Increasingly I have come to see Jonathan Rosenblum as a hero in the world of Charedim. He has once again written an article in Mishpacha Magazine (republished at cross-currents) that has dared to do something that is currently seen as anathema in the Charedi world. He has given public Hakaras HaTov to the Israeli Defence Forces.
In the same article he crossed another taboo line. He actually praised a group of National Religious rabbis for some excellent outreach work they are doing. Two daring declarations in one column. I am both amazed and pleased. Jonathan shows us that the world of Charedim is not a one dimensional one. And this is only the latest of such articles by Jonathan.
Of course, I am not saying that he has turned into a Centrist. Far from it. And that is precisely why he deserves so much credit. He stands by his Charedi princlples. He stands opposed to my Hashkafa of Torah U’Mada and is fully prepared to debate against that philosophy. He is a Charedi. And he is a role model for all Charedim.
But there are two different worlds of Charedim. And Jonathan’s Charedism is a far cry from that other world of Charedim. A world that has become ugly!
Both Ha’aretz and The Jerusalem Post are reporting that a group of Charedi hooligans have just beat up a Charedi woman and an IAF soldier sitting next to her. His sin was trying to protect her. And her sin was sitting in the front section of a bus going to Bet Shemesh. So they beat her up and beat up her defender, a soldier in the Israeli armed forces.
Just as Mrs. Miriam Shear was attacked attack last year on a Jerusalem bus. And just as a 70 year old mother was attacked in Ramat Bet Shemesh last summer while holding a baby.
At this point I am beyond angry. I am beyond disgusted. But I have come to expect this type of behavior from this type of Charedi.
As I have said in the past, the hooligans who did this are a tiny minority. They are no better than any of the street gangs one might find in some of our more seamy American ghettos. While they may stop short of murder, they are not that far from it with such violent actions.
But as I have also said, the people of the mentality that produced them is no a small minority. The community they come from is probably just as upset by the behavior of the woman on the bus as were the criminals who beat her up. They are probably more outraged that a woman would dare sit in the front of ‘their’ bus than they are by the violent acts of their young hooligans. They are incensed that she has the Chutzpah to challenge their little world… a world that places such a high value on Tznius.
Their world is one that is so afraid of ever encountering a woman in any way that they go to great lengths to avoid it …lengths such as making opposite sides of a street male only and female only …lengths like forbidding women to buy clothes that make them look too much like a woman …lengths like banning even separate seating concerts because of the possibility that a man may actually see or even talk to a woman …lengths like making certain that women go sit in the back of a bus so that men will not God forbid have to look at them.
These ‘rules’ are seen as legitimate means toward an end. That some hooligans take it too far… well, the community’s leaders certainly don’t condone that, but they understand it. And they sympathize with the plight of the poor Charedim who are subjected by ‘low lifes’ who dare to challenge their extreme value system.
These hooligans know that. They probably believe that their leaders silently approve but must officially condemn. And that’s why we keep seeing it happen. Over and over again.
Of course all mainstream Charedi leaders strongly condemn these hooligans. But that is not enough. I’ve said it before. That entire community has to be condemned and ostracized, not just the hooligans produced from it. The ‘winking’ and ‘nodding’ by their leaders who pay tepid lip-service of disapproval must be as condemned as are the vicious hooligans who perpetrated the violent crimes.
I realize that most if not all members of that community don’t really care about what Gedolim other than their own say. But that does not lessen the obligation of rabbinic leaders of all stripes to not only forcefully condemn the perpetrators, but the community that produces them as well.
If Rav Elyashiv would come out and say that this community’s Hashkofos are responsible and are therefore to be condemned as much as the criminals are, I think it would have an impact. Rav Elyashiv is considered the Gadol HaDor by tens if not hundreds of thousands of people. If he can get all those people on board it would go a long way toward ending this kind of violence. If Charedi rabbinic leaders would put half the amount of effort into that as they do attacking modern Orthodoxy, it would make a difference. This community would be come so marginalized it would end up being thought of like Neturei Karta is. That is what is needed here.
But… that isn’t going to happen. In part because the Kaanaim who surround Rav Elyashiv are themselves not that far off from the Hashkafos of these hooligans. These Kaanaim are probably most responsible for all those foolish bans of late. These Kaanaim may very well have the same apologetic mindset that do those Charedim that produce these hooligans.
Perhaps I’ve been barking up the wrong tree. Maybe the bans are a good idea after all. In fact, I’ve just thought of the ultimate ban that will solve all those problems.
Let’s just ban women. Wow… the ultimate ban… the removal of all Michshol. Of course Parannasa situations will be made more difficult but… not to worry. There is always Kupat Ha’ir.
