Import jQuery

Maimonides and the Apostle Paul agree: You need a job even if you study the Bible full-time

Thousands of Haredim (Ultra-Orthodox Jews) protest Israel's mandatory military service. Last year, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Haredim are no longer exempt from service.

Studying the Bible but not working is a recipe for trouble. This is affirmed in both the Jewish and Christian worlds.

In Israel (and New York City!) this week, there's been massive protests from the Haredim, the Ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, regarding Israel's compulsory military service and, well, working for a living.

Last year, the Israeli Supreme Court ruled that Haredim, like everyone else in Israel, must serve in the military for a mandatory period of time: 3 years for men, 2 years for women.

Prior to this, the Haredim had a sweet deal. They study Torah and other religious texts full-time, and they receive welfare checks from the state of Israel. Basically, the Haredim receive money from the state, but give no service to the state.

This was the arrangement at the rebirth of Israel in 1948, when the Haredim made up just 1% of the Israeli population. Since then, however, the Haredi population has exploded. The average size of an Israeli Haredi family is 6.1, making up 13% of Israel's total population. This number is quickly growing.

Israel has begun enforcing this new law, including arresting draft dodging Yeshiva students. And this is the cause of the recent protests.

The Haredim frame this as religious persecution:


Some even describe Israel as an enemy state:


They make rather outlandish claim that their Torah study keeps the nation safe:

Some of these protests turned ugly (just like last time), with scenes of Haredi youth throwing objects at reporters:

But many Israelis see this all as religious hypocrisy. 

How can Haredim refuse service to the nation while cashing the nation's welfare checks? How can you refuse to serve in the army of "the Israeli enemy state" while living off state benefits for your food, housing, and education?

When I visited Israel some time ago, I stayed with a secular Israeli friend who had spent nearly a decade in the military. He had anger and even disgust towards the Haredim. I asked him why. He told me that they have become leeches on Israeli society, taking but never giving. He resented the hardline religious for doing it, and I suspect it may have contributed to his own anti-religious viewpoints.

As it stands today, Haredi families receive substantial child benefits from the government, funding to support thousands of Haredi yeshiva students, as well as public housing assistance and food vouchers. They also enjoy Israel's unemployment benefits, disability payments, and other social safety nets.

One can argue that Israel ought to allow for genuine religious objections to military service. But it seems to me that such exemption should come with exemption from welfare benefits. 

I'm not alone in this. Israeli rabbi Josh Yuter posts an excellent thread on religious military service. He notes that while the Haredim often cite Maimonides for support of their exemption, this is disingenuous because Maimonides asserts that the whole nation must go during commanded wars, citing Joel 2:16 and Mishna Sotah 8:7.

Additionally, R. Yuter notes Maimonides has harsh words for those who study Torah but don't work and instead rely on charity for their wellbeing:


"All Torah that is not accompanied by work will eventually be negated and lead to sin."

How prescient.

Haredi communities in Israel and the US have been plagued with abuse and scandals. While Haredim make up 13% of Israel's population, a full 63% of all Israel children who have suffered child sexual abuse has occurred within the Haredi community. And this number is likely underreported, as Haredi youth often feel reaching out to external authorities is a betrayal of the Haredi community.

On a lesser scale, even the verbal abuse and bottle-throwing shown in the above video is an example of sin resulting from Torah-without-accompanied-work.

This brought to mind the words of the Apostle Paul. In his second letter to the Thessalonians, he writes a similar warning:

Now we command you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, to keep away from every brother who behaves irresponsibly and not according to the tradition they received from us. For you yourselves know how you ought to imitate us, for we did not behave inappropriately among you. And we did not eat anyone’s bread without paying for it, but worked night and day with labor and hardship, so as not to burden any of you. It wasn’t that we had no right, but rather to offer ourselves as an example for you to imitate.

For even when we were with you, we would give you this order: if anyone will not work, neither shall he eat. For we hear that some among you are behaving irresponsibly—not busy, but busybodies. Now such people we command and urge in the Lord Messiah Yeshua to work in a quiet demeanor, so they may eat their own bread. 

For both Maimonides and the Apostle Paul, if you don't work and instead rely on charity, it erases any of the good you're doing by studying the Bible.

Work was a curse by God in Genesis. But in some ways, God's curses are, in the long view, blessings. It's through work that I provide for myself and my family. It's through work I can flourish and prosper. It's through work I learn new skills and grow as a human being.

Work is a disguised blessing. I hope the Haredim will discover this in time.


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