About 20 small explosions – sounding like rapid gunfire – rang out at the Mir Yerushalayim at approximately 10:30AM Wednesday morning, prompting dozens of people to frantically call the police. Police entered the building from three different sides with their guns drawn – while Hatzolah Israel and other emergency personnel staged outside the building.
The local vendor who picks up the dry-cleaning at the Yeshiva was seen with his gun drawn running into Bais Yeshaya.
After a few tense minutes, it was determined that children were playing with firecrackers, and had set the off near the building. Besides that firecrackers can kill a child, Police are asking all parents to please confiscate any fireworks their children might have to prevent other terror scares.
(YWN)
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33 Responses
this firecracker situation in ey is crazy a friend of mine lost teir r”l from it they should be banned asap
I am sure that had these children realized the bittul torah & the scare they caused, the never would have done it!
“The local vendor who picks up the dry-cleaning at the Yeshiva was seen with his gun drawn running into Bais Yeshaya.”
YOU GOTTA LOVE ERETZ YISROEL! LOOL! THE DRY CLEANER PACKS HEAT! 🙂
They should be banned here in the US also. They are dangerous & can be confused with gunshots, like in this story.
WHat are the parents of these children smoken?
Don’t make it so dramatic! I didn’t know anything happened until I read it here!
They’ve been shooting them since rosh chodesh adar alef! In my shchuna who ever is doing it has no regard for others; he or they did one @ around 12 in the morning last night! Every time it happens my 3 month old either jumps or wakes up screaming. I think its a disgusting game especially in a country where it can be mistaken for a terror attack or vice versa. During the Merkaz Harav massacre neighbors said they thought the shots were “purim detonaters” and ignored it! They should be banned unconditionally. Besides what do they have to do with purim anyhow.
DANGER!!these kids are playing with fire!theres enough fear in the Holy Land.
It was an Israeli guy who did it, He asked my chavrusa for “AISH” in order to light them, It was right next to a Bochurim Dirah…
The reports were not taken very seriously, several of us(the members who learn in mir or the surrounding area) heard the firecrackers prior to receiving the call but responded “just in case”.
What does fire works have to do with purim???
It is at least hefkayrus at most following the goyim (new years/july 4)!!!
It will cost us lots of money but precautions must be taken – guards must be posted at every yeshiva and shul and every jewish gathering. Hashem Yeracheim V’yoshia V’yagen.
im sure some smart guy is gonna ask , why werent they in school at 10:30 am?
#3
Yeah thats great! I wish that there was a possibility that terrorists would start killing US in the street too (rachmana litzlan) so that we’d all need to carry weapons too!
I agree that the situation is out of control.
Just last week on the night of the Mercaz shooting, we had these loud booms going off until 1:30AM!!!!!!
It is crazy. I have yet to understand what this has to do with Purim.
Speaking of the Mir, how about some photos from the annual dinner this past Sunday?
#14…if you live in ny you have only yourself to blame. The jewish community keeps kissing up to politicians demanding more cops, more security blah blah blah… and you vote the same morons in every time.. and the result ? gun control!
Now, I am from miami and living in chevron now.. I have a florida concealed weapons permit and carry my handgun concealed wherever I go when i’m visiting my family.. I carry to shull on shabbos too… so do a few other mispalalim.
The sad part is, jews are scared of guns.. you can legaly buy a handgun in florida in 5 minutes, you can get a concealed weapons permit after a 3 hour class and 2 week wait valid for 5 years and renewd by mail..
But they dont! they give lousy excuses like “its a goyshe thing” and the only ones I know of that are armed are the lubavitchers (dont start calling lubab’s goyim)
Most frum jews in america will tell you i’m crazy.. I merely walk to the beis hakevarim here in chevron and see the matzeivos of unarmed kedoshim..
Interestingly, these fireworks are assur according to virtually every Rav, and this is well publicized. But every year, from Tu B’Shvat till Pesach, the chareidi neighborhoods still sound like Baghdad.
