I have been castigated by an anonymous individual who is apparently involved in Chinuch in some way. I am sure he has good intentions about being Dan L’Kaf Zechus for fellow Jews. He sees my language with respect to certain Jews in Bet Shemesh Jews as wrong. The Jews in this case are the human garbage standing outside a Dati school in Bet Shemesh creating a massive Chilul HaShem.
His latest comment in this effort is as follows:
No need to look inwards; not an ounce? pshh. What tsadikkim we have on the internet these days.
Harry - I do think I understand your disgust. But you're going way overboard. I remember once giving a lecture to teachers in a very chareidi cheider that also had a number of anglo parents.
As an educational counselor I was asked to organize a little conference to give them chizuk in their capacity to genuinely educate. So I spoke and spoke and only once I pointed out something about the way our use of language influences our subconscious ethical orientation did they final "get' the message. I had zoomed in on the expression to "throw out" a talmid that was misbehaving.
Why such physically agressive imagery? Why not speak about their need to have private time, or be deprived of a privaledged recess or something of that nature instead of immediately activating in their young psyches the need to defend themselves from a big adult "throwing" them outside?!
You're language is of the same genre. I realize you're not against chareidim, per se. Only those "extremists" who cross your version of extremism! Keep up the dehumanizing rhetoric of these characters and somebody, somehow, is going to seek to burn that "garbage" off the face of the earth! JEWS indeed. BNEI Yisroel. Kulanu acheem m'av echad. V'ahavta l'ray'ekha. It's more than saying be nice up to a point. It means that DAVKA those who are in the Mitzvah system but appear to you as RA (RAy'eikha) are worthy of your love......
Leaving the insult about What tsadikkim we have on the internet these days aside - here is my response:
1) Your comparison to a student at risk is grossly inept. These people are way beyond any help. They are hard core OTD.
2) Calling for non violent protests (which is what you said I should do in an earlier comment) is exactly what I did call for. Read the original post on this matter.
3) I do look inward. It helps when one is trying to do Teshuva. But staring evil in the face does not require looking inward. It has to be labeled for what it is. If someone comes up to you and spits in your face... do you look inward? This is what you are asking for and that's ridiculous.
4) This is not Lashon Hara. The whole world is watching.If there was ever an Api Tlasa, this is it. But even leaving that aside - there is a Toeles here. Even the saintly Chafetz Chaim would certainly agree that exposing these Rodfim for what they are and using harsh language to motivate people toward action in order to effect change - is a Toeles.
If I had the slightest Hava Mina that these wretched souls had an ounce of Teshuva in their hearts - I would certainly be Dan L'Kaf Zechus, soften the rhetoric, and urge that they be convinced to stop. But they have proven time and again, by word and by deed, that they could not care less about someone else’s Tochacha. They think that this massive Chilul HaShem is a Kiddush HaShem!
And talking to the Toldos Aharon Rebbe (who I'm sure opposes their behavior and has actually condemned them) is like spitting in the wind. He can condemn them all day long and they will continue their evil ways.
What he needs to do - he won't do, because he supports their goals and benefits when they succeed. If he was truly opposed to them he would be out there leading counter protests with at least a 10 to 1 ratio of his own people. He has the power and influence to do it. But he has not done it - and he will never do it!
I wish I could be proven wrong!
What makes these Mushchasim in Bet Shemesh deserve any compassion or understanding? Is it because they look Charedi and are Medakdek in certain Mitzvos? Do you feel the same way about Rabbi Avi Weiss?
Does Avreimal Mondrowitz deserve my compassion because he puts on Rabbenu Tam's Teffilin as well as Rashi's Teffilin, has a long beard, Peyos, wears a Kapote everyday and a Spodek on Shabbos?
He too is a Jew, a Ben Yisroel, and a brother descended from the same patriarch (to use your list). But loving your fellow man as yourself does not mean you have to love a Rasha! They are not in the ‘Mitzvah system’. They are only partially in it by design.
Your compassion is misdirected, my friend.
Their Mitzvos are worthless! In my opinion they have lost their Olam HaBa by the massive and constant Chilul HaShem they do... and the harm they cause to all of Klal Yisroel.
Yes they are misguided. But so is Avreimal Mondrowitz.
I know you mean well but your apologetics (which is so common in certain religious circles) is why this problem festers. Condemning their behavior with a ‘but’ provides just enough cover for them to say they are fighting for a just cause of the a Torah - believing that all that ‘lip-service condemnation and no action’ by their Charedi brothers is just rhetoric for public consumption. By saying that all they really want is to live their lives Al Taharas HaKodesh - you are in effect giving them permission to proceed. (Not that they even care about what you say one way or another).
One more thing. You say I am drawing from the Nazi rule books. That crosses a line. And intentional or not it is also a huge lie! I have not said they are an inferior race. I have not herded them into shuls, locked the doors, and burned the shul down. I have not raped their women. I have not forced them to wear yellow Mogen Dovid armbands under penalty of death; or called for herding them into impoverished ghettos and then concentration camps - starving them to death. I did not tell doctors to perform torturous medical experiments on them; I did not call for their extermination or set up gas chambers and crematoria.
I have not even asked them to change a single Minhag. All I ask is to do whatever it takes to stop them short of violence. And anyone who does try to do violence to them in any way is just as guilty as they are and ought to receive the same treatment.
Update:
As a public service I am linking to a column entitled Occupy Beit Shemesh by Rabbi Yakov Horowitz. He asks that you sign on to the thread in the comments section in a show of solidarity with his message. I have already done so. If you have the time and inclination please write letter to the editor of the listed newspapers along the lines of his message. If nothing else, it will at least demonstrate our opposition to these people.
