This is a very upsetting post to write, as it shows that the lessons of certain mistakes and failures still haven’t been learned.

I’ve been getting a lot of criticism offline (and on other blogs) for my last post on Rav Bina. Apparently in certain segments of the Orange community it is becoming unacceptable to do anything but hate and reject, and if you aren’t one of us, then you are one of them.

Last year I spoke with a group of pre-Army age kids and all they could tell me is how they won’t serve in the IDF and how evil it was.

I suspect, that because of a lack of direction, of a defined strategy, of any achievable goals, part of my community is reaching an extreme position that is defined by exclusions and rejection rather than action and change.

This past summer we watched brave young Jews willingly sacrifice their lives for the People of Israel in a war that our Erev Rav dragged us into.

But will you be the one to tell Roi Klein’s family that he was a frier for defending the Jewish people for whatever reason we forced into fighting?

Maybe it’s time to consider that Jews like Roi were on the right path? That one way to make change is to be there, getting your hands dirty, setting an example, and doing what is right.

Maybe Feiglin has it right. He is one of the few people presenting a strategy, a direction, a goal. Is it achievable? Perhaps if people weren’t acting like total rejectionists it could be.

Maybe Nadia Matar has it right. She openly welcomes criticism of what she says and does (from our side of the table), and then gives solid, powerful, devastating answers, instead of simply dismissing and rejecting her critics as if they didn’t exist.

And each one has their own path they are taking to bring about positive change for Am Yisrael.

Diversity within our community must be embraced. Everyone taking a monolithic position of rejection and hate will not bring about any change. Accepting that there are multiple paths to achieving our goals, and realizing which goals are achievable now, and which ones will take time is too important to ignore.

Making enemies of friends is not the answer. It’s not the answer to reject instead of challenging, influencing and eventually dominating. Forgetting that “Derech Eretz Kadma L’Torah” doesn’t do our society any good.

I don’t have a real ending for this post, except to say that if you aren’t part of the solution, then you are part of the problem and extreme rejectionist, exclusionary positions are not part of the solution if we are to rebuild our Jewish society in Israel the way we want it to be.