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| Police removing a Charedi protestor who was blocking traffic (VIN) |
VIN reports of yet another Chilul HaShem disguised as a Kiddush HaShem. It is mind boggling that anyone with a brain larger than a pea would consider what happened yesterday in Jerusalem a Kiddush HaShem. Sadly there are a lot of pea-brained Charedim there - even though they may very well be of normal or even above average intelligence when they study Torah.
What makes them pea brained is the inability to think beyond the scope of their own ‘Daas Torah’. Which in this case is Peleg (also known as the Jerusalem faction). They have been indoctrinated to believe that following it gives them a ticket straight to Heaven. Peleg was founded by the late R’ Shmuel Auerbach - a man who thought compromise was a dirty word. Even if that compromise would have achieved his ultimate goal of full time Torah study for the entirety of the Charedi world. A view that was in direct opposition to 2 of the biggest Charedi leaders in Israel: R’ Chaim Kanievsky and R’ Aharon Leib Steinman, ZTL.
That uncompromising view has led to what is perhaps the greatest gap between the Charedi and secular sectors in Israel’s history. These young Charedi Jews whose minds are filled with mush believe that they are serving God by what they did yesterday – as reported by VIN:
A protest in Jerusalem became violent on Sunday, as police officers tossed, beat, and kicked around members of Peleg Yerushalmi.
Protesters gathered to demonstrate against the arrest of Simcha Bunim Teitelbaum, who was detained on Thursday after he refused to fill out the required forms to request exemption from the IDF draft.
The hafganah blocked a number of streets in the Rechov Yaffo area. Several protestors were arrested.
According to the extremist group, they are attempting to create a voice against the disgrace of the kavod of Torah and its talmidim, and for the continued enactment of the draft law – which they label the “Law of Destruction”.
This is the world that was created by R’ Shmuel Auerbach. His legacy lives on. And it is a disgrace.
The contrast between the people that currently lead Peleg and another Charedi Jew - Rabbi Menachem Bombach - could not be greater. In my view he is not only a hero, but a Tzadik. He cares about the welfare of his community and has dedicated his life to doing something about the terrible financial and social condition it is in. As noted in an earlier post about him:
In the heart of Beitar, one of the most religiously right wing cities in Israel, Menachem Bombach has successfully established a Charedi high school that offers a full complement of secular subjects. A curriculum that includes Bagrut, the Israeli version of the New York Regents exam.
Rabbi Bombach did not stop there. He is trying to change the entire system to one that will help his community both spiritually and materially. Something virtually all Charedi leaders are unwilling or unable to do.
Charedi leaders are interested in a system that is intended to support and perpetuate only the spiritual well being of the Jewish People. They understand that Torah study is the primary way of doing that.
When this system was established in Israel, there were very few religious Jews studying full time. Charedi leaders justifiably felt that they had to grow the system to a sustainable size for the spiritual benefit of our people. That was about 75 years ago. Today that system has grown into a monster of full time Torah study for every single male Charedi in Israel!
That has created a financial underclass of religious Jews that in some cases find it difficult to put food on their table. I do not believe the founding fathers of the Charedi world as it exists today – intended that. I believe they just wanted to assure that Torah study would be perpetuated in substantial numbers. Not necessarily by every single Charedi male. They probably never dreamed it would morph into a way of life for all.
But that is how it is what happened. I doubt that they intended the material welfare of all should be ignored. They probably thought that even though they emphasized the priority of Torah study, human nature would end up with the majority desiring to make a living and learn how to best do it. That has not happened. The result can be illustrated with the following story by R’ Menachem Bombach in the Times of Israel:
Last week, as I was downstairs emptying my trash can, my neighbor, a man in his 50s approached me awkwardly and said almost inaudibly, “I haven’t had a trash can to empty in a week.” In all my naivete, I thought he meant that he didn’t have a physical trash can and so I offered him an unused one that I had at home. He threw me an embarrassed look and asked me if I could also bring some food with the trash can. Horrified, I realized at that moment that he was telling me that he hadn’t had a trash can to scavenge for food…
My heart ached for him. After taking him to the supermarket and making sure he had everything he needed for his family, I told myself that I had to do something more, beyond helping one man, one family. I spent the coming days, after my afternoon with him, thinking about poverty and its impact on Israel’s future and resilience.
The ugly truth is that my neighbor, a Haredi man in his 50s, has no real options to acquire a profession that can improve his financial situation. In fact, he is just another statistic in the depressing reports published by the National Insurance Agency, in which 61 percent of the Haredi families in Israel are defined as poor, meaning they earn less than NIS 2,811 ($863) per person per month.
This is not me talking. It is Rabbi Bombach. He and I are on exactly the same page. We both feel that the Charedi educational system in Israel needs a major overhaul. The only difference is that he has actually done something about it in a major way. He founded a school that offers both an intensive Torah study curriculum and intensive secular studies curriculum. In the heart of Beitar - one of the most Charedi cities in Israel. He is now advocating it as the model for the future and then goes on to blast the current system and those that perpetuate it.
Rabbi Bombach rightly believes that the future of the Charedi world in Israel resides in fully integrating into by creating a professional class - rather than isolating from it and perpetuating poverty and creating factions like Peleg.
Unfortunately history has taught me to be a skeptic on this issue. I hope I’m wrong but I believe nothing will change. But the truth is still the truth and I will keep telling it like it is.