Religious violence

I find it mildly amusing, and very sad, how religion is turned to as a form of violence. A local religious newspaper is fighting against a new religious newspaper that is attempting to start distribution in the city.

It happens to be that the new newspaper, in my opinion, has a far more professional appearance and is written better, and the competition can only help the established paper get better, but that is besides the point. Instead of the old paper improving, and instead of them going to beis din to claim hasogas gvul and the like, they resort to violence; some physical and some religious.

They have resorted to physical violence to actually disrupt the distribution of the newspaper on Friday. The opponents claim the paper has no hetter from a rav, actually no hetter from the rav they want it to have a hetter from, and therefore allowed themselves to physically stop the paper guy from distributing his papers, and even took his bundle and lit it on fire.

Besides that, now they have distributed a four page pashkevil in the mailboxes full of old quotes and letters from rabbonim saying the "shvuons" (weekly papers) are prohibited and the source of all eveil (the shvuons were the source of all evil before the Internet came to be). Of course, their shvuon is allowed, just no other shvuons.

Of course, in light of recent events, such as a certain letter signed by certain gedolim supportng a certain person, and asking for money on his behalf, who is in jail for violent acts against children, one has to question whether these quotes should be listened to.

If the rabbonim actually signed those letters of support, which I do not believe to be the case, they do not deserve to be listened to. If they were tricked into signing those letters, then it is not their opinion but the opinion of the askanim, and I have no interest in listening to them. if they never signed it, but their names were added without their knowledge, that is even worse, and who says in any other letter with their signatures we can now assume they actually signed it.

Until now, it hurt to say that gedolim were tricked into signing their name on all sorts of crazy takanos and issues. Askanim manipulate them and all that, but it hurt to say it. After the Elior Chen letter, it is now clear and publicly known to all that that is exactly what happens. There is no longer any denying it - the rabbonim said openly they were tricked into signing it. Rav Elyashiv even said he never signed and his signature was added without his knowledge.

So now, when a poster goes up against a yeshiva someone doesn't like, we can easily ignore it, without even a guilty conscience, because the gedolim don't really sign these things or know what they are signing. When the put out pashkevilim against something signed by the gedolim, we don't have to be concerned because the gedolim don't really sign these things, or know what they are signing if they did.

And at the end of the day, it is all religious thuggery.