The essay Violence in the Charedi-Religious Sector deals with the Halachic legal system as set out in the Talmud and the Shulchan Aruch. A modern state which would meet those criteria would be considered a failed state and it can be doubted whether such a state would survive in the modern world. Chaos and anarchy would reign in a country whose laws and customs were based on Jewish law. The goal of the article was to help the reader understand that one who would like to establish an enlightened Israeli society, deserving of the name, has nothing to look for in the Jewish sources. He should look, instead, to the fundamental values and laws of enlightening countries. Halacha was ruled within the reality of a Jewish nation under foreign rule: the Babylonian Talmud was finalized under Persian rule and the Palestinian Talmud under the Roman Empire. Maimonides wrote his work in the middle ages, when the Jewish nation was scattered amongst the gentiles, and the Shulchan Aruch was written in that period, too. The religious and Charedi continue this reality as a “cult” within Israeli society. This cult is growing, with the support of the Israeli government, due to ignorance and a lack of understanding of the fundamentals of the Jewish faith. The Israeli society must clearly decide to shake off the false nostalgia which will lead the state of Israel to the abyss. The important public debate which must find outlet in all media outlets, in the educational system, and everywhere else is “the identity of the Jewish nation. Without such a public debate, deep and penetrating, such a decision may never be taken and the state of Israel will have no right to exist.



My ignoring your question is not a silent admission that there is no violence in the Charedi and religious sectors. Actual violence has many aspects and motives; the topic of discussion is the proper legal system for the state of Israel.



Sincerely, Daat Emet