Dear Rabbi Shafran,
I read your recent articles in the the Forward and the
response written by Shoshanna Keats Jaskoll with great interest. You see, I
live in Ramat Beit Shemesh. As I am about to disagree with you, I cannot think
how to prove that I am not a chareidi-hater but simply a semi-chareidi Jew who
sees the actions of those extremist chareidim who live near me. I hear my
fellow moderate chareidim (the ones who made aliyah from America and are vocal
on local Facebook groups) defend the freedom of speech and right to protest of
these extremists who dress in chareidi clothing.
I have previously read what you've written with
respect for the position you hold, but your recent response to Shoshanna's
response in the Forward showed that, like many American chareidim, you are out
of touch with the reality in Israel and naively believe that Israeli chareidim
are just like you and that it behoves us to be tolerant of their difference of
opinions.
Sadly, this is not a case for tolerance. I am
tolerant of their decision not to join the army. I am tolerant of their choice
of dress and speech and even of their dislike of the army and the state in
which we all live. But I am not tolerant of their violence, their attacking me
and women like me, nor of their invading my neighbourhood in order to loudly
shout insults and death threats at a dati leumi man who works for the army. You
and many moderate chareidim think I should be tolerant. I think that your call
for tolerance of this sort is exactly what Shoshanna correctly labelled
abetting extremist chareidim.
Let me share some information with you to correct a
few of the points you made:
"Anecdotes, no matter how compelling, are not
evidence. Let’s assume that the claim of “hundreds” of radicals in Ramat Beit
Shemesh is not an exaggeration. And let’s add a similar number in Jerusalem’s
Mea Shearim. Let’s even round the number out to an even 1000 – though there is
no real evidence of that many prone-to-violence haredim.
According to the Myers-JDC-Brookdale institute, an
independent, American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee /Israeli government
effort, there were 911,000 haredim in Israel in 2014. 1000 hooligans represent
0.1097695% of haredim. Barely one-tenth of one percent"
There were over 10,000 men at the Peleg Yerushalmi
rally on Rosh Chodesh Nisan, when Rav Shmuel Auerbach asserted that they will
fight to avoid having to have anything to do with the army. Considerably more
than a tenth of a percent. Granted, they might not all be violent, but they did
all choose to attend a rally promoting violence, which should be taken as an
indication of their tendencies. Note these are only men: I assume that their
families share their views.
In Ramat Beit Shemesh Bet (where many of the most
extrerme chareidi fanatics live), there were pashkeveilim up along the main
street calling for every shul to daven from the amud for the destruction of
Yaacov Rashi, giving his hebrew name and his mother's name, and his entire
family.
(If you do not know who Yaacov Rashi is, then you
should really know before you pontificate about the real level of violence in
Ramat Beit Shemesh. Yaacov Rashi lives in the apartment building opposite mine.
He works for the Lishkat Hagiyus, in the unit that drafts Yeshiva boys. Note
that he does not force, pressure or in any way encourage yeshiva boys to sign
up. He merely processes their draft papers when they do choose to, such as to
enter the Nahal HaChareidi unit set up by Rav Aharon Leib Steinman. Because he
works in this role, however, chareidi extremists have elected him as public
enemy number one.)
Flyers have been scattered outside my building
against Yaacov Rashi, calling him a rasha, a rodef, a threat to all of am
yisrael, yemach shmo v'zichro (yes, those very words. I am happy to send you
photos of the flyers if you remain unconvinced as to the truth of my words). They
promised destruction for him and his whole family.
Groups of extremist chareidim regularly come to
protest outside his building, shout insults such as calling for him to die,
calling him a rodef and an eater of Jewish souls, and have tried to break into
his home. They come sometimes at 3am to disturb the whole neighbourhood
shouting insults and death threats.
In response, Rashi and his wife turned to the mayor
of Beit Shemesh, a 'moderate chareidi', and asked him for his support in
encouraging the local police force to squash the protesters. They asked him to
use his influence to make it clear that this behavior is not acceptable in our
town. His response: ‘This is not my problem’. That is the response of a
moderate chareidi in a position to do something about extremist chareidi
violence.
In the days before the giant Peleg Yerushalmi rally
of Rosh Chodesh Nissan, pashkeveilim were put up all around Ramat Beit Shemesh
aleph and bet, calling on all Jews to attend and promising to fight ‘to the
last drop of blood’.
Shoshanna is quite right about the children of Ramat
Beit shemesh bet throwing garbage and shouting insults at dati leumi girls who
walk through their neighbourhood on a shabbat. Dressed modestly, I might add,
in skirts to the knee and sleeves to the elbow, although without tights and in
bright colors. Teenage girls walking through RBS Bet on a Shabbat afternoon
really were set upon by a group of over 100 children throwing garbage and
shouting insults. When I walked through that neighbourhood on that same
Shabbat, it was only about 50 children who shouted 'shiksa' at me, an adult
woman in long skirt, long sleeves and a headscarf, walking together with my
bearded, black-hatted and –suited husband, which should have been some deterrent.
