only time for narishkeit

You have probably read about the story of 5 Hareidi men beating up a woman the other day on Egged bus #497 from Bet Shemesh to Bnei Brak. She sat down in the front of the bus, they requested she move to the back of the bus. She refused. A soldier sat down next to her thinking it would deter them from making trouble. They did not care but proceeded to beat her and the soldier and disappeared before the police arrived.

If you missed it on the news sites, you could not have missed it on the blogs. Many of the various jblogs have written about it.

I delayed writing about it because the only details I knew were the ones mentioned above which came from the various media outlets.

I wanted to get more details. I posted on various neighborhood and social forums and asked around.

Nobody responded with any more information than that which was printed in the media.

This kind of stuff happens because the Rabbonim and askanim are busy making life difficult for the simple people. They are busy finding things to ban and posting signs about using only kosher cellphones, no computers and internet, no higher education, no army, no reading this book or that book, no this or that. All the narishkeit in the world has to be banned with signs declaring the protection of the sanctity of the community and speaking in the name of God.

But when incidents like this happen there is only deafening silence. Not a word from the Rabbonim banning such behavior or such beasts. Not a sign on the wall that this is not the way of our camp.

No - our camp does not use unapproved cellphones or eat from hetter mechira. We do not surf the internet or go to concerts that have men and women present even with separate seating. We only beat women who do not acquiesce to our selfish requests. How holy we are.

There is only time and energy for narishkeit.

The Navi says many times in the times of the Kings of Israel that anarchy reigned as "people did what was right in their eyes". There was no authority. The top brass was busy with narishkeit.

That leads to incidents like this. The top brass are busy with narishkeit and not with leading the people properly and providing what the people need.