“Seek Yahweh while He may be found. Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return to Yahweh, and He will have compassion on him. Turn to our Elohim, for He will abundantly pardon.”

Isaiah 55: 6-7

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Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel (Part 2)

Yesterday’s SnyderTalk editorial was titled “Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel (Part 1)”. Noam’s father, Ishai, had sent me a video clip of a funeral in Jerusalem for a prominent rabbi. It was attended by thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews. They filled the street standing shoulder-to-shoulder. The sidewalks were full, too. For blocks, they were packed in like canned sardines. Few of them were wearing masks, even though masks and social distancing are required.

You should read that editorial if you haven’t read it already. This editorial is a continuation.

Over the years, Katie and I have had several unpleasant encounters with ultra-Orthodox men in and around Jerusalem. In this editorial, I’ll tell you about a few of them. I have never had an unpleasant encounter with an ultra-Orthodox woman, and I see them every day in Jerusalem. Most of the ones I see are busy taking care of their children.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel are the minority. Jerusalem has a higher percentage of ultra-Orthodox Jews than any other city in Israel that I have seen. Ordinary Israeli Jews are the majority in Israel, and they are very different. They are salt of the Earth types of people.

Below are some interesting statistics and facts:

• 13% of Israel’s population are ultra-Orthodox Jews.
• 61% of Israel’s population are other Jews.
• 21% of Israel’s population are Israeli Arabs.
• 25% of Israel’s ultra-Orthodox Jews live in Jerusalem.
• More than 40% of the “other Jews” in Israel are secular.
• Israeli Arabs are Israeli citizens, not Palestinians.
• As of 2019, the employment rate among ultra-Orthodox Jewish men in Israel was 53%. It was 77% among ultra-Orthodox Jewish women.
• Just over half of the ultra-Orthodox men in Israel choose to seek employment, despite Israel’s flourishing economy. There are plenty of good jobs available for people with job skills and a willingness to work. They support their families by taking welfare money from the government, begging, and money their wives earn.

Gilad Malach and Lee Cahaner are actively involved in trying to integrate ultra-Orthodox Jews into Israeli society. In the 2019 Statistical Report on Ultra-Orthodox Society in Israel: Highlights, they wrote,

“We are witnessing the continued integration of members of ultra-Orthodox society into the Israeli mainstream as reflected in women’s participation in the workforce and in rising income levels, along with some degree of adoption of a middleclass lifestyle. But at the same time, the integration of ultra-Orthodox men into higher education frameworks and into the labor force has substantially slowed. This is apparently due to lack of the economic incentives that had previously spurred movement in this direction and the reinstitution of government allowances that discourage obtaining a higher education or joining the workforce.”

Malach’s and Cahaner’s conclusion dovetails with my suspicion. Welfare payments to ultra-Orthodox men in Israel is a serious disincentive to meaningful employment. They seem to be satisfied with the money they get from the government plus the money that many of them get from begging plus the money that their wives earn. In my next SnyderTalk editorial, I will talk about one particular ultra-Orthodox beggar.

For more information, see below:

• Jerusalem’s Changing Demographics: An Overview from the Jerusalem Statistical Yearbook
• Haredi population growing twice as fast as overall Israeli population
• Ultra-Orthodox Jewish Community in Israel: Facts and Figures
• The Ultra-Orthodox Will Determine Israel’s Political Future

Stolen Camera Gear

This happened more than 20 years ago. It was my second trip to Israel, and I decided to buy a state-of-the-art camera for the trip. It was a 35mm camera with several lenses, filters, a fancy flash, and every other gadget I would need to take excellent pictures. I also bought a nice carrying case to hold everything. That was before digital cameras came of age.

On my first trip to Israel, I had gotten to know an Orthodox Jewish man who lives in Jerusalem. I asked him to recommend a hotel for my second trip. He suggested that I stay in a hotel owned by a friend of his. It was on Jaffa Street very near Mea She’arim.

In yesterday’s SnyderTalk editorial, I explained why Mea She’arim is a problem. Twenty years ago, Mea She’arim meant nothing to me.

