Media incitement against chareidim is old hat an automatic Pavlovian reaction against their favorite bête noir. Were there no chareidim they would have to be invented for the benefit of the secular elites and their servile media. Whipping boys are hard to find.

Recently however the incitement has become unusually shrill. Granted chareidi society is far from perfect and the behavior of some of its adherents far from exemplary. But even though one expects higher standards from those who defend Torah values the fact is that whenever a chareidi commits a wrong that would normally be reported on page 15 the anti-religious media faithful to the tradition of yellow journalism pounce on it and create a media circus: screaming headlines attack columns admonishing editorials.

Certainly the ugly behavior of some chareidi hooligans such as those in Beit Shemesh are abhorrent. They bring shame to the name of G-d Torah and Orthodox Jewry trampling upon the pleasant dracheha darchei noam face of Torah. Still one cannot help wondering: if say Israeli Russian hooligans — and not chareidim — were committing such outrages would the liberal media condemn the entire population of Russians?

Fast forward to the unique new Feldheim Yom Tov machzor. Until now all machzorim were designed for Israel and for the Diaspora because only in this way could they be commercially viable. But the need to produce one machzor for both communities created numerous opportunities for prayerful confusion. For example Israelis celebrate only one day of Yom Tov instead of the normative Diaspora two days. And of course on the day after Yom Tov in Israel Diaspora Jews are still celebrating the last day of Yom Tov. Machzor publishers historically made valiant efforts to address everyone’s prayer needs within one volume but with this new publication the wide net is no longer necessary.

Now to connect the dots: The fact that Israel now has enough Jews to justify the publication of machzorim for Israelis alone demonstrates that in Israel there exists today a critical mass of davening Jews — i.e. Jews across the religious spectrum. This mass is increasing exponentially — at a rate far beyond the rest of the country. A leading demographer estimates that within one generation the chareidi population alone will constitute fully one-third of the entire Israeli population without even counting the other Orthodox Israelis. In effect religious Jews through numbers political influence and economic strength are on the verge of becoming the dominant force in Israeli society.

Such a prospect terrifies the ideological secularists and the elite opinion leaders. (I refer here to the secular ideologues who are few in number but large in influence and not to the majority of nonobservant Israelis who are respectful of Torah.) Their vision of Israel as just another democratic state — k’chol hagoyim — is rapidly evaporating. Fear and trembling has set in. Circle the wagons! The chareidim are coming! Aware that they are losing the battle for Israel’s soul the long knives come out. Opposition leader Tzippi Livni on December 28 said it openly: Unless something is done immediately about the chareidi school system ”Israel’s character will change in ten years.” And another government official chimed in immediately that “families with eight-plus children are sinning against society.” On cue their media flacks sensationalize every chareidi misdeed into an international cause celebre.

But it is not only the black be-peyosed be-caftaned and be-shtreimeled Jews who ignite their fear; their apprehension and distrust extends to the full Orthodox spectrum even to strictly observant kippah-srugah officers in elite units in the Israel Defense Forces. The secular future is gradually dissipating: one can almost sympathize with these unanchored Israeli Jews and their frenetic — and pathetic — exercises in irreligious coercion. Last flings tend to get out of hand.

Granted it remains to be seen whether the Orthodox are inherently capable of handling a dominant role in Israel. In the interim however the Israeli-only Yom Tov machzor is a harbinger of huge spiritual tectonic shifts — a volume that speaks volumes.