I presume that that number is ok with you?
And granted, these are only children. Where did
they learn this behaviour? How is it that my children know not to shout
‘parasite’ at a chasid walking down our street, even though there are some dati
leumi Jews who call chassidim ‘parasites’, and yet chareidi children do not
know not to shout ‘shiksa’ at a modestly-dressed girl who does not look like
their sisters?
And as for the absence of media reports being
‘proof’ that Shoshanna’s comments about the state of violence in Beit Shemesh
is just an exaggeration - those of us who live here are tired of being fodder
for the media circus. We chose not to call in the media this time because it
doesn't work. Media attention brings not one jot of pressure to bear upon the chareidi
extremists of our town, and not one jot of pressure to bear on ‘moderate
chareidim’ like those who make up our municipal board, who have made it clear
that they do not care to stand up against extremist chareidim who harass their
moderate chareidi or dati leumi neighbours. And one more thing – the American
chareidi facebook commenters who I referred to above, the ones who share your
belief that everyone who criticises extremist chareidi behaviour is a knee-jerk
chareidi-hater, they think that calling in the media shows that all that the
‘chareidi-haters’ want is media attention. Damned if you do, damned if you
don’t.
And are you right that there are moderate chareidim
who have condemned such extremist behaviour? Yes, absolutely. There are
chareidi rabbis and ordinary chareidim who stand up against extremist chareidi
behaviour in word and deed. But there is no mass feeling amongst moderate
chareidim that the behaviour of extremist chareidim is wrong. There is no
automatic response to stand up for what is right rather than for what is
right-wing. Instead, there is an automatic reaction to close ranks and support
those Jews who also wear black and white, because the non-chareidim must be the
enemy.
When a horde (almost 100) of extremist charieidi
members of the Peleg Yerushalmi descended on Rashi's building three days before
the Rosh Chodesh Nisan rally, it took 40 minutes for the police to arrive. In
that time, the only people preventing them from breaking into his building were
the regular residents of Ramat Beit Shemesh aleph, such as myself and my
neighbours. There are many many moderate chareidim who live here, as I'm sure
you know, but the vast majority of those who came down to stand against the
protesters (peacefully, may I add, without violence) were what you might call
dati leumi or chardal. We – myself and other adult women – were pushed, kicked,
and spat upon by the extremist chareidi protesters who bussed into our street
ready to attack Yaacov Rashi. And no, we gave no provocation other than
standing opposite them. And yes, these extremist chareidim came to physically
rip Rashi apart if he had stepped outside his front door.
Two days later, we (the Rashi’s neighbours) tried
to prepare for the expected return of the extremist protesters by organising a
system for notifying as many people as possible as quickly as possible of the
beginning of a protest, so that they could come to peacefully oppose the
protesters and make it clear that such behaviour is not acceptable in our town.
Most of all, we wanted to gather as many adult chareidi men as possible, so as
to show that chareidim do not condone this behaviour and to take the rug out
from under the extremists’ feet by showing that they do not speak for the
majority of chareidim.
We gathered almost 150 names on our ‘quick-response
list’, out of which only about 20 were American chareidi olim. In a
neighbourhood mostly populated by American chareidi olim, in response to
request shared by English speakers on forums frequented by American chareidim,
this is pathetic. Probably most of them also think that it’s not their
responsibility to stand up for ahavat yisrael, or even just for not calling for
a man to be killed, against their fellow chareidim.
If you complain about knee-jerk chareidi haters,
then I think you must consider the possibility of knee-jerk chareidi defenders,
who assume that a man who wears black and white must be believed over a woman
who wears a mitpachat and sandals.
I do not think that you deliberately set out to
disparage and belittle the sense of siege that is felt by those of us who live
in the midst of extremist chareidi protests. I think that you are unaware of
the reality of the situation. Please let me know, or Shoshanna, or my husband
if you would prefer, when you next come to Israel, and we will be happy to show
you around our neighbourhood so that you can learn the reality.
Best wishes,
Amanda Bradley
Ps. I did
not address you ignoring of the issue of erasing women's presence from
maagazines, adverts and periodicals, but suffice to say this topic has been
much discussed and it is absolutely clear that this was not the norm in
yeshivish chareidi circles, not in magazines, not in the Hamodia, not in the
Jewish observer and not in advertisements in free advertisers until the last
few years. Talk to any woman over the age of 60 and you will get a clearer
understanding.
