I have tried to research a story out of Ramat Bet Shemesh about some rather vile protests against a divorced woman who moved into a very Charedi section there. I spoke to a few people there but have been unable to ascertain the fullness of all facts of the case. But as there were outrageous accusations flying back and forth between those defending the woman and those protesting her, I think it would be appropriate to distill as much of the facts as possible.
Suffice to say that this was not Ramat Bet Shemesh’s finest hour. To the best of my ability I will review what we know so far.
A single mother and her children, who moved to Israel from Canada after a messy divorce, were kicked out of Ramat Bet Shemesh by a group of Kannoim. They demonstrated outside her house and forced her out. Her circumstances are the following. She is twice divorced and her children are troubled, most likely as a result of a dysfunctional home life. After being expelled from their school in Israel, the children became very disruptive to their Charedi neighborhood …attracting other troubled children in the process.
Apparently Kanoim who are residents of the neighborhood she lived on were not going to allow people like that to disrupt their lives.
As reported by Rafi G of Life in Israel: “They protested, sometimes violently. They tried to physically break into the apartment and forcefully evict them. They offered the family money to leave. Eventually after a few days of this, somehow the social workers of the city got involved and forced them to move out under threat of taking away her kids”
Rafi has spoken to this woman recently. And here is an update:
“The woman told me she is living now in Bet Shemesh, not Ramat Bet Shemesh. She told me many of the rumors they were spreading about her: …They said she is Russian …has been married 4 times …has two men sleeping with her in her house (she does not know if they were at the same time or not) … has a bunch of other teens some of whom never go home …and her oldest son is not even hers.”
“She remains positive and upbeat, except in regards to her attitude to Charedim.”
Rafi continues:
“I also heard from someone on the protesting side some more details. He was there but was against the violence and very critical about the "L’Shem Shamayim" aspect of it.”
“He said the protesting was being run by a bunch of Kanaim (of the Yerushalmi persuasion). As an example of their cavalier attitude and claims of L’shem shamayim, they mistakenly beat up the wife of an Avreich who happened to be going into the building. She lived in the building and they thought she was the one under protest. (means they did not even know who they were protesting against).”
“Furthermore, many American Avreichim who supported the protest, did not support the violence. When it was getting violent, an avreich said, “This is not right” and he called Rabbi Goldstein (the Rav of the area) to ask if that is what he allowed during protest. Rav Goldstein said in no way is violence allowed. He hung up the phone and told them that the Rav Pasken’d no violence. The Kanoi grabbed his phone and threw it on the ground and said "Go back to Chutz La'aretz”
This is a very sad chapter in that town. And it is reflective of a much greater problem as I have mentioned many times in the past. To say that this is an isolated case of a bunch of hooligans is incorrect. Yes, they were hooligans. But they are not isolated incidents. There are too many incidents like this to call them isolated incidents.
It reflects a pattern of behavior extant in a large segment of mostly Israeli Charedim. If the rabbinic leadership in Israel can pull off an international boycott of El Al, they should certainly be able to put an end to this type of behavior. People who perpetrate this kind of violence “L’Shem Shamayim” ought to be harshly dealt with by the Israeli rabbinic leadership. No more free passes. No more looking the other way, or explaining it away as an isolated incident.
If a Chiloni airline flying on Shabbos is a Chillul HaShem, Al Achas Kama V’Kama are these Kanaaim perpetrating a Chilul HaShem. Especially since they so clearly identify … and are identified as… the most God fearing of Jews. We can no longer afford this type of “Yiras Shamayim”! Women being beaten up in buses …being evicted from their homes. Instead of being Mekadesh Shem Shamayim they are bringing shame upon our Torah.
