After the appointment was made public last week, Cohen spoke on shabbos in his shul in Modiin. During his drasha he mentioned that the State was founded with God's help. Cohen also said that the State still needs God's help today.
This threw the media and many on the Left into a frenzy. How dare Cohen mention God! How dare Cohen, the head of Israel's intelligence agency, believe that God had some role in our country! Will he next turn the State into a halacha state? Will he cancel democracy? How dare he talk about God in a speech in shul!
this is a Jewish state, in addition to being democratic. With more religious people moving into more and more roles of leadership and authority, they better quickly get used to the new approach, to hearing God mentioned a little more frequently than before.
I see nothing wrong with what he said nor with what he believes. The strong rejection of what he said by some is more troubling. This is a Jewish State. God plays a role. Somehow, somewhat is something that can perhaps be debated, but it is time the Left, the media and the secular accept the fact that the religious, even those in leadership roles, include God in their lifestyle and beliefs.
And. the best thing about Cohen's speech in shul was probably that he got, perhaps for the first time, so many people to go to shul when they normally wouldn't - just because they wanted to hear what he would say, perhaps get some scoop (as they did). Perhaps one or two were even inspired by what he said or by something else in the services. It at least opens the door for them.
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I've been listening to a Leftist podcast for a few weeks now (catching up on old episodes). I have learned that the Left wants to have their cake and eat it too, with respect to Charedim in Israel. They want Charedim in the workplace, including, presumably, Government positions, but they don't want Charedim to act like Charedim. Perhaps the Charedi claim that they want Charedim to abandon their religion isn't as far from the truth as some of us might have thought.
ReplyDeleteSpot on. The left has a great agenda - they have no problem with us religious as long as we abandon the foundations of our faith because they're not politically correct. A Jew that walks to shul on Shabbos or keeps kosher isn't a threat to them but one that believes in God and has a different moral sense than the liberal next to him is.
DeleteThat could be Israel's new pledge of allegiance - one nation under God, like it or not.
ReplyDeleteRafi - I wouldn't call him "somewhat" religious - he simply IS religious. I believe there was a picture of him as Ba'AL Tefila in his Shul on Hoshana Raba on Yeshiva World - that would indicate a certain level of religiosity to me.
ReplyDeleteI did not mean to question his level of religious adherence. simply, in different articles about him I saw different descriptions of him, ranging from "traditional" to "religious". Bieng that i do not know exactly what he considers himself, but he is shomer torah umitzvot, but on the other hand doesnt wear a kippa regularly, I found it easiest to say "somewhat religious" rather than be the judge.
DeleteSomeone who is shomer torah umitzvot is religious by definition (unless, I guess, he has other motives for doing so other than religion).
DeleteHe seems to be obviously religious. The question is why are the Leftists who are in control, allowing someone religious to be in such an important position and allowing him to speak openly about G-D? There's always an agenda.
DeleteMaybe you didn't mean it that way, but you did come off as judging his level of observance by describing him as "somewhat religious".
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