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| Scene of the crime in Meah Shearim (TOI) |
There was yet another protest by the ‘good people’ of Meah Shearim. From the Times of Israel:
The demonstration in the capital’s Mea Shearim neighborhood on Thursday erupted in response to the arrest of a man suspected of torching a cell phone store several months ago.
As always these gangs consisting of 100s of people think their protest was in service of God. That torching a cellphone store sends a message that under no circumstances will they tolerate a store like that in their neighborhood. If anyone tries, they will end up with the same result.
The problem is that - in their world - that message is a very favorable one - if not their method. That is how they are indoctrinated. The constant harangue against modernity and technology is really what drives the kind of horror that that happened to a poor innocent mother of 10.
Now it very likely that no one told that arsonist to go troch that store. But when there is a constant vilification of technology it doesn't take much for an individual or a gang of thugs to use that as an excuse to cause mayhem - and believe they are doing what is right in the eyes of God. They are surely not going to stand idly by and watch the 'devil' enter their lives and the lives of their children. They are going to do whatever it takes to stop that from happening.
The thought that someone might get hurt does not occur to them. And even if someone does get hurt, the greater good is served. Which happened this time. Someone got hurt:
Security footage circulated on Sunday showing the dramatic moment a woman was hit and seriously injured by a large burning dumpster sent rolling down a street by ultra-Orthodox extremists during demonstrations in Jerusalem last week.
Mirel Dzalovsky, a 40-year-old mother of 10, remained unconscious and on a respirator at Shaare Zedek Medical Center as of Sunday. She is in a serious but stable condition, the hospital said.
This time the Charedi politicians apparently responded:
The demonstrations attracted widespread condemnation from politicians, particularly from presumed incoming ministers in the anticipated coalition of far-right and ultra-Orthodox parties together with the Likud, who were eager to show their hardline security calls applied across community lines.
They condemned them. That’s nice. The question is what are they going to do about it?
Never mind. I’ll tell you: Nothing. If past is prologue Charedi politicians might just try to get those that were arrested out of jail without punishment.
I do not buy for a minute the apologetics offered by members of their community. But I do very much buy the overt hatred of the government by all of them:
Moshe, an ultra-Orthodox resident of Mea Shearim, told Channel 12 that the protesters represented a “small handful” of the community and that most were afraid of them.
“We are afraid of them and all these years we have been against them. These people don’t represent anyone, it is a small and loud group, and we also suffer from them,” he said.
“Although we are an ultra-Orthodox community and support protests against Zionism, we are also afraid of the extremists that injured the woman, who is hospitalized now.”
Hundreds of the protesters caused havoc for hours on Thursday night, blocking roads, torching a traffic light and trash cans, and throwing stones at police.
What these poor souls do not realize it is their very hatred of the government that gives that gang of thugs license to do what they do. Making matters even worse is how that poor woman’s family reacted:
The family of a woman who was hit and seriously injured by a blazing dumpster sent rolling down a street by Haredi extremists during demonstrations in Jerusalem last week has defended those responsible, saying they meant to block a road and “did not mean to kill anyone.”
“They were not trying to harm anyone. They were trying to block a street as part of a protest,” the family told Channel 12
While Mirel Dzalovsky, a 40-year-old mother of 10, remains unconscious and on a ventilator at Shaare Zedek Medical Center, her relatives said the rioters “did something awful” but stressed that they were not looking for someone to blame.
I guess they feel bad for their relative suffering severe injuries because of that protest. ‘But, hey - ’she took one for the team.’ ‘And the intentions of the zealots were holy.’
They said it felt like the public was “celebrating our horrific situation” and trying to use the incident as a case against “the people of Mea Shearim,” ...Those fanning the flames of hate shouldn’t think that they are supporting us,” the family said.
How ‘gracious’ it is of them to be so forgiving of those responsible of their relative's life threatening injuries. Except that they have no right to do that. They are not the ones on a ventilator fighting for their lives. Only the victim has that right.
That said, I can’t really blame the typical Meah Shearim resident for feeling this way. They have been brainwashed by a Hashkafa that is so extreme that it fosters this type of violent reaction among the more zealous. Even if most of them do do not agree with the violence itself. they agree with their motive. A motive based on a Hashkafa preached and perpetuated as part of their standard education.
It wouldn’t bother me if that Hashkafa didn’t repeatedly result burning dumpsters or other violent acts. They can believe whatever they want. But by treating technology with such vehement opposition that it causes violent reactions like this, it more than bothers me. It makes my blood boil.
So it isn’t that I am celebrating their horrific situation. Far from it. I am extremely pained by it. And I see the culprit. Which is the very Hashkafa that makes them so forgiving of the monsters that did that to their relative.
Condemnation by Charedi politicians is not nearly enough. Short of the near impossible task of getting them to change the horrible way they indoctrinate their people - the entire community has to be rejected as any kind of role model of Jewish attitudes and behavior.
The ‘Frumie’ magazines that have in the past extoled the virtues of people they see as living such holy lives has to stop. They have to stop praising their leaders and their people as the most pious Jews on the planet. Praise like that only encourages the more zealous among them to believe that the Frum world supports them in theory if not in practice. Which to those thugs is a minor distinction. That the rest of the community opposes that kind of violence is secondary with respect to their efforts on behalf of God that their leaders keep preaching at them. That a few hundred of them over-react is a small price to pay for ‘keeping the faith’.
This community needs to be rejected by the entirety of Orthodox Jewry. Even though its not their fault due to the way most of them are educated that is the only way this kind of violnce has any chance of stopping.
They may not care what the rest of the Orthodox world thinks. But neither do extremist cults like Lev Tahor. It doesn’t matter what they think. If they are ‘thrown out’ of Orthodoxy, then arresting, prosecuting them, and keeping hem in jail for a long time will be a lot easier. The world will be a lot safer. And maybe - just maybe - never again will a dumpster be set on fire and rolled down a street again. If this does not happen, history will surely repeat itself - if not worse.