The Nonexistent Dangers of a Nonexistent Government

 

Volumes can be written on why many if not most of the insular Jewish groups are at odds with the governing authorities in Israel, but, stripped of all their political and egotistical baggage, the fall mainly into two categories:

            A.  The founding fathers of the Zionist movement, including and especially Theodor Herzl, were irreligious and gave little if any deference to Halacha (Jewish law) in their efforts to form the State of Israel; and

            B.  Before and during the Nazi holocaust, many prominent religious Jews, including rabbis, were done dirty by many Zionist activists.

Accordingly, many of the insular groups have, at best, a confused and contradictory identification with the State of Israel.  They will, for example, continue to refer to the main airport as "Lod" and thereby not need to speak the name of David Ben-Gurion, a key secular founding father of the State.  At worst, they give aid and comfort to Israel's enemies, including Iran.

Not recognizing the legitimacy of the Israeli government, many think nothing of flouting its laws, including the tax laws and including, sometimes, the traffic regulations (such as the seat belt laws).  Never mind that, in theory, the halachic principle of "Dina DiMalchuta Dina" (The law of the land is the law) applies to matters such as taxation and traffic.

With that as a background, I note the following news item:  "Avreichim Rescued From IDF Firing Zone."  The word avreich (avreichim in the plural) refers to a recently married full-time yeshiva learner.  Some avreichim decided to go out on a hiking excursion to the Golan Heights, and wandered into a military firing zone (there are a number of such zones in the Golan).

 

"After being rescued, one of the avreichim was asked why they entered the military zone, which is clearly marked with highly visible signs to prevent a tragedy from occurring. He explained 'one of the group said they are not shooting here'. The avreichim were found about 3km (1.8 miles) into the firing zone area, an active firing zone at that."

 

 

I shall not now get into the question of whether being raised in an insular community away from the evil influences of the world is or is not an inhibitor of the development of common sense (and neither do I suggest that the avreichim involved are paragons of common sense).  Methinks, however, that the key issue here was not common sense (or the absence thereof), but rather, an ingrained conditioning to reject the validity of all pronouncements by the Israeli government -- including warning signage that one is about to enter a military firing zone.

Ignore the Sign, Pay the Fine!