By: Etana Hecht
As many of you know, this past week in Bet Shemesh has not been pleasant one. For those of you who have been hearing bits here and there, or reading articles in the press, I’d like to give my account as a Bet Shemesh resident.
I’m not an Orot parent (yet! hopefully next year), and I don’t even currently live in Sheinfeld (the Dati Leumi neighborhood across from the school), but I lived there for three years, hope to move back sometime soon and am a Bet Shemesh resident. I’ve been here for eight years, and from the very beginning loved this city. The community of Sheinfeld is amazing, warm, and welcoming with terrific people and shuls. When we first moved in, the Ultra-orthodox community of RBS B was new, and expanding all the time. Slowly the buildings of RBS expanded until they were directly across from the border of Sheinfeld. Gezundeheit, welcome to the neighborhood.
When tensions started due to signs that were put up across the street demanding women who walk through ‘their’ streets be dressed properly, some Sheinfeld people decided to try and diffuse the tension. We had a Mishloach Manot program where each Sheinfeld family got a name of one of our new neighbors across the street and sent them a super kosher, badatz eida chareidit, closed packaged Mishloach Manot. Lovely, there were some very nice people who lived there and responded with thanks. However, not all of them were so warm to our greetings. Unfortunately, a group of what we now refer to as Kitzonim (extremists) moved in from Meah Shearim. This group self appointed themselves as G-d’s personal messengers to deliver messages to all those who they believe are not living their lives exactly how G-d intended us to live. The main point that they bring across with this is their twisted views of Tzniut (modesty). This has manifested itself in a number of ways, over the years including spray painting our property with their messages, chasing and screaming at teenage girls and boys from our neighborhood, spitting at the women who were wearing sandals, even throwing an egg at one girl from our area. I’ve heard psychologists say that this behavior can be stemming from sexual repression, but that’s neither here nor there. The point is, they moved into a mixed city, and started demanding that their new neighbors (who have been here for decades) transform into Bnei Brakers. Now, obviously, we are not total friars (suckers), although sometimes it feels like we are. This has caused various tense periods over the years, during flare ups.
Now that you have some background, here is the issue we are dealing with today. On the border of Sheinfeld, Nofei Hashemesh, and Nofei Aviv (three lovely Dati Leumi neighborhoods) sits a plot of land with two schools that mainly cater to those three neighborhoods. Orot Banim (boys’ school) and Orot Banot (girls’ school). Overlooking the girls’ school are the new buildings on the edge of RBS B that, due to extremely poor planning by the city, reach all the way on the border of ‘our’ neighborhoods. Orot Banot has been waiting for years for their building to be ready, and this year, finally, the girls looked forward to moving into their new school.
About a week before school was scheduled to start, our neighbors started causing some trouble. They broke into the brand new school, did some vandalizing, threw some rocks, and made it very clear that they were not happy about having a bunch of 6-12 year old Dati Leumi girls learning Torah next door to them. Unfortunately, our mayor is completely wrapped around the fingers of these horrible terrorists. (For that’s what they are, as the definition acc. to www.dictionary.com is
violence or threats of violence used for intimidation or coercion;
terrorism.) Our lovely mayor, Moshe Abutbol, may he be dethroned bimhaira biyameinu, sent out a message that the girls should not start school in that location, for fear that they may get hurt. Um, hello?!?! How about doing your job as advocate for the citizens of your city and removing the threat, instead of those being threatened? Shame on anyone who voted for this thug. Anyway, after 4 straight days of protests from our community (which he was clearly NOT expecting) B”H the school opened on time, and even uneventfully. Until earlier this week. On Monday, as the girls were getting dismissed, a large group of kitzonim showed up at dismissal, lined the streets on both sides, and made it extremely unpleasant for these little girls to get to their buses/walk home. They also threw a rock into the boys’ school and hurt a boy in the leg. They were carrying bricks threateningly. There was much shouting of Shiksa (non-jew) and Prutza (promiscuous girl). (Which, cutely enough, our girls thought they were being called Shnitzel and Pizza) There was chasing, shouting, even some shoving. Parents showed up as quickly as possible and the situation escalated. One of their ‘leaders’, a man named Moshe Friedman was quoted saying that they’ll fight every day for 20 years until there is no longer a girls school next door. Unnamed people from our side saw no choice but to fight fire with fire. They had ‘pashkeveilim’ (fliers) made up with some of the ringleader’s pictures on it and the caption “so and so likes to stare at little girls. How do we know? Every day they show up at Orot Banot to see them as the girls come out of school”. On Tuesday, they kept their distance from the school but gathered to shout across the street from Sheinfeld, and then took it even farther. A school bus from a school in RBS called Ahavat Yisrael, (incidentally the school my 10 year old sister attends) dropped off the Sheinfeld girls at the corner. The thugs actually chased two seven year old girls down the street screaming after them. What kind of person picks a fight with a little girl?!?! Needless to say, these little girls are traumatized.