Katie, Melanie, and Rebekah were with me on this trip. As I was unloading our luggage from the sherut in front of the hotel, my camera case was stolen. The only people standing or walking near us on the sidewalk at that time were ultra-Orthodox men. It happened in a matter of seconds.

I don’t remember how much that camera case and all the equipment in it cost me, but it was in the thousands of dollars. All of it was stolen before I took one picture in Israel. I was furious. Standing on the sidewalk in front of the hotel, in my mind I spoke to Yahweh. I said, “Yahweh, this is the last time I will visit Jerusalem until You tell me that it’s time for me to come here.”

I talk with Yahweh in my mind all the time. People around me have no idea that I am talking with Him. That’s what Paul meant when he said, “Pray without ceasing.” (1 Thessalonians 5:17) Paul wasn’t talking about making a sanctimonious display of praying.

The Messiah explained it this way:

“When you pray, do not be like the hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners to be seen by men…. But when you pray, go into your room, close the door and pray to your Father, who is unseen. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6: 5-6)

Rarely does Yahweh respond to my prayers in real time as though we are carrying on a conversation, but when He does, it’s spectacular. Yahweh’s voice is an amazing thing to hear.

Many times, I have waited for years, sometimes many years, to get a response from Yahweh that I knew for certain was from Him. That’s what David was talking about when he said, “Be still before Yahweh, wait patiently for Him” (Psalm 37: 7)

Yahweh told Samuel to anoint David King of Israel when he was 15-years-old. David didn’t become king until he was 30-years-old. For 15 years between the time Samuel anointed him and the time he became King of Judah, David was trying to avoid being killed by King Saul. Much of that time, he was on the run. When he was 30, David became King of Judah. When he was 33, he became King of Israel. All told, David was king for 40 years.

David understood what waiting for Yahweh means. Saul didn’t.

Yahweh doesn’t see time the way we do. He sees the past, present, and future all at once. To Him, time isn’t divided into increments. Albert Einstein explained it like this:

“People like us who believe in physics know that the distinction between past, present and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.”

To Yahweh, reality is timeless. We can’t see reality from His perspective, but He will tell us about it if we will listen to His voice. Many believers don’t take prayer seriously enough because of the difference between Yahweh’s omniscient perspective of time and reality and our very limited perspective of time and reality. Waiting is difficult, and waiting for years seems tortuous. Even so, prayer is essential. So is faithfulness.

That day, standing on the sidewalk in front of our hotel on Jaffa Street, Yahweh spoke to me in real time. He said, “You can come to Jerusalem any time you want.”

I could tell by Yahweh’s tone of voice that He meant it and that He wanted me to believe it. He wanted me to demonstrate the faith of Abraham. Since that day, I have explored Jerusalem with confidence. I don’t worry about ultra-Orthodox Jews or anyone else. Of course, I try to avoid doing stupid things, but that’s just common sense. Staying away from Mea She’arim is simply exercising good judgment.

A couple of years ago, I was talking with a Jewish man in Jerusalem that I have gotten to know well over the years. During our discussion, I told him about that incident. He shook his head and said, “The Haredim are a problem. That’s where things are most likely to be stolen.”

The Haredim are ultra-Orthodox Jews.

Ordinary Israeli Jews know to be careful around the Haredim. They have earned a bad reputation among their fellow citizens.

I apologize if my discussion of prayer and time seems like a digression. I needed to say it, and some of my readers needed to read it.

I Need Money for a Taxi

A few years ago, Katie and I were in the Old City of Jerusalem in front of David’s Citadel, and we ran across some people we know from Texas. We stopped to talk with them. While we were talking, a young ultra-Orthodox man ran up to us gasping for air and interrupted our conversation. He said, “I need money for a taxi.”

The way he said it sounded like something one of our children would say if they wanted money for something. He expected us to give him money. He even held out his hand to take the money as though it was a sure thing. There was no “excuse me”, no “I apologize for interrupting, but”, or anything that would suggest good raising.

