Success at Polls Stirs Fears of New Intolerance : Secular Israelis Troubled Over Religious Parties’ Gains

The success of religious parties in Tuesday’s Israeli election has filled pious communities with pride but has raised concern among secular Israelis that they may be entering an era of coercion and intolerance.

The secular Jews’ concern is based in part on such relatively mundane issues as whether movies can be shown on Friday nights, which is the beginning of the Jewish Sabbath, and whether Jews with a taste for pork will be able to get it.

“If there is a God--and I am ready to give up my stubborn atheism if you can prove it--then he will see to it that the religious try to cancel soccer games on the Sabbath,” columnist Moshe David said in the daily newspaper Maariv.

Many Israelis are worried that the nature of the state of Israel, founded on the ideal of tolerance among Jews in a secure Jewish homeland, may be in danger.

“The very commitment to live here is to accept people in their differences respectfully,” Israeli philosopher David Hartman said. “In the name of religion, we are developing an oppressive attitude. I see this as the most critical period in the history of Jews and of the whole country.”

Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir, whose rightist Likud Party is trying to persuade the religious parties to join him in a coalition government, sought to dispel such fears.

“I feel responsible to the public,” Shamir said on television. “We will only agree to logical things. I haven’t heard anything from (the religious parties) that would frighten anyone. These parties are standing on the status quo.”

Laws and Understandings

“Status quo’ is a term relating to the series of laws and understandings, dating from Israel’s earliest days as a nation, that are supposed to govern secular-religious relations here.

The status quo requires that the Israeli army observe kosher rules, for example, and that public transportation and movie theaters be shut down in Jerusalem--but not in Haifa or Tel Aviv--on the Sabbath.

Four religious parties won 18 of the 120 seats in the Knesset, the Israeli Parliament, and each is bargaining with Likud over the price of joining a coalition government.

Likud won 39 seats in the Knesset, 1 more than the center-leftist Labor Party. Potential Likud allies on the right won 7 seats, and by adding these to the 18 of the religious parties, Likud could gather 64 seats, 3 more than the number needed to dominate the Knesset.

Thus despite their minority status--about 25% of Israel’s 4.5 million people are considered religious Jews--the religious parties have acquired an impressive measure of influence.

The religious parties have carried on something of a romance with Likud since it took power after the elections of 1977. Likud has tolerated their demands, and the religious parties have added biblical sanction to Likud’s insistence that geographic Israel embraces all the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea.

The religious parties have several demands in common: new laws establishing strict guidelines on conversion to the Jewish faith, more money for religious schools and control of such Cabinet ministries as education, interior and housing. At least some of them want to restrict Sabbath activities.

The parties are sharply divided on some issues, and this makes the talks with Likud extremely sensitive--and success less than a foregone conclusion.

Leaders of the National Religious Party, which represents Orthodox Jews and won 5 Knesset seats, met Thursday with a team of Likud officials. The National Religious Party leaders tried to persuade Likud not to join with the other religious parties, which are classified as ultra-Orthodox, in part because they reject the legitimacy of the state of Israel. The ultra-Orthodox say that such a state must await the coming of the Messiah.

The National Religious Party suggested that Likud invite it in as the only religious party in the coalition and try to line up dissident Labor Party members as partners.

Today, Likud officials are scheduled to meet with members of the Sephardic Torah Guardians (Shas) Party, which represents ultra-Orthodox Jews of North African origin and won 6 seats. Agudat Israel, an ultra-Orthodox group that won 5 seats, and Flag of the Torah, which won 2, are scheduled for later talks.

Broad Smiles in Suburb

In the usually reserved and cloistered ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Bnai Brak, a suburb of Tel Aviv, followers of religious parties smiled broadly Thursday when asked about their triumph.

Hanoch Raz, 23, who was dressed in the ultra-Orthodox garb of long coat and black hat, said: “We’ve been strengthened. The character of our country will be more religious.”

Raz expects more money from the government for religious schools, which are at the heart of the religious movements, as well as more money for hospitals for the ultra-Orthodox.

Raz and several other residents of Bnai Brak spoke of a long-term desire that Israel be ruled by Bible-based religious law.

“Maybe in the house you can do what you want, but on the street, the law of the Bible should reign,” said Raz, who voted for Flag of the Torah candidates.

A man who identified himself only as Mendel, a follower of Agudat Israel, said: “Slowly, slowly, the religious ways of our people have eroded. Why must we have movies Friday night? Why cafes? Why television?”

Other Israelis fear that the religious right would move the country toward a kind of theocracy.

“These ultra-Orthodox are dogmatic,” said Yoram Kaniuk, a novelist. “There will be no compromise. How will we live together?”

The conflict between religious and secular Jews dates back to long before the founding of Israel 40 years ago. Israel has no constitution because its founders could not agree on religion’s place in it.

Some secular Jews resent the deferments from military service given to the ultra-Orthodox. Some consider the ultra-Orthodox, who dedicate themselves to a life of religious study, to be parasites.

The religious, on the other hand, are offended by Sabbath irreverence, and they believe that the government is failing them by not enforcing religious observance more strictly.

Ugly incidents have broken out, especially in Jerusalem, where half the Jewish residents are Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox. There is less conflict in Tel Aviv, where the overwhelmingly secular population likes its pleasures.

Ultra-Orthodox protesters and secular movie- and pub-goers clashed on numerous weekends last year when the religious groups tried to shut down Friday night entertainment. In the ensuing “Sabbath Wars,” the police used high-pressure water hoses to disperse crowds of black-clad demonstrators as secular bystanders cheered.

It is not at all certain that participation by the religious parties in government will automatically mean radical change for Israel. Such parties, although with fewer parliamentary seats, have held the balance of power in Israeli governments since 1981.

Their most notable triumph since then has been an order grounding the national airline, El Al, on the Sabbath.

Some secular fears are based on the rapid growth rate of the Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox populations. The ultra-Orthodox are Israel’s fastest-growing group. The average ultra-Orthodox family has 8 children. Orthodox families average 4 and secular families 2.6.

Rabbi Menachem Porush, a leader of Agudat Israel, said: “We shall grow in number because only we immigrate to Israel, and because we don’t have abortions and family planning.”