2 Jan

Confronting Haredi terror from within


Categories: in American Jewish Issues, Current Events, Israel, Jewish History

This past Shabbat I spoke about the theme of risk as it pertained to Judah’s dilemma: How was he going to save Benjamin, who had been obviously framed? Judah cuts the Gordian knot by offering his own life as a tradeoff. Only then does he find redemption. This quality would later find equal expression in the lives of his descendants as well-most notably, David.

Heroes throughout history have always shown a willingness to embrace the non-being of death in order to save others from danger or degradation.

Unfortunately, heroism is not something that is commanded in the Torah; nor can this quality be politically induced in others. Heroism emanates from the heart of the individual. At the deepest level, the hero symbolizes the human capacity to control, or better yet, domesticate the inner savage. The hero confronts his fears and triumphs over them. But to achieve this rare feat, one must be willing to recognize the darker impulses that seek dominance in the human psyche.

Judah’s transformation is nothing less than awe-inspiring because he confronts his own inner darkness and corruption. Until now, his behavior has hardly been exemplary as evidenced in the sale of Joseph and the near death experience of his daughter-in-law, Tamar.

However, every saint has a past; every sinner has a future and this principle applies to Judah-and all heroes who must confront the face of evil.

By now, most of you have heard about the young Orthodox girl who was spat on by Haredi thugs known as the Sikrikim. This gang identifies with the infamous Sicari gangs of the first century, who fought a zero-sum battle against Rome. In the famous Talmudic story describing how Rabbi Yochann ben Zakkai escaped Jerusalem; he narrowly escapes the watchful eye of the Sacari, who were guarding the gates of Jerusalem. Should he fail in his escape, Judaism might have disappeared from history.

Some Haredi leaders in the Knesset have spoken out against this dangerous group despite intimidation threats. The latest condemnation came from the Chief Sephardic Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef who said that the Sikrikim were disobeying the ethical principles of the Torah. While I was preparing for my Shabbat talk, I accidentally came across another truly brave spirit who wasn’t afraid to condemn the Haredim. His name is Yona Klein, and he lives in the town of Beth Shemesh where he works as a Torah teacher and writer. This young man decided to write an open letter that appeared in the Israel News (formerly Arutz 7).

Oh, by the way, Yona Klein happens to be Haredi. In his plea for sanity and civility, he writes:

“I consider myself a Haredi Jew. I have several Rabbeim [rabbinic authorities]. One is a talmid student of Rav Steinman. Another is a talmid of Rav Sheinberg. I’m not ‘pseudo-Hareidi.’ I’m proud of what I represent, which is why I am asking you to please take off your hats. No black hats, no davening jackets. Your are a disgrace to Hareidi society.

“Everything we stand for can be summed up in terms of following the Gedolim [great sages]. You don’t, and you make a very large, very public scene of it. Every Gadol has time and again explained that we have no business doing what you are doing. The Chazon Ish said it at the beginning. Rav Shternbuch, the head of Eidah Hareidis, said it very recently.

“But you don’t listen to the Gedolim. So why do you dress like Hareidim? In fact, you don’t follow Halakhah either. What you do is totally ossur [forbidden]. For the sake of the Hareidi world, I ask you to take off your hats. For the sake of reducing the massive and overwhelming chillul Hashem [desecration of God's Name] that you have caused and continue to cause, I ask you to take off your yarmulkes, too.

“I am not saying you must change your way of life. Continue your violent terrorist activities if you must. I don’t think I can change your mind about that. But please, stop seeming to represent the Jewish world while you do it. I am embarrassed to be associated with you. I hate living in the same city as you, having to explain why I am a Hareidi when you people are so disgusting. I wanted to move to a different city to escape you, but then, you moved here.

“What’s to stop you from following me and every other Hareidi wherever we run to? You probably see yourselves as Pinchases [a Biblical zealot], acting out of sincere zealousness for Hashem.

“But Pinchas asked Moshe what to do. You just spit on little children. You are the Zimri here, not the Pinchas [the sinner, not the zealot who punished him].

