"Elad Tzadikov: 'Celebrating Chanukah with Christmas? Don't You Realize You've Gone Too Far?'"

A Christmas tree was placed at the entrance of a college, children's coloring pages featuring Christian figures, and Merry Christmas wishes appearing on contact sheets brought home by kids from kindergartens — these are just some of the examples Elad Tzadikov recalls in one breath during our conversation. 'We are on the eve of Chanukah, a time when we want so much to celebrate the Jewish victory and feel it,' he says with pain, 'How terrible it is to see that precisely around this holiday, more and more symbols of Christian holidays invade the Jewish people.'

Elad Tzadikov, Chairman of the 'Ofeq' organization focused on Jewish advocacy, and also a member of the Herzliya City Council, feels a mission to shout out this lament. He is a longstanding ba'al teshuva who found his way to Judaism after years of living in Herzliya Pituach by the beach, making money, and overall enjoying the good life. 'Precisely I, as someone who knows the pleasures of the world from the other side, can testify to how there is nothing in them. It is for this reason that it pains me so much when I see people trying so hard to introduce foreign influences into the Jewish people. They don't understand that as Jews we have everything and don't need to receive anything from other sources.'

Tzadikov pauses for a moment and asks, 'Have you heard of the term "Hanukkricmas"? It is supposedly a novel combination of the words "Chanukah", a Jewish holiday, and "Christmas", a concept from Christianity. Recently, I heard of several places in the country where they are trying to promote joint celebrations — both Chanukah and Christmas. Personally, it hurts me. To think of mixing holiness with secularism, Torah words with Christian words. There is nothing more terrible and awful than that.'

(Photo: shutterstock)

'Advanced Bodies with Huge Budgets'

The phenomenon where Christian concepts sneak in under the radar without anyone stopping them is something Tzadikov is well acquainted with. He has many examples: 'Take, for instance, the Navon School in Herzliya, considered one of the top-level schools in the country. It doesn't stop it from promoting lately a Halloween party — a Catholic Christian holiday. The parents' committee invited the children to celebrate "Halloween" at school, and it almost came to fruition. Ultimately, thanks to the intervention of several parents who expressed their personal opinion, the celebrations were stopped and turned into a small event with only six children participating.

'In another event that took place precisely in Be'er Ya'acov,' he adds, 'the school organized an exhibition where the teacher presented the Christian Easter alongside the Jewish Passover. Recently, I also heard about a school that held an impressive exhibition marking the bat mitzvah program for the girls, which included, among other things, swastikas. Not to mention the contents of the Educational Technology Center — they define themselves as educational, but regularly infuse their study contents with very tendentious information, far removed from the Jewish religion.'

According to Tzadikov, these things don't happen by chance. 'There is an increasing reality in our country where different organizations are trying forcefully to take over discourse and consciousness in Israel,' he clarifies. 'I am referring to wealthy funds and bodies that over the last 30 years gained very significant power in the country. This is expressed not only in the education system but also in media bodies, courts, and academia, essentially all possible systems. These bodies try to take over every good part.'

What do you mean by "trying to take over"?

'We are talking about very professional bodies trying to implant the progressive and liberal perception. They have been operational for years, through organizations we all recognize by name like "Breaking the Silence", "Betselem", etc. However, in recent years they realized it would be difficult to pursue a route where they try to delegitimize Israel and the IDF, since most of the population in the country is Zionist-oriented, so they are trying a new method — dismantling Jewish identity. Their aspiration is to deconstruct family units and Jewish identity, creating a situation where the State of Israel is a state "for all its citizens", making Jews supposedly equal to Christians, Muslims, and Eritreans.

'You need to understand that they operate with great force,' Tzadikov continues illustrating. 'They have high budgets and strategic maneuvers working very strongly and accurately, thanks to hundreds of organizations that stand behind them and fund them. They have access to almost every governmental role or ministry, so they manage to place their people in every place and work in a most strategic manner.'

