The Kikar Shabbat website reports its news hotline has recorded testimony from members of the chareidi community signaling a sharp increase in attacks against chareidim by non-frum Jews since the nationwide media campaign against chareidim was launched.
The report includes many verbal attacks, including one in a shoe store in the area near the Tel Aviv Central Bus Station, in which a non-religious woman shouted at a chareidi appearing person “You chareidim have no place in our country! You are unsightly penguins and parasites! Get out!”
In Ariel last Thursday, a Shomer Shabbat soldier was approached by two non-religious Jews who stated, “Nazi, look how you are dressed!”
One woman reports she paused in front of a meat counter for a moment to decide if she was going to buy poultry of beef. The butcher shouted at her “Go work you lousy chareidi and then you wouldn’t have to decide what to buy”.
One shopper reports from the Big Shopping Center in Beit Shemesh. She was in a shoe store and asked a non-frum salesman to assist her. She reports he said, “Get out of here. Go to Beit Shemesh Beit (Frum area). Why do you need shoes – to throw at police?”
One girl reports she was in Jerusalem’s Klal Building in the center of town when someone came over to her and spat at her.
One chareidi male reports that he had to drive to Ramat Gan for a work-related reason. He parked his car and as he was getting out of his vehicle, a driver slowed down and shouted “Go back to Beit Shemesh!” along with a number of others words not fit for print.
One avreich reports that on December 27th, he was traveling on a 71 bus in Jerusalem together with his wife. A non-frum person boarded at the stop before the climb to Ramot, an adult, not a youth. Without provocation he turned to chareidi passengers and started shouting warnings to the girls. “Soon they will begin spitting at you. Look out. We must kill them. They are worse than the Arabs. Anyone who doesn’t work must be killed.” The chareidim on the bus remained silent and embarrassed he reports. One non-frum woman tried to calm the agitated passenger down, to no avail.
A.S., 32, a resident of Beit Shemesh for 12 years reports he lives in the Heftziba community and as an educational counselor. As part of his job responsibilities, he drives around the community with boys in his car, using the time to speak with them. Last week, as he approached Ben-Ze’ev Street, corner Rashi, he heard shouts of ‘dossila dossila’ (derogatory term for frum/chareidi). When he turned around, he saw a group of young kids who began tossing rocks at his vehicle.
A woman reports that when her 7-year-old son went downstairs, he heard shouts “You’re a chareidi. Get out of here!”
A Beit Shemesh resident who is employed as a mashgiach kashrus in Rechovot reports that he travels on the train to and from work. On a trip home last week, a number of youths began shouting “shiktza” at him. “See him, the pathetic chareidi” they added. He explains that he got off a stop earlier than his norm, fearing they would turn against him with physical violence.
On the last day of Chanukah, one person called the police emergency dispatcher at 15:45 asking why traffic is so backed up in Jerusalem. She was told “it is because the chareidim are at it again”.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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12 Responses
Amelik is at it again Rav Elchanon Wasserman zt”l called them by their name. While obviously the situation is tragic and the alleged spitters that started this will have their account settled by the one above. None of the secular attitude should surprise any of us. Having lived in EY for many years, with the Credo ‘havi makdim shalom L’CHOL adam’ I can say I am not surprised and we are shown once again how wise our Gedolim are/were.
I’m waiting to see how people are going to comment how the Charaidim deserve it. All of a sudden charaidim deserve it, but chilonim don’t! Btw I find It interesting how you reported this ~He saw a group of young kids who began tossing rocks at his vehicle~. It must have been like a game of catch tossing the ball to and fro. Sweet kids playing catch!
I do not believe that all of these counts happened. I think this is a way for some of these extreme chareidim to switch the focus from this past weeks incident.
Would we be better off if instead of following the path of people like Ben Gurioun nad Jabotinsky, we had followed that path of those such as R. Yosef Hayyin Sonnenfeld (and Dr. Jacob Israel De Haan) – and instead of demanding a secular, western state in which Arab Muslims were reduced to a tolerated minority, we had instead wanted only autonomy and economic freedom (including a right for any religious Jew to live in Eretz Yisrael – which the Muslims had never really objected to as long as we stayed out of politics – they sort of like Jewish moving to Israel in the pre-zionist era since it was good for the economy and unlike the Christians we didn’t object to Muslim rule).