After that, a request was sent out to parents, and members of the general community to show up at dismissal time to walk the girls down the block so they feel support, and don’t have to walk alone. In addition, if large numbers of parents show up hopefully it’ll deter ‘them’ from showing up. I went on Wednesday with my husband and my father. There were about 50-60 of ‘our’ men there, and many women as well, both parents and non-parents of the school, showing up for support. I made a couple of trips up and down the block with girls who needed to walk to the bus stop or their house across the street. It was the saddest thing, walking with these cute 10 or 11 year old girls and hear them saying as we walked down the block “Baruch Hashem the scary men aren’t out today”. Where are we that little girls need to be scared of men coming to terrorize them as they walk out of school?!?! From a violent point of view, it was b”H calm yesterday. However, all up and down Rechov Herzog ( the block of the school) there were verbal confrontations taking place.
Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not someone who likes to pick a fight. I’m peaceful, and by nature tend to believe the best in people. Having said that, I went over to a few of the Chasidish wives who were standing around and started talking to them. I said “hi, I just want to talk. I hate this battling between Jews. Can anyone here tell me what’s going on?” One lady appointed herself spokeswoman and starts shouting about tznius. I said ” relax, no need to raise your voice, I’m just here to talk. I want to hear what you have to say”. She said ” When I take my boys outside I don’t want them seeing girls in short sleeves and without socks” She went on in that vein for a couple of minutes. I let her talk, and then when she finished I said “I understand what you said, now please listen to me. Our community has been here for 20 years. The girls’ school was slated to be there before your buildings were even a thought in anyone’s head. YOU CHOSE to move into an already mixed city. You didn’t move to Bnei Brak, you moved to a place where there are all sorts of people walking around, and the men can’t go around terrorizing people if they don’t like how they’re dressed.” She had nothing to say to that and turned around and walked away, but not before one of her friends shoved the camera lady next to me.
Next incident… a bunch of the parents who showed up had their family dogs with them, all on leashes of course. There were many kids who were scared, and I felt bad because they were just little kids. I saw a group of chareidi teenage girls, probably around 13 years old. They were gathered on the sidewalk, clearly wanting to walk but scared of a dog. I have nothing against these fellow Jews, I went over and offered to walk with them past the dog. They stare at me like I’m an alien and one of them blurts out “Why did you Chilonim (secular Jews) build a Chiloni school next to our houses”. I felt like I was slapped, and when I retold it to a reporter a few minutes later I couldn’t keep the tears from coming. I went home feeling sadder about this absurd situation than I can even explain. I literally felt sick from it and couldn’t sleep last night.
Now, Thursday afternoon, I just got back from Orot and I’m happy to report that we did everything we were supposed to, as did the police. Non- Orot parents were stationed along Herzog to make the kids feel comfortable as they walked up to the bus. There was zero provocation from our side, everyone was just there to show support for the girls. We were able to see a group of the troublemakers start to make their way towards Herzog, but B”H the police held them in a little alley that met up with Herzog and didn’t let them come onto the street until all the girls were safely where they needed to go. They shouted their chants, but couldn’t get close to the kids. There was a bit of commotion when a single trouble maker started shouting and walking down Herzog from the other direction. The police ushered him into the path with the others, and when they resisted, took him away in a police car.
