“My holy Name I will make known in the midst of My people Israel. I will not let My holy Name be profaned anymore, and the Gentiles will know that I am Yahweh, the Holy One in Israel.”

Ezekiel 39: 7

_____________

#####

The Hasidim in Israel and the Israeli Elections

Katie took the picture above in late-August 2018. On the far right, you can see a Hasidic Jewish man. In one hand, he is holding a sign that says “I have 6 children”. In the other hand, he is holding a cup. He hopes that tourists walking by will drop shekels into it.

He’s a beggar. In the United States, we would call him a bum.

In the picture, you can see 5 Palestinian teenagers prancing away. When Katie and I walked up, they were harassing the Jewish man. They were literally in his face.

Knife attacks were in vogue among Palestinian teenagers in the summer of 2018. When I saw what was happening, I walked up to the Jewish man, stood beside him, and looked the ringleader in the eye. I refused to budge. When the Palestinian teenagers realized that I wasn’t leaving, they left.

I saw the same Jewish man again this summer. He had moved his begging location from the area near Jaffa Gate to the Old City where the picture was taken. His new begging location is on Jaffa Street near City Hall. It’s not far from where he is in the picture, but it is a lot safer.

The Damascus Gate area is a hotbed of discontent. Palestinian malcontents gather there and routinely attack Hasidic Jews, IDF, and Jerusalem police. Damascus Gate is up the hill to the right. It’s not far from where the picture was taken.

Sometimes Palestinians make their way over toward Jaffa Gate to engage in mischief. That’s what the Palestinian teenagers in the picture had done.

The Hasidic man was holding a different sign this year. It said, “I have 7 children”.

The Elections in Israel

Avigdor Liberman is the kingmaker in Israel right now. Prime Minister Netanyahu has been unable to form a government because Liberman refuses to sit in a government with the Hasidim.

Liberman has many reasons for not wanting to serve with the Hasidim, but this is key: The Hasidim in Israel are resisting being drafted into the military. They want to take huge subsidies from the Israeli government, but they don’t want to defend the country.

See “Israelis divided over military drafting of ultra-Orthodox Jews”.

Liberman was Israel’s Defense Minister when this issue came to a head. Before he resigned in late-2018, Hasidic men in Mea She’arim (an ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Jerusalem) would attack young ultra-Orthodox Jewish men on the street if they joined the IDF and walked down the street in their uniforms.

That happened a lot. Liberman was sick and tired of it among other things. Netanyahu’s continued support for many Hasidic demands that are unconscionable was at the heart of the matter.

The April election in Israel failed because Liberman refused to budge on the Hasidim.

The September election in Israel is likely to fail because Liberman still refuses to budge on the Hasidim.

There is a very good chance that Israel will have another election in a few months to try and settle the matter. Hasidic demands are still front and center.

Back to the Hasidic Man in the Picture

The Hasidic man in the picture didn’t know that I put my life at risk to help him, but he did know that I helped him. Those Palestinian teenagers were up to no good, and he knew it. They looked like they were preparing to attack him physically. That’s why I stepped in.

At that time, the aortic valve in my heart was failing. I had aortic stenosis. My aortic valve wasn’t closing like it’s supposed to. The gradient of my aortic valve was 38 at that time. A gradient of 40 is critical. That’s when you replace the valve. My aortic valve was replaced 5 months later.

The normal gradient for the aortic valve is zero. At a gradient of 38, any heavy exertion put me at risk of having an aneurysm in my aorta and bleeding out inside my chest in a matter of seconds.

If I had been forced to fight off the Palestinian teenagers, I would have died. When I told my cardiologist about what happened, he said, “That would have killed you.” He wasn’t guessing.

The Hasidic man in the picture didn’t say anything to me. He could have said, “Thank you,” but he didn’t. He just continued begging as if nothing happened. It was as though he thought that he was entitled to beg and that I was obligated to help him. His view of reality is warped.

As I said, he’s a bum. I would help him again if I had to, but I wouldn’t like it.

The Hasidim in Israel

The Hasidim in Israel are a serious problem. Most of them believe Israel should not exist, and they are not shy about saying it. Even so, they lobby for huge sums of money from the Israeli government to support the Hasidim while nothing is expected from them in return. The larger their families, the more money they get from the government.

The Hasidic man in the picture used his large and growing family to garner sympathy from tourists and get them to give him money. Ordinary tourists don’t have a clue that he is using his large and growing family to get more money for the Israeli government, too.

The man’s livelihood is begging, and he makes a good living. Liberman is sick of it. I’m sick of it, too.

Hasidic men line the path to the Kotel and try to sell blessings to tourists as they make their way to the Kotel. They call themselves “rabbis”. They are profaning Yahweh’s Name, because they profess to represent Him.

The Hasidim in Israel think they are righteous. Most of them are anything but righteous.

Update on the Israeli Election

#####

_____________

#####

“The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me. Father, I desire that they also, whom You have given Me, be with Me where I am, so that they may see My glory which You have given Me, for You loved Me before the foundation of the world.” (John 17: 22-24)