Professor and Mrs. Menachem Friedman
Song Lihong, Professor, Department of philosophy and religion, Nanjing University
In this article, I would like to remember Professor Menachem Friedman (1936-2020), the inventor of the term "scholar society". He once lectured at Nanjing University, was the first Israeli I knew, and took me to visit the Haredi society in Israel and the United States. I asked him why there are so many wild cats in Israel? He explained that rabbi in medieval Europe banned domestic cats because they would jump on the table and knock the candlestick to the ground, causing a fire. About two years ago, he was asked where the relationship between the Israeli haridi community and the Israeli society would go? He said the prospect was not optimistic, and then joked: I'm glad I can't see the day of the fire. He died as the new coronavirus began to enter Israel.
On March 12, 2020, the Israeli government ordered that all schools be closed, and more than ten people's gatherings be banned to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. Nevertheless, many schools run by ultra Orthodox Jews ignored the government's ban and opened as usual, as if nothing had happened. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has been teaching people how to blow their noses and kiss when the virus is prevalent. This is because, at the age of 92, Haim kanievsky, the most respected spokesman of ultra orthodox ideology, has expressed an attitude: to stop Torah learning, even for one day, is more dangerous for the survival of Jews and even for the existence of the world than to worry about being infected by the new crown virus. He firmly believes that once the new coronavirus meets Tora, it must make way for the latter. Mr Netanyahu, who has been involved in recent scandals, has his own considerations. Although his party has won the lead in the just concluded general election, if he wants to be re elected, he must get the support of the ultra orthodox parties, so he has to make way for these self appointed Torah defenders. Since the seventies of last century, the contradiction and game between Israel's religions and customs has gradually become an eye-catching issue in Israel's internal affairs, which is now fierce. This strange phenomenon caused by the new coronavirus can be called a vivid footnote in this respect.
Haim karevsky Rabi, April 2018. Before Israel's general election in March this year, his grandson asked him if he could be immune from the new crown virus if he voted for the ultra orthodox party United Torah Judaism? He gave a positive answer.
Israel's religious Jews can be roughly divided into two groups: one is infatuated with tradition and regards it as a personal choice and behavior, but generally does not impose its will on others; the other regards itself as the guardian of tradition, abandoning the bureaucratization, rationalization, technicalization, gender equality, relativity of public values, diversification of personal beliefs and sexual orientation The characteristics of Contemporary Western secular culture, and with their own beliefs to change and even rule the world. The latter is the so-called ultra orthodox school, but the word does not come from the Jewish tradition, but also comes with a derogatory meaning in daily use. So now they are generally called "hardim" in Hebrew, which comes from Isaiah (66:5), meaning people who "tremble" because of God's words. As Harry walked down the street, he could recognize at a glance that men had beards, a lock of hair on their temples, white shirts and black coats, black caps or hats, and married women had their hair shaved, wigs or headscarves, and plain clothes that covered most of their bodies. Israel now has 125, 000 haridi, or 12.5 percent of the population. Although the number is not dominant, their extremely high fertility rate (seven children for every Haredi woman) and population rejuvenation (60% of Haredi's population is under the age of 20) cannot be ignored.
On March 28, 2020, Israeli Haredi gathered to attend the funeral of a rabbi in the city of Bnei brak. The city's population is almost identical to that of haridi. Many families have no radio, let alone smart phones. At present, the per capita infection rate of NCV in this city is the highest in Israel. The mayor also attended the wedding of relatives after the government imposed a ban, and Israeli public opinion has severely criticized his laziness.
Police wearing masks and gloves pass by a praying haridi in benebarak on March 30, 2020. Access to the city is now strictly restricted.
As a social group, the biggest feature of haridi in Israel today is that it has formed a large-scale phenomenon of "out of labor reading scriptures". Men enter the school of economics and economics from the age of 16. If they want to study full-time, they can learn more than 45 years old. After marriage, they can get family subsidies. Today, 70% of students in the school of economics and economics are married. In harrydi culture, young women should master a craft or profession, such as primary school teachers, which is better not to have excessive contact with the outside world, so as to provide financial support for their husbands in the future. In fact, according to haridi's open teachings, if women support their families on a material and emotional level, they can share the same honor from their husband's Torah study. This phenomenon is very special in Israel, which has compulsory military service. All other Israelis must join the army when they are old enough. The social contradictions caused by this can be imagined. This is also very special in the whole Jewish world. Ultra Orthodox Jews also exist in the United States and Western Europe, but they usually have to leave the seminary after the age of 24 to earn a living. As early as in the early 1990s, Menachem Friedman, an Israeli scholar, invented a term to refer to these out of labor reading harrady as the "hevrat lomdim". The term is more or less critical, but interestingly, it is not only well-known in relevant academic circles, but also recognized by haridi. The leader of the Shas party, the Haredi Party of Israel, actually takes it as the core ideological creed of the party and says publicly that "our job is to protect the scholar community".
