4 Tevet 5772
I've received a few emails questioning what I was really trying to say in my last post, so I thought I'd attempt to clarify myself for those who would not take the time to write and ask. If one or two people are confused, it's a good bet that others are, too. You know how it is when you know what you mean, but you unwittingly give a false impression to others who can't read your mind.
For the record, I was not referring to the so-called Sikrikim who are reportedly terrorizing a girls' school in Beit Shemesh, when I said "This year, we have Torah Jews and Hellenized Jews facing off against each other." I was referring to the Chareidi (separate seating on buses, modesty issues) and National Religious (refusal to hear women singers, "price tag" attacks) public at large as the "Torah Jews" coming under attack by the media, the Knesset and all others who elevate the Democratic State above the Torah.
Here are a few examples:
The media incitement against the entire Chareidi (Ultra-Orthodox) community in Israel has not gone unnoticed. For the second day in a row, an innocent Chareidi citizen of Israel was attacked and beaten simply for being Chareidi.
Yesterday, a Chareidi man was attacked on Bus #4 in Jerusalem.
This evening a 13 year old boy was attacked in the center of the country as he was coming home from Yeshiva.
The Israeli media has painted a target on the back of an entire community because of the actions of a small and violent sect that terrorizes both their own community and their neighbors. And now there are those who are using this media (and MK) incitement as an excuse to act out against the Chareidim in a violent manner.
Where are the police in all this?
How is it that hundreds of police can be sent to destroy a Jewish owned chicken coop in the Shomron because that somehow threatens Israeli democracy, but not a percent of those police can be seen near a school in Beit Shemesh putting an end to these harassments of little girls months ago, when the Sikrikim first started?
And will a Chareidi person need to be killed before the media and politicians realize they've taken it too far? (Jewish Press)
Yechimovich: Stop Airing Racist Comments About Hareidim
Labor Party Chairwoman MK Shelly Yechimovich criticized the Israeli media on Wednesday over its ongoing incitement against the hareidi-religious Jews. Her comments came in the wake of the recent overhyped media reports about the gender segregation among hareidim.
...“During the reports about last night’s demonstration in Beit Shemesh, there was a clip of one protester saying ‘the hareidim breed like cockroaches,’ she said. “I worked for many years in the media and these kinds of sayings need to be removed during editing. They are not at all appropriate for airing.”
Israel doesn't really want to end gender segregation
Are we really interested in ending gender segregation in Haredi (ultra-Orthodox ) society, or any of the similar and even graver ills that exist in that society, as well as others? Not likely. From the strident tones of the past few days, one can safely assume that the goal of most of the critics, including the religious ones, is Haredi-bashing, pure and simple.
Most social ills happen because, as the Bible puts in, "In those days there was no king in Israel; every man did that which was right in his own eyes." And it is not at all clear that the ultra-Orthodox community is taking greater advantage than others of the lack of reverence for sovereignty.
But the Haredim are subject to different laws than everyone else - except, perhaps, the settlers. How easy it is to unite against them, especially during Hanukkah, and sing with great feeling that old holiday favorite, "Banu Hoshech Legaresh," "We have come to banish darkness."
That's rich, huh? Like the Greeks before them, the Israelis think the "light" is with them and the "darkness" of ancient custom and ritual is with the Jews. It goes on...
...The main problem for which the ultra-Orthodox can be collectively blamed, and their rabbis held responsible, is the degeneration to which they have sentenced themselves, of which segregation is only one symptom.
Those who revere the warped values of Western Civilization and its vaunted "democracy," view the Torah world as backward and "unenlightened," just like the Greeks who thought that circumcision was a mutilation of nature's perfection.
Even the Haaretz op-ed brought in the Hanukah theme.
