Moloch, Religion, and Population
The Haredim “problem” we have in Israel is also a Moloch Trap. The Muslim “problem” in the rest of the western world is similar but different. Let’s start with the first: Judaism, like every religion, has a convoluted history that left us with the branches we have today. We have Reformists, Conservatives, and Orthodox sects (Let’s leave the Secular and Traditionalists out of this one). The newer ones, Reformists and Conservatives, have only been around for a few decades and are still a minority. But Orthodox Jews aren’t that simple either. There are many subsects of those. But this point applies to basically all of them: They have more children per family than any other denomination, 6.6 children on average according to recent data compared to 2.1-2.4 that is the general average. This means that over time, Orthodox Jews will become a bigger and bigger part of the population. A part that, in Israel at least, mostly distance themselves from everyday life of work, military service, and participation in the mechanisms of the state (some don’t. I had a couple in my university preparation classes), a part that will more and more require financial support from the smaller and smaller population of active tax payers. Despite more and more Orthodox and “Ultra-Orthodox” people splitting off in favor of regular life every year, their leaders, the Rabbis and “Askanim”, actually work to keep those societies isolated and under control. So yes, it’s easy to point at them and their lifestyle that Continue Reading →
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