Katie is not an in-your-face kind of person, but that made her angry. She looked at him and said, “Get a job.”

The look on his face said it all. He was dumbstruck. He walked away in a huff.

They will Stone You

It was Saturday, Shabbat. The streets were almost empty, so Katie and I decided to drive around the outskirts of Jerusalem and explore.

We turned onto a road that led into a community just west of the city. As we were approaching the community, a young ultra-Orthodox man flagged us down and told us to turn around an go back. He said, “If you drive your car in there, they will stone you.”

He wasn’t kidding. That’s exactly what would have happened if we had been foolish enough to ignore his warning. That young man did us a great favor. The people who would have stoned us for driving on Shabbat would have been very proud of themselves for enforcing their traditions on unsuspecting tourists. They see themselves as Yahweh’s vigilantes.

The State of Israel Should not Exist

This happened a couple of years ago in Jerusalem. We were standing at the crosswalk where Ben Yehuda intersects with King George Street.

King George is a very busy street for vehicular traffic, and Ben Yehuda is a busy pedestrian street between King George and Jaffa Street that is closed to vehicular traffic. Ben Yehuda is loaded with tourists and ordinary people doing ordinary things.

While we were waiting for the light to change, an older ultra-Orthodox man standing beside me held out his hand as though we were long lost friends, and he wanted to shake hands. He was a complete stranger, so I looked at him as though I was suspicious about his motives.

He noticed my expression and said, “You thought I was going to ask you for money.”

I said, “It crossed my mind. It happens to me every day in the Old City, and the closer I get to the Kotel, the more it happens.”

Then the man went on a rant. He started out by saying, “Israel shouldn’t even exist,” and he proceeded from there.

I thought, Where did that come from.

The Conclusion

I’ve been exploring Israel for a long time. I know what to expect, but it still angers me when people who profess to represent Yahweh do things that profane His Name.

It really bothers me when ultra-Orthodox “rabbis” near the Kotel try to sell me blessings. That happens every time I get near the Kotel.

Some of you may be wondering how I can look at a person and know that he is ultra-Orthodox. The answer is simple. Ultra-Orthodox men wear uniforms: Black pants, black coat, black shoes, black hat, and a white shirt. It doesn’t matter how hot it is. The uniform stays the same.

Ordinary Israeli Jews refer to ultra-Orthodox Jews as “blacks” or “penguins”, and they usually comment on their lack of hygiene. If you stand close to them on a hot summer day, you will understand why.

I have many more stories to tell, but I’ll stop there. I’m not giving you examples of things that happen infrequently in Jerusalem. I’m telling you about things that happen every day in Jerusalem.

I don’t even slow down to listen to ultra-Orthodox Jews any longer. Some of them will literally stand in my path to prevent me walking away, or they will grab my shoulder to slow me down. That’s rare, but lots of ultra-Orthodox Jews are very aggressive.

When we have guests in Jerusalem, I warn them about what to expect and tell them to ignore the ultra-Orthodox completely. I even tell them to avoid making eye contact if possible. The best strategy is not to encourage them in any way.

Ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel are the welfare class. Most of them live off of government subsidies and money they get from begging. They insist that their kids not be taught the basics in reading, writing, math, science, history, etc. They want their kids to learn the Talmud instead. Thus, a very large percentage of them are unemployable. They don’t have basic skills that are required to hold a job.

As I said at the beginning, ultra-Orthodox Jews are the minority in Israel.

Ordinary Israeli Jews are some of the smartest, hardest working, and nicest people you will ever meet. Getting to know them is very exciting, rewarding, and lots of fun. They make my trips to Israel special.

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“I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me — just as the Father knows Me and I know the Father — and I lay down My life for the sheep. I have other sheep that are not of this fold. I must bring them also. They too will listen to My voice, and there shall be one flock and one Shepherd. The reason My Father loves Me is that I lay down My life — only to take it up again. No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of My own accord. I have authority to lay it down and authority to take it up again. This command I received from My Father.”

John 10: 14-18

See “His Name is Yahweh”.