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Hassidic Jews burning food containing leavening before the start of the Passover holiday in Jerusalem.
 (Reuters)
Last update - 17:32 12/04/2009
Gideon Levy / The dark religious side of Israel
By Gideon Levy, Haaretz Correspondent
Tags: Israel News, Judaism 

A few days after tens of thousands of Israelis raised their eyes to the heavens at dawn to honor "the return of the sun to the place it stood at creation," and millions of Israelis joyfully read out praise in the Passover Hagaddah for genocide - jihad by means of horrific plagues and drowning infants - it's time to admit it: We live in a religious country.

That's the case during this holiday, when in some places it's impossible to find leavened products, when the rabbinate seeks to install special computer programs at supermarkets to prevent the sale of leavened foods, when Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger asks Rabbi Yaakov Israel Ifergan to get his follower Nochi Dankner to install the program at his supermarkets, and when the cows of our country are on a leaven-free diet.

We must admit that this society has rather dark religious aspects. Foreigners landing in Israel might ask themselves what country they're in: Iran, Afghanistan or Saudi Arabia? In any case, it's not the liberal, secular and enlightened society it purports to be. Thieves' hands do not have to be hacked off or women's faces covered to be a religious country. Just as an occupying state, which controls 3.5 million people lacking basic civil rights, cannot call itself "the only democracy in the Middle East," so a country that has no bread for a week because of its religion cannot call itself secular and liberal.
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Actually, there has been increased openness in recent years. More entertainment venues and supermarkets are open on Saturday in some of our cities than ever before, like before the Heichal movie theater riots in Petah Tikva. The dead can finally be buried in a civil ceremony in exchange for a fistful of shekels. But that's not enough to be able to call ourselves a secular society. We must not delude ourselves: From the cradle to the grave, from marriage to divorce, almost everything is still religious.

In no other country are there streets without buses and tracks without trains on the Sabbath. No other airline but El Al sits idle one day a week. Cold platters on the Sabbath in hospitals and hotels are also something not seen elsewhere. Roads on pillars because of ancient burial sites - a kind of pagan ritual to those on the outside looking in - and the separation in certain buses of men and women are also unknown in democratic countries. Religion has never been separate from the state here; hand in hand they oversee our way of life.

Orthodox society and its leadership should not be blamed for this. The Orthodox and ultra-Orthodox have the right to do everything they can to impose their faith on the secular majority. It's the secular who are to blame. Just as it's not yeshiva students' fault that they are not drafted, but rather the fault of the secular majority that allows this, so it is with the other aspects of our lives. We, the secular people, are to blame for all this. We're the ones who give in. Just as with the tyranny of another minority, the settlers, who terrorize the majority, so it is with the tyranny of the ultra-Orthodox: The tyranny exists because the secular majority has chosen to obey it.

So don't come complaining to the religious people. The secular are the majority, and the power to change the picture is in their hands. If the majority were to stand up and not surrender to the minority, buses would run every day and bread would be sold on Passover. So it could be we are much more religious than we are willing to admit. We may maintain the image of being secular, but we are religious in our essence.

If only we were willing to admit this and stop pretending to be secular. All the same, a society that pretends to be Western and enlightened cannot delude itself while maintaining such a religious and unenlightened lifestyle. Not much has changed since our school days, when we were taught to kiss a Bible that dropped on the floor. So let's enjoy the taste of the matzah and let's not try to pull a beer bottle out from behind the ridiculous nylon on the supermarket shelf, and let's admit it: We are (almost) a state governed by religious law.
