This is a description of a city in Israel by a barber shop patron: "This place is a ticking bomb," …it's going to blow up soon."
And this is some of the graffiti s painted by locals: “(Police chief Cmdr. Oz Elyasi) is a bully” …"Oz is a Nazi," … "Oz is a killer"
And as an article in the Jerusalem Post states: “Callers have issued death threats and Elyasi's nine-year-old daughter suffered from shock as a result of demonstrations outside the Elyasi home…”
This is the way things are in Ramat Bet Shemesh B. This is a city that has been populated almost entirely by either Chasidim from Meah Shearim or Sephardim.
I have no quarrel with residents of Meah Shearim. They have lived there a long time, pre-state I believe. It is their neighborhood and they have a right to their own standards of conduct as long as they do not impinge on the rights of others.
But when a large group of them move en masse into a new town that right ceases to exist. That they have taken over the town does not permit them to abrogate the pre-existing rules. But they don’t see it that way. They have instituted their own religious standards. The same ones they had in Meah Shearim.
Now one might say that since they are the majority of the town, then they should be able to live any way they want. But that isn’t so because the shops that are in their district are utilized by neighbors from the surrounding communities. And their rights are being impinged when they choose to shop there by being forced to dress in a manner consistent with Meah Shearim Tznius standards.
Determined to maintain their extreme standards, they hung out signs insisting upon religious modesty in dress from any patron. Secular passers-by who wanted to shop at any of these stores but were not dressed in accordance with Meah Shearim standards were denied entry. This has been going on for two years. Recently the municipality decided to remove that sign which violated the law aginst hanging unauthorized signs. What is the response? Violence!
This is so typical of this type of religious Jew. This behavior extends to all situations they encounter. It is all about their rights. What they demand is all important! And getting it by any means necessary is what they do. Whether it is in Ramat Bet Shemesh B or A, the streets of Jerusalem, or on a transatlantic flight.
It always bothers me when any Jew does something wrong especially in public. But when Jews who tell us their lifestyles are the epitome of the Torah way of life do things like this it really sickens me.
To be fair the police response in Ramat Bet Shemesh B has been brutal according to reports from people who witnessed it, although the police deny it. But as bad as they might be, they make no claim to be the epitome of Torah Judaism. If they are evil, then it is not a reflection on the Torah. It is a reflection on the lack of it. But when a Torah oriented Jew acts like a gang member, that is a Chilul Hashem.
I used to think that these were just a bunch of hooligans… exceptions from their respective communities. But because behavior like this has become so prevalent, I now believe it is part of a Hashkafa. The Hashkafa of religious extremism.
Extremists do not care a wit about what the rest of the world thinks. They want to make sure their goals are reached... their way of life is going to be preserved. For the residents of Ramat Bet Shemsh B, living the ‘Meah Shearim’ lifestyle trumps any other consideration. And it isn’t only Meah Shearim transplantees that act this way. It include anyone who acts violently in the name of God. Examples abound:
*A little over a year ago a Lag Bomer concert in a Ramat Bet Shemesh park was disrupted by the Rav and his group of thugs because their own standards of Tznius weren’t observed.
*‘Frum’ Jews beat up a middle aged woman for daring to sit in the ‘men’s section’ of an unofficially gender separated bus.
*Anti Gay Pride protesters ransacked the streets of Jerusalem for their cause.
*A group of right wing religious Zionists take over a hill in the West Bank, put up a trailer and call it a settlement. When the government orders it to be dismantled by the police, a riot breaks out. Blood is shed, people get hurt. And cries of ‘Nazis’ and ‘murderers’ are hurled at the police.
These aren’t just hooligans. These are religious Jews. They have a Hashakfa. Their Hashkafa is extremism. They live by the principle of ‘by any means necessary’. They are the ‘Macolm 'X's’ of the Torah world. It was Malcom X, a leader of the Black Muslims who co-opted the phrase ‘by any means neccesary’ for his movement.
These Jews and Macolm X are birds of a feather, they are of the same Hashkafa. ‘No one is going to give them anything.’ ‘They have to take it!’ And violence is legitimate in the pursuit of their goals. All in the name of God!
This Hashkafa of violence is not the way of Chasidus or the way of religious Zionism. Again, I do not absolve the police of any brutality on their part. But the extremists are the cause of their own misfortune. People get hurt on both sides. But it is ‘religious’ Jews who are creating the Chilul HaShem. Not the secular police.
I don’t know why there isn’t a bigger outcry by Rabbinic leaders, not just of their own community but by leaders outside their community. Silence or tepid responses will encourage even more extreme actions. It doesn’t stop them.
Maybe the rabbinic leadership doesn’t speak out more forcefully because they think there is some valildity to the violence. After all, what they are asking for is Torah based. So they ‘pull their punches’. Perhaps they feel that coming out too strongly might seem like they oppose their goals too, which they certainly don’t. So they hold back. Besides these are all these are Frum Jews! And they have their own leaders. They should be the ones to handle it. And the police are the real Reshaim anyway!
The feelings expressed by a shop owner in Ramat Bet Shemesh B should illustrate just how terrible this situation is:
((He) the haredim throw rocks and they spill oil in the road to cause cars to slide out of control. I saw them throw tomatoes at a female soldier who walked through the neighborhood in slacks. On another occasion, an Egged bus driver who [had been] stoned got out of his bus, pulled out a pistol and fired warning shots into the air. "To tell you the truth," he confided, "if I were that bus driver, I wouldn't shoot in the air. I would shoot one of them."
Is this what our rabbinic leadership is waiting for?
