This letter was written by someone in RBS. Initially he sent it out to some of his neighbors, and then he spread it further asking for it to be distributed widely around RBS. Following the [original] letter is a response. This letter generated a lot of debate, though I do not know how wide of a reach in RBS it obtained.

Personally I feel that the original letter expresses a nice sentiment. Unfortunately, it is premised on incorrect information and its proposed solutions are completely one-sided, pointing outward rather than inward, making the nice sentiments seem sanctimonious rather than worthy. Nobody likes to be preached to...

I'll start off with a song about the topic of the post...



below is an open letter that i felt needed to be written regarding the current situation in bet shemesh after the mayoral elections. please feel free to distribute it widely in our neighborhood.

dear friends,

imagine the following hypothetical scenario:
a school is built just outside of an english speaking dati leumi neighborhood, on the edge of a charedi neighborhood. mothers of children in the school come walking down the block in their usual manner of dress to drop off and pick up their children. some are wearing skirts down to the ground, but others are not even covering their knees. some wear only long sleeves but others do not cover their elbows or wear shirts that are open well below the collar bone. some (being married women) cover every hair, while others merely put on a symbolic kerchief, or don't cover their hair at all. now, being that the school is next door to buildings inhabited by traditional charedim, these mothers become the object of allot of attention. they are observed by charedi women who have been raised from a very young age to believe that it is undignified, even debasing to go out of one's home without stockings let alone a married woman parading in public with her hair uncovered. these women are shocked and horrified, in their eyes these mothers are not just debasing themselves, but are offending jewish women everywhere. it is very much how most of us would feel if an institution would open in our neighborhood that would attract women from tel aviv in their beach attire. (it makes no difference whether or not that is a fair comparison, that is how they feel about it in my hypothetical scenario, as well as in real life). these women speak to their friends, who in turn speak to still more friends, and soon it is the talk of the town. soon women are turning to their husbands and demanding that something be done about this offensive behavior. most of the husbands decline to get involved. they explain to their wives and daughters that even though we live in eretz yisroel, we are still in galus. we can't fix everything or make the world run as we feel it should. but a few, perhaps those who are in unstable marriages, or those who have hot headed personalities, decide to go out and demonstrate against this school being in their neighborhood. soon there is goading and counter goading, spitting on the ground in front of people, and all types of unpleasantness.

the situation is about to get out of hand, when suddenly a community activist, well respected in th DL community steps forward and says:
"friends, neighbors, countrymen" (my apologies to Shakespeare) "we are facing a difficult situation. our neighbors, who are after all, fellow jews and therefore our brothers, are offended by our behavior. they think that by our mode of dress we are insulting all jewish women including them. they are wrong, we have every right to dress however we like, but it still behooves us to understand where they are coming from. it is only an insignificant number who demonstrate against us but there are many more who share their complaint and therefore don't condemn the excesses of the tiny minority. friends, let us take advantage of this opportunity to teach our children a lesson more important than anything that they will learn in this school. sure, by strict justice we are right and the law supports us as well. we were promised this school building even before their neighborhood was built. none the less, we always preach to our children that we believe in ahavat chinum (baseless love), that does not mean loving jews that we identify with and feel comfortable with. it means loving jews whom we disagree with, find annoying, and to some extent are stepping on our toes. that's why it's called BASELESS love. let us go beyond the letter of the law. the mayor has offered us an equivalent building on the other side of our neighborhood. once we are sure that he can deliver on his promise, let us be mvater and turn this building over to our brothers , who at the moment are our opponents".
except for a few hot heads, most people could see the value in what the community activist was saying. if the suffering of this exile was brought upon us by sinat chinum, and the way to correct that is through ahavat chinum, then surely hashem will not test us to see if we can get along with those who don't offend us, rather the test will be can we see the legitimacy of other jews (even if only from their point of view) who do offend us.

and so it was, the dati leumi community decided to practice ahavat chinum, and while not suffering any great harm, they decided to forgo their "rights". of course this made quite an impression in the charedi community. soon they were inviting each other over to their homes for shabbat (after all the two neighborhoods where only across the street from each other), old grudges were forgotten, and a new generation of children was being raised in both neighborhoods, that truly understood what ahavat chinum means, and how to see the best in another jew.