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  1.   Gideon Levy Observing religon IS Enlightenment 04:53  |  Muslim 12/04/09
  2.   possible reason 04:57  |  potobac 12/04/09
  3.   Our claim to Israel is only because of G-d 05:04  |  Humble Jew 12/04/09
  4.   Gideon Levy speaks almost as rabbi Kook 05:14  |  shlomo 12/04/09
  5.   Get Real Gideon 05:20  |  Isaac 12/04/09
  6.   The dark side of secularism perhaps.. 05:25  |  Alden Mamann 12/04/09
  7.   Another anti-Jewish screed 05:45  |  Ilan 12/04/09
  8.   The truth of Israel 05:47  |  Jerry Appel 12/04/09
  9.   Religious state supported by secular West 05:49  |  Algerian 12/04/09
  10.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 06:08  |  Mitch S. 12/04/09
  11.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 06:20  |  Joseph 12/04/09
  12.   secular and Western liberal? 06:26  |  Sherlock Holmes 12/04/09
  13.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 06:30  |  AKUS 12/04/09
  14.   GIDEON HITS A NEW LOW-deleted by moderator, of course 06:40  |  judith 12/04/09
  15.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 06:46  |  Ira Allen 12/04/09
  16.   poor Mr. Levy 06:47  |  Peleg 12/04/09
  17.   Israels tradition: Shoot the messenger 06:57  |  Natallie Durson 12/04/09
  18.   DARK SIDE 06:58  |  Tzvi 12/04/09
  19.   Mr. Levy 07:28  |  Doreen 12/04/09
  20.   MOVE TO NY 07:34  |  James Carter 12/04/09
  21.   Levy Is right And Wrong 07:53  |  MB 12/04/09
  22.   to everyone before me 07:55  |  jozsef 12/04/09
  23.   to everyone before 07:57  |  jozsef 12/04/09
  24.   Is it so dark? 07:59  |  Flavia 12/04/09
  25.   ON THE MONEY, AGAIN 08:04  |  Ed 12/04/09
  26.   For The First Time In My Life I Have To Agree With Him 08:08  |  He`s Right! 12/04/09
  27.   Even US blacks sit in the front of the bus 08:12  |  Marilyn 12/04/09
  28.   Brilliant 08:16  |  David K 12/04/09
  29.   I shockingly agree with Gideon Levy 08:19  |  Ephraim 12/04/09
  30.   Hello? Xmas in the West, someone? 08:23  |  EVH 12/04/09
  31.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 08:33  |  Richard 12/04/09
  32.   Yes, it is... 08:39  |  Huey 12/04/09
  33.   Abscence of The right to differ 08:45  |  Ola 12/04/09
  34.   Right on Gideon Levy..... 08:47  |  Dutch 12/04/09
  35.   Now you see them now you don`t! 08:55  |  Maureen Ann 12/04/09
  36.   Notice: those who agree with Levy live in Australia, USA, etc. 09:08  |  an Israeli 12/04/09
  37.   Religious Israel 09:18  |  Mitch Katz 12/04/09
  38.   Religious tolerance 09:19  |  had enough 12/04/09
  39.   What`s darker? Religion or the blindness of the Left? 09:22  |  Joe Sittizen 12/04/09
  40.   the dark religious side 09:30  |  zoe 12/04/09
  41.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 09:32  |  danny 12/04/09
  42.   If you only knew the unenlightened things . . . 09:34  |  Zev Davis 12/04/09
  43.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 09:38  |  expat american 12/04/09
  44.   To Ola`s "Abscence of The right to differ" 09:40  |  savta klavta 12/04/09
  45.   Mr. Gideon 10:01  |  Eli Wapniarski 12/04/09
  46.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 10:16  |  TOMY 12/04/09
  47.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 10:19  |  Moises 12/04/09
  48.   Important and trivial issues treated as equal 10:20  |  Israeli 12/04/09
  49.   Furthermore, it`s a Judeo-Islamic country 10:26  |  Arik Silverman 12/04/09
