Open Letter to Justice Noam Sohlberg: It Is Time to Lower the Temperature of Hatred

In an open letter to Justice Noam Sohlberg, Adi Mintz argues that violence against Haredim and the radicalization of public discourse are endangering Israeli society, and calls on the court to lead a calming approach based on trust, dialogue and gradual enlistment. A few days ago, your wife Meira stood outside her home after the pogrom it had endured and said in pain, "We are children of Holocaust survivors, Jews hurting each other like this, what is this, Kristallnacht?" Her words were moving. And I, as a member of the national-religious public, want to be clear and sharp: what was done at your home is a grave criminal act. Smashing windows, hurling violence, terrifying your family in Alon Shvut, these are unimaginable acts. No protest, no frustration, no real or imagined injustice justifies turning a judge's home into a target. This is unquestionably a dangerous crossing of a red line. Legitimate protest is the pillar of democracy, violence is the water that extinguishes it. Yet דווקא מתוך זירת ההרס והרפש הזו, שבחרה בך ככתובת, I want to direct an unusual appeal to you: please take on the role of the responsible adult. At this time, when significant and decisive parts of Israeli society have completely lost their trust in President Amit and see the judicial system as an opposing, political side in the conflict, many eyes are on you. As deputy president, as someone deeply connected both to the world of Torah and to Religious Zionism, you have a unique status and decisive moral authority to extinguish the flames and lower the level of hatred, even if this is not a judge's classic or formal role in the Supreme Court.

In the Torah portion of Vayeshev, it is told of Joseph's brothers: "And they hated him yet more... and could not speak peaceably unto him." We know היטב where that hatred led, to "they conspired against him to kill him," and I fear something similar, on a different but threatening scale, is happening among us. Years ago, the Haredi public was a minority that was "tolerated" by parts of Israeli society. Today, in significant sectors, the attitude has become outright hatred. Hatred that has already crossed political camps. I recently heard, with alarm, a friend from a community saying, "I am no longer willing to include Haredim in a minyan. They are no longer my brothers." When prayer itself becomes a tool of boycott, it is clear that our society is sick.

According to the Berl Katznelson Foundation's Hatred Report, Haredim are at the top of the list of those who absorb hate speech in the media. Expressions such as "parasites," "leeches" and "pests," "plunderers" and "enemies of the Zionist enterprise," are used in sweeping generalizations that make no distinction between one person and another. We have heard media figures openly propose imposing an "economic lockdown" on Haredi cities and denying them basic infrastructure services. These ideas are common in blogs, opinion columns and unofficial media. Before our eyes, a slow, prolonged and frightening process of dehumanization is taking place. The terrible results of this hatred are already exploding in public view. We see Haredi families, women and children, absorbing curses and spitting in the streets of mixed cities; we witness physical attacks on young Haredi men on buses and in shopping centers simply because of their appearance; and we are also experiencing a deep fracture within the national-religious public, parts of which have adopted a forceful and crushing language toward their brothers. This leads to extreme Haredi entrenchment, to a deep sense of persecution that only pushes away any chance of integration, and to an irreparable rupture that will paralyze the state from within at its most difficult hour.

There is no doubt that Haredim have a primary share in this hatred, the cries of "we will die before we enlist," the hateful grunts heard from young men of the Jerusalem Faction, and foolish statements by Haredi Knesset members, rabbis and public leaders certainly fan the flames, but is the question now "who started?" This dynamic cannot be separated from the successful and well-funded campaign of left-wing organizations, which managed to penetrate precisely into the national-religious media, with the help of the organized activity of the women of "Partners in Service." This campaign turned the public debate over the enlistment law into something toxic and full of hatred. But an equally significant contribution to this deterioration was made by law enforcement systems. The attorney general's instruction to police to begin criminal arrests of young Haredim who reached draft age, without any distinction between those who sit in the tent of Torah and those who do not, fueled the fire ["and a man that soweth discord among brethren," as King Solomon said in Proverbs 6:19]. More than that, it tightened the ranks of the Haredim. Even "working Haredim" or "liberal Haredim" are now joining the struggle against the arrests.

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court is not free of responsibility for this unhappy dynamic either. In the main hearing in HCJ 5819/24, which dealt with draft enforcement, extraordinary and sharp remarks were heard from the panel. Justice Yael Wilner asked the state prosecutor's representative why the state was not acting forcefully to stop thousands of Haredi draft evaders, and even suggested, "We can prepare a place in the detention facilities and arrest 2,000 or 3,000, let's start small." You also described the police position in that hearing as "complete failure." I understand the desire to enforce the law, but when language of "detention facilities" and "let's start arresting thousands" is heard from the Supreme Court, what message does that send to the street? The attorney general's instruction to police to arrest every young Haredi who reached draft age, without distinguishing between those immersed in the study hall and those who are not, and the High Court that did not stop this policy, added fuel to the fire. The arrests are perceived in the community not as equal enforcement of the law, but as persecution. And in retrospect, one cannot ignore the contribution of the legal track, which here acts like Zechariah ben Avkulas, to this deterioration, turning an effort at integration into a crushing criminal arrest campaign that is seen by the Haredi public as religious persecution in every respect. It powerfully activates the sacred principle of "as water reflects the face, so one human heart to another," the hatred and forcefulness on one side generate hatred and forcefulness on the other, and these destructive results are now, to our sorrow, crashing against the windows of your own home.

What am I asking of you? Lowering the level of hatred is vital to our souls, it is existential. The solution will not come through force, show arrests or bars, but through a complete change of paradigm, restoring trust and leading a discourse based on gradual enlistment and broad agreements, while making it clear that anyone who is not studying Torah will be drafted into suitable frameworks. Honorable Justice Sohlberg, you are the deputy president of the Supreme Court. To significant parts of Israeli society that do not place their trust in Justice Amit, you are seen as a more balanced and trustworthy representative. This is a rare asset. Use it.

For that, there must be a clear and formal commitment by Israeli society, and by the judicial system בראשו, which you can help lead, that there is no intention whatsoever to "turn members of the Haredi community away from their faith." The frameworks that are built in the army must be absolutely adapted, to ensure that whoever enters them Haredi will leave the security system Haredi. Enlistment should be gradual and through dialogue, built on trust, not through an arrest campaign that reminds Haredim of persecutions they do not forget. The duty to lower the level of hatred is vital to all of us. But you, honorable Justice, now have a special power to do so. The fire that the court helped ignite, the court must help extinguish. Honorable Justice Sohlberg, the position carries obligations, and time is running out. With your power and integrity, you can lead the judicial system toward a balanced, calming and statesmanlike approach that will stop the devilish dance, extinguish the blaze and save our common home before it is completely burned down.