“Please, stop representing us to the world. We are trying to be light unto the nations. Stop spreading darkness in our name.

“P.S. Time and again, the most effective way of achieving change in today’s world has been shown to be through kindness and education, rather than hatred and violence. If you really want change, why don’t you try that approach? It sounds crazy, but it just might work, and then you could keep wearing the hats.”

I admire Yona; he was not afraid to reveal his identity and confront his fellow Haredim.

Although Yona Klein’s letter strikes a powerful chord in our hearts, it is a pity Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliyashivhas yet to condemn the Beth Shemesh violence. Rabbi Eliyashiv is the head of the Lithuanian Haredi community. Despite being 100 years old, he continues to express his opinion on numerous other matters, e.g., Haredi Jews should not serve in the Israeli military—regardless of the accommodations the Army makes for them; neither should they pursue a secular education in order to find a job.

No, until more rabbinic leaders with the Haredi community decide to come out and condemn the violence of the Haredi gangs, we can expect only more attacks on innocent children and pedestrians. However, some Haredi leaders are only now starting to realize, once one treats the non-Haredi communities with violence, it is only a matter of time before these same thugs will target “insiders” of their own Haredi community. We have already seen much evidence of this taking place.

Let us do our part in demanding that the Israeli government take a hard stand and break up these dangerous gangs; perhaps then, we will have a respite of tranquility until the next wave of threats come our along way.

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2 Jan

The Banalization of Jewish Memory


Categories: in American Jewish Issues, Anti-Semitism, biblical history, biblical theology, Contrarian wisdom, Conversion, ethics, Hassidic Theology, Heart-Centered Judaism, Holocaust Related Issues, The Future of Judaism


Haredi boy yellow star demo arms up mea shearim 12-31-2011

Memory defines personal identity. When our memories are impaired as a result of diseases like Alzheimer’s, the memory loss is gradual and eventually becomes permanent. Sometimes, the loss of memory can be instantaneous as a result of some physical trauma, such as a head injury or stroke.

As Jews, memory is basic to the preservation of our faith and national identity. When someone attempts to destroy that memory, we must do everything in our power to preserve it. Holocaust Revisionism is a good example of how anti-Semites have tried to attack Jewish memory. If we fail to respond vigorously with the facts about what really happened, the world will forget.

This past weekend, the Jewish world witnessed a bizarre and even macabre parodying of the Holocaust by Haredi Jews who wished to compare the State of Israel to the Nazis. About a thousand protesters gather in Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, and donned the yellow Star of David that Jews had to wear in the days of Nazism.

Some people have no shame.

The Haredim are upset about the government’s crackdown on Haredi sexism that has resulted in gender separation in virtually all public spheres of Israeli life.

One Neturei Karta leader, Rabbi Mordechai Hirsch, when asked about his justification, he answered, “Of course I justify it,” said Hirsch. “Yes, it’s from the Holocaust and it’s legitimate. There’s no question about it. This protest reflects the Zionists’ persecution of the Haredi public, which we see as worse than what the Nazis did . . . The Germans just killed the body, but these people want to kill the soul, the spirit.”

The reporter forgot to ask, “But did the Nazis ever send millions of dollars to support Haredi schools in their neighborhoods, just like the Israeli government? Or, “Did the Nazis ever fight wars to protect Jews, just like the Israeli government?”

When the philosopher and journalist Hannah Arendt first coined her expression, “banality of evil” in her fascinating book, “Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil,” she argued that the greatest evils in the world are not necessarily carried out by fanatics or sociopaths, but they are carried out by ordinary people who mindlessly execute orders from their superiors without ever questioning the morality of the orders that they have been given. Such individuals believe that their actions are perfectly “normal” and execute their orders the energy of good bureaucrats.

In this case, what we are witnessing is the banalization of Jewish memory.

When a group of Haredi Jews act to trivialize the Holocaust, we have a very serious problem. For those Haredi Jews who are in the moderate camp, we must ask: Are you prepared to condemn such sinful behavior? What can possibly be a more severe chillul HaShem (“desecration of God’s Name”)?

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