20 Responses

1. Disgusting. No other word to describe this.

2. Yes, this will work to build achdus. Nothing like a few handcuffed kids to bring us all closer to Hashem’s Torah. Maybe throw in a few nazi-era prison uniforms again.

3. handcuffed? Really? Just move to a country which currently has no draft – like the U.S.A. r.e. the ‘koach of the chareidi tzibur’ – isn’t it about 10%?

4. Is it a normal thing to handcuff kids as a protest. Who says the kids want to be handcuffed or are their rabbonim forcing them……. Don’t make them scared it can have a psycological effect for many years to come ………. Note even in china do they handcuff children

5. The children will be handcuffed?

   Very nice. Now any sort of legitimate voice this protest has will be overshadowed by the images of handcuffed children the same way the little boy in Holocaust garb was the main standout last time.

   Oh well.

6. I for one don’t get where they plan on getting with this. No children will be drafted, and so doing this act, a second time with children involved, the first time being the disgraceful act of putting young children with yellow stars. It will only backfire. Cause more hatred and missunderstanding then already exists. Sometimes I wonder what motivates people.

7. I guess traumatizing children for a good reason is justified? I have seen children traumatized and crying when a cop demonstrated locking and unlocking handcuffs on a volunteer in a classroom. To do this to a mass group of children? Why is that okay? The ends do not always justify the means, even if the end is a lofty purpose. Poor children, crazy parents.

8. looks like the inmates are running the asylum again.

9. Whatever position you may have on the debate over the Tal Law and requiring universal service, I believe it is highly inappropriate to use little children as “props” for a political demonstration. Most of these kids will have little understanding of the pros and cons of requiring all charedim to serve a year or two in the IDF or alternative service and will instead simply hold signs given to them by the adults and scream gevalt or some other chants while perhaps saying a kapital tehillim. Leave the kids home and let the grown ups debate like adults.

10. Last time was Holooaust garb, now handcuffs, whats next?

11. To Moose Taryag (aka 613)

    Not sure if you should be calling the gedolim from the Eidah who organized this poorly conceived demonstration as “inmates from an insane asyulum”.

12. Ease up – they won’t be real handcuffs.

13. I think they need to hire some PR people. What they’re doing here – following last year’s embarrassments – is, in PR terms, public suicide. No – worse, this is far beyond suicide, this is more like public genocide, PR-wise.

    I can already see Ynet’s headlines on this… and I won’t even be able to disagree with what they will write.

14. Guarantee to backfire. Will only create more hatred for the chareidim.

    Demonstrates how little the chareidi leadership understand the chilonim.

15. This article reports that “The Eida is promising to pull out all stops in this war…”
    The “stops” they are pulling out are their built-in brain filters that Hashem gave each of us.
    On another note – this isn’t a war, stop making it into one! Oy, gevalt – we’re being asked to pitch in and help our nation!?!? They’re NOT saying we all have to join the army. We can do national service instead. Lots of us volunteer for hatzoloh, zaka, shomrim, etc. I think this is a great alternative that our yeshivas should have been encouraging all along. We don’t need to close our yeshivas just ’cause we volunteer some chesed hours too. I bet, if we sat down to negotiate it, we could change it to part time national service and part time yeshiva learning over 4 years, instead of 2 years straight of full time national service (kinda like the hesder yeshivas).

16. Totally disgusting and disgraceful to use handcuffed children to make their point. The Rabbamim who dreamed up this protest must be charged with overusing their power and abusing young children. SHAME ON THEM! Where are these boys parents? Why are they allowing this trauma on their children.

17. Other then the handcuffed part (with i also believe is quiet pathetic) i can’t begin to understand why everyone is up in arms against this…what better way to defeat the enemy then by turning to The One in charge especially because we know how much He loves the pure tefillos of children…To me it’s pretty simple; if you don’t see the problem with what’s going on now in Israel obviously you don’t recognize the true value of Torah!!!!

18. This is very sad. I guess a little extremism goes a long way to reminding all of us how the middle road is the golden road.

19. I doubt this is an idea from the Rabbonim. The plan came from someone lower down and it’s not a great idea. A protest of children learning in a massive group would send a much better and more relevant message.

20. To number 11:

    I will proudly join in calling ANYONE who thinks it is proper to handcuff scared children and use them as props an inmate from an insane asylum. Regardless of their title.

    Do you know why? Because someone who would arrange such a thing doesn’t deserve that title and must have pulled the wool over our eyes in taking it.

    A “Gadol” does not endorse the handcuffing and traumatizing of little kids for any reason, ever.

    You want to see a proper protest look at what Rav Shteinman is arranging. Tefilla by the students in their yeshivas. Not shackling them and scaring them to death for a photo op.

    Do you see the difference? Appropriate vs. insane.

    We should all cry for the children who are going to be scarred and traumatized by this vulgar display. They don’t deserve it.