Ultra-Orthodox riot in righteousness!

[Photo of Haredi man in Jerusalem - by Lisa Katz]

Fanaticism comes in a variety of forms. Fanaticism in religion is
often called fundamentalism.

There are fundamentalists in most religions, including Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. These share certain characteristics: they are "true believers" in the sense written of by Eric Hoffer in his famous work, The True Believer -- that is, they are so committed to a cause they will die for it; they are undemocratic, often slavishly following a charismatic leader and obedient to what they consider a higher "truth;" they tend to group together in common cause, and isolate themselves from society which they see as a threat to their purity; they are uncompromising, and insist that they are the righteous and the rest of the world must acquiesce to their way of thinking.

We are quite familiar with Christian fundamentalism and its various forms in the United States. Unfortunately, and much to our dismay, we have also become familiar with Islamic fundamentalism these past several decades. But I would guess most Americans are less familiar with Jewish fundamentalism.

The Haredi are "ultra-Orthodox" Jews (although some think the term "ultra-Orthodox" is demeaning) who believe that God wrote the Torah, strictly observe halacha (Jewish law), limit their contact with the world outside of their group and consider other Jews "unathentic."

The Haredi derive from an extremely conservative group of 18th century Eastern European Jews who fought all attempts to modernize Judaism and open Judaism up to new opportunities outside of the ghettos.

Today, the Haredi live in insular communities and their lives revolve around Torah study, prayer and family. By and large, TV, movies, secular writings, and the Internet are banned. The Haredi take care of each other and thus have little reason to depend upon the usual societal organizations. They are exempt from military service in Israel.

They also dress distinctively, much like their ancestors in the 18th and 19th centuries. Men typically wear black suits and white shirts and cover their heads with wide-brimmed black hats, under which they wear a kippah. Usually they also sport a beard and sidelocks. Women tend to wear long skirts and shirts with high necklines and long sleeves. Once a woman is married, she will cover her head with a scarf, hat, or wig.


The Haredi are rightly considered Jewish fundamentalists, as they are fanatical in their approach to religion and to life. Except for differences in religious beliefs, they are very similar to fundamentalist Christian groups around the world.

Self-righteous people, however, have a problem. They tend to think they are better than other people, and that their needs and desires should take precedence over the needs and desires of other people, and they sometimes try to impose their particular beliefs and way of life on other people. In extreme cases, they resort to violence to get their way, to protest, or to exact revenge for real or imagined slights to their righteousness.


Here's how one such event unfolded. A group of Haredi men, on an El Al flight from Israel to Kiev, started rioting because a movie was shown on board the plane. The Haredi claim that the airline had promised not to show a move during the flight. [Why El Al would agree to such a thing, though, is hard to understand.]

The Haredi were on their way to visit the gravesite of a Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav. When the movie screens began to come down, the Haredi went "wild." Others on the plane said the men started shouting and tried to physically stop the screens from dropping into place. I'm not sure how the situation was resolved.

Such craziness happened before on a 2002 El Al flight flying from Israel to Britain. An ultra-Orthodox man tried to wrap himself in plastic bags because he was a Cohen (a priest) and was afraid the plane would pass over the Holon cemetery and he would become impure. He had been warned of this by a Haredi rabbi from Lithuania. Later that rabbi said if one could wrap himself in thick plastic bags as the plane passed over the cemetery and avoid impurity. The plane's stewards unwrapped him and the plane returned to Ben Gurion Airport where the man was removed.


What does one do about this kind of fanatical behavior? How do we defend an open society, democracy, and secularism? As we've mentioned before Islamic fundamentalists in numerous countries are calling on the governments of those countries to acquiesce to their religious demands to not only teach Islamic doctrine in public schools, but to build schools just for the Islamists.

In the United States, we are assaulted daily by Christian fundamentalists who demand they be allowed to re-order society according to their god-given beliefs, thus allowing Christian prayer in public schools, posting copies of the ten commandments in public buildings (that I've never understood!), disallowing abortion and gay marriage, etc.

How does one combat true believers? Hoffer warns against rising up in hatred, because "We pay for it [hatred] by losing all or many of the values we have set out to defend." Rather, "The best way to fight is to encourage individualism, contrary thinking and a disinclination to follow blindly the teachings of any leaders, no matter how seemingly benign." (from a paper by Dr. Tim Madigan.)

I would add that any behavior that is unlawful, hurtful, deprecating to other people, be halted, forcibly if necessary, and the offenders arrested and brought to justice. No one is above the law, not even the most self-righteous! In the United States and in other democratic countries, no one can impose their religious beliefs onto others. As the saying goes, "Your freedom ends where my nose begins."

The Haredi on that El Al flight should have been arrested, charged appropriately for their offenses and brought to justice. They had no right to impose their beliefs on the other passengers. They could read the Torah rather than watch the movie. They could sleep. They could talk to themselves. They could talk to their god.

And the next time they decide to visit the rabbi's grave, walk!