I don’t know what will be, and how this will end. I pray that somehow, these Kitzonim will quietly disappear from our beloved city of Bet Shemesh. However, until that happens we need to keep up the fight as peacefully as possible so as not to lose our city to them. We need the greater non-chareidi, and “american Yeshivish” community to not only support us, but join in the fight, because they need to realize that they’re next.
I know this was long, but the purpose was to show you the view of someone who’s here, who’s been here for awhile and who doesn’t want to go anywhere. I also want to dispel the rumor that it’s a two sided battle. That couldn’t be farther from the truth. This has been all the way through, a ONE SIDED provocation, with side two coming in to do what we need to do to protect our girls and our community.
Read more about charedi madness on 4torah.com
{ 72 comments… read them below or add one }
Maybe I’m a “friar”, but this doesn’t seem very satiric to me. It seems like the ordinary state of affairs in Israel. When this sort of violence occurs in my county, the police arrest the perpetrators and they get jail time. We just had a “flash mob” of kids rob a store, and the police have identified and arrested them all. The Israeli police should do the same. If a grown man harasses a young girl, the police should arrest the man for criminal intimidation. In the US, if any contact occurs, this is a felony, otherwise it is at least a misdemeanor. The community should also sue each of these men civilly for intentional infliction of emotional distress and defamation (calling innocent girls names which are factually untrue). After winning the suits, they can foreclose on these chareidi houses, forcing them out of the neighborhood. Perhaps after enough of these chareidi men are jailed or sued, they’ll stop the violence.
CSF,
I don’t think that Heshy meant this as satire. He obviously strongly agrees with the guest poster and wanted to publicize her story. Not everything he posts here is satire.
Heshy, was this originally posted on another blog? Does Etana have her own blog? I wanted to link to the original source, if possible.
I wonder if you people noticed that the author is not me – the author is a dear fan of mine who sent this to me last week and I just found time to put it up.
This was first posted on Cross Currents.
Thanks for posting, Heshy. I don’t have a blog, I’ve never really written before. I originally posted it as a facebook note and it’s public for whoever wants to share it.
Thanks for writing this, Etana. I linked to it on Facebook. The more people who are aware of what’s going on, the better. Kol Hakavod for trying to reach across the lines to some of the charedim, yet still staying firm.
Rational Judaism also has some materials on this story, including some videos. This is not satire. I know people in Bet Shemesh who are enduring this madness.
But we need some satire here… so I suggest that we set up an international conference where we can invite these guys, Wahabis, Falun Gong, and some North Koreans, where they can have panels and expert talks by radicals sociopaths and religious nut-jobs. There would be an expo hall where you can pick up all sorts of t-shirts, spray-paint cans, pasheviel making tools. The best part would be the Birds-of-a-Feather workshops where you can learn from the experts in how to intimidate the locals and threaten the authorities.
Who would be the Keynote?
I assume these will end up in the Spam bucket, but hopefully Heshy will release them too.
http://www.rationalistjudaism.com/2011/09/bet-shemesh-update.html
and http://www.rationalistjudaism.com/2011/09/terrorism-in-bet-shemesh.html
And this one (today) of an egg thrown a the little girls. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eN80iXsyLAE
That video was taken by my father. He’s the one who screamed back at them after the egg was thrown.
And he edited the rest of the things he screamed at them.
Falun Gong doesnt belong in that list.
You are right — I meant Aum Shinrikyo.
My bad to confuse the two. What do I know, I went to Yeshiva.
Hope Iran blows the hell out of the extremists neighborhoods! Even Achminjab can do a mitzvah!
