What SIN did he perpetrate?

The story (there have been a few) in Yediot, of yet another Charedi soldier being lynched by those who supposedly sit all day in the Beis Medrash protecting everyone with their Torah, learning as a substitute, is sickening.

What aveyra has he done? Visiting a relative?

In anyone’s language it is at least a Safek Milchemes Mitzvah. If he believes it’s a Milchemes Mitzvah what business is it of anybody else to lynch him? Go your own way. Does he hurt you? He protects you too. Do you really think the Arab spring give a damn about you because you have lange peyos and kiss their feet. Did you every hear about Dhimma? You like it? Go there.

Is this what the Torah meant when it said to give Tochacha if you felt someone was doing wrong?

Where is the permission to hit another Jew for this? You sit in a Beis Medrash all day, so bring me the clear proof that this person is some sort of Apikorus from yesteryear? I don’t want to hear about your Shalosh Shvuos. Sorry to tell you, they aren’t what makes the world go around, and they are not taken seriously by any self-respecting Posek, today.

What about the Chillul Shem Shomayim? Even if you think he is wrong. The best you can do is go to his house and try and convince him that he should be sitting in the Beis Medrash instead, or selling shoelaces in the Shuk. What have you achieved with this violence? Only one thing. You have encouraged your own youth to think that they are all Pinchas, and that this defender of your country is some sort of Zimri. I have news for you all. You are as far way from Pinchas as he is from Zimri. Maybe you are descendants of the Erev Rav.

Where is your Moshe Rabenu? Has he protested against your wanton violence?

What sort of Emuna and Bitachon do you have in your own educational systems if you think that they will crumble because of Nachal Charedi and the like? Was all the learning earlier just a sham? Doesn’t it protect you? Take a look at yourselves.

This section of the Charedi world, with its mostly extreme element, causes people to be turned off Torah and Mitzvos. How many people will not care about Yahadus, because they will say “Zu Torah?”

In the nine days, this is a most depressing incident.

Gevalt. Where are your Gedolim? Where are their Pashkevilim? Why aren’t their Batei Din rounding up these violent people and putting them in Cherem? Why aren’t their faces plastered everywhere?

You try to talk to a Yid, who isn’t yet frum. You face a modern world with all manner of issues and questions. How much longer are we forced to say “ah, they are extremists”. We don’t need extremism. We need the middle derech, the Darchei Noam. If they don’t like it, let them go to Williamsburg.

The word  נועם has disappeared from the vernacular of so many of these Meah Shearim Charedim.

Then they wonder about people like Yair Lapid? They are responsible for it, not his father.

A haredi soldier was attacked by dozens of haredim in Jerusalem‘s ultra-Orthodox Mea Shearim neighborhood. The soldier ran into a nearby building and called in police forces, which managed to rescue him unharmed.

Police said that the soldier, a resident of central Israel, arrived in the Mea Shearim neighborhood to visit relatives. When he was attacked, he fled to a nearby structure, where he changed into civilian attire and contacted police to report the assault.

After clashes subsided, haredim gathered in the area, crying out against haredi soldiers and calling police ‘Nazis.’

Following the incident, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu condemned the attack and said that “we will take a hard line against whoever tries to intimidate the citizens who are fulfilling their duty to the State.”

Netanyahu added that “the best answer for these lawbreakers is the number of haredi recruits, which has increased significantly in the past few years and will continue to grow.”

Defense Minister Moshe Ya’alon also referred to the event and said: “The attack is despicable and abhorrent, and requires serious treatment. We cannot allow violent hooligans to threaten the peace of young haredim who choose to join the IDF .”

Ya’alon further added: “They should be brought to justice with zero tolerance and we will fight this trend with severity. I call on the leaders of the haredi public to condemn the violence and vigorously eradicate such phenomena.”

Nahal Haredi rabbis condemned the attack, saying it was “an act of hatred that is un-Jewish and un-Orthodox”, “blasphemy” and “shame and disgrace”.

An exceptional statement by the rabbis read that “the fact we are at the nine-day period before Tisha B’Av, in which we commemorate the destruction of the Temple, places this act of hatred in a shameful light. It is time for the haredi public to denounce the attackers.”

In response to the riots, Finance Minister Yair Lapid said that “The ongoing incitement against these violent attacks of haredi recruits, such as the grave incident that took place in Jerusalem tonight, are appalling and should be condemned by everyone.”

Lapid added that he intended to hold an emergency meeting with Internal Security Minister Yitzhak Aharonovich in order to see what police can do to prevent such incidents from recurring.

Knesset Committee for Promoting Equal Share of the Burden Chairman Yaakov Peri fiercely condemned the attack and said that “any attempt to physically or spiritually harm soldiers should be dealt with harsh penalties by the State.”

Peri further added that “such event should not be tolerated by the authorities. I ask the leaders of the haredi community to take responsibility before a disaster occurs.”

Shas Chairman Aryeh Deri also condemned the assault, saying “I’m appalled of the deeds of extremist teens who shamelessly hurt a Jewish soldier.”

Violence against haredi soldiers has recently seen a marked rise, possibly due to the public dispute over the draft reform, set to conscript the previously largely exempt haredi sector.

In May, it was revealed that the IDF Advocate General was assembling cases of violence, incitement and assault targeting haredi soldiers, with the purpose of filing indictments against those behind the attacks.

Author: pitputim

I've enjoyed being a computer science professor in Melbourne, Australia, as well as band leader/singer for the Schnapps Band over many years. My high schooling was in Chabad and I continued at Yeshivat Kerem B'Yavneh in Israel and later in life at Machon L'Hora'ah, Yeshivas Halichos Olam. View all posts by pitputim