The daily HaMevaser reports that in addition to the beating of the Gerrer chossid in Ashdod on Shabbos, there were other anti-chareidi attacks.
When a 16-year-old chareidi bachur arrived at a Netanya train station, heading home to Ashdod, a number of chiloni youths shouted “Terrorist!” which resulted in others at the station to run in another direction fearing something was really taking place. When the bachur tried running the chilonim told him “you are the terrorist and everyone is running away from you”.
Elsewhere in the same city, a number of chareidi youths were escorted out of a large store by the manager, who explained to them they are not welcome to shop in the store, which is not open to chareidim. The manager explained he received complaints from other shoppers, with one even reporting one of the youths used defamatory language against him. The chareidi bochrim explained they don’t even know what he is talking about since they did not speak to anyone in the store.
Elsewhere, an avreich explained that he went to visit his father who is recuperating in Shaare Zedek Hospital in Yerushalayim. In the elevator, he was verbally assaulted by another person because he is chareidi, an assault that he endured until reaching the 10th floor.
A group of chareidim that arrived at Chamat HaGader from Haifa and Tzfat report the security officer would not permit them to enter. This occurred last Thursday, January 5, 2012, who simply stated they are not allowed to enter. They explained they traveled far to get to the site but he was not changing his mind, prohibiting them from entering.
HaMevaser contacted Chamat HaGader, reporting officials apologized for the incident. Officials add that on Thursdays the facility is open until 22:00, for men only and the group arrived at 20:50 so there was no justification for barring their entry. They promise to investigate what exactly occurred.
In Beit Shemesh on Thursday night, three Jerusalem chareidim were returning from a wedding. They stopped in a gas station and a border police jeep pulled to their side. One of the border policemen instructed the driver to come outside in the pouring rain, to show him identification, all the while the officers remained in their vehicle. They questioned the three one at a time; compelling to stand outside in the rain for about 30 minutes, HaMevaser reports the chareidim stated that other than their identities, the questions they were compelled to answer were futile and obviously intended to keep them out in the rain, nothing more.
They added that interestingly, near them were standing two Arab males who indeed appeared suspicious, but the border police were simply concentrating on embarrassing them, nothing more, not addressing the two suspicious males.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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16 Responses
Nebach
life is a two street. if the charedim harrass others, then they will also be harrassed.
Sounds like stories that lead up to the holocaust..
By making us into ‘victims’, you are perpetrating the sinas chinam that is at the root of this problem. It is the ‘us’ vs. ‘them’ mentality that caused this in the first place. How about us taking responsibility for our brothers who are displaying terrible hatred, instead of focusing on dividing us further. I would hate us too if I were in their position, some of us don’t make being frum attractive at all. Get rid of the labels and strife…do the writers of YWN want to be the ones causing moshiach NOT to come…there have been too many articles with lashon hara or clear intent to incite lashon hara on this site. I call for a boycott of YWN and a focus on Ahavas Chinam instead and not the labeling and sinas chinam this website seems to cause over and over again!
Unreal.
UNLESS the Torah Community stands firm against the extremists (those who desecrated the rebbe’s daughters shtiels in MS and BB) we are all ONE in the eyes of our brothers. They are a terrorist group who have hijacked Toras Hashem and the outside world is banding against all of us, Torah Yiddim.
Although last week I felt the protest with yellow stars was stupid and extreme, I’m now starting to understand what brought those demonstrators to do so, unfortunately the charedim are facing hate throughout the land that’s supposed ot be a “jewish state” and safest haven for them.
I moved to the usa because Israelis are too anti semitic
Hashem Yerachem
The question is, was this going on before the Beit Shemesh incidents or is this something new that was precipitated by the Beit Shemesh incidents?
#8:
This, to some extent or another, has been going on forever. It has become worse since the Leftist media, led by Yair Lapid (Tommy’s son) has so obviously exploited the Beit Shemesh incidents to push their anti-Netanyahu, anti-religious agenda.
Everyone should be clear on this: This is NOT only about charedim. It is about shaking up Netanyahu’s government and deligitimizing religion in general, and charedim in particular. There was a similar storm about the soldiers and the kol isha issue, with the media taking up the cry of women’s rights to sing wherever and whenever they want and skewing their reporting to make it seem like the real motivation of the soldiers was to stop the singing, not simply to stop listening to it.
The Chutzpa lately is unprecedented uncalled for
& definitely not doing much for the image of the nation.
#7, now that the Land has vomited you out, how do you feel with hte wave of anti-Semitic attacks there?
The extreem hooligan chilul Hashemnikes are the cause NOBODY ELSE .VILDE B’HAIMISHE CHAYOS HAMEVAZEH SHAIM HASHEM .. they come bshaim hasoton vsitra acher ,hashem yerachaim minhareshoyim hoaylu ,Y Ratzon sheyerachaik osom memachaneh hatorah.
