Two iconic figures representing the
polar opposite worldviews of Israel:
Religious politician Aryeh Deri
& Secular atheist Amos Oz
The Haredim and Hilonim in Israel
& the Next Stage of Jewish Evangelism
A Guest Essay by Jim Melnick
info@frji.org
Israeli author Amos Oz’s passing at the end of December has served
to highlight the importance of understanding the two worldview ‘poles’ or
extremes of Jewish life today in Israel. These are between the haredim
(the ultra-Orthodox) on the one hand and the hilonim (secular) on
the other. Indeed, the daily struggle in Israel between these two polar
opposites largely defines the tempo of political life in Israel today.
Many secular Israelis have come to hate the haredim even while acknowledging that the latter comprise what they
suppose is ‘true’ Judaism. Likewise, many of the haredim hate
or despise secular Jews, whom they barely even consider to be Jews even though
it was mostly secular Jews who founded the modern-day State of Israel. Secular
Jews were the most ardent Zionists and even now put their lives on the line
every day to protect the ultra-Orthodox and to preserve their way of life in a
Jewish state. Talk about ingratitude! Or at least, that’s how many secular Israelis
look at it.
Haredi Jews for the most part see secular Israelis as usurpers who jump-started
creating a Jewish state that they think should only have been established by
the Messiah. This is the tension of daily life in Israel and that tension is at
the heart of the ongoing political struggle for the soul of Israel.
In this massive internal struggle, the Messianic movement
and believers in Israel are mostly onlookers, a minority operating on a
different plane. At the same time, believers sometimes end up becoming the tip
of the spear in this struggle, as in what has occurred in Arad. In Arad’s case,
Messianic believers have been harassed and persecuted there for many years, but
they have not been the only target, just one of the most vulnerable.
The Gur Hasidic sect has wanted to turn Arad into a mostly haredi city,
and some of the secular are fighting back.
Serious violence between the haredim and secular Israelis broke
out there, for example, in September 2017 (4 arrested in Arad clashes between ultra-Orthodox,
secular residents).
In some ways, this violence represents a microcosm of the antagonisms that
exist between the two groups throughout the country spilling over into open
conflict.
As an outsider who observes Israel closely, but from afar (so
accept or reject my views as you will), I believe that understanding this
dynamic is crucial to taking evangelism in Israel and intercessory prayer for
Israel to the next level.
The very religious and the very secular are both growing at rapid rates both in
Israel and in the United States. Those trends are continuing to deepen. At the
same time, in terms of outreach and ministry, both groups remain the most
unreached by the gospel message from the Messianic movement and the Jewish
missions community. There are obvious reasons for this –both are extremely
resistant to the Gospel. These are the hardest spiritual nuts to crack, so to
speak.
Yet it is here, I believe, that we need to focus more of our energies,
resources and prayers. I believe that the Lord will open up new doors of
opportunity in Israel as well as in the U.S. and elsewhere, as we are faithful
in trying to reach out to these very difficult-to-reach segments of society. Even
if our initial attempts seem quite meager and not very hopeful at first, it is
good to begin to develop a heart for reaching both.
How do we do it? There are new steps underway in trying to
reach the haredim both in the U.S. and in Israel, but those steps
are in their very early stages. As far as trying to reach secular Israelis and ‘Jewish
atheists’ such as how Amos Oz described himself, I am not aware of anyone who
is systematically engaging the latter, at least not the ‘thought-leaders’. If
anyone is, I would love to hear from you!
I am nearly finished writing a new book on Jewish atheism and secularism, and I
have been stunned in doing my research to learn how extensive and varied these
secular worldviews are. While God is sovereign and the Holy Spirit can break
even the hardest individual’s heart, in general we still have much to learn
before we can adequately engage this group on a level where they will listen to
what we have to say.
I remember a time, and I’m sure many of you reading this do,
too, when we could pass out vanloads of Bibles and other literature in Israel
to Russian Jewish immigrants eager to receive them! That was an amazing time,
but that time has passed. Subsequently, though, praise God, we saw the
emergence of Russian Messianic congregations and home groups, and the
establishment of Russian-speaking leaders and elders in congregations all over
Israel. These are now doing outreach among their own communities which are
receptive to them and bearing fruit for the kingdom. We are now in another
phase in Israel’s spiritual life.