GO AHMADIJINIDIDAD!!!! BLOW UP PEOPLE WE DON’T LIKE!!!! WHOOHOO!!!!!!!
etana:
please post also on torah musings and other like sites. this needs to get out. also all of the weeklies like the forward – i’m sure they would like to interview you…
scott- its a nice idea, but our neighborhoods are way too close for that
Dkbrk- thanks but I wouldn’t know who to send this to or contact.
You just lost any respect I had for you and your article. Do you really think that scott’s idea for Iran to bomb the extremist neighborhoods a “nice idea”?!
I hope that OROT has better ambassadors than people like you.
Don’t you have a sense of humor? If you understand anything about what’s going on here you’d know that these neighborhood are very tightly intertwined.
However, it would, in all seriousness, make sense for these extremists to live in Teheran. They would be much more comfortable with their ideological soul-mates in a radical Islamic culture.
Yes, I have a sense of humor. This was off color, and by a writer claiming to be on the side of Shalom.
all those tears shed on av 9th–just silly spritzing
People have been misled into thinking all Tisha B’Av is about is loving all Jews no matter their affiliation. Tiash B’av is about mourning for the destruction of the Holy Temples. This can include rectifying the cause of the destruction, one of which is sinas chinam, but that is not the whole point of Tisha B’Av.
These people (ostensibly) believe that little girls walking around with short sleeves and bare feet are major cause of the Beis Hamikdash not being rebuilt, and they think they are doing G-ds’ will by taunting and chasing little girls in the streets. I would bet that as cookoo as these people are, their tears on the 9th of Av were a Hell of lot more sincere than yours.
Mah hakesher? Also, nothing about these men is leading a Torah lifestyle in any way, shape, or form. They’re clearly not in Kollel if they manage to be out at any given hour to taunt our girls. Nowhere in the Torah does it demand of men to dress as though they were back in Poland, while living in one of the hottest cities in Israel.
Great read, powerful stuff.
You’re a hecht? Oh my goodness…you have yichus! Are you married, because if not, I could help…
duh, she’s got kids!
see name.
she is a super cuttie, but her husband is kind of hot too…
Thanks for the compliment – I’ll pass Zev his
Happily married, two cute kids and we’re not chabad
This whole situation makes me disgusted, and foot-stomping mad. I completely understand the author’s points about Sheinfeld being there first and these kitzonim (good word!) making a choice to move in next door. All of which are valid and righteous; however, I think this incident is a symptom of a much larger problem simmering just beneath the boil point in most Ultra-orthodox and Orthodox communities. It’s bigger than this particular neighborhood and bigger than these specific little girls right to an education free of egg throwing wackadoos, which they most certainly have.
This is an expression of a growing misogynistic backlash against women in the Ultra-Ortho/Ortho world. As more and more women assert their right to participate fully and equally in Jewish religious life, to be counted in communal prayer, and to take their fitting place on the bimah – there will be this kind of retaliation from those who wish to keep women in the role of baby machine and mikveh night receptacle.
On a practical note, perhaps the residents of Sheinfeld can take a page from the American Slut-Walk demonstrations. If all the grown women show-up to walk their children home in babydolls, bustiers, and teddies – perhaps the Ultra-nutjobs will be relieved to only expose their children to the horrors of an unstockinged seven year old.
No one walking a baby would do that in RBS- they would be stoned, and the babies would get hit. These “men” harass 6-year old girls, you really think they’re going to care about a baby?
Even if the women weren’t walking their babies, they’d still be stoned
it’s a good idea but way too life-threatening
Try a dictionary.
Walking babies? Huh? I meant a babydoll nightie.
Anyway…. Women should be able to walk where they want, wear what they want, and not have people throw things.
” Women should be able to walk where they want, wear what they want” and personal responsibility can go take a hike, right?
I don’t understand your point. I am very much for personal responsibility.
For example, women do not control the thoughts and actions of men. That is up to them. I am not forcing men into sin by exposing my elbows.