# 11, If you ask me, I would rather suffer antisemitism at the hands of Goyim, rather than at the hands of fellow Jews.
Wouldn’t you agree?
When the 10 shivotim found themselves framed for stealing the kos of Yosef, they responded NOT by calling Yosef an anti-semite or a racist or a nazi, they responded by stating that this terrible thing has befallen them because they did not hear and turned a hard heart to the cries and suffering of their brother that they sold for “l’shem shomayim” reasons.
Perhaps we chareidim should be asking ourselves if we felt the pain and suffering of acheinu bais yisroel, who stand out long times in the rain and mud protecting kllal yisroel here in eretz yisroel. Have we heard the cries and suffering of all of the chilonim who pay heavy taxes and pay with the lives of their children, all from which we benefit. Do we treat them with hakoras hatov or have we turned away our ears and hardedned our hearts for “l’shaim shomayim” reasons?
I can’t believe the justification of anti-semitism by some of these commenters. Generalization is the source of all bigotry. Two months ago I was a patriotic Israeli, no more. Should we justify anti-semitic attacks in America because there are some Jews who do bad things? Clearly straighshooter hates democracy.
I remind you that this started because some religious Zionist soldiers were denied religious freedom in the army – ironically the Nachal Charedi soldiers in an earlier case did not walk out – and the media decided the Chareidim were more convenient to attack. This was way before Beit Shemesh was in the news.
Oh, and one other thing. You cannot build a structure of ahavas yisroel for our secular brothers on a foundation of sinas yisroel for our reliigous brothers.
Please read this. It was written by a woman in BS and passed around to be publicized. It is not me. I also remember the time BEFORE these labels. I was raised ultra Orthodox and my parents were thrilled to see Jews wearing kippot and tzitizit in public in the USA-I was never raised with any awareness of clothing or material making a difference in indicating someone’s frumkeit level. Every religiously observant person was held to a higher standard of behavior and my parents raised me accordingly. Hashem Yishmor-we have become so KRUM!
We Created the Monster
I wasn’t raised as an observant Jew. In fact, my family never even belonged to a shul. Our “religion” was to be honest, moral, caring, proper human beings who tried to bring happiness to those around us. This is otherwise known as being “a mensch”.
My first Shabbat experience was in the heart of Meah Shearim in 1984. I was an exchange student at Haifa University and had come to Jerusalem to tour. Baruch Levine, who was then “working at the kotel” to bring distant Jews back to Yiddishkeit, was walking around the kotel plaza shouting, “Shabbat meals. Who wants a free meal?” As poor college students, free food tempted us to join his gathering.
Well-worn skirts were thrown from a bag to the pants-wearing women and yarmulkes to the bare-headed men. I readily slipped into the skirt which closed with a safety pin. It wasn’t high fashion but it was the “right thing to do” and so I donned the skirt without thinking that I was being belittled or made into a second class citizen or any of the other assumptions that today’s generation seems to imagine about modest dress.
The warmth of the Hirsch family home in Meah Shearim changed my life forever. That first blessed Shabbat, the beauty, kindness, and generosity of that one experience fills me to this day and I expect that for the rest of my life I will keep Shabbat partly in their merit.
Today, the Hirsch’s would be labeled as “Ultra-Orthodox” perhaps even “extremists” by some. In 1984, such labels were barely in use.
My beginning Torah years provided endless positive experiences with “the Ultra-Orthodox”. Yes, I was naïve and wore rose colored glasses. But those were also different times. It was the height of the Baalei Tchuva movement. Perhaps there was more achdut in the air, more ahavat chinam. All I know is that my children, almost 10 years after our aliya, have never experienced any of the warmth and beauty from the Israeli Hareidi community that I still hold so dear.
We moved to Ramat Bet Shemesh in 2004. Upon our arrival, my daughters had shimenet (sour cream) thrown at them for jumping rope in public, cars were being attacked on Yom Hatzmaut, and protests were held in front of Ulpana Gila (a dati leumi high school-Torah Observant), which was then located below Shefa Shuk, with the haskama of a local Anglo Rabbi (who I spoke to personally about the atrocity and for whom I can honestly say that it was like speaking to a brick wall).
I was visiting the states when the latest chillul HaShem incidences were occurring in Bet Shemesh. I unwittingly became the spokesperson defending the general decency of Bet Shemesh neighborhoods as well as trying to uphold the honor of living in Eretz Yisrael. This was no small task, not because I lacked the tools but because it occurred to me that we can keep blaming the “Ultra-Orthodox Extremists” for making such a huge chillul HaShem or we can look at our own behaviors as Torah Observant Jews and see that it is us who are missing the general “menschlikeit” of yesteryear.
She lists several common behaviors that are anything but decent derech eretz but are prevalent in our society. I hesitate to list them as this is a public forum!