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| Extremist Charedim protesting a cell phone store (VIN) |
To briefly review, moderate Charedim are those that – while having different Hashkafos than do Centrist Modern Orthodox Jews, they nonetheless generally live the same lifestyles; they freely intermingle; often live in the same neighborhoods; Daven in the same Shuls; and even send their children to the same schools.
The moderate Charedi wants a mainstream Yeshiva education for their children and most also want a good secular education for his children too. Realizing that their children will someday need to support a family. But I think the dividing line is in how they view the following event reported in VIN :
A senior member of the Rabbinical Committee For Communication Devices was arrested Monday night in his Jerusalem home on suspicion of being involved in the continued harassment of owners of cellular phone stores who refused to accede to the demands of members of the committee.
In a later VIN article there is the following:
Follo wing the detention of the Supervisor of Cellular Stores, the BADATZ Eidah Charedis issued a special warning to the public.
Under the headline “Warning to parents and educators”, the Rabbanim wrote that “After the authorities arrested the supervisor of cellular stores, and extended his detention for a week, there is currently no supervision of cellular stores in Yerushalayim.”
They added that it is incumbent upon parents and educators to supervise children regarding this matter.
That last line is the key. If one sees parental responsibility as the best way to deal with problems caused by modern technology, then they are moderate and on the same page as Centrist Modern Orthodox Jews. And comprise the vast majority of Charedim. At least in the US.
If on the other hand they see parental responsibility as a last resort believing -as the Eida does that the first resort is to be issue edicts and use enforcers and intimidation to assure those edicts are followed - they are extremists.
Simple as that.
