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Jan 9, 2012

First They Came For.. And Then They Came For me...

German Pastor Martin Niemollier famously said:
First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.

Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.

Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.
In a perfect example of the above, Kikar is reporting about an incident on Shabbos in Mea Shearim. On Friday night some daughters of "a known Admor" were walking through mea Shearim. Some of the extremists did not like they way they were dressed, and poured fish oil over them, ruining their sheitels and their clothing.

The oil was poured from the porch of one of the apartments that is under dispute between the Neturei Karta and others (Gur has been involved in this dispute, making me think the victims in this attack were gerrer women) over who has control of the property (called "the hekdesh"). Hanging from that porch were signs announcing that women wearing wigs should not walk through the area.

To exact some revenge, the hassidim of said Admor went on Motze Shabbos and wreaked some havoc on the apartment and it's contents.

Kikar quotes a local resident as saying "It can't be that modest women that walk through the neighborhood are attacked by them. It began with women not from the haredi community, and today it is our own women who are attacked. Which rav allowed them to pour fish oil on women?"

Or as the good pastor said "...then they came for me..."

9 comments:

  1. Looks like "Daas Torah" is suggesting the neighbourhood is need of a good chocolate store. Isn't that the Torah way to solve all problems and avoid Charedi Bashing and Chilul Hashem at the same time?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Every day I have less and less ratzon to be labelled as "chareidi". It's getting to the point where I dread looking at the news to see what my "hashkafic cousins" are up to now.

    ReplyDelete
  3. from the description it sounds like the attack had absolutely nothing to do with the dress code. the modesty issue was simply the fig leaf for the nadlan dispute.

    however i agree 1000% that this use of violence is (at least partially) a result of allowing violence against secular targets.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hold on, using tznius as a 'figleaf' for a power struggle over property... hmm, that sounds familiar. Orot banot the sequel....

    ReplyDelete
  5. The root problem is that vicious individuals are allowed to run amok. How they dress, talk, or affiliate is incidental to this problem.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Another root of the problem is that there are large communities that support the criminals, whether overtly or tacitly. When the police arrest criminals, there are often sizable protests.

    ReplyDelete

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