And actual achdut increases.
For example, the moshav Achituv produces an enormous amount of cucumbers. With half their workers having fled back to Thailand, the very real threat of an upcoming cucumber shortage looms.
Yet Jews from all over Israel have been coming in droves.
My source personally witnessed thousands (not in one day; over the past several weeks) of Jews from all walks of life arrive to work in the fields and greenhouses: hi-tech people, business people, Yair Lapid's wife, millionaires, religious-Zionist yeshivah students, and Jews of all ages and backgrounds.
And they work in the mud and heat for free.
(Think about that next time you eat an Israeli cucumber.)
Even more importantly, many former secularists and Leftists are re-discovering Torah and mitzvot.
But there's something missing from these calls for achdut from former Leftists...
Where Have You Been All This Time?
They call for the Right and the religious to reach out to these former (and for many, still secular) Leftists as these former Leftists reach out to them.
Why is this a problem?
For one...
We have ALWAYS been there for them.
They may not have noticed or appreciated it.
They only just woke up and started reaching out. So they think it's coming from them, or that it's only happening from the other side now.
But it was always one-sided — from our side.
The FRUM outreach in ALL its varieties has been going on for literally DECADES.
Just as one tiny example: During one of the massive disruptive, pointless, damaging pro-Left anti-Torah protests in hot weather, frum people — chareidim! — stood on the side offering the protestors bottles of refreshing mineral water.
They offered good-quality water to masses of people trying to destroy the country.
The mainstream media refused to publicize this, but it went viral on social media.
So their attitude that we have all been equal parts of the problem stands on a false premise.
Should You Say Something? Sometimes, That's a Great Idea...
That depends on the particular situation.
For example, years ago, I contacted a woman who advertised a particular cosmetic service I needed.
During the phone call, I discovered she lived a 5 minute-drive away in a secular-traditional area, but accessible to me only via a bus which ran every 2 hours or a very long and somewhat dangerous walk.
I didn't feel it worth taking a taxi round-trip on top of the price of the service. I explained this very nicely and regretfully to her, then she immediately offered to pick me up in her own car.
She seemed sincere and even enthusiastic about this option, so I agreed, then made sure I was waiting outside before she even arrived so as not to inconvenience her further.
We felt instant chemistry with each other and filled the short drive with warm conversation.
At one point, she said to me, "You know, part of the reason I advertised in your neighborhood was because I thought we should all get to know each other better. I thought, wouldn't it be good for the charedim to get to know us and to see that we're approachable and nice, and they don't need to distance themselves from us?"
Because of the warm chemistry between us & because I sensed it was SHE who wished to see charedim up close (and not exactly as she presented it, in the opposite way), I very good-naturedly and gently offered the view that perhaps it was also good for secular people to get to know the charedim, who are mass-maligned on the media and much better and more caring than presented — and that it was the secular Jews who rarely encountered charedim in real life.
I also pointed out that charedim run into all different types of groups all the time, whether at government offices, health clinics, hospitals, stores — in addition the fact that many charedim come from secular backgrounds.
She laughed in recognition, then held up a finger and leaned towards me conspiratorially and said, "You know what? You're RIGHT. We secular people don't really know the charedim, we also have prejudices, and we really need to get to know you too, you're absolutely right."
Then we both burst out laughing as if we were on an especially fun merry-go-round.
Anyway, her cosmetics clinic was in a luxury villa and she did a good job and we both had a nice time, and she generously dropped me off back home. (I insisted she could drop me off at the entrance to my neighborhood because it was an easy walk home from there, but she insisted on driving all the way to my building.)
So I was able to speak up because the dynamics were conducive to speaking out in a way that would be received well.
But that's not always possible.
...and Sometimes, There's a Time for Silence.
After all, they just had the blinders ripped off and the new light of truth is somewhat blinding.
In the case right now, just the fact that these former Leftists are not only no longer willing to support Jew-slaughterers, but even actively opposing anything to do with bloodthirsty barbarians (turn from evil & do good!) is already a huge step in the right direction.
And a huge re-orientation.
It's like having their brain removed, turned inside-out, then put back again.
And a lot of them are traumatized by the images they saw, their friends and/or family kidnapped, brutalized, and/or murdered, and just the fact that all their decades of good will and generosity was responded to with horrific savagery.
So it may be too much for them to hear that, this entire time, they were actually the cause of the lack of unity.
(Remember, they viewed themselves — and still view themselves — as very good, sensitive, caring, enlightened, intelligent people.)
It may be too much for them to hear that Torah Jews were always waiting for them and encouraging them to return, some even bending over backwards (too much so, in some cases) to reach them.
It may be too much for them to hear that the passion on the Right and of the religious derived from a very real fight for our lives, both spiritually and physically.
It may be too much for them to hear that nearly all the bloodshed, the social problems, and suffering (the increase in crime, social dysfunction, the stealing of the Yemenite children and others, poverty, etc.) — these can all be traced back to the actions & attitudes of the anti-Torah Left, in conjunction with Yishmaelim and secular Leftist official in the West.
It may be too much for them to realize that as long as someone supports anti-Torah attitudes and behaviors, Torah Jews are actually prohibited from bonding with them.
It may be too much for them to hear that, even with their newfound political "penitence," their calls for acceptance of their erstwhile secularism are simply incorrect.
(In other words, people have the right to grow at their own pace, but they don't have the right not to grow at all — and instead impose their secular mores on society.)
If you push people too hard, if you force people to skip up to levels for which they aren't ready, you can break them.
Whether You Hold Forth or Hold Your Tongue, It's Essential to Remain Solid Within
But even when you decide it's best to remain quiet and let them work out the truth gradually and on their own, you should at least know inside yourself that the truth lies with you, and not them.
They're still working out their perceptions, even if they haven't realized it yet.
Yet just you staying solid within yourself projects something different than if you get sucked into their well-intentioned, but not-yet-accurate narrative.
In other words, DON'T agree that the animosity and division has always come equally from both sides.
Side note:
To my surprise, a really sweet frum woman started speaking like this to me, emphasizing the division comes from both sides. I decided not to address the issue right then, and just remained affably silent without nodding or any sign of agreement. I also suspected something in her personal experience made her speak like this, and I don't know her past well enough to address her misperception in the most conducive way. So I let it pass peacefully, but certainly did nothing to encourage her misperception.
So yes, we need to (usually) be encouraging, patient, and gentle with these new penitents.
But we need to also remain solid with the Truth in our own hearts and minds.
- torasavigdor.org/rav-avigdor-miller-on-joining-the-fight-against-anti-semitism/
- https://torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-obligations-to-a-rasha/
- torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-when-hashem-is-not-silent/
- torasavigdor.org/qa/rav-avigdor-miller-on-amaleks-crime/
From this blog on this topic: