Today, three bills were tabled to repeal this law, one each by Labor, Meretz, and Shinui. In the debate that ensued, MK Ophir Pines, the Labor Party’s leading anti-religious firebrand, said from the Knesset podium that ultra-Orthodox families are parasites, and that he is disgusted with having to give them money. “We give you money, you send your kids to boarding schools, and then you have parties,” he claimed from the podium.
The vision that entered my mind, of a bunch of pre-middle-aged ultra-Orthodox parents in long black coats and matronly dresses having wild parties till all hours made me laugh out loud.
But today’s debate is no laughing matter. Pines comments, which were dutifully echoed by Meretz and Shinui representatives, bespeak a very sad lack of awareness on their parts of the reality in the ultra-Orthodox world, and show just how out of touch these people are with Jewish values.
Not so long ago, more than one in three Jews in the world were wiped out due to unbridled vicious anti-Semitism – an anti-Semitism that was by no means restricted to Europe but shared by virtually all societies in the world.
Recently, I re-read a story about an ultra-Orthodox man, a father of 12, who was walking on a Jerusalem street when he was approached by a German tourist. The tourist began to gratuitously berate the man for having so many children: “How can you dare to bring so many children into the world when there is rampant poverty, too much population density, a deteriorating environment, and decreasing resources,” demanded the tourist.
“You are quite right,” said the man, “and I promise to consider your words very closely – once I have my six millionth child.”
Now, I don’t expect that man to actually have six million children, but his statement is the epitome of Jewish values on the subject of family and children. Children are a blessing. The more children there are, the greater the blessing. Even the term used in common parlance in Israel for families with many children translates to “families blessed with children”. Israel’s number one resource is its people. The more children there are in the country, the greater to pool of talent and the greater the national resource from which all of Israel benefits.
Many Israeli leaders, on both sides of the political spectrum, rail on mightily about the demographic nightmare waiting to happen as Arabs have more kids than Jews. If it weren’t for the million immigrants that have arrived in Israel in the past decade, we would already be in serious trouble in the Jewish State. And these leaders are ready with solutions. Leftists demand that we abandon areas of our homeland so as to diminish the Arab population in our midst. Rightists and centrists and even a few leftists call regularly for increased immigration to give further weight to the Jewish numbers.
But let a few Orthodox families dare to have a large number of children, and suddenly all the epithets, all the incitement starts anew. “Parasites,” they are called. “Leeches, society’s beggars.”
As one Shas speaker responded, the religious families get what the law entitles them to. They are not demanding anything untoward. There is nothing wrong with having children.
In fact, having children is a primary Jewish value. It always has been. It is the very first precept in the Torah, given to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden. The birth of each child is treated with great celebration in the family and the community. There is nothing more gratifying than watching a child be born or grow up. The proposed law would be the best possible “value-added tax” this country could possibly come up with.
I find it instructive that Pines and the others saw fit to attack the ultra-Orthodox, but ignored other families with many children, such as segments of the national religious, and even some secular families. There are a few secular or moderate religious members of Knesset with six or more children in their families who would benefit from the new law.
Pines also ignored the Arabs, whose ten members of Knesset voted en masse for retention of the law. It seems that there is nothing wrong with them having lots of children, despite the ranting about the demographic shift that is supposedly about to take place.
I think it is time to call a spade a spade. There is nothing driving Pines and his Meretz and Shinui cohorts other than plain, unadulterated, hatred of the religious. Their positions are not anchored in the national good, nor are they prepared to apply their opinions to all sectors of society evenly.
When the proposals came to a vote today, they were thankfully defeated handily. At least some members of Knesset still have their Jewish values intact. Pines is not one of them.
Copyright 2001. Yehuda Poch is a writer living in Israel. Reproduction in electronic or print format by permission only.