except that this scenario is not so hypothetical. hashem tested the residents of BS/RBS with something very similar not so long ago. who knows, if we had passed the test, perhaps that would have brought us to the tipping point, and our long bitter golus would have come to an end. BS would have gone down in history forever as the city that brought the geula. but we didn't pass the test, we failed terribly. there is blame enough to go around for every one, but i am writing this letter to my fellow english speaking olim, so i will focus on what we can do. we can't change others, but we can change how we relate to them.

now hashem has given us a make up test after we failed that first one. the make up test was the elections that just went by. i remember the last election 5 years ago when moshe abutbul and shalom lerner acted like such perfect gentlemen towards each other (yes there was some nastiness from over zealous supporters here and there, but the candidates themselves treated each other with respect). this time was different, there are allot of reasons for this, but none of them are an excuse. we the english speaking olim, who do not carry the burden of grudges (many of them legitimate, but grudges none the less), that go back to the 1930's at least, need to lead by example. we must demonstrate ahavat chinum. some of us supported abutbul for ideological reasons, others for practical reasons. likewise, some of us supported cohen for ideological reasons, others for practical reasons. whatever our individual views, we must remember that our neighbors are still upstanding people even if they're misguided!

the elections are over, let it go. crazy rumors and gross exaggerations are swirling around the community. police raid an apartment and find 200 teudot zehut, an ignorant person speculates that it was meant for use in election fraud and people believe it. why? because we are motivated by sinat chinum instead of ahavat chinum. does any one ask how did the police know to go to that apartment? don't those who are against voting in elections on principle (of which there are many in RBS B) usually collect their teudote zehute in a central location on election day so as not to be tempted to vote? is it not more likely that that is what the police found, since that location would have been well known, rather than an attempt to commit fraud which would have been kept secret? (or do we all think that the bet shemesh police are such super sleuths?). if we are motivated by love we would think the best of our fellow jews, if we are motivated by sinat chinum we will believe the worst.

make no mistake, we are being tested, and throughout history there has always been a terrible price to pay for failing these types of tests. let us realize the importance of this historic moment, and save ourselves from a terrible error, and the tragedies that such errors cause, and let us be a good example to our children, so we can raise a new generation steeped in ahavat chinum.

yechiel reit
a resident of RBS A

Response by Shoshanna Jaskoll

I am posting an open response to yechiel's letter here because I have no way of knowing how far or to whom this letter has gotten, and because who knows how many also see the situation as yechiel does. But it needs to be addressed. 

Yechiel

Given the sentiments you express in your letter. I doubt you intended or have any idea of the pain you caused those who lived through the Orot trauma or those of us who tried, tirelessly, to end it.

It was traumatic on many levels, some of which were the reasons you speak of. We made aliya to live in EY with other Jews- brothers and sisters. And learning that there are those Jews who just do not see us as Jews is for many of us, the most painful part of living here.

I will briefly touch on Orot.  I live here in RBS and was one of the few from here that went down during the day to see what I could do to help.  I refuse to allow continual denials and misjudgments on what went on there.

You write that this was about tznius. It was not. It was a turf war. They want the DL away. They pulled the same shtik with the boys’ school.

You write that OROT was offered to move to another comparable building.  A.) they were offered to switch boys for girls which would not solve ‘the mothers’ in whatever dress you claim was an issue.  B.) they raised money for that school and built it for their girls. They need not go ANYWHERE because a group of terrorists- and that’s what they are- terrorists who call little GIRLS whores and shiksas to scare them away.

Perhaps- and this is the most galling to me- if the people of RBSA had bothered to take themselves down there to see first hand what the girls and their mothers had to go through and had they ONCE gotten together in a fit of Ahavas Chinam as you say, they might have stood there as a human barrier between the thugs and the little girls like I did when I was spit ON not ‘spit at on the ground’.  (Should you doubt the veracity of my claim, it is on video.)

Had the greater community come together to say NO to this terror, the thugs would know that they had no chance to continue to terrorize little girls. I know it is hard to imagine if you weren't there. But I was there and I can tell you that it was horrific. A rabid, sneering, mob of thugs calling LITTLE GIRLS whores- And you think we should APPEASE THIS BEHAVIOR??

Honestly, Yechial, you might as well go tell the citizens of Sderot to go to the Gaza fence and hug a Hamas guy and empathize with where he’s coming from, And FTR, the citizens of Sheinfeld took Mishloach Manot to all the neighbors across the road. They made sure it was all bedatz, only the men delivered them, and it had a beautiful letter in Eng, Heb and Yiddish. A little known fact which I think says a lot.

