"I don't blame the extremists. It's their nature to be extreme. I blame the silent mainstream, which allows the injustice to take place. Their silence is costly, because people have already paid a price as a result of it."
He is less forgiving of the "theological concept" that developed in anti-disengagement circles and gained popularity on Internet forums frequented by young Religious Zionists.
Those who subscribe to this approach, which in religious jargon is called "measure for measure," believe that anyone who had a part in the disengagement has been the victim of divine punishment. That is how they explain the downfall of many public and political figures, whether as a result of illness (Sharon), legal intervention (Moshe Katsav, Haim Ramon, Ehud Olmert) or some other reason (Bassi).
"Now police chief Moshe Karadi has also suffered, and that is supposed to be clear proof of the argument," he says cynically. "I reject that from a religious point of view. To enlist the Shekhina [the Divine Presence] in order to support or oppose your political opinion? That is manipulative.
"What is hiding behind this is an entire theology of a war between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness. Like the Essenes, these speakers also claim that until all of society sees the light, we will live in our sect, with our own internal language and according to our rules of behavior, and for example, we will advocate refusal of orders and disengagement from society. In the end they will be spewed out like the Essenes."
Two things. First, as FailedMessiah points out, more often than not, Judaism's tendency is actually to NOT reject its wackos (unless, of course, they threaten the hegemony of the rabbis, in which case it's fair game to run them out of town- see Uriel Dacosta, Baruch Spinoza, the Reform Movement, the Haskalah, etc.) Maccabees, Sicarri, Zealots, etc., they were jerks, but ultimately "fine". Sure, stab some folks, kill some dudes, fuck Jerusalem over, whatever. The important thing is that we got magic oil out of it (or Yavneh, respectively). It's amazing what we'll do for a little oil.
Second, "spewed out"? As loyal readers no doubt know, the Essenes weren't "spewed out" by Jews- they segregated themselves in the wilderness like the righteous Puritans of... the future. If there was any spewing going on, it was self-inflicted.
No comments:
Post a Comment