Religious Coercion??? - May 25, 1998
	Abraham Rabinovitch recently wrote in the Jerusalem Post Magazine that while the first fifty years of Israel were defined by the struggle to build the State and to provide a home for all Jews who needed it,  the defining factor of the next half century will likely be the religious-secular struggle for identity in the State of Israel.  If we take a look at the situation in politics, the arts, the military or social situation, or education in this country, we see that this is in fact the case. Recent headlines in Israel bear this trend out.  A retired IDF general equated the knitted kippas worn by religious soldiers with the Nazi Swastika. A religious general was later appointed to the IDF General Staff, amid a storm of controversy.  Israel’s Jubillee celebration was to feature a presentation in which the performers purposely insult the religious population.  The performance was cancelled, raising the ire of the secular extreme.  Dana International, a trans-sexual singer representing Israel, won the Eurovision song contest.  There was no strong objection to such a performer representing Israel, but nonetheless, a demonstration coincided with the contest, condemning religious coercion in Israel.  Tel Aviv Mayor Ronni Milo, long a crusader against religious interests in his city, announced his candidacy for Prime Minister, on a blatantly anti-religious platform.  And President Weizman’s inauguration was to feature a female vocal performance, which was cancelled out of deference to the religious sensibilities of some Knesset Members, prompting others to boycott the event claiming religious coercion. One quarter of the members of Knesset are religious Jews, some of which belong to non-religious parties. This is roughly equivalent to the proportion of religious people in the population.  Perhaps it is the rising proportion of the religious population that has raised the ire of the secular public.  Not only do the major issues of the day all concern religious-secular relations, but the rhetoric, mostly that of the secular, has reached the point where the level of incitement is equal to the level that the left claims preceded Yitzchak Rabin’s assassination. It is no wonder that the religious have lost a tremendous amount of respect for secular Israelis when all we hear in Israel is how awful the religious are. The problems faced by Israel today all stem from the lack of appreciation among secular Israelis of  why we are here in the first place.  They see no problem with relinquishing Israeli territory to Arabs whose only real desire is to annihilate us.  They see no reason why Jerusalem should be the capital of Israel, why the Temple Mount is important, or even why the Zionist Adventure had to take place at all.  Better to live in America. A trend emerges.  The level of Israelis leaving Israel grows every year.  The level of Western Aliyah also grows every year, largely by the same percentages.  But most of those leaving Israel are secular, while the majority of Western Aliyah is religious.  Of course the remaining secular Israelis feel so threatened! However, rather than feel threatened, every secular Israeli should look at what the Jewish religion really means and represents. Many organizations are prepared to deal with such searches for meaning.  It might lead to useful dialogue, real growth among the population, greater understanding of the different flavours of Judaism, and some badly needed renewal for the State of Israel. Copyright 1998. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.