By Paul Shaviv
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| Students in a girls high school n a Purim skit mocking Sephardic Jews. (TOI) |
Aside from the obvious horror of a terrorist attack that killed a mother and her two daughters - I would only add that I am particularly sickened at two of the events he referenced (see left and below). Unfortunately, however, I am not all that surprised by them. His words follow.
Here I am, sitting in comfort on the top floor terrace of the Inbal Hotel after a relaxing Pesach. Some observations, not necessarily in order of importance – and not necessarily the most important!
Pesach was overshadowed, especially for the Anglo community, by the appalling terrorist murders of the Dee family – Maia z”l, Rina z”l and their mother, Lucy z”l. Whatever motivated their killers (who have not yet been apprehended), their murder threw into sharp focus the fact that not only have the new Government not brought “security”- they seem to have made it worse. If Government ministers state that Arab villages (Huwara) should be wiped off the face of the earth – they cannot expect Palestinians to feel anything but fear, and react accordingly. Interestingly, many voices from within the Arab community condemned the violence. One of the foremost social media provocateurs in Israel, the PM’s son Yair, has been exiled by his parents to the USA. What he will get up to there/here is anyone’s guess. Meanwhile, his father’s ratings in the opinion polls plummet.
On the chaotic political front, the silence of the Haredi parties has been very, very noticeable and much commented on. The general view is that they are terrified at the Pandora’s box they helped to open. The unprecedented scale of the popular protests against the stack of legislative reforms proposed by the Government coalition – possibly the most inept bunch ever to have taken office in Israel – were totally unexpected by them. Middle Israel has had enough. At the very least – it dawned on the Haredim that if they give unlimited power to a simple majority of the Knesset, it can be used against them, just as it they want it used to enforce religious coercion and their own economic privileges on the electorate this time round. Here and there, moderate Haredi voices have tried to extend hands of peace and love to their compatriots- greeted for the most part with astonishment and delight.
Notable videos doing the rebounds – several capturing Haredim in the Old City spitting on passing nuns and Christians. Charming. Overshadowed by a shocking video made by 12th-graders at Jerusalem’s premier Yekkish RZ girls’ school, Horev, last Purim. The general theme is – “What would our school look like if it was ‘Mizrachi’(i.e. Sephardic) rather than Ashkenazi?”. The girls put on blackface and in a series of skits contrast their quiet, civilized, devout Ashkenazi Yiddishkeit with primitive, superstitious, ‘Edot Hamizrach’ practice and culture. I have seen the video (hastily withdrawn by the school once it ‘leaked’.) It is horrible – just horrible. Blatantly racist, blatantly superior. Don’t tell me it was just ‘Purim shtick’ – it wasn’t. The school’s explanation that it was made in a spirit of ‘Ahavat Yisrael’ is just pathetic – the closing shot of the video shows exactly what the girls [have been educated to] think.
Turbans: higher and higher, more and more multi-layered, and more and more colorful. Worn by the RZ/Hardal women. (Are they a peculiar parallel response to the taller and taller Haredi male shtreimels?) My question is: who are they for? Are they a statement to Haredi women – “look, we are more demonstrative about covering our hair than you are?” To their own menfolk? “You have your knitted kippot; but we want greater status for women, which you won’t give us, so we’re going to make our own public statement!” To the non-religious public? “We are fashionable, colorful, and rejoice in covering our hair!”. I have no idea. But the turbans have replaced the ‘flowing far-eastern robes’ fashion of a few years back, commented on by Rav Shagar ztz”l.
Kitniot: the ban on Kitniot has all but been swept away. My RZ son told me that he had to go to a supermarket in Har Nof to do Kitniot-free Pesach shopping, as all the regular supermarkets did not hold reliable stocks of Kitniot-free produce.
Finally – Jerusalem was, sadly, pretty empty of tourists over Pesach. One factor was undoubtedly the ‘Matzav’, with many Diaspora Jews apprehensive of unrest, both Jewish and Arab. Those who were here – at least the Americans – were “Manhattan” rather than the Sukkot “Five Towns” crowd. But it is also clear to me that ‘Passover programs’ have taken a huge, huge bite out of the Israel Pesach tourist trade. A pity.
Leshanah haba’ah b’Yerushalayim!