Amir Hetsroni
Polish lesson for Israel
Israel should follow Polish example when it comes to religion’s place in public life
Poland is one of the world’s most religious states. About 50% of all poles attend church on Sunday – more than twice the number of Israelis who attend synagogue on Shabbat. Meanwhile, more than 80% of Poles define themselves as “believers,” compared to only 50% in Israel.
Despite this, whoever wishes to travel on public transportation on Sundays in Poland can do it easily, and stores are also open as long as their owners are interested in opening them. Meanwhile, around here the buses and stores are paralyzed by law over the weekend as not to desecrate the Shabbat.
While Israelis who wish to eat hametz in Passover have to travel to a limited number of rebellious Tel Aviv restaurants who dare violate the law, a Pole who is interested in devouring a steak on the Friday before Easter, where Catholics are ordered to avoid meat, can order meat at almost any restaurant, even at the most conservative and religious towns.
The Poles very much like to hold wedding ceremonies at church, yet divorce is only done in line with secular laws at civil courts. Nonetheless, no archbishop warns that secular marriage laws will mark the Polish people’s demise.
The most amazing thing in Poland perhaps, from an Israeli perspective, is that despite the fact that so many Poles frequent church, Polish priests, as opposed to our rabbis, do not expect the government to pay their salary or cover their expenses. The Poles internalized that religion is the private matter of the believer, and that believers need to pay the expenses of faith out of their own pocket.
Iran-style solutions
When the communist regime collapsed at the end of the 1980s, Poland could have turned into a religious state of the type our religious parties dream of. Fortunately for the Poles, the Catholic Church, as opposed to Jewish Orthodoxy, no longer attempts to force itself upon the public. It is difficult to think of a Polish priest, and even a particularly ambitious one, who would seriously attempt to establish a religious party such as Shas, United Torah Judaism, or Habayit Hayehudi, or legislate laws that would force religious customs on those who do not wish to adhere to them.
It is also difficult to imagine Polish clerics arguing that they should regularly take part in shaping their country’s foreign and defense policy; we also won’t find a Polish council of religious sages that would make pretenses to express its views on matters that are not wholly religious.
In the wake of Holocaust Remembrance Day, where we mentioned Poland mostly as the site of Nazi concentration camps, we would do well to remember that there are quite a few positive things to learn from this country, which faced a similar challenge to ours in respect to religion’s place in public life, and did it successfully.
Unfortunately, instead of following the example of the modern Poland, we tend to adopt Iran-style and Saudi-style solutions.
Therefore, I will end with a secular and Polish tip to our religious politicians: Had you not attempted to force your way of life upon us, and had you not insisted that synagogues, mikvahs, and your religious councils would be funded by our tax money, perhaps we would show greater appreciation to the unique cultural contribution of the Jewish faith to our lives – just like the less religious among the Poles usually appreciate the Catholic Church’s cultural contribution to their lives.
Dr. Amir Hetsroni is a senior communication lecturer at the Ariel University Center of Samaria
