Today’s headline of the daily HaMevaser reads “Hate Rally Fails”, referring to the event hosted by the dati leumi community of Beit Shemesh. Depending on whom one asks, the rally was held for a number of reasons, including a showing of support for women and their battle for equal rights; to express solid opposition to segregated bus lines; to send a clear message to hoodlums who perpetrate unacceptable acts that they do not represent the chareidi community; that the dati leumi community of Beit Shemesh is not going to stand by and be run over by chareidim; or all of the above.
Whatever the case, the thousands expected to attend did not and only a few hundred people were on hand to show solidarity with the dati leumi community of Beit Shemesh. The latter has been battling extremists since the beginning of the school year after the latter set their sights on the local dati leumi school building, seeking to oust the girls to permit using the school for their own tzibur, realizing the demographics today favor the rapidly growing chareidi community. A growing number of dati leumi Beit Shemesh residents,those who founded the community, are opting to move for they are unwilling to live as a minority is a predominately chareidi community.
The rally got underway shortly after 6:00pm, and speakers included the head of the Kadima opposition party, Tzipi Livni, and Labor party leader MK Shelly Yacimovich. Not much more than 12 hours after the rally dispersed, a chareidi male was arrested on a Jerusalem bus in the Ramat Eshkol neighborhood after he spat and cursed a female soldier who was seated in the front of the bus.
The issue of women’s rights and mehadrin bus lines has taken a bit of a back seat in the mainstream media today, Wednesday, 2 Tevet, but due to the fragile situation, this can change in a moment as a result of an incident, such as the one occurring earlier in Ramat Eshkol.
For some local chareidi residents, last night’s event in Beit Shemesh resulted in an uncomfortable situation when some of the participants in the gathering used the opportunity to express their disdain for local chareidi residents. A large police force was on hand to maintain order and Baruch Hashem, the event passed without major incident.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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14 Responses
The latter has been battling extremists since the beginning of the school year after the latter set their sights on the local dati leumi school building, seeking to oust the girls to permit using the school for their own tzibur, realizing the demographics today favor the rapidly growing chareidi community.
So was this a “hate rally”? Or a demonstration against “extremists” trying to shut down a school so they can use it themselves – all the while pretending that it is a tznius issue and self-righteously shouting at 7-year olds?
Can you get your story straight?
To Anglosaxon.
The answer to your question is obvious,the secular media is out to smear and bash chareidim as much as possible ,and if this requires to put together a report that makes no sense,is contradictory,so be it.
YWN should be ashamed of just parroting those absurd claims.
How do you know they want this bulding for their own tzibur??
Did you see or hear this from ANY cheridi in Beis Shemesh?? This is such an inflammatory statement without any basis in truth.
mogold…
Yes the secular media IS out to bash chareidm, BUT they can never do it as well as the chareidim are doing it THEMSELVES!!!
The behavior of these thugs is a terrible PUBLIC chilul HaSh-m! – and YES, I have heard some of them IN BEIT SHEMESH saying that it is THEIR building and in THEIR neighborhood, BOTH of which are NOT true!
The main failure in this rally was the lack of support for protecting the young girls who go to the Orot school from those who are harassing them.
Even the Rov of the Eidah Chareidis Kehilla of Beit Shemesh is against the spitting and screaming.
We, chareidim, really have to look in the mirror and say – “Mi shebeyadoi limchos, v’eino moche….”
We really are responsible to stand up for all yidden.
Is our derech in yahadus, the only correct derech?
These girls and their community are definitely a part of klal yisroel we should be proud of. They are shomrei torah u’mitzvos. Their psak in certain inyanim may not be the psak my Rav would make. However they definitely have a valid psak to rely on.
Hakodosh Boruch Hu wants a beautiful mosaic of all different types of yidden, not just one derech.
May Hashem bless us all klal yisroel with shalom.
Since, Hate knows no boundaries, we must first educate ourselves, to respect every Human Being, Yid or Non-Yid, born to a Yid or born to a Non-Yid.
Why is standing up to a small group of people who spit on children and call them names considered a “Hate Rally?”
#4gartel, I 100% agree with you. But I would further point out that even if they did not have a psak to rely on, and were a part of our people that we are not proud of, the spitting and screaming and harrassing is smiply wrong. That is not the way to represent Torah values, it is not the way to teach our children to act, it is not the way to be mikarev anyone, and is actually likely to push people farther away from Torah, and in addition it cheapens and lowers those who engage in it and all who are associated with them (whether rightly or wrongly).
First hand report, they hardly had less than 200 participants, who came down all the way into the charedi area, quite a walk or drive from where they live, and they had hopes the charedim would come and counter demonstrate, which -to their dismay- didn’t happen, they were very disappoionted, so they started yelling slurs and curses at any charedi they spotted, they didn’t stop at verbal assaults, it escalated to throwing eggs at bypassers and spitting towards the charedim.
But it was one big joke..
‘Concernedbh’ said it right. I commend his attitude and obvious Yiras Shomayim and Ahavas habriyos.
Guys, There was no hate rally. Every speaker emphasized that this was aimed at Sikrikim. There were other Haredim represented at the rally. Nobody was looking for a counter demonstration of any sort. The goal of rally (between 5 and 10 thousand people) was to get the local and national government to do something against the lawlessness of the kanoyim – which effects every segment of Israeli society. This was not a hate party of any kind (sorry to disappoint some if you). And yes, I was one of the participants.
WHo are your sources??? I was there- there was no hate! It was in order to support the girls & women being abused in the name of ‘tznuit’ (I myself have been spit on).
There was well over 1,000 people of all types and religious denominations and we were not in the ‘charedi’ neighborhood. For shame on those who lied and said otherwise
First of all: The number of demonstrators that were there depends on who is counting. According to the non-chareidi media the number that were there numbered in the thousands.
The chareidi say it was only in the hundreds. This is common to all demonstrations, where the “pro” put in large numbers and the “anti” say small numbers and the truth is ??? Which is why the NYC police as a policy no longer give out official numbers of demonstrations.
To mogold:
Had you been following this story from the beginning you would know that the chareidim wanted this building for themselves, but the municipality had already promised it to someone else. (Ignorance is bliss.)
Only a few hundred guys were their look at the pictures. Furthermore, the spitting incident on the bus never happened and i very much doubt that the 8 year old girl actually got spat on, rather, as is usually the case with israeli media, first report then investigate. Any proof at all or is some family trying to get attention/ bring attention to their views? Can someone out there bring me proof? PLEASE???????
i very much doubt that the 8 year old girl actually got spat on,
So you don’t care about all the kids who get verbally harassed every day?