Thursday, January 21, 2010

Ashkenazim don't go to the Synagogue

B"H

The two Knesset members. Me'ir Porush (Yahadut HaTorah) and Ariel Attias (Sephardic SHASS Party) stated that a religious Jew cannot be a member of Israel's left - wing party KADIMA. How could any Thora believing Jew give land back to the Arabs or any non - Jew ?

Indeed, Zipi Livni's KADIMA party looks like a popular party among the Ashkenazi population in Tel Aviv, Herzliya and other secular coast areas. Ariel Attias also made the claim that the vast majority of Israel's Ashkenazi Jews doesn't go to a Synagogue at all.

Attias' statement is very true and it is not only him saying it out loud. In fact, it is well - known that when the massive Aliyot from the European Zionist or secular movements arrived in Israel, countless Eastern European Jews forgot about their heritage and became secular. Especially the German Jews who have never been too religious anyway. At least not after the Haskalah and the entire Reform Movement had spread.

Sephardic Jews, on the other hand, have mostly remained traditional. Countless Sepharadim are religious and if not, they still keep kosher, go to the Synagogue or keep Shabbat. They didn't throw away their entire Jewish identity in order to assimilate and just be like the rest of the nations. 

Ariel Attias didn't intend to say that all Asheknazi Jews became secular and thus lost their heritage. However, enormous parts of today's  Israeli Ashkenazi population couldn't care less about Synagogues and Torah traditions.

4 comments:

  1. There are kippa-wearing members of Kadima who are believing Religious Zionists. Dalia Itzik, the #3 member of Kadima is Sephardi and goes to synagouge every week with her family. Many Torah-believing Zionists say pikuach nefesh makes it okay to give back some of Eretz Yisrael in return for peace. If we don't give back any land, the Arabs will demographically overtake the Jews and destroy Israel, so a Palestinian state is neccesary. Of course Shas and UTJ politicians say you can't vote for Kadima--they're a competing party.

    ReplyDelete
  2. B"H

    Not everyone with a Kipa on his head is really religious.

    Lets say some Kadima members are:
    It is against Torah law giving land to gentiles ! Furthermore, whoever trusts in G - d knows that it is Him running the world and we should not be afraid but fight.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Shas change their position on land for peace depending on who is in power and how much they are prepared to pay to Shas schools in return for knesset votes. This has nothing to do with God and everything to do with politics.

    ReplyDelete
  4. B"H

    SHASS is changing its position almost daily.:-)))

    But lets be honest:
    Ashkenazim as a whole are not as traditional as Sepharadim.

    ReplyDelete