The privilege of exemption from military service enjoyed by the students of the economic college comes from the compromise made by Gurion, the father of the founding of Israel, in order to successfully establish the state and unite all forces of the Jews. Ben Gurion's move was not controversial at first. At that time, there were only 400 students in the school of economics, not more than 130000 today. At the same time, he also allowed harrydi to establish an independent religious education system with the school of economics as the core, and offered government funding. However, harrydi school enjoys great autonomy in curriculum, and basically does not teach anything unrelated to religion. This is the historical source of the formation of today's "scholar community".
In addition to the "scholar community", haridi is also known as a Jewish fundamentalist by the academic community. Fundamentalism (fundamentalism) is a word derived from American Protestantism at the end of the 19th century. How to define it is an open question. However, a recognized hallmark of fundamentalists is their belief in the Holy Scriptures that are absolutely right in their eyes, which in harrydi's eyes is their spoken "tora" - literally "teaching". However, "tora" is a term that is easily misunderstood in the Chinese language world. Many people take it for granted that it refers to the Hebrew Bible (the so-called Old Testament of Christianity). In fact, "torah" has a narrow sense and a broad sense. The narrow sense refers to the Hebrew Bible (especially the first five volumes), and the broad sense also includes Rabbi texts such as Talmud. The religious education of Israel's secular Jews is indeed centered on the Hebrew Bible, but the main body of Haredi's education is the Talmud and the later Jewish code, namely the compilation of the Jewish law (halakhah). In the school of economics, the day is divided into three units: morning (about 8:30-12:30), afternoon (about 3-6:00) and evening (about 8:00, until the students are exhausted, sometimes later than midnight or later). Most of the time in the three units is to study Talmud, although a little time will also be arranged to study Jewish law, Bible and moral education (Mussar). Higher level students, especially those who study Rabbi qualification, need to pay a lot of time and energy to systematically study Jewish law. Even so, tamood cannot be completely ignored in the daily curriculum. Therefore, Harry's advocacy is not biblical fundamentalism, but mainly Talmud fundamentalism. But they also sometimes preach biblical fundamentalism. An Israeli Senator Haredi tried to prevent parliament from awarding Stephen Hawking an internationally renowned physics prize because his big bang theory did not match the description in Genesis. Because haridi pursues the "Talmud" fundamentalism, it is not appropriate to translate the "United Torah Judaism party", another haridi party in Israel, into "United Bible Judaism party".
Tora is becoming more and more important to the discipline function of Harry's life. The Talmud contains a large number of extremely complicated but often inconclusive legal discussions. Later, the Jewish code refined this part into a guide manual that can be used in real life. It is the prominent feature of the Jewish religious community that it increasingly relies on the works discussing Jewish law to guide and solve practical problems.
This kind of fashion began to form in the 1950s, for example. Jews must eat a certain amount of matzah - at least a large amount of Olives - during Passover. But around 1940, the most influential scholar of Talmud and the authority of the law, the hazon ish (1878-1953), raised an objection. His name is Abraham Yeshayahu karelitz. In the world of haridi, a famous rabbi's work is used to call him a habit. "Hazoniz" (meaning "what people see") is the title of his first book, which discusses the most authoritative Jewish code, "shulhan arukh". He argued that the olives in the tamoud era were larger than those seen in modern times. Therefore, he argued that it was necessary to eat two olive sized unleavened cakes for Passover to reach the minimum. This practice became popular within ten years and was widely practised by religious groups. It's amazing that in more than ten years, one of the core Jewish festivals has been replaced by a custom that has lasted for thousands of years. If we take the following two points into account, we will be able to see the change of atmosphere more clearly.
On the one hand, from a historical point of view, hazonith's view is not new in fact. It was put forward by famous Jewish religious scholars as early as the middle of the 18th century, but at that time, it was only discussed as a theoretical possibility of the application of law, and it has no practical significance. On the other hand, it's even more amazing that this kind of change happens in the most conservative Jewish community, which is known as the most determined traditional defender. Although it's the meaning of college education to put forward new opinions on the law, if we interpret the law strictly and challenge the long-standing customs, it will be the traditional defender and Jewish community