Secular Reporters Dressed As Haredi To Investigate How Secular Treat Haredi
The haredi media has been full of reports recently of attacks by secular on haredim, along with general worsening treatment of haredim by the secular. Haredi MKs have made such claims in the Knesset. Haredi media have established hotlines where people could report incidents.
Two secular journalists, Ravib Druker and Miki Rosental, dressed up as haredim, and took a haredi fellow as a consultant of how to behave and dress so they would not be spotted. They planned to walk through a secular area as haredim and see how they would be treated. They tried to rent a house, join a gym, ride local bus lines and tracked how people would react and treat them.
Obviously this is not a scientific study, but it is interesting. Watch and see the results of their experience (in Hebrew).
Cute, but totally not indicative of anything.
ReplyDeleteNon-religious Jews can walk in almost any charedi neighborhood without any problem whatsoever. It's only in a few select areas in the country that they would be mistreated.
An equivalent investigation would be to davka go to "rough" secular neighborhoods where violent incidents are reported to have happened.
And even then, you'd have to do so over the period of weeks to get any real indication.
Good point, David Meir. But it would be hard to do such a study, because:
ReplyDelete1) "Rough" secular Jews are spread sparsely around the country, whereas the "rough" chareidim are more likely to live all together in the few more 'extreme' neighborhoods that tolerate them
2) "Rough" secular Jews are probably the type of people who are "rough" and criminal about all sorts of other things and not just violence to the chareidim, so it would be hard to point to anything they do as being caused by hatred towards the chareidim, whereas the "rough" chareidim are davka "rough" against pritzus/medinah etc. and are pretty open about this.
Nevertheless, the video was still very cute! And I think that was really why they did it; not so much because of what it proves or doesn't.
I don't think this proves a thing. Everyone was very polite to them but they didn't actually try to sign a contract. In fact they got pretty much fobbed off everywhere. And of course they rode a bus and nothing happened to them. The only thing they said that was indicative was their comments at the end of feeling foreign and that everyone was looking at them. That I can well believe. However you can't have your cake and eat it. If you want to go round in distinctive dress that makes you stand out, then you can't complain that everyone treats you as different.
ReplyDeletethey themselves say it proves nothing.
ReplyDeleteI would add however that at the beginning of the video clip whne they are going to look for a rental, the clip identifies the location as Ramot HaShavim. Some people might not be aware of it, but Ramot Hashavim is a neighborhood or suburb of Hod Hasharon. It is a location of many accusations of anti-haredi sentiments. Someone, a baal teshuva, tried to start a community. he opened a yeshiva for baalei teshuva, and when he wanted to start a shul he supposedly met with opposition. Haredi press had mentioned ramot hashavim a number of times for anti-haredi activity over the past couple of years.
If they could walk around ramot hashavim and look for homes undisturbed, it does say something...
This is done by channel 10...
ReplyDeleteRafi
ReplyDeleteI live in Hod Hasharon.
I have never ever ever met one person here who is anti charedi.
But the problem is that people get hung up on terms.
If I want to end extra subsidies forcharediim that secular's don't get, from my perspective I want equal rights. The charediim however classify that as being anti-charedi.
And there are plenty of religious people, shuls and mehdrin resteraunts around here. what happened with that guy you mentioned is this:
1- He is from a kiruv organization and made no bones about his desire to be mekarev the seculars in the area.
2- He tried turning an apartment into a shul
3- When that failed he then set up an illegal caravan on a plot of land which he did not own.
When the authorities put an end to his nareshkeit, the charedi press turned it into an anti-charedi issue.
Way - that is my point and that is the point of these journalists. The haredi media has been making claims of anti haredi activity. They showed, not scientifically or conclusively, that for the most part people just dont care
DeleteRafi G:
ReplyDeleteIt would also be incorrect to say that anti-chareidi incidents like those reported do not happen. Rather, the report makes the point that, "for the most part," people just don't care, as you said.
Two points:
1) As a chareidi yid, I am far from "disappointed" -- I am very happy to hear that no conflicts took place and do so hope that is completely representative of the Israeli population!
2) However, I wish someone would do a similar report, proving that when secular Jews encounter chareidim there are no conflicts either, and for the most part, people don't care. This is a point that is just as correct but I wish that it was viewed as worth of an investigative report and documentary, and as being broadcast-worthy. Instead we only hear of the times that someone who got on a mehadrin busses *did* happen to chance on the same bus as a bored hoodlum, or perhaps he/she passed him in the street and was screamed at, etc. etc. etc.
Good Shabbos everyone! Or Shabbat Shalom for those so inclined. :-)
Interesting.
ReplyDeleteAlso a little funny, when my family was in Petach Tikvah one summer, we joined the pool at Ramot HaShavim for the summer and the kids were there almost everyday!