Unfortunately I don't find this so compelling. (1) Dov isn't personally "charedi" when you review his own community affiliations. Maybe he's American black hat, but that isn't charedi. (2) All this talk about unity is mostly unity to fight the aggressive charedim, it isn't a positive platform to get schools for everyone, good spaces (parking, green, shuls, commerce, whatever) for everyone. (3) Until there's an Israeli willing to lead locally, the Israelis in Bet Shemesh won't take our political efforts seriously and it'll flop worse than the past elections.
Which means there's a lot of potential once we get the Israeli political/cultural angle right. So I'm waiting to see that.
I applaud Dov's efforts. True, he may not be taken seriously by some Israelis, because he's not one of them, or by Charedim, because he's not one of them. But no one is liked by everyone!
Bottom line, someone who expends energy and puts themselves out there consistently on behalf of the kahal (kol mi she'oskim tzorchei tzibur be'emuna) deserves our thanks and support.
Miriam - to a certain extent you are right. However, I was there for a bit near the enmd on Saturday night, and the Israelis know him. he has rallied them. Not just now over this, but his work over the years, culminating now in the tent protests and combining it with the OROT situation, he has really rallied them, through connecting to the Israeli leaders and through connecting to the people.
I got there when the group had gone on a march. Instead of going to look for them, I waited until they got back. In the meantime I hung out waiting and chatted with a few Israelis who were waiting or who had also come at the same time. all the Israelis I spoke to knew Dov, and they were the ones who mentioned him (I hadnt asked about him).
Also, his efforts you say are "mostly unity to fight the aggressive charedim, it isn't a positive platform to get schools for everyone, good spaces (parking, green, shuls, commerce, whatever) for everyone." I say those efforts are connected. It is double-sided and he works on both sides. As someone said, a city with multiple communities and populations cannot divert all its resources towards only one of those groups. Dov is trying to get some of those resources directed toward building for all the different communities and not just the one. he isnt fighting the haredim, he is trying to get resources for the other groups in addition to the haredim.
He's right. The only way you will beat the Charedim is with unity. And that means everyone voting for the same person next time.
The danger though is that the Charedim will try to move as many people into BS/RBS a few months before the election as possible. That's why the current construction must start soon - in order to be ready in time for the next election. And they will likely use such tricks as getting many bochurim to register BS/RBS as their domicile.
Unfortunately I don't find this so compelling. (1) Dov isn't personally "charedi" when you review his own community affiliations. Maybe he's American black hat, but that isn't charedi. (2) All this talk about unity is mostly unity to fight the aggressive charedim, it isn't a positive platform to get schools for everyone, good spaces (parking, green, shuls, commerce, whatever) for everyone. (3) Until there's an Israeli willing to lead locally, the Israelis in Bet Shemesh won't take our political efforts seriously and it'll flop worse than the past elections.
ReplyDeleteWhich means there's a lot of potential once we get the Israeli political/cultural angle right. So I'm waiting to see that.
I applaud Dov's efforts. True, he may not be taken seriously by some Israelis, because he's not one of them, or by Charedim, because he's not one of them. But no one is liked by everyone!
ReplyDeleteBottom line, someone who expends energy and puts themselves out there consistently on behalf of the kahal (kol mi she'oskim tzorchei tzibur be'emuna) deserves our thanks and support.
On that note, thanks, Dov!
Miriam - to a certain extent you are right. However, I was there for a bit near the enmd on Saturday night, and the Israelis know him. he has rallied them. Not just now over this, but his work over the years, culminating now in the tent protests and combining it with the OROT situation, he has really rallied them, through connecting to the Israeli leaders and through connecting to the people.
ReplyDeleteI got there when the group had gone on a march. Instead of going to look for them, I waited until they got back. In the meantime I hung out waiting and chatted with a few Israelis who were waiting or who had also come at the same time. all the Israelis I spoke to knew Dov, and they were the ones who mentioned him (I hadnt asked about him).
Also, his efforts you say are "mostly unity to fight the aggressive charedim, it isn't a positive platform to get schools for everyone, good spaces (parking, green, shuls, commerce, whatever) for everyone."
I say those efforts are connected. It is double-sided and he works on both sides. As someone said, a city with multiple communities and populations cannot divert all its resources towards only one of those groups. Dov is trying to get some of those resources directed toward building for all the different communities and not just the one. he isnt fighting the haredim, he is trying to get resources for the other groups in addition to the haredim.
He's right. The only way you will beat the Charedim is with unity. And that means everyone voting for the same person next time.
ReplyDeleteThe danger though is that the Charedim will try to move as many people into BS/RBS a few months before the election as possible. That's why the current construction must start soon - in order to be ready in time for the next election. And they will likely use such tricks as getting many bochurim to register BS/RBS as their domicile.