On the state - Yair Assulin in Haaretz:

‘Anyone who follows the undercurrents in Israel’s Haredi community – the revolutionary changes taking place, the destruction of hierarchies, the growing gap between the older and younger generations – is familiar with this yearning, this blurring of the boundaries and erosion of the separatism.’

(…)

‘When the Haredim want religious study to be recognized as a service just like military service is, they are essentially saying, once again, if you look beneath the words, perhaps even into their subconscious, that they want to be part of the secular Zionist project known as Israel.

They, who always used to be “haredi” (literally meaning “fearful”) of progress and secularization, whose essence as a community was the clear boundary between them and the ostensible “new Jews,” are fighting today for recognition by those same new Jews, that same “new god” in the form of the state.’

(…)

‘If you dive deeply into the proposed Basic Law on Torah Study and listen to the subtext of Haredi politicians, you’ll understand that what was once a technical relationship based on political horse-trading has become something frighteningly sentimental. Suddenly, they genuinely want to be the secular state whose essence they have always rejected, and are supposed to reject.’

(…)

‘This is a defining moment not because of these terrible bills, or the corrupt Haredi politics, or even the era of politics collapsing onto the heads of the Haredim. Rather, it’s because the moment Haredi identity gives up its fearfulness, it gives the fascinating currents bubbling within it an opening to a new Israeli Haredi identity, one that is relevant and wants to take part in creating a new Israeli partnership. This doesn’t mean partnership in a national vision, but partnership in an existential fate that isshared by everyone who lives here. Ultimately, it is only from within this fate that a new story can arise.
This partnership threatens the old power structures not only of the old Israeliness, which sanctifies Israel’s Declaration of Independence, but also of the Haredi political hacks. They, with their own hands, are digging their own graves.’

Read the article here.

Sooner or later, the state becomes the ersatz God. What this mean for the haredim is unclear, given the birth rates of the Haredim compared to the birth rates of secular Israelis they don’t have to fear for their future, at least not today.

The other question is whether Israel can absorb a larger and larger group of Haredim.

Which is to say, how long can you try to continue the 19th century in Eastern Europe in the 21ste century in the Middle-East?

It’s waiting for the Cossacks all over again.