Last Monday, a surprising number of Ḥaredim broke with precedent to join their countrymen in marking Yom Hazikaron—the solemn day on which Israelis remember their fallen soldiers and victims of terrorism. This, writes Evelyn Gordon, taken together with recent survey data, suggests that divisions within Israeli society are becoming less profound:
Ḥaredim traditionally had two problems with Memorial Day, which falls one day before Independence Day. First, it’s an Israeli holiday rather than a Jewish one, and therefore uncomfortable for a community whose leaders have long viewed the secular Jewish state and its army with suspicion and even hostility. Second, many of the day’s specific observances—like the siren heralding a moment of silence or the wreaths laid on graves—are imported from non-Jewish customs. Ḥaredim, reasonably enough, feel a Jewish state should mark its mostly Jewish dead in a more Jewish fashion.
This year, however, was notably different. Although the main ḥaredi newspapers continued to ignore Memorial Day, leading ḥaredi websites and radio stations devoted extensive coverage to it, including feature stories on ḥaredi soldiers who fell in battle. Every Knesset member from the more moderate ḥaredi party (Shas) planned to attend Memorial Day ceremonies, and the head of the more extreme ḥaredi party (United Torah Judaism) even served as the state’s official representative at one such ceremony, down to laying a wreath at a military cemetery. . . . Ḥaredim also organized their own Memorial Day initiatives . . .
Like Israeli Arabs, Ḥaredim have no interest in assimilating into mainstream [Israeli] culture. And as in the Arab community, anti-Israel extremists haven’t disappeared. But, increasingly, Ḥaredim seek to integrate while retaining their own culture, and thereby to make their own unique contribution to the Jewish state.
Read more on Evelyn Gordon: http://evelyncgordon.com/israels-internal-rapprochement/