I believe that now is a time to focus on the two opposite “poles” of Israeli
society – the two poles that are either most hostile or most indifferent to our
message. These two mission fields are certainly ‘white unto harvest’!
The task is very much uphill and certainly much more
difficult than passing out Bibles on the street to those who were receptive to
receive them! Nevertheless, I believe that if we invest more in these difficult
areas of ministry - even if we don’t see a lot of fruit right away (but maybe
we will?!), God will surprise us, as we all await that Day when “all Israel
will be saved.” (Romans 11: 26)
Amos Oz: A Tribute by Jim Melnick
Amos Oz died on December 28, 2018. Reuven Rivlin, the
President of Israel, wrote in tribute, “Amos,
our friend. How dear you were to us... How dear and important you were to the
State of Israel, to Israeli society, to the world of literature.” Prime
Minister Netanyahu called him “one of the greatest
authors of the State of Israel,” who “contributed a huge amount to the re-birth
of the Hebrew language.”
So far I have only read a little over half of Amos Oz’s famous
500-plus-page work, A Tale of Love and Darkness. A reviewer in the Guardian
called it one of “the funniest, most tragic and most touching books” they
had ever read. I agree. I have found it extraordinarily moving, but almost too
intense to take in all at once. It is better to digest it in smaller segments,
especially about his growing up years in Jerusalem, as well as the joys and
sorrows of Jewish life back in Poland and Ukraine. In 2015 the book was also
turned into a film.
Oz indeed had a profound impact on modern-day Israeli
society and culture. Though many disagreed with his politics, he was a leading
voice in the Israeli peace movement. He served in the Six-Day War in 1967 and
also in the 1973 Yom Kippur War and walked with a slight limp due to a war
wound.
Oz lived for many years in Arad. Lura and Eddie Beckford,
who ministered in Arad for years, often saw him and sometimes spoke with him at
Ali’s Café. Ali is Bedouin and his café is usually avoided by Orthodox Jews and
some secular Israelis, but Oz made a point of spending lots of time there. In a
2000 article he said that he was referred to as the town’s “Arab lover,” A Postcard from Arad. A man who thirsted for justice, I wonder
what he thought about the harassment and persecution that raged in Arad against
Messianic believers by some of the haredim?
In 2012, Oz and his daughter Fania Oz-Salzberger together
wrote Jews and Words, a book in which
they both blatantly proclaimed their atheism. They said: “First, we do not believe in God…our Jewish
identity is not faith-powered….As Jewish atheists, we take religion to be a
great human invention.” They described themselves as “Atheists of the
Book” and claimed that there “are, to
date, more Bible-wise atheists in Israel than anywhere else.” The
mindset behind these words is, I think, key to understanding much of secular
Israeli culture today.
In 2016, Oz published the novel Judas, contending
that Judas was not really a betrayer but that he actually “believed in Jesus
more than Jesus believed in himself.” I won’t try to unpack that bizarre view,
but the book does chronicle Oz’s fascination with Jesus. He considered Yeshua
“one of the greatest Jews who ever lived,” a fascination that began during his
teenage years. Oz’s great uncle was Joseph Klausner, author of the famous book,
Jesus of Nazareth. (Amos
Oz: ‘I love Israel, but I don’t like it very much’)But Oz’s
fascination with Jesus was as far as it went.
I regret that during my many visits to Arad over the years,
I did not know until the last few years who Amos Oz was. I did not know that he
lived there for some time. I had not yet read any of his books. Otherwise I would have loved to have asked sometime to sit
down with him at Ali’s café to discuss his worldview, his life in Jerusalem
during those early years and his views about Yeshua. Being the kind of man he
was, I think he would have said yes.
We so desperately need windows into the minds and souls of
secular Israelis and secular Jews worldwide in praying for and sharing the
Gospel with them. Through his writings, Amos Oz provided one of those windows.