Sorry I took your comment about “wear what they want” in the context of the upper level comment regarding the “Slut Walk” rather than “uncovered elbows”.
The principle still applies…
I obviously don’t think so. When your actions are designed to provoke, don’t act shocked when people get provoked. Someone wearing a Louis Farakhan t-shirt at an ADF meeting can certainly expect some folks to be upset but of course they shouldn’t be beaten or otherwise physically attacked for it. A woman wearing something sexually provocative outside of a private context can reasonably expect negative attention as well but equally should not be attacked for it.
Theres also the basic matter that as Jews we set higher standards for ourselves than others. I’m not equating showing elbows to slut wear or excusing the lunatics, just saying that the “wear what they want” is simply not reasonable.
I assumed that it would involve walking children younger than te 6-12 bracket, as I thought Tinok was trying to appeal to these folks good sides. they have no problem bothering 6-12 year olds, and definitely no problem harrassing teenagers and adults. That leaves the babies- I was kind of visualizing the babies as shields- after all, who would do something crazy like throw a stone with a baby around- but then I thought “nah, dumb idea to risk the babies with these guys around, no one thought they’d harass kids and they did that, so why assume they’d be nice to babies?”
Kudos Etana, a very important article. Thanks for posting Heshy.
It takes a real evil to assault and terrorize children. It’s also a waste of time–these children are the future voters and military of Israel. Do you REALLY think they will support your voting bloc? Do you think they will become chareidi? Some of them may even leave the frum world altogether.
Exactly! If they want people to see the world their way and adopt a more Torah observant lifestyle (according to them), throwing eggs at children isn’t the way to go.
I think it reinforces my point about this being about the subjugation of women, with tznius as a thinly veiled excuse.
Etana! So glad you are getting this amazing article out there. The more people see what disgusting stuff is going on here the better. Hesh, thanks for posting, when are you coming to visit???
Out of curiousity, does anyone know how far Lev HaTorah is from all of this?
Sam, not too close. I’m around the corner from Lev HaTorah and it takes me 6-8 min to drive to Orot.
Al,
You are correct. Clearly my response was a joke but it was still too harsh. They absolutely need to be sitting in jail though. Calling little girls sluts is sexual harassment and defamation of character. If it were my daughter, I would do everything in my power to single out the main guys and sue them for those two offenses.
While I am 100% behind this article, I believe that there was some dispute as to whom the building was meant to be designated in the first place, it would be interesting to understand this background too – and from both positions.
There was never a dispute. Our community has been here for 20 years, and anyone in Israel knows you need to wait a looong time to get nice buildings, etc. We’ve been waiting patiently for years, they moved in 5 years ago, the kids are still learning in caravans and old buildings (like ours were were 20 years) and they’re jealous.
Update: Today there were about 10 men waiting on the roof for the girls. They didn’t know today was late dismissal so they sat there like idiots for awhile, then made their way down. However, not before they threw stink bombs into the schoolyard, and an egg at one girl who left early. Can you say pathetic? Also, where are they getting money to fund their ‘activities’? These guys are supposed to be poor kollel men. We do know that in the past the Eida Chareidit gave them money for some of their shenanigans. If you’ve ever given tzedaka to them you may consider stopping.
I would like to believe that these loonies don’t have access to funding. Eggs and hand-made signs are not very expensive. I tremble to think of the damage they would cause if they had the money for more dangerous weapons.
I have never not wanted to move to Israel more.
Thanks for posting!
This is terrible, and should in no way be covered up, but you’re just using it as another excuse for not making aliya.
Not and excuse. A reason and a valid one at that.
Don’t make judgments on my decisions – you just cause more disdain.
We’re paving the way for you
we WILL beat these guys.