It was not about tznious and you do a great disservice to say it was.  And you do not mention the rocks, feces, vandalism, and other acts of terror perpetrated on an elementary school.

And where was the mayor? NO WHERE. We personally spoke to him and begged him to come to the school. Did he stand there and tell the thugs to go away? No. He did not. He did not stand up for his kids and his people. Not once.

As to the elections. I ask how it is that you expect Ahavat Chinam of a population that has been trounced upon. I ask how you can expect those of us who have had our intelligence insulted and our choice for proper leadership stolen to smile about it. Are we to accept fraud and crime with a smile? http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/my-city-was-stolen/

But don’t take my word for it http://www.jewishpress.com/news/breaking-news/mounting-evidence-beit-shemesh-votes-stolen-election-tainted/2013/10/28/

I see nothing in your letter appealing to Abutbol and his followers and their wretched campaign of Sinah.  I see nothing in your letter appealing to the “haredi’ camp asking them to display some Free Love and understanding to those of us who feel robbed and made to feel like unwanted citizens.

As a result of this campaign I am embarrassed as a Jew and mortified as a citizen of this city. The campaign was run on lies about Eli and rotten insinuations and fraudulent claims of Daas Torah.  Abutbul’s camp tore up this city with fear mongering and claims that to not vote for him was a sin.

On election day itself, crimes, illegal voting, ballot tampering … You know, there were disguises found with the hundreds of TZ in that apartment. Lending further credence to the use of them to perpetrate fraud.

Your letter is insulting to a population that has taken hits and come back again and again to try and make things work.  It is a further insult to a population that has seen their children chased, had rocks thrown at them, had their overtures rebuffed,  and has been left to fight for its kids and city all by itself.

To insinuate that if we had hugged the thugs they would smile and invite us for dinner? Your blaming of the victims is really quite stunning. If you think for one second that those thugs would be ok with you and your wife and kids, you are 100% wrong. But you don’t live on the border like the people in Sheinfeld do.

I’m curious why you only ask for the ahavat chinam to come from one side and not from the other.  How can you blame the situation on the ‘DL’ lack of ahavat chinam, and not on the lack of ahavat chinam of the other side? If you would like to see change, you’d really have to start by dialoguing with the side that writes threatening letters and destroys property and get them to the table…

You know what a true show of Ahavat Chinam would be, Yechiel? For those in RBSA (including those Rabbanim that refused despite our pleas to come and add their voices to ours) to say, “It was wrong what went on there in Orot.  We should have stood with you. We were wrong not to and we will never leave you alone again. Together, we will fight hatred and evil no matter what it wears and will not divide ourselves by dress or hashkafa again. You are our brothers and sisters.’

That would be a real call to ahavat Chinam. That call I would add my voice to.

SKJ

I’m posting here a response to your letter from a resident of the area: 

Yechiel - There were houses on Rehov Gd for a few years before houses were built on herzog. Houses sprung up on Herzog and as a way of introducing themselves, the new residents on Herzog sent messages to their new neighbors on Gad. They did not say. “Hi, we are your new neighbors pleased to meet you “ Despite the fact that the houses were separated by a 4 lane road with a divider the notes put in the letterboxes went like this. “We can see your televisions. If you do not remove them “WE WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO YOU”  A community activist stepped in and negotiated. He negotiated and then simply gave in to their violent and bizarre request. Shutters closed or television removed. Some of us were horrified by his capitulation to violence...but then what happened? THEY THREATENED HIM further and further.

The election fraud is ENORMOUS

Today I met someone whose 85 year old mother voted in the election- ....even though she has been in Canada for 5 years . I heard of someone who voted for Eli Cohen. At her Kalpi not a single vote for Eli Cohen was recorded 7 people were arrested using fake TZ- (none of them were those secular)

One of our neighbors caught someone cheating (he could not recite his number and did not know the name of his children) but the misrad hapnim representative said to just not allow him to vote, gave him the TZ back and let him go!! In the national elections there were 270 votes not allowed (psulim) in Bet shemesh in this election there were 800 about psulim to Eli Cohen alone, many ripped. There are so many complaints that there is a team of lawyers trying to handle them all. There are asking for more volunteers.

This is not Sinat Chinum. This is wanting to live in a non violent/honest country where people don’t study each other’s dress and pass judgments based on that.