Eretz Yisrael would be part of an Arab Muslim state (probably under King Abdullah II, but probably larger and perhaps including Syria, Lebanon and Iraq as has been promised by the Allies in World War II – it was on that assumption many Arab leaders agreed to a “Jewish homeland” within and as part of a large Arab state. We would have an Israeli flag on the UN, or a Jewish girl in a bikini at the Miss Universe contest, but we wouldn’t have to fight “tooth and nail” for the right to live a Torah lifestyle in Eretz Yisrael.
And an added benefit of the “alternative history” had we followed R. Sonnenfeld and the other hareidi leaders – Hitler would at worst be remember for the “expulsion” of European Jews – and there would still be no word for “genocide” in the English language.
this is getting sicker by the minute!
whts gonna be?!?!?!
at those times the frum population should try at least to make a kiddush hashem?
Akuperma, I agree with you to a certain extend, I think that a jewish state before Moshiach -in any form- has some serious haluchadiga complications. I do however have a question which I’ve been trying to understand for a while. We (Klal Yisroal) are in exile, which means, we live between gentiles, period. So, the way I see it, just like the religious Yidden in NYC won’t even think of turning the city upside down to protest MTAs mixed buses (dare they should), the Israeli Yidden shouldn’t either. Why should the fact that the state of israel is currently run by people that may have Judaism in their DNA make a difference? We are all still in the same Gulas. Call the Zionist government whatever you want, the fact is that from a Gulas standpoint, Israel and NY is pretty much the same. Furthermore, there are thousands and thousands of Gd fearing Erlicha Torah learning Yidden in NYC, how come they don’t feel their religion is jeopardized with the MTA? How is it possible for them to remain so Erlich With the MTA? How come they know how to find and stay in their Shul -sitting over the Gamurah every chance they have? Why are the Israel pple in such a unique situation?
#4, stop living in a fantasy world. You dont know what would have happened had we followed Rav Sonenfeld. Dont blame the Holocaust on the Zionists. Jews were persecuted by the millions throughout the centuries long before Zionists were even dreamt of. Jews were killed and persecuted in the 14th,15th,16th centuries in Arab countries. Read history. Dont blame genocide on Zionists. Its factually wrong
To ill be strong there is a huge difference between nyc and ey because EY is paltron she’ll melech and therefore more is expected
Really, I am speechless. The article was one thing. But the comments!! People, we are all Jews. V’ahavta lerayacha kamocha does not specify whether your ‘raya’ is religious or not. And I can assure you, if we treat the non-religious or less-religious this way, they will have zero motivation to come back to the fold.
#1 ‘a jew’ is calling secular Jews ‘Amalek’? We do nothing to improve things between ourselves. We must embrace each and every Jew with love. Despite our differences. Only then might we be zoche to see Moshiach, and the realization of our full dream of returning to Eretz Yisroel.
These events, assuming they have happened, are terrible. I don’t automatically assume events are true simply because they appear on a news site. This is one of the great powers of video technology, chevre, it gives perfect eidus as to what actually happened.
#8 Would this be your position if Israel was still under British (or Arab) control? I mean paltron shel melech is paltron shel melech, right? Do you think for one second that these people would run around protesting a British or Arab Israel? I highly doubt it. I do respect those who fight for Torah values, but this is ridicules. I’m willing to bet that the fine Yidden in Brooklyn are anytime as Frum as any of them, yeah, the same people who ride the Subway to work everyday.
I’ll assume for the moment that some or all of these incidents took place (compare the list with http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/news/General+News/113455/HaMevaser%3A-Chareidim-Under-Attack-Nationwide.html), but it would be nice to have indication of the sources for these incidents to make them credible.
Let’s keep in mind that most Israelis respect religion, even if they don’t observe themselves. Yet, many of the secular, and even elements of the observant, have difficulty with certain Charedi outlooks and feel that there needs to be more respect both ways, but also an adjustment in Charedi lifestyle and social attitude – and for the own health of their communities (Read Rabbi Berel Wein’s Echoes from the Past – 12/30/11).
Tragic here is that a small group that identifies as Charedi has hijacked the Charedi image and even notions of Tznius. Their motivations (in Beit Shemesh) are likely more about power than anything else, but mixed in with this and other sentiments expressed in rallies and privately is the ongoing perception that the ultra Orthodox are the victims of Zionist history and government.