Two Responses The The Media Attack On Haredim Over Hadarat Nashim

So far I have seen two interesting responses from the haredi community to the media campaign that has been waged against them.

To clarify, I think the media campaign began against the extremists and their violence, but it quickly seeped into an attack on the general haredi community as well, though perhaps more subtly. I think the reason this happened is because the haredi community didn't, and still doesn't, denounce the extremists and their tactics. It is easy for the general public to blur the edges, to think they are connected, when the haredi community refuses to reject them.

Sure, we have read a few articles, and a few politicians made some statements, and a couple people who wouldn't let their faces be seen or voices heard spoke up. And most of the comments were aimed in defense of the haredi community - how we respect women, how this isn't the way of the Torah, etc. However, beyond a few statements nothing has been done to really separate "them" from "us". Most importantly, everything goes through the gedolim in the haredi community - while they are busy banning magazines, burqas and whatnot, they have not found the time to comment on violence or the people behind it. I do not think anybody can be blamed for being under the impression that the extremists are still part of the general haredi community.

So, beyond all the chatter, I have seen two actual responses from within the haredi community:

1. Kobi Arielli, a haredi (though that is debatable) radio personality on Radio Kol Hai, has called for a boycott against the Eida hechsher. As he says, every time you buy mayonnaise with the Eida hechsher, you are supporting their ability to continue their anti-Zionist activity, which is really the source for their violence and extremism.

Calling for a boycott against the Eida is nothing new. We have seen it in the past both in the sense of a practical ban after a kashrus scandal was made public and calls for a secular boycott after a series of hafganot by Eida affiliated groups. There were calls for such boycotts before that as well. There is even a Facebook group promoting such a boycott (It only has less than 600 members, so you could say it never really got off the ground..).

So, while Kobi Arielli's call for an Eida boycott is nothing new, it is new that it is coming from within the haredi community (even though they would not consider him or his platform to be haredi).

2. A group of haredim from Modiin Ilit has taken more of an offensive. They are going to be protesting at a soccer (football) match between an Ashdod team and a team from Kiryat Shomeh, the "hadarat nashim" from the sphere of sports. Why are there men playing on these teams but no women? Not only are there no women on the various teams, but there arent even any womens teams! They add that in soccer the problem is that women arent playing. In basketball, they say, it is even worse because there women are cheerleaders dressed in minimal outfits to objectify them purely for entertainment purposes. And to paraphrase the prime minister, fi a woman can be a pilot alongside men, women can also play soccer alongside men.

Their objective is simply to point out the hypocrisy of the secular public that is suddenly up in arms over the "hadarat nashim" in the religious sector, while much still leaves to be desired in the general sector itself..