Please do not say that we live in galut- it implies that you have no connection to the land or others that live here . It is what gives people permission to lie to each other and destroy the beauty of the country...
Some people live in the Galut. I live in the wonderful land of Israel . I love the land and I am part of all the people and want to grow as one nation. In order for that to happen we cannot tolerate violence and aggression . We must pursue Righteousness and cannot rest when we see the most horrible chilul hashem occurring in our midst.

Dear Yechiel. I am assuming that you did not know the extent of the election fraud , Now that you do, I a interested in what you have to say- how should it be handled?.







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Donate to the Schneider Hospital so I can run the Schneider benefit marathon..

The Connections magazine, a local monthly magazine, was preparing the current edition and the main theme was going to be article regarding the recent escalation of tension between communities in Bet Shemesh. I was asked to write an article. The following is what I wrote and has been published in the magazine. Let me know what you think.

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A terrible crime was recently perpetrated against the OROT school, the children that attend it, the parent body, and perhaps by extension the Sheinfeld community and the Dati Leumi community in general. That crime is the crime of indifference.

While the children of OROT Banot were being harassed daily for months, even with some brief periods of respite, most people were indifferent to the situation. Many people, very many people, got involved, both from the immediate community and from other parts of Bet Shemesh, but most people remained indifferent, perhaps watching curiously from the sidelines.

It hurts when Jews fight with each other. Everybody loses. In the portions of the Torah we have been reading recently, the brothers of Yosef fought with him, and that led to Yosef being sold, and eventually the slavery. Before that we saw Yaakov fighting with his brother Eisav. Before that it was Yishmael being thrown out of Avraham’s house because of his poor behavior towards Yitzchak. Going back further, even Cain and Abel fought, and there were just the two of them and their parents at the time! Sibling rivalry, and quarrels and fights, are clearly nothing new.

I believe that the Torah relates to us these incidents for many reasons; to teach us many lessons. One lesson is to teach us how bad it is to fight with each other. How it leads to division and strife and all sorts of bad outcomes.

Another lesson I think we must learn from these portions is that sometimes we must fight, despite the horror of fighting with a brother and a sister. Sometimes we must take a stand, we must reject evil, we must reject the bad.

Clearly we must work to mend rifts. It is a horrible thing when brothers are fighting, and we must do what we can to rectify the problem, and learn to respect each other despite, and possible even because of, our differences. At the same time we must reject the evil and intolerance.

My 5 year old son was having a “chazak chazak” party in gan the other day for sefer Breishis. He needed to bring a short dvar torah to say at the party. I suggested he say that there were 12 sons of Yaakov that were made into 12 Tribes. Why 12 Tribes – why not have them all under one big Tribe? I told my son (in different words) that we are 12 Tribes because each person is unique and has his way of serving Hashem. There is room under the umbrella of Judaism for everybody, and for everybody’s style.

Indifference is not an option. Too many have been indifferent for too long. It is time to step up and do whatever can be done to chase away the evil from our midst. The thugs who have perpetrated the violence and harassment of little girls and their families need to be banished, the way Yishmael was banished from Avraham’s home.

The mayor and the city council need to no longer coddle them and let them continue their ways in the name of dialog. The Haredi community needs to reject them and push them out, and no longer tolerate what they do in the name of Haredim and in the name of Hashem. The Dati Leumi community needs to keep up the pressure. The police especially need to do their job of arresting these criminals and not standing down to communal pressure.

We all need to realize that 99% of the people in Bet Shemesh are wonderful people who can live together peacefully, side by side. We are the 99%. In our situation the 1% is not the elite, upper-crust of society that is indifferent to our plight. In our situation, the 1% is evil, and needs to finally be dealt with.

We are the 99%.

An Anonymous Guest Post

In Defense of Their Silence

There has been an uproar in recent weeks about the silence of the Charedi rabbonim in regard to mistreatment of and violence against women and children. Much of the complaining has actually emanated from within the Charedi community itself. Many of the “men (and women) on the street” in the Charedi community are appalled at the behavior of these select few and the reluctance of their own rabbis to condemn these actions.

As a resident of Ramat Bet Shemesh, a neighborhood in the thick of the action, I come in defense of the silence of the Rabbonim.

I clearly understand from where their reluctance to vocalize their opposition comes.