The firecracker situation is really out of hand and some kids have no concept that they are dangerous. I was walking through Kikar Shabbos Purim night (which was packed with people because the buses from the Kosel made everyone get off on Strauss and walk since the streets were closed) and there were kids lighting firecrackers and throwing them directly at people – specifically aiming at baby carriages! People were screaming and running in all directions, not knowing where they were coming from because the kids blended in with the crowd. The police were a block away and refused to get involved.
This thoughtless incident put everyone at the Mir in mortal danger..and not from fireworks or terrorists.
The danger was in all the cops and others who came running with guns drawn. G-d forbid, in the heat of the moment, if for an instant any of them had mistaken an innocent person for a possible terrorist, the outcome could have been tragic indeed.
#17, I understand that having a gun gives you this false sense of protection and makes you feel like a big dangerous fellow, but with only 3 hours of training in handgun usage your a danger to yourself and others. Any street punk whose been handling guns and knows how to fight can disarm you in a heartbeat, and if you don’t know how to aim the thing (I really honestly hope you don’t feel that you can do this after 3 hours of training) then unless you’re at point blank range i can almost guarentee that you won’t hit anything. Having a gun isn’t a good thing, I’d rather spend that ‘5 minutes’ getting a tehillim. Hashem will protect me more than a silly firearm. Please stop carrying a pistol until you have taken extensive training in using one.
Additionally, if you aren’t trained in using a handgun, it’s probably not a real protection to you, in which case you should consult with a posek about being Michalel Shabbos to carry one. Needless avairos are probably more dangerous to your health than an illusion of protection.
I heard from people at the mir yeshiva this morning that there were police and hatzolah motorcycles racing towards the mir yeshiva with sirens blaring as if a bomb went off. I think another reason it’s important not to allow these firecrackers is because every time these volunteers race to these calls they sometimes put themselves and others into danger the way they drive. just my opinion…..
#22,
Ive been handling and shooting guns my entire adult life. the “3 hours” is merely a legal class and a test to see if you can shoot properly.. it was given to me by a friend (a former marine and lifelong shooting instructor) and its each to his own achrayos.
I really dont have a need to feel “dangerous” I can assure you that living in chevron and a life long activist.. Shabak has a 6 inch file on me and its not something I enjoy.
I am deadly accurate up to 45 yards and go to the range every friday or sunday when i’m in miami.
Here is where you mistaken, theres no mitzvah to yield your life to saying tehillim. I believe in the power of davening.. we are however commanded “ushmartem” I see no way to “haba lehargecha, hashkem lehargo” with a tehilim.
Shulchan aruch hilchos shabbos siman shin chof tes clearly lays out that one must michalel shabbos by preparing “klei milchama” if goyim come to your borders even just to buy kash v’teven.
Your yidishe new york branwashing shows.. we down south know a bit better.. I can draw and fire in 2 seconds..
Tell me again how many yidden are beaten and mugged in new york..
Mr Pashuteh Yid, This comes from not being brought up well by their parents in being considerate to others and “not doing to others what you don’t want being done to yourselves”.
It has absolutely NOTHING to do with “not learning limudei chol” thats absolute “tipshus”!
#23… read my post at #26… another myth you have is that a frum yid automatically cant shoot.. my mentioning “3 hour course” was merely to say that it isnt hard to get and as such people cant make excuses.
I have a different mentality.. I grew up in miami being scared of goyim.. I live in chevron now where self defense is a daily exercise. And I do believe yidden in america are gravely mistaken by being passive.
There is NOTHING stopping a gunman from breaking into a shull on shabbas and r’l I dont want to mention the rest.
Again, I have no illusions on my knowledge of using a handgun..
#26, even so – you were saying that people should go crazy and pick up guns and defend themselves, which leads to untrained people go wild and hurting themselves. Rather than having people with little or no background in firearms pick up weapons, I think it would better to daven. You’re less likely to get hurt that way. And, if you’ll read what I wrote above, I was saying that if you don’t know how to use a gun, you can hardly be labeled as able to defend yourself with one to the point where it would be OK to break shabbos and carry one.