I never post a comment to anything. I prefer to just read and enjoy, but this is too disturbing for words. I left a marriage where controlling Judaism was it’s main focus. Being raised secular, I came into being MO kicking and screaming. Mind you, we didn’t go charedi, but very liberal MO. Probably because my ex is a controlling person anyway he decided that making up crap about what I could and could not do (tznius, Shabbat rules, mikvah, etc.) was how HE wanted to live Torah Judaism. Reading about what is going on in Israel breaks my heart. My three children go to a Zionist Day school, but my 16 year old daughter is constantly being judged on her appearance in the neighborhood which we live and through her friends who go to the local BY. I posted this link on my FB page and hope that the secular community in which I now live will go to town. It will reinforce their disdain for the religous, but I am hoping that it will open their eyes as well.
I’m so sorry you had to go through that
Etana, thank you. Maybe that is why what is going on just gets to my heart. I totally understand the shame and confusion these girls must be feeling and the helplessness their parents feel about the authorities doing NOTHING. It just reminds me so much of what happened in the South in the US during integration in the 1960′s. In this day and age, I just can’t believe little girls are being a target for some misogynistic nonsense.
The authorities aren’t doing nothing. Maybe they could do more, but there has been a strong police presence at the school every day for the past week. Arrests have been made. These cretins may be jackasses, but there is some free speech here. Believe me, I’m not defending them. I really wouldn’t care less if they all fell off a cliff. They are control freaks and probably sexual deviants to boot.
As for Aliyah, we do live in a pressure cooker here and are on the “front lines” of this situation. There are plenty of towns and communities in Israel where there is none of this. Those of us who live here just happen to really like our community and we’re not going to let these creatures take that away from us.
Also, keep in mind, there are plenty of Jewish communities in America where people are dealing with similar garbage. There is a systemic attempt underway to fundamentalize Judaism. This must be fought at every turn.
Well said.
I’m in a larger community in the midwest and believe me, I see the influence the fundamentalists within the frum community can do to those who are MO, or, G-D forbid, Conservative or Reform. The utter contempt frum rabbis have for those NOT orthodox aren’t even veiled. This trickles down to the kids who ostracize their friends for not wearing elbow length sleeves or for showing a collarbone. Mind you, these are kids who were friends the day before, but heard some shuir on tznius and the evils of the secular world and turn on their friends. And, don’t even get me started on the rampant “behind the dumpster” activities of the BY girls and yeshiva boys. The stories my kids tell me about their so-called “more frum” friends are disgusting. My point is the rabbis can throw stones at their fellow Jews when they should really be dealing with some major issues within their own communities.
Again, this is terrible and these people need to be stopped, but to use this to “reinforce secular disdain for the religious”, or in other words, to spread hatred amongst Jews, is completely missing the point. The overwhelming majority of religious and charedim do not behave like this, and quite the contrary engage in volunteer work in far greater numbers than the regular population. And whilst you’re dissing the religious, don’t forget, amongst others, the chareidi Lupolianski who set up Yad Sarah for ALL Israelis, and another chareidi organisation Hatzalah, that works with and for ALL Israelis, http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/30-palestinians-join-ultra-orthodox-rescue-service-in-jerusalem-1.6107
Thanks for letting us know about what is happening. I plan to post a link to this on my blog on Sunday as part of the weekly Haveil Havalim blog carnival.
Hold up a sign that says bittul torah end of story
They clearly don’t care about what the Torah REALLY says. They’re control freaks.
What happened to ahavas yisrael, why can’t they accept other Jews who don’t have their stringencies in dress? It is so heartbreaking, Jew against Jew. Eytana, I feel for what you’re going through over there
(
the Duvdanim and the other Tzahal undercover sayeretim, succeed in their mission EXACTLY BECAUSE they understand their opponents’ mentality. That mentality, is bullying; and bullys are always cowards.
The Extremists are cowardly bullys, and can be neutralized with identical methods: direct application of pain.
For fear of being accused of incitement, I won’t make further suggestions, but I urge people to understand the mentality of the opposition. They aren’t in the Tzanchanim because they are scared of bearing physical pain. So take advantage of their weak facet.
Another fascinating facet is their irrational fear of dogs. Let the mind-games begin!
