Shmuel Chaim Poppenheim is a Toldos Aharon chossid best known as the unofficial spokesman of the Eida Chareidis. His comments are sought by the media when there is an event involving the Eida. It now appears the former hard-liner may be following in the footsteps of ZAKA founder and CEO Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, who made headlines when he agreed to light an Independence Day torch at the official state ceremony. Meshi-Zahav was the former operations officer for the Eida and led many a violent Shabbos protest on Bar-Ilan Street.
He has since moved over to the moderate lane and feels dialogue and actions will accomplish what the throwing of rocks did not.
The 44-year-old spokesman has undergone a transition, now showing signs of supporting dialogue and understanding. When asked to define himself he doesn’t hesitate to state he is more open minded that the mainstream population of Meah Shearim. This is possibly connected to his ongoing studies to earn a BA in journalism and political science at Hebrew University.
Towards developing this new image Poppenheim has taken an additional step, joining Gesher, which is about dialogue and understanding – bridging the gap.
Poppenheim explains in his community of Beit Shemesh today he takes part in round table discussions involving frum, chareidi and non religious residents, all seeking to work out their differences by dialogue.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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7 Responses
Instead of throwing stones which alienates the secular when protesting chilul shabbos, coming with pots of cholent and kugel would do much more to bring the mechalelei shabbos closer to yiddishkeit.
I used this method once and it worked wonders. I met as some missionaries who were on their the way to Eretz Yisroel and treated them to a free lunch. By the time I finished with them they switched to our side and devoted any missionary activity to Muslims only.
A free lunch or pot of cholent can be much more effective than hundreds of stones.
So according to this story on YWN, one needs to go to university to learn that being violent and ignoring or shunning people is not the answer?
This is terrible. So many people who claim to be speaking for the religious Torah Jews, learn nothing from the Torah itself!
after working many years in Israel with seculars, I find that being friendly to them instead of shunning them brings them closer to HaShem.
I think that is part of our purpose in our being in this generation is to bring our fellow non-observant Jews closer to HaShem and in doing so we bring outselves closer to Him also.
Mr. Poppenheim was never a spokesman of the Eida even though he often misrepresented himself to the media as such. That is why the Eida officially threw him out years ago after he constantly claimed he represented them even though he was told not to. He was never anything other than a street wise guy who never made much of an impact. He did like the media limelight though.
Rav Moshe Kohn, shlita, the son of the Toldos Aharon Rebbe, shlita, has taken this approach for a long time. However, there is a big difference between something that is not so bad, like going to college, and the things Mesho Zahav did like zionism
For over 200 years the Torah community has been under active attack by the unJews. This has generated a siege mentality and strategy to survive. We have built tall and thick walls around ourselves to protect ourselves from the barbarian hoards attacking us. Todays reality is different. The unJews are the weakest they have ever been. The Torah community is large, educated and strong. It is time to open the gates, march out, confront and defeat them.
#6, how about dropping the combative mindset before opening the gates. If the threat is no longer as intense, why not try to be the Jew of 200 years ago without the tall and thick walls. Come out of the gates with ahavas yisroel and some kiruv skills.