The Torah, when describing the behavior of the brothers of Yosef, teaches a valuable lesson. Sometimes from a negative action we can learn a positive trait about another. The brothers of Yosef are credited to have spoken “of equal heart and mouth”. They didn’t feign an external love for Yosef while harboring hate within. They spoke harshly to him because they felt animosity toward him. So while the Torah doesn’t condone hatred of others It does point out the consistency in their actions.

In this light I truly understand (and perhaps even respect in some little way) why the Rabbonim of Ramat Bet Shemesh are silent on the treatment of the Orot students by the “extremists”.

How could rabbonim of Ramat Bet Shemesh condemn the lack of respect for women when they themselves attempted to take total control of the mikve less than 2 years ago? Having 2 sides wasn't good enough..they wanted to take both. Their “grab” at the mikve was in a sense saying "we don’t respect your choice of rabbinic supervision and you must follow our way".

Could we expect rabbonim to issue a statement about loving all Jews when they themselves exclude certain tzedaka organizations from having a presence (to collect) in their shuls? The same rabbis have no issue with that organization assisting members of their kehilla.

And what would we say to a statement about respecting and loving ALL Jewish children from the very rabbis who formulate school policy contracts that forbid their students from interacting with other RELIGIOUS children just because they attend different schools?

Would it not be hypocritical to expect a rav to oppose vandalism of a school when these rabbonim are silent on the vandalism of signs and banners of worthy organizations in their community?

What shall we say when a rav says “it’s not my job to deal with the extremists…go to the police” when those same rabbonim forbid in no “uncertain terms” going to the police about child abuse.

These rabbonim clearly understand that to issue such loud condemnations would violate their standard of being of “one heart and one mouth”.

So while I may disagree with their stances on all of the above I must (silently) applaud their remaining consistent even while their own congregants are taking to the streets and the blogs.

I have been to many hafganot over the course of my 21+ years in Israel. I have been to just about every type of hafgana that there has been, sponsored by just about every different type of sectors that exist. Not every single type, but a lot. Whether it was ultra-haredi riots over grave diggings and closing Bar Ilan street in jerusalem, or be it nationalist hafganot against giving land away to palestinians or other political moves, be it regular haredi protests against different issues (public shabbos observance by the State, anti-haredi whatever, etc), be it Kach protests against who knows what, be it left-wing protests against the State being too right wing, protests encouraging peace negotiations.. I have seen a lot of protests in my time here, and that includes that last 5 or 6 years in which I have basically stopped going to protests (2 rare exceptions were both Bet Shemesh related issues).

The one common denominator among all the various protests and protesters, and this is the reason I always had a great time at these protests no matter what was happening (even when they got violent or when the police got violent), is that I was standing out there with my brothers and sisters who cared about the issue at hand. Whatever the issue was at any given time, it was important enough to these people, not always to me - I sometimes went not because of my solidarity with the cause but sometimes for other reasons, to get them out of their regular routine and come out to make themselves heard. Everybody has something better to do, some other way they would rather be spending their time. Yet the cause at hand brought out people who cared enough to try to improve life in Eretz Yisrael. That is a great manifestation of the mitzva of Yishuv Eretz Yisrael.

Yesterday was no exception. I was standing out there in what was not really such a great hafgana. It was not organized well. There was a mish-mash of agendas and goals. There did not seem to be any concrete target of the energy. A number of speeches that were mostly pointless. A lot of people came, but there was a lot of milling around with no unified direction. The best part of it was being out there with 5000 or so people (this number was given as the official police estimate) who cared enough to leave their regular routines and spend a few hours trying to make life in Eretz Yisrael better.

Whether the hafgana will turn into a success or not, I don't know. I don't know what would make it so. On the other hand it might already be so, as it pressured the mayor to hold a press conference shortly before the hafgana in which he condemned the extremists and their violence and called on the police to act strongly against them, as well as saying he is going to do what he can to chase them out of town. I don't know if he will actually do anything or if he will just try to bide his time until the media finds another juicy topic and the pressure dies down. The fact that he already had to change his tune is the start of the change.

Today is the big hafgana against violence and extremism. The hafgana will be at 6 PM on the street outside OROT on Herzog Street.

