PHOTO LINK BELOW: A protest was held in Bnei Brak on motzei shabbos expressing the community’s disapproval of the opening of stores that are “inappropriate” for the area according to the organizers of the motzei shabbos event.
Organizers explain the protest surrounds the opening of the Merom Shir Shopping Center, which includes inappropriate stores, citing New Pharm as the major culprit, adding the store managers are unwilling to adhere to the requests and demands set forth by Rabbonim Shlita. Demands were made during the protest for the store’s closure, or alternatively, face a rabbinical ban on neighborhood residents entering.
According to a Chareidim report, some of the objectionable products sold in the store include hair coloring and colognes for men.
Some of the rabbonim who participated in the motzei shabbos protest according to Chareidim include HaRav Sriel Rosenberg (the neighborhood rav), Rav Yisrael Marmush (Rav Kehilos Ashkenazi Shichun Gimmel), HaRav Yaakov Meir Stern (Dometz of Maran HaRav Shmuel Halevy Wosner Shlita), HaRav HaGaon Yosef Meir Altman Shlita (Gavaad Chug Chatam Sofer), HaRav HaGaon Shmuel Bornstein Shlita (Rosh Yeshiva Kiryas Melech) and HaRav HaGaon Yehuda Silman (Dometz HaRav HaGaon Nissin Karelitz Shlita).
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(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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17 Responses
Oh come on!! Honestly, why shouldn’t they sell those things, I thought they were selling something much worse!
sounds Talibanish to me, hair die and cologne!! whats happening to our people? how many more have to resort to drugs and alcohol and worse, why? for some cologne! is this normal wake up!
Save the protests for serious matters or else you won’t be taken seriously.
How can so many bloggers have so little Sechel????
do you think these Rabbonimhave nothing to do? obviously they’re selling a lot worse things then that!!!! if you can’t figure it out, then you’re big Tzaddikim .
Sounds like there are other things that YWN is sparing mentioning. Use your imagination, if you must, but have some trust for the Rabbonim who are on site.
hey lkwdcommuter , sometimes i feel ywn should have a short IQ test added to the process of signing up to post comments on this site
In a free market, sellers can offer whatever they want, and people are free not to buy them. This does smack of extremism. What are the rabbonim afraid of? Sounds like they want to take away a person’s bechirah and decide how they should run their lives. Is there any precedent in Jewish history that such action have been taken against a store owner because rabbonim didn’t like some of the things being sold?
A totally insane demonstration.
A drug store offers various medications and over the counter drugs that society needs/wants & benefits from.
If hair coloring is not for you, go to aisle 6 instead. Cologne does not interest you, go to the baby aisle to see what you need.
Allergy, high blood pressure, diet, cough, digestive, fertility/non, pills/vitamins/liquids – discreet pads are necesities in households. Every neighborhood benefits from a nearby pharmacy. We in America, had fiqured out how to shop in stores without doing averos…..teach your kehilla the same. These demos bring ‘shame’ to toras hashem.
Where I live we have frum pharmacies but they still carry things that most frum people do not use but a few have asked a shailah and have a heter so the pharmacy does carry it. I am glad I don’t have to go far to another pharmacy to get what I need.
What could these pharmacies be selling that would make such an uproar? Are they selling drugs and alcohol to minors? Do they think that by forbidding what is being sold at a store will prevent these people from sneaking around and getting it elsewhere? No wonder that Bnei Brock has so many kids at risk.
Did the Rabbonim get together with this pharmacy and ask them to omit certain products from their store and if they do they will encourage the residents to only buy at their store? It seems to me that the only way these people know how to deal with others is by making hafganas and protests. I am sure the store would want to do what the rabbonim say if they saw they would make more money.
This sounds insane.
YWN – thanks for reminding me why I don’t live in Bnei Brak.
LISTEN PEOPLE. those packages have pictures on them right? so in lakewood shoprite is kind enough to keep various literature out of view. in bnei braq the rabonim just want it some stuff off out of view too. and even if they want it totally out thats not a bad idea because the vast majority of them are going to expire before they are bought.SO WHATS THE BIG DEAL?
AND- no i dont belive the rabanim have an issue with cologne.our rabanim are not fools so lets not alow them to be portrayed as such. thats just narishkeit from the chareidim report
So the Rabbonim can approach the pharmacy and ask if they can keep the various pics and magazines out of view, and if they do they will tell all their chassidim to go to their pharmacy. Here in Monsey Pathmark they put black covers over the magazines at the registers because the frum people asked them to, but WE DIDN’T STAGE A HAFGANA IN FRONT OF PATHMARK! These people must learn how to communicate in a peaceful manner.
P.S. I have been to many Israeli pharmacies and I did not see any objectionable pictures or literature. The malls on the other hand….surprising they don’t stage hafganot there!
Somebody has to open these stores, and if we leave it to the not religious corporations, their going to run it their way. If we want something different we have to produce it ourselves. If Bnei Brak Yungeleit open a Pharm whatever Pharmacy they can sell and not sell as they please. Nonsense to keep protesting everything thats not run your way.
Maybe the complaint is that the cologne is too expensive, and that’s why no one can afford it…
Apparently, we have achieved a new height of idiocy. If you don’t like a store’s merchandise then just shop elsewhere.
to number 12: about the hafganot- in israel its hard to get things done the peaceful, communicative way. most of the time it just does not work. have you ever seen israelis on the road? israelis have a ‘ you are not going to tell me what to do attitude’
so while i am with you on the ‘hafgana every time something happens’ thing but i also understand that the alternative was most probably tried already and failed.
do some research into the initial reactions of elal and shefa shuk CEO’s when questioned about their shabbos compliance and you will understand what kind of answer was received from the pharm company before the hafgana stage.
any store that wants to open anywhere does research beforehand to lure potential customers in- so why is the pharm insisting on doing things the hard way?
4 and 5 according to a report in the Jerusalem Post this morning they do not sell worse things at all.
In addition, the report said that New Pharm consulted with Hagaon Yaakov Landau before opening this store in order to get his haskoma.I think this answers your comments #16.
The report also states that Harav Lau attended the official opening of the store.
IF the rport can be believed the objection was to selling perfume and after shave which the more extreme elements consider prisus.