PS. They may be born Jews, but we all agree they are freeloaders who burden the Zionist enterprise. Don’t let tribal sentimentality get in the way of upholding fundamental needs!
(that was a different Al – obviously)
Here is a link to what appears to be an email exchange between one of the moderate charedi rabanim and someone asking him to sign a petition to oppose the harassment:
http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.com/2011/09/rav-malinowitz-correspondence-on-orot.html
ZP, read this post that was a response to the one you posted. Rav Dov Lipman summed up what we are all feeling in a beautiful way. http://lifeinisrael.blogspot.com/2011/09/response-to-claim-of-anti-haredi.html
Thank you Eitana, for this article and for your initial essay. My heart goes out to you and yours. I apologize if this may seem like rubbing salt into a wound, but it is what I think:
The appeal in this article is very heartfelt. Yet I fear that it is useless. Worse still, it seems to me that the respect and forbearance demonstrated by the author is one of the causes, rather than the solution to the problem. Until the Newskvere scandal, I would have said that charedim in Israel have been spoiled by a level of respect that far outweighs the respect that they deserve by their actions. They have grown to be comfortable with open disregard for the law of the land. But it is getting worse in diaspora as well.
In every case the excuses are always the same. The police do not want to do what they get paid to do in these neighborhoods. They are happy to accept their pay checks, but will not interfere in community affairs – unless the extent of the catastrophe actually reaches the media. The politicians will be intimidated every time by the charge of religious intolerance, and the treat of a united and zealous charedi electorate. And the moderate religious jews will talk of respect and forbearance, and keep extending the olive branch to opponents who will continue to not only ignore the gesture, but actually paint it as an act of hostility – in their internal propaganda.
They can intimidate everyone, including their own moderates, and the worst that can happen is that someone will politely ask them to be nice. This has been going on for a long time. It seems to me that those of them who were inclined to be nice have long since been displaced by those who intimidated the nice ones into obscurity. When you ask them to be nice, they would respond as R. Malinowitz responded: by saying that being nice would only play in to the hands of those who say that they are not nice to begin with. They would also point out that they don’t have to be nice.
R Malinowitz said that he does not have to speak out against what criminals from his community are doing in his name and in the name of his community. His reasons for this conclusion are incorrect, but the conclusion itself is rather evident. He said that he doesn’t have to speak out because the Russians don’t speak out against Russian Mafia. As it happens, the Russians don’t only speak out, but devote a significant amount of their corrupt and ineffective law enforcement to combat the mafia. No Mafia hit is ever done in the name of the Russian, or Italian community. If it was half as bad to be a “Sicarii” in the charedi community, as it is to be a mobster in the Russian community, there might never have been a complaint. So this is clearly not why R Malinowitz doent have to speak out against the wrongs done in his name. The actual reason why he doent have to speak out is that you, or anyone else, will do nothing to make him.
The way Malinowitz will not speak out against the worst elements in the charedi community, the religious jewish community will not speak out against, or condemn the charedi community – for failing to speak out. The charedi community protects its extremists, even to a point of causing harm to itself through such protection. Similarly, the greater religious community protects the charedi community, even to a point of causing harm to itself through such protection. In both cases, internal discord is always considered worse than encouragement of internal evil. Little surprise then, that such evil grows happy and healthy, and keeps demanding greater concessions.
In other words, I think the problem is deeper than Orot.
Come on people, we’re all Jews! We need to get along and stop labeling each other . . . reform, conservative, orthodox, haradei, etc. How will Mashiach get here if we don’t start getting along and loving each other! What a beautiful world it would be if all Jews loved and respected each other. We’re all H”S’s children. What parent wants to see their children fighting. A parent wants his children to love each other and get along with each other. So let’s try, and let’s bring Mashiach here soon!
Golda Rivka,
Golda, Let’s see how well your Kumbaya attitude holds up when your young daughters are being assaulted by crazed fanatics. Yes, we all need to get along and work together to purge this scourge from our midst.