over religious and state really matter to Israelis. Hiddush has been monitoring Israel’s national blood pressure for years on these issues, and we still have trouble convincing our Jewish colleagues and leadership abroad regarding how critical these issues are to the Jewish public in Israel. We have been highlighting the central role played by these issues in the recent election campaign for a long time and underscoring their potential to reshape Israel's path towards freedom of religion and equality. The last few days have provided us with a striking example of the terrain, which has consumed considerable media attention: The fight that led to the cancellation of a fundraising concert for Rabbi Avraham Elimelech Firer's NGO Ezra LeMarpeh, which was intended to be held at the Tel Aviv’s Charles Bronfman Auditorium, the prominent secular cultural center in the great secular city and Israel’s capital of free life, which, for example, has been recognized internationally for its openness to the LGBTQ community.
Rabbi Firer is an Israeli hero. In 1997, he was awarded the Israel Prize, for his special contribution to society and the State of Israel. The body of judges who awarded the Israel Prize to Firer described his tireless work and the inspiration offered by his "boundless energy, patience, cheerfulness and serenity, which are essential conditions for working with the sick, the elderly and the needy, who more than anything else need emotional support."
The November 20 concert was planned as a tribute concert for popular singer Shlomo Artzi and was supposed to be a show of unity in support of Ezra LeMarpeh, Rabbi Firer’s nonprofit medical support organization that has helped save thousands of lives, often at no cost to the patient. It was planned to feature performances by the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra and many top Israeli artists, but controversy erupted last week after it was revealed that Firer had requested that no female singers be included. The Israel Philharmonic Orchestra subsequently said it would not perform at an event that “excludes women.” So did Artzi’s guitarist, Avi Singolda, and Orly Vilnai, a journalist who was to serve as host, as well as many more singers. Others voiced support for Firer’s event and even said they were willing to volunteer to perform at the event. Artzi himself wrote on Facebook that he plans to do “whatever is possible to change Rabbi Firer’s mind.”
Rabbi Firer's demand that women not participate as singers was unpalatable to the singers who had intended to contribute to the benefit concert, as well as to the invited public, which supports the NGO's work. When things became public - a national-scale storm erupted. It is impossible to consider this event in isolation from other struggles of recent months over the exclusion of women in public concerts or those held on public property.
You can read more in the media about the storm and debates that led to the cancellation of the event, but we want to relate to a particular point that we think is important, which many do not consider to be particularly significant. Reasonable arguments can be identified on both sides of the debate. Hiddush’s position rejects the exclusion of women, we highlight the heavy price of undermining gender equality in society, and we are not only familiar with this slippery slope in theory but see it playing out in reality. However, we also do not dismiss opposing arguments that are made in honesty, frankness and responsibility.
If Rabbi Firer had initially determined that he would only arrive for the beginning of the event and leave after that in a respectful manner – this would have been more appropriate and this whole, unnecessary storm would never have occurred. It is necessary to find a way to include women at an event that is intended first and foremost for the secular public. [Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef] participated in all government ceremonies. He sat and did not move from his spot even when women sang, as did all the rabbis. Public shaming is worse.
Furthermore, even in the ultra-Orthodox community, there is not necessarily a consensus on the religious obligation for men to not to be present while women are singing. For example, the Chief Rabbis were present and did not leave during the opening ceremony for Holocaust Day at Yad Vashem when a female vocalist sang before them; and Adina Bar Shalom, daughter of the late Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the former leader of Shas, mentioned this week that her father also did this and made sensitive and important points on the matter:
“If Rabbi Firer had initially determined that he would only arrive for the beginning of the event and leave after that in a respectful manner – this would have been more appropriate and this whole, unnecessary storm would never have occurred. It is necessary to find a way to include women at an event that is intended first and foremost for the secular public. My father participated in all government ceremonies. He sat and did not move from his spot even when women sang, as did all the rabbis. Public shaming is worse.”
But the point we should like to emphasize is that in the harsh reactions heard from the ultra-Orthodox politicians and media, there was a uniform and ugly line. They are not at all prepared to take into account that secular people also have principles, that the value of equality of the status of women is a central and important value in the Israeli experience, and that exclusion of women has become a loaded issue that most of the public rejects. For them, this is not a matter of debate at all, and it has nothing to do with the values of the non-ultra-Orthodox public. To them, there is only one reason for the demand, as Knesset Member Yaakov Tesler (UTJ) said this week, for example: "The organizations that are trying to uproot religion in Israel will go to any lengths, and destroy every little thing, to promote an anti-religious agenda." That is to say – this has nothing to do with either values or legitimate controversy. It’s all about hatred of the ultra-Orthodox and religion!
This week, in Yated Ne’eman, the media organ of the Lithuanian faction of the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party, confirmed this in a special editorial describing the cancellation of the event for the Ezra LeMarpeh organization:
"This liberal terrorist attack on Rabbi Elimelech Firer is another escalation of the Israeli people's war against the Jewish people… Secular coercion attacked and raised the bar of destructiveness on the citizens of Israel without any precedent… With the help of a legal system with an agenda that is trying to uproot all the holiness of Israel from the lives of the people living in Zion, they are trying to legitimize anomalous lifestyles and destroy the Jewish home. This is a real terrorist system cloaked in enlightenment and supported by mobilized communications… Liberal terrorists who build the Tower of Modern Babel to wage war against God work just like that generation of yore… One thing is certain: the hatred of the nations for Torah scholars is an incurable mental illness. The debate over the fictitious issue of "women's exclusion" at the event for supporters of Ezra LeMarpeh does not belong to the philosophy department, rather: to the psychiatry department! If Rabbi Firer could, he would treat this too."
If you didn't read these things in black and white you might have trouble believing them. This is the position of the ultra-Orthodox. It’s clear that it is more than simply about "The Israeli People's War on the Jewish People," which is the fruit of the editor's paranoia and that of his partners in the ultra-Orthodox parties. This is the war of the ultra-Orthodox parties against the pluralistic, democratic, free state of Israel, as we've written before. The real danger to Israel as a Jewish and democratic state is in the potential return of the ultra-Orthodox parties to the government coalition and their continuing to dictate the country’s way of life, its residents’ individual liberties, and human dignity (including that of women).