I’m not from new york either and unlike many, I don’t listen to pundits to tell me how to think. I’m from baltimore and theres plenty of stories about people who carry guns and it gets them nowhere but the hospital (or the morgue in many cases). An average person cannot and should not be carrying a gun, and it’s not as simple as shooting paper targets, it’s about being confident in handling yourself in an actual fight. While it sounds like you are capable of carrying a gun, it’s a foolish and dangerous thing to say that everyone should, it’ll just lead to more dramatic violence within our community.
#31 I am by no means a cowboy.. not many people that know me in person know I carry.. I have been in or near many terror attacks that has cemented my firm belief.
What halacha ?!?! yaakov merely says he’d rather a tehillim.. I have a clear heter to carry on shabbos (its a eruv community.. its only a question of muktza)
I’m not here to prove myself as you havent a clue who I am in real life, my only issue was to dispell me wanting to be “dangerous”
#30 I agree to a extent.. many buy and carry guns with no clue as how to use them.. my father wont stop mentioning his friend who’s “gun went off and shot his foot” though everyone knows guns dont go off.
The average person can and in my opinon should get a gun.. if a frum yid was not raised around them he should get proper training.
While my points reflect a Florida (castle doctorine, lethal force on anyone breaking into your home, self defense to stop a felony) and chevron (200,000 arab neighbors) mentality..
I am nonetheless very bothered by jews being unarmed.. to say that they have no training.. get some!
I should add in retrospect, that I havent associated with kahanist activities in over 3 years. My opinions stem from hard data by security experts and first hand experience.
Pashute Yid, Thanks for making yourself clear – what you’ve expressed is certainly “devorim shel ta’am”, However, as always in chinuch it all depends on the relevant situation, time, and country lived in. One cannot make any genral rules or statements that apply to all.
For the record, the two wek waiting period in Florida is a cooling off period so people don’t commit crimes in the heat of the moment. If already own a gun or borrow one and walk into a gun shop, they hand you the new over the counter on the knowledge that “If you wanted to commit a crime with a gun, you already have one and could have.”
Next, the three hour course is really not so much on gun handling. It’s more of a legal class. It goes like this:
If you ever have to use your gun, chances are you’ll have to go to court. When you testify, you want there to be only one version of the story…, Yours. Make sure he’s dead. If you shoot him while he’s climbing in the window and he falls out, pick him up and drag him back him. You can shoot strangers in your house, no questions asked. You always have to fire a warning shot. No one that hears the two shots will know whether or not the warning shot was before or after the one between his eyes. If the prosecutor asks: “You were trying to kill him?”
Answer: No sir, I was trying to incapacitate him.
Prosecutor: What do you mean by incapacitate?
Answer: You’re a college graduate? Go look it up in your Funk and Wagnall.
Prosecutor: Why did you shoot him eight times?
Answer: The clip only holds eight round.
Prosecutor: Why did you shoot him four times in the face and four times in the groin?
Answer: They told to me aim for the center of mass. Some were a little high and some were a little low.
-Excerpts from an actual Florida concealed weapons class.
only caused minor distraction in my Beis Midrash (Besi Yeshaya) we all heard it. I looked out window, it was clear it was nothing. My Rebbe said “smile” – so that everyone would see all was “ok” and learning continued, B”H
matzahlocaol101,
Not what I was taught / read.. its ileagal to fire in the air as a warning shot.
Q. When can I use my handgun to protect myself?
A. Florida law justifies use of deadly force when you are:
* Trying to protect yourself or another person from death or serious bodily harm;
* Trying to prevent a forcible felony, such as rape, robbery, burglary or kidnapping.
http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/weapons/self_defense.html
Pashute Yid –
A person has to be kept busy, but with what’s right, which has already been decided by da’as Torah. The Rabbonim in Eretz Yisroel have rules that they have set, and a “Pashute Yid” should not get involved.