Some interesting points about the hafgana:

• Many people are coming from around the country to join a rally that began as a local issue but has ballooned into a national issue
• Obviously, with so many different people and groups participating in the same rally, there will be a lot of different agendas on display and at work. 
• Shimon Peres called on people from all over Israel to go to Bet Shemesh to the rally to show the extremists that they do not own the country.
• TOV announced that as many haredim are planning to join the protest, haredim should be sure to stay in the area designated for haredim as many of the other people might be rallying around a cause "different than ours". Some of the other protestors might be anti-haredi. Therefore, "we should stand and protest in the area designated for Haredim. (area designated for haredim? does that qualify as hadarat haredim, or would that only be so if the designated area would be at the back of the hafgana?)
• Mayor of Bet Shemesh Moshe Abutbol said this morning that if he is not officially invited to the hafgana it will prove the hafgana is simply a political ploy against him. He does not understand that this is a protest of the people by the people and against some other people. No politics involved. Though, with so many agendas at work I am sure there will be some with political agendas, however, that is not the focus of the rally. If Abutbol wants to come as a private person protesting extremism and violence, he is invited as much as anybody else.
• In what looks to be an attempt to save face and do some damage control, Deputy Mayor of Bet Shemesh Meier Balaish has announced to his supporters and targets of influence that they are joining the protest. According to the information put out by him, they are meeting at a different location and will parade to OROT while protesting violence.

It seems there is nothing else important, or maybe I should say interesting rather than important, in the news today.

I think this issue is the main issue of the day. I point to my post from last night and then add two video clips from the morning talk show - one in which Hadassah Margolese talks to them about the issue and the second in which  Mayor Moshe Abutbol responds:

Bet Shemesh Girl From OROT Becomes National Icon

Hadassah Margolese:


Mayor Abutbol:

Yair Lapid ran the following report on Channel 2 news on Friday, Naama Margolese is now on her way to becoming a national icon. And she is only 7 years old.

After the OROT Banot conflict quieted down for a while, recently the thugs have been coming out again screaming, spitting and throwing things.



As a result of this news report, a protest was arranged against the Iryah for this coming Tuesday. This is not the standard Bet Shemesh protest - this one is being planned as Israelis from around the country should come to Bet Shemesh and protest and protect Naama. A Facebook group was opened to promote and arrange it (actually more than one such group was formed), and there are already over 5000 members and the number is climbing quickly. Many are using the Facebook group as a place to express their anger at haredim and there is some nasty commenting going on there. How many will actually show up, only time will tell.

Tonight, PM Benjamin Netanyahu related to the incident by instructing Minister of Internal Security Yitzchak Aharonovitz to instruct the police to act with full force against violence against women. Netanyahu also instructed the Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein to ensure that all laws related to "hadarat nashim" are being enforced in the municipalities.

MK Carmel Shama Hacohen came to Bet Shemesh last week, as part of his being the head of a Knesset economics committee that is looking into complaints that the Iryah of Bet Shemesh is giving preference to haredi construction at the expense of others.



Interestingly, MK Carmel Shama Hacohen Hacohen posted tonight an announcement on his Facebook page that "last Sunday the economics committee headed by me toured around Bet Shemesh the entire day and heard shocking testimonies, and the cry and distress of the residents - the old-times and the new moderate residents. I took advantage of my meeting with the prime minister about a different issue to say to him: If you do not get involved immediately we will lose the city of Bet Shemesh!" MK Shama Hacohen says that he has met with the chief of police on the issue, Minister of Interior Eli Yihshai who responded positively and asked MK Zeev Elkin to raise the issue of Bet Shemesh at the Likud meeting.

I point this out because in the Haredi newspapers of Bet Shemesh the impression is made that the strong response of Mayor Moshe Abutbol to those claims were the final word on the matter. Abutbol pointed to many projects he has successfully pushed through (and he has pushed through important projects), such as road construction, the Conference Center that is soon going to start construction, building projects at the entrance to the city, the Pinui-Binui project in Old Bet Shemesh, to show that the city does not give preferential treatment to one sector over the other. Abutbol also asked the committee to publicize his call to any group who would be interested to move to Bet Shemesh, religious or not, to call him directly and he will help them get through all the issues and beauracracies. I guess Mk Hacohen didn't take that as the final word.

I think it is time for a "hadara" of a different type - City Councilman Eli Friedman (TOV) said last week that we should enforce a "hadara" - removal - of these extremists from the city. I think Eli should get to work on that issue right away.

What I don't get is why the haredi leadership - be it rabbonim or askanim or politicians - does not reject these people and their behavior. All they do is criticize the media and the general