A Justifiable Charedi Demand

Extremists protest against a cellular shop in  Geula (Jerusalem Post)

My antipathy for extremists among my Orthodox brethren is well known to readers.  As is my disgust at the lack of ability – or perhaps more accurately - the lack of will by rabbinic leadership to do anything about. (Aside from the occasional tepid condemnation and/or disavowal of it as not representing the mainstream). 

Several very recent events tend to show that extremist behavior continues on several fronts.  To cite just a few headlines that indicate that: 

Two yeshiva students accused of severely injuring woman during protest 

Jewish extremists appear to vandalize Christian graves in Jerusalem’s Old City 

Chareidim Riot in Yerushalayim because of the Arrest of those who destroyed an Eyeglass store in Geula 

Extremists protest against the autopsy of a murdered 4-year old (Jerusalem Post)   

Sadly, there is little doubt that this kind of behavior will continue unabated. Tepid condemnations by rabbinic leaders are meaningless. In the event that violent extremists do get arrested they usually end up getting released without any consequences. Unless and until there is some hard reckoning done by rabbinic leaders from all segments of Orthodoxy nothing will change. They need to get together and jointly resolve to end the continual Chilul HaShem by way of making sure severe punishment is applied to the guilty parties, 

I am therefore not happy when a Charedi leader makes unreasonable demands that generate such violence. As was the case with the late Charedi leader, R’Shmuel Aeurbach. He told Yeshiva students in his orbit to violently resist registering for the draft even though doing so would have allowed them to continue as before. Which meant being exempted from military service as long as they continued their full time Torah  study. When one of their students was ever arrested for draft dodging, the violence and Chilul HaShem it generated can be laid at the feet of their intransigent Charedi leader. 

But sometimes a demand is both reasonable and justified. As I believe the one made recently by the Charedi parties in Israel - as reported in VIN:

In a move which could lead to the first crisis for the new Israeli coalition, the UTJ party has demanded that the Israeli railway service cease maintenance work on the intercity rail system on Shabbat, since the work is not meant to preserve lives and is only scheduled for Shabbat to avoid delays during the week. 

If I understand correctly the status quo agreement made at the founding of the state contains an official policy that there will be no Chilul Shabbos by any official state industry or its infrastructure unless it involves life threatening situations. It seems that that part of the agreement was honored mostly in the breach. If that is the case, UTJ is justified in making that demand. 

Yes, I’m sure it will entail a bit of public inconvenience – as maintenance work on public transit systems tend to do. Especially when demand is heavy during weekdays. But there are perhaps other ways to do maintenance work that can avoid both Chilul Shabbos and inconvenience. Like doing it during the overnight hours. As has lately been the case here on Chicago’s highway system.  

But even if it does cause some inconvenience during working hours – that is a small price to pay if Israel is going to honor its commitments.

That said, I hope that this demand does not somehow generate violent protest by extremists in support of it. Because that would be counterproductive and possibly even endanger innocent bystanders. Which has happened more than a few times in the past. But the demand being made is the right one. And in my not so humble opinion, it ought to be honored.