Last week, YWN Israel reported that Rabbi Yehoshua Schmidt, the rav of the community of Shavei Shomron as well as rosh yeshiva of a hesder yeshiva, was knocked to the ground as Civil Administration inspectors came to destroy buildings in the community.
It has since been learned that the rav was not just knocked down, but beaten. He explains the forces arrived “during sefiras ha’omer” and did not have the proper documents to permit the demolition of buildings.
Rabbi Schmidt did whatever he could to persuade them not to enter the yeshiva, but his request was ignored. Troops entered the yeshiva, and “knocked the rabbi down” without any regard to his position, a rav and rosh yeshiva. Eyewitnesses explain the actions of Civil Administration agents were totally unacceptable, all the more so when we realize we are dealing with a rav and rosh yeshiva. They add “if we were dealing with an MK or public official, such behavior would not have been tolerated”.
Some feel that after Defense Minister Ehud Barak exhibited disregard for the stature of Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, the rosh yeshiva of the Har Bracha Hesder Yeshiva, he opened the door for such action against a rosh yeshiva in another community.
It should be pointed out that one talmid who truly tried to protect his rosh yeshiva was beaten badly by Yassam riot police, as documented by attorney Yehuda Shole’an, who admits his community should learn from the chareidi community, which would not tolerate such action chas v’sholom against a rosh yeshiva in that community. Shole’an is a close associate to Rabbi Schmidt.
Attorney Shole’an adds “we must not continue with the ‘you’ and ‘us’ in the Torah community, and the time has come to unite and defend to protect the Torah’s honor against such action.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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5 Responses
The problem here is that this Rosh Yeshivah is Dati-Leumi, and the rest of the “religious” “charedi” Jews don’t care what happens to the Torah Jews of Yehuda and the Shomron, because is not part of their four amot. Iftis Rosh Yeshiva was a “charedi” one, we would have seen by now the streets on fire.
Now that is a very ACHDUS oriented thing to say.
To# 2, unfortunaly is the truth.
And if the streets would go on fire, you’d make nasty comments about that…
#1 – Why do you assume the worst motives possible behind the charedim’s lack of riots? Maybe it just takes more than this to get them going? Or perhaps due to the recent wave of anti-charedism, the extremists within the charedi world take a long, hard look at their approach to politics? Why can’t we be dan likaf zchus, and not assume the worst?