The Broken Theology of Charedim

They don't even believe it themselves

Charedi theology differs from traditional Biblical and rabbinic Judaism. Charedim believe - or purport to believe - that everything is decided by Hashem, and man’s physical, material, worldly actions have no genuine significance.

Hashem decides security. October 7th didn’t happen because the IDF was inadequate in its role, it happened because of people’s aveiros. The IDF is irrelevant; it’s the Torah learning of charedi yeshivos that defends Israel. And Hashem decides parnassah; education is irrelevant.

And yet in actuality, the financial survival of the charedi community rests on government welfare, since they are too under-educated and underemployed to be able to support themselves. And this in turn requires them to be part of the government, so that they can extract special funding (as well as not having court decisions against their eligibility for various forms of funding).

And they know it. That’s why they fight so strongly for government funding and cooperative legislation, and are so furious with the non-Likud politicians and judges and others who make this difficult for them. They rage against them, using the most horrible language. These are not the words and actions of people who truly believe that it’s actually Hashem Who is allocating parnassah and deciding who goes to prison based on the Torah and mitzvos that charedim perform.

It’s important to point out the sheer rank inconsistency between what charedim profess to believe, and what they actually believe as evinced by their words and actions. And maybe one day they themselves will come to realize it.