  50.   Have you ever heard of Tel Aviv? 10:27  |  Open eyed 12/04/09
  51.   it`s much worse than that you so called religious 10:40  |  avi yaakov 12/04/09
  52.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 10:53  |  miriam 12/04/09
  53.   Conversation with a Swede 10:54  |  Richard 12/04/09
  54.   israel would have no charm without its culture 10:55  |  amnon 12/04/09
  55.   #36 Open eyed - Open your eyes wider! 10:58  |  Yonatan 12/04/09
  56.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 11:09  |  John Doe 12/04/09
  57.   Each to his own, but I enjoy our separation of church and state 11:12  |  Hanna 12/04/09
  58.   Tradition and Reality 11:41  |  Herzlich 12/04/09
  59.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 11:41  |  Aqriel 12/04/09
  60.   Gideon almost right: Secular to be praised for any Jewishness 11:44  |  Robert 12/04/09
  61.   Herzlich #40 12:00  |  lee 12/04/09
  62.   Nothing Dark About Democracy in Action 12:10  |  Reluctant Hawk 12/04/09
  63.   Gideon Levy / The dark religious side of Israel 12:18  |  Sal 12/04/09
  64.   bread in israel during passover 12:19  |  aviezer 12/04/09
  65.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 12:19  |  liz 12/04/09
  66.   this journalist is alienated from the jewish state 12:22  |  yair 12/04/09
  67.   Enlightened Europe created Nazism 12:32  |  Israeli citizen 12/04/09
  68.   The meaning of Passover 12:36  |  Eylo 12/04/09
  69.   This is silly 12:37  |  MarkC 12/04/09
  70.   Mr. Levy grievances on dark religious aspects 12:41  |  Eylo 12/04/09
  71.   The religious aspects of the British state 12:46  |  Stephen Franklin 12/04/09
  72.   Gideon Levy. Nice article.How true. Yet.... 12:49  |  Stephen. 12/04/09
  73.   Christmas in a European secular country 13:05  |  Eylo 12/04/09
  74.   Many countries celebrate "carnage" 13:08  |  Eylo 12/04/09
  75.   lee #49 13:09  |  Herzlich 12/04/09
  76.   Freedom of choice 13:10  |  Chris Linthwaite 12/04/09
  77.   Different "dark? aspects of religious countries 13:14  |  Eylo 12/04/09
  78.   An opinion from Spain 13:26  |  A.C. 12/04/09
  79.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 13:36  |  Stan 12/04/09
  80.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 13:41  |  Annoyed 12/04/09
  81.   All that damn silence is creating those problems 13:42  |  Dutch 12/04/09
  82.   #49 - Lee 13:44  |  Herzlich 12/04/09
  83.   Religious nations will be increasingly hated! 13:46  |  John Mark 12/04/09
  84.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 13:49  |  miri 12/04/09
  85.   Alternatives for Mr. Levy 13:50  |  nina 12/04/09
  86.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 14:03  |  PETER SM 12/04/09
  87.   The reasons for Shabbat 14:04  |  Richard Witty 12/04/09
  88.   61 Eylo 14:27  |  bruce 12/04/09
  89.   Again Gideon is falling into potholes of his making! 14:28  |  Abecassis 12/04/09
  90.   secular or assimilated 14:33  |  lee 12/04/09
  91.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 14:38  |  Moshe 12/04/09
  92.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 14:42  |  shari 12/04/09
  93.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 14:47  |  jenny 12/04/09
  94.   #6 15:04  |  Liz 12/04/09
  95.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 15:05  |  Mitchell Slavitt 12/04/09
  96.   Secular Jews 15:07  |  JoJo 12/04/09
  97.   journalist to israel "give up your culture" 15:07  |  zadok the priest 12/04/09
