Quote Of The Day
The separation of genders on the bus is superfluous. It is idiocy and it does not stem from the fear of God... You should keep your hassidus to yourselves, lower your eyes to the ground. Somebody who is uncomfortable sitting near women, he should get up and leave. It is a chutzpah and lacking the basic and most minimal understanding.... According to the Torah, sitting next to a strange woman is allowed. The increasing extremism causes the media to make a lot of noise against the haredi community...
--- Chief Rabbi of Holon Rabbi Avraham Yosef
Well put, especially "You should keep your hassidus to yourselves..." Mesillas Yesharim devotes the whole of Chapter 20 to שיקול החסידות. But I guess they don't learn that perek in some circles.
ReplyDeleteThere is a huge disconnect between learning and doing.
ReplyDeleteThe gemara stresses modesty and giving honour to one's fellow scholar. Go watch what happens when there's an election for chief rabbi. It ain't a bunch of them sitting around praising everyone else. The gemara stresses being friendly to outsiders to encourage them in. Go see if that happens when you visit Meah Shearim the next time.
This is what is happening here. So desperate are these fanatics to live in their Artscroll-induced fantasy world that they'll become the epitome of what they officially despise to create that world.
Could you please share the source, where you saw this quote?
ReplyDeleteMighty, you can be sure the fanatics aren't reading Artscroll...
he was speaking on the radio. the interview has sinc ebeen quoted in kikar.net and bechadrei (and maybe more sites as well)
ReplyDeleteGood quote; but, I assume the intent is not that the actions "cause" the media to make a lot of noise against the chareidi community? The media acts of their own free will and business interests; the statement as translated seems to sound more like misguided apologist Jews saying that we "cause" the world to hate us, we "cause" the Arabs to kill us, etc.? The media cannot be excused for whatever irresponsible behavior they engage in.
ReplyDeleteNevertheless, it is very true that the media being the unfortunate reality, we have to be careful not to feed them with reasons to print negative material.
Indeed, when a woman gets on a mehadrin bus and causes a stir, we call it "provocation," but we still must condemn any of ours who actually fall into the provocation and act improperly. Similarly, we must act properly and not 'cause' (i.e. feed) the problem, but the media still must take responsibility for their actions.
Responsible reporting is one aspect of 'social change' that we need very badly in Israel. It could spark a wonderful and far-reaching change in our country.
Thanks for the quote- I was looking for something to that effect from a rabbinic authority.
ReplyDelete