I have been amazed for years at the miracle of government support of yeshivos. I called it a miracle because we know that if the government could have afforded to, they would have come down hard on the Charedi population long ago for its adherence to religion in this day-and-age, and its lack of contribution to the army, income tax, etc. It was like supporting the enemy, which is not so unusual in Israel given how much money the Israeli government funnels to the Arabs, and how it looks the other way when Arabs break the law.
(Others would argue, “Miracle, what miracle? Try hardball politics! Charedi political parties bargained for such support.” True, but it was still divine providence that they were in a position to successfully bargain like that.)
Let’s face it it, the secular politicians do not believe that Torah was God-given and needs to be learned by every Jew. On the contrary, they believe that it is meaningless and no reason whatsoever to avoid military service or pay taxes. As completely secular Jews (and perhaps even somewhat communistic), it is only logical that they would believe that the Charedi community is an unnecessary financial burden on the Jewish state, and they and their supporters would want to use their power to end the “Charedi problem” once and for all.
The bigger questions are, why did God let this happen to us, and why did we not prepare for it? Secular Jews do not believe in divine providence, but we do. They may believe they act independently, but we believe God works through them, either for good or bad. Just as the Sitra Achra used the snake to tempt Chava because it was the best creation for the job, God uses people like politicians to do His bidding because HE is the best secular Jew for the job.
Only a prophet can tell us exactly what God has in mind with all of this, but that doesn’t mean that we can’t make intelligent guesses.
First and foremost, how kosher was it to take money from the government in the first place. Obviously it was halachically okay, otherwise the Gedolim would not have gone along with it. But was it ideal to take money from a secular government, and become beholden to them? How much of that money involved chillul Shabbos and Yom Tov? How much of it came through other nefarious means?
Even if the money itself was never a problem from God’s point of view, there is the issue of complacency. We are in exile, and the Shechinah is still without a Bais HaMikdosh to dwell within. There are Jews scattered all over the world, and most of them are not religious, here in Israel and in the Diaspora, a terrible Chillul Hashem. And though we are obligated to do what we can to keep the fire of Torah burning until Moshiach can fix this world, we are also obligated to keep stock of the world and yearn for redemption. As the Kli Yakar says in Parashas Vayaitzai, shiflus—downtroddenness—does that better than anything else.
As to why we didn’t see this coming, that has more to do with being so absorbed in our own personal slices of history that we tend to forget the big picture. The truth is, the Charedi is quite self-sufficient, or at least can be. There is a lot of money in the Torah world that could have taken the place of government subsidies, not necessarily for everyone, but for a lot of people.
Perhaps that is what God wants from us, to use our own resources and become more independent of secular sources. Perhaps He wants us to be more self-sacrificing, those who rely upon government support, and those who can replace it, which includes all of us on whatever level we can. The closer geulah gets, the more mesiras Nefesh—self-sacrifice we seem to have to contribute to it.
Or, perhaps being the final act of history, God wants to take away the government’s merit so that it can topple. We know that just before Moshiach comes, all manmade sources of strength have to fail so that we will rely only upon God, turn only to God. Unbeknownst to the secular goverrnment, supporting Torah even if they didn’t want to was still a merit that has protected this country against all the odds. Stopping that support only cuts off their noses to spite their faces. It was Haman’s intense effort to do away with the Jews of Persia that led to his own downfall in the end.
Maybe’s it all of this or none of these. One thing is for certain though, it is a shakedown. It was one thing to raise the price of plastic goods, it is something altogether different to financially weaken those who try to learn Torah on behalf of the nation (even if they don’t think like that). They call it progress. We call it an upsetting of the status quo, one that usually happens when history starts its final preparation for an even greater change and redemption.
But perhaps the most important point is all such crises do something else very important. They create opportunities. Though most people don’t recognize them or care to, some individuals see where things are going, and find innovative ways to either solve the problem or to deal with the fallout. Pinchas was one such person in the Chumash, and Mordechai was another in the time of Purim.
This week’s parsha is Ki Sisa. It is the parsha of the Erev Rav and the golden calf they imposed on the nation and the destruction they caused as a result. But in the midst of all the confusion and heartbreak, Moshe called out, “Who is for God, come to me!” If you listen real carefully, you can kind of hear the call echoing today.
It is hard not to get pulled into the events of today like the rest of the world. But Torah Jews are supposed to be trained from a young age to see the bigger picture and the hand of God behind all that is going on. That’s what enables us to rise above the situation, as Pinchas and Mordechai did in their times, see the opportunity and seize the day.
Heroes need apply.