  98.   This also happens in a European secular country 15:13  |  Eylo 12/04/09
  99.   Can the Jewish State Exist Without It? 15:36  |  Jane 12/04/09
  100.   serving the state of israel 15:46  |  oneatatime 12/04/09
  101.   one positive article 15:48  |  danny 12/04/09
  102.   A question over the "dark" side 15:48  |  Eylo 12/04/09
  103.   Gideon Levy is 100% right 15:56  |  eli 12/04/09
  104.   Hey Levy! 15:57  |  aliza 12/04/09
  105.   The dark religious side of Israel 16:04  |  WHG 12/04/09
  106.   Drop the Dualities 16:04  |  in der Tat 12/04/09
  107.   Enlightened or old-fashioned? 16:06  |  Al Avai 12/04/09
  108.   Thank God !!! otherwise we wouldnt be worth saving at all 16:11  |  Naftali 12/04/09
  109.   Shooting the messenger 16:13  |  Natallie Durson 12/04/09
  110.   Yeah sure 16:16  |  Paul 12/04/09
  111.   Opium to the masses 16:18  |  d 12/04/09
  112.   #83 16:36  |  Chaim 12/04/09
  113.   God`s Laws 16:39  |  Carole 12/04/09
  114.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 16:41  |  Larry G 12/04/09
  115.   #9 16:43  |  Aharon 12/04/09
  116.   Bread on Passover Gideon Levy 16:50  |  goldie klugman 12/04/09
  117.   Gideon Levy, Look at it this way... 16:55  |  Dutch 12/04/09
  118.   Dear Gideon... 16:58  |  sandra chitayat 12/04/09
  119.   #l4 17:05  |  zel 12/04/09
  120.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 17:20  |  John Allen 12/04/09
  121.   IT IS CALLED ZIONISM 17:39  |  indrajaya 12/04/09
  122.   #45 Hanna 17:41  |  John Allen 12/04/09
  123.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 17:50  |  Israeli citizen 12/04/09
  124.   Religious, but . . . 17:50  |  JW 12/04/09
  125.   Dark religous side 17:53  |  Steve Gure 12/04/09
  126.   Theocracy 17:53  |  elestepario 12/04/09
  127.   torah 17:58  |  yitzhak moishe 12/04/09
  128.   Try doing this 17:59  |  Jackie 12/04/09
  129.   To Elestepario 18:27  |  Samir 12/04/09
  130.   I need an answer! 18:27  |  PS 12/04/09
  131.   DELETED BY MODERATOR 18:28  |  marilyn 2 12/04/09
  132.   every society has a dark religious side 18:40  |  rm 12/04/09
  133.   religious side 18:46  |  rm 12/04/09
  134.   "Jew" means someone who follows Judaism 18:47  |  Objective reader 12/04/09
  135.   I guess, if enough secularosity was generated... 18:48  |  Jasper 12/04/09
  136.   Blame the secular? 18:53  |  Andrew 12/04/09
  137.   #45 Hanna 19:05  |  in der Tat 12/04/09
  138.   to #122, a "Jew" 19:21  |  Andrew 12/04/09
  139.   "We live in a religious country.", not a theocracy 19:24  |  Akiva P 12/04/09
  140.   #59 British constitution 19:25  |  Motic 12/04/09
  141.   #45 Hanna Continued 19:25  |  in der Tat 12/04/09
  142.   Everything you write 19:26  |  Pierre 12/04/09
  143.   objective reader, yes, you`re wrong 19:27  |  x-ray 12/04/09
  144.   Gideon Levy: You don`t understand Judaism too well, do you? 19:36  |  Spitzer 12/04/09
  145.   #1 Muslim 20:07  |  Moshe 12/04/09
  146.   The dark religious side of Israel 20:24  |  Isa 12/04/09
  147.   Religion and Government 20:41  |  American 12/04/09
  148.   Isa 20:53  |  x-ray 12/04/09
  149.   Broaden your vision! 20:57  |  Lion 12/04/09
  150.   Any religion can turn to a dark side, 21:02  |  Elina 12/04/09
  151.   A Jewish State 21:09  |  Andy Levy-Stevenson 12/04/09
  152.   Religion 21:12  |  Jim 12/04/09
  153.   Extreme religion- dangerous 21:13  |  sweis Melbourne 12/04/09
  154.   Religion in the Public Square 21:20  |  Samuel A. Abady 12/04/09
  155.   A question about your history 21:34  |  ghostoflutherblisset 12/04/09
  156.   A New Jewish Story is Needed NOW! 21:41  |  BDF 12/04/09
  157.   Irony irony what does thou tell us? 22:09  |  Mark B. 12/04/09
  158.   #43 expat American. 22:10  |  Maureen Ann 12/04/09
  159.   Israel is not alone 22:11  |  Shiloh 12/04/09
  160.   #3 Humble Jew 22:16  |  Nigel 12/04/09
  161.   Coudn`t agree more 22:18  |  Marc 12/04/09
  162.   The Dark Side of Israel 22:30  |  John Weiss 12/04/09
  163.   #98 Eylo 22:32  |  Nigel 12/04/09
  164.   orthodox / fundamentalist 22:43  |  Recher 12/04/09
  165.   Gideon omited some thing 22:49  |  dani.a 12/04/09
  166.   Separation of Church and State in U.S. 23:00  |  Hanna 12/04/09
  167.   163.Nigel 23:06  |  Eylo 12/04/09
  168.   #156 BDF 23:38  |  Moshe 12/04/09
  169.   Survival is more urgent than secularism 23:59  |  John Mark 12/04/09
  170.   And uisraeli @ 36 This is not a new phenomenon.Gideon Missed IT.. 00:31  |  Whiskey 13/04/09
  171.   #134 Objective reader/...Why not? 00:39  |  Whiskey 13/04/09
  172.   Sorry ghostoflutherblisset..your presumption is wrong. 00:48  |  Whiskey 13/04/09
  173.   Hey,hey Isa..Hold on a minute there#146 SUBMISSION? 00:55  |  Whiskey 13/04/09
  174.   religious side of Israel 01:13  |  M 13/04/09
  175.   How interesting 01:41  |  Graeme A 13/04/09
  176.   To MB..No he is not right because..Why doesn`t he accuse Saudi .. 01:53  |  Whiskey 13/04/09
  177.   # 159 Shiloh - absolutely. 02:12  |  Tony Price 13/04/09
  178.   To M.,.religious side of IsraelYes but.What about the secularJews 02:39  |  Whiskey 13/04/09
  179.   What about the millions of Palestinians who have their roots in I 02:59  |  oded 13/04/09
  180.   Good on ya Akiva P Yes "we live in a religious country"And 02:59  |  No Name 13/04/09
  181.   Thank God for secularism 03:08  |  Janice 13/04/09
  182.   Sorry Eylo You are wrong about the European Countries,And 03:15  |  Whiskey 13/04/09
  183.   Most countries observe 03:16  |  Lola 13/04/09
  184.   #159 Agreed no point in disguising the truth. 03:20  |  Whiskey 13/04/09
  185.   Levy is right! 03:23  |  Steve 13/04/09
  186.   Response to Moshe @145 03:33  |  Muslim 13/04/09
  187.   Ed in LA 03:55  |  MLK 13/04/09
  188.   If it won`t be a religious state, then it`ll be arab 04:09  |  sas473 13/04/09
  189.   #180 - disagree, because 04:30  |  Tony Price 13/04/09
  190.   whiskey-sources of my confusion 05:00  |  ghostoflutherblisset 13/04/09
  191.   right to pray 05:15  |  opensoc 13/04/09
  192.   right to pray Nº 2 05:17  |  opensoc 13/04/09
  193.   #178 - Janice is right 05:30  |  Ricardo 13/04/09
  194.   comparison to USA 06:17  |  Mike 13/04/09
  195.   181Sorry, Whiskey, you are wrong 06:18  |  Eylo 13/04/09
  196.   John Mark how about preaching to Moslem countries? 06:22  |  Eve 13/04/09
  197.   To "Objective Reader" #134 06:32  |  PS 13/04/09
  198.   Observing rites 07:52  |  Lola 13/04/09
  199.   134 Objective Does an "Armenian" follow Armenian sect religion? 08:15  |  Eve 13/04/09
  200.   To Lola ...On Observing rites..And here is my point 14:51  |  Whiskey 13/04/09
  201.   hanna 166 23:37  |  potobac 13/04/09
  202.   Leave Your Baggage Behind 03:26  |  Justin White 14/04/09
  203.   A question for GL 08:28  |  Mac 15/04/09
  204.   Hey,ghostoflutherblisset..A bit late.23rd today.Had replied but 01:43  |  Whiskey 24/04/09
  205.   to Humble Jew #3 10:09  |  zeev 04/06/09
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