'The Ofeq organization, which I lead, was established to serve as a response to this warfare, but unfortunately remains far behind them in terms of capabilities. We do not have budgets like they do and we cannot penetrate all those key positions to fight them head-on. The only thing we can do is try to act through advocacy, trying to create dialogue with the Israeli people on matters related to Judaism and clarify what's hidden behind the desire to introduce those foreign contents into us.'

How can you wage war in such a situation?

'It's true that seemingly in nature's course we have almost no chance against these organizations because they are wealthy and embedded in the strongest places there are. Additionally, they manage the public and media discourse in the country, which means that they have initially taken over the ability to deliver messages.

'But we have something else to which we cling — it's Hashem, He is with us and the source of our strength. Just like in the days of the Maccabees when Hashem accompanied the few in their war against the Greeks, so will it be with us. Even in the Chanukah story, we talk so much about the Jews who were a small handful and managed to overcome the many Greeks, all thanks to their faith and because they called, 'Whoever is for Hashem, join me.'

'A War for All Purposes'

Among his other activities, Tzadikov recently began appearing in a new program on the Hidabroot channel called 'Giluay Naot' ('Disclose with Honesty'). 'The program airs every Tuesday evening, revealing early parts of what's happening in the public space,' he describes. 'In each of the episodes, we bring up very harsh stories about contents that managed to infiltrate the Jewish people, and we try not only to surface the issue but also to tackle it and provide an answer. After the program ends, it also goes up on the active Facebook page of the website.

'I believe,' he says, 'that by bringing such contents to the Hidabroot channel, we simultaneously fight programs broadcasted elsewhere with very strong expressions of faulty content, like the appalling program 'The Jews Are Coming' which we fought with all our might after realizing just how much it portrays biblical content in the most distorted and problematic way imaginable. We acted with all force, both legally and through political warfare, and that is what we plan to do, with God's help, in any field that comes our way and we hear about it.'   

But more than anything, he hopes to find a path to the hearts of individual people: 'I believe that most of the population in Israel does not identify with problematic contents. The reason people do not denounce these contents is that they are truly naive and do not understand what's so terrible about marking Christian holidays at school alongside Jewish holidays, or organizing exhibitions with displays that are the complete opposite of Judaism. There are also people who aren't naive but feel "enlightened." As if they're liberal — incorporating both Jewish and Christian cultures. But they don't understand the great problem that might arise. This is precisely why I reach out to parents, educators. Come, try to contact us, together we will try to fight in any way possible.

'Additionally, we want to inform the public that we have a hotline where we answer parents and people interested in learning about events they encountered. Through this line, many parents and students have already contacted us, and we stood behind them as they protested. Because again, our goal is not just to raise awareness but also to lead practical steps.'

According to Tzadikov, within the framework of the program, they plan to address a different topic each week. 'Unfortunately, there are many fields under that title,' he says, 'and we try to act in all of them, to the best of our ability, including in the Haredi education.'

Are you telling me that even Haredi education has started to absorb these contents?

'Unfortunately, this indeed is happening, although in Haredi education we're talking about much more refined content, but still they arrive under the guise of liberal and open movements allegedly trying to expose the public to concepts distant from religion. It is a real challenge to identify this, and therefore it is so important for people to keep their fingers on the pulse because the danger is greater than one might imagine. People sometimes feel embarrassed when they encounter such materials, thinking it bothers them because they're a bit old-fashioned or conservative, not understanding that it's about really introducing forbidden materials. It’s war for all intents and purposes. Here are people who want to dismantle our Judaism, and we must roll up our sleeves and fight with all our might.'

Are you personally not afraid of leading such warfare against such established bodies?

'I am not afraid. Our activities are conducted from start to finish solely according to the law, and we have experienced lawyers accompanying us. I can also add that I am definitely optimistic. After all, throughout all generations, we have been under spiritual threats, and Hashem protects us beyond the natural way. We only have to do our efforts and pray to Hashem, asking Him to continue helping us now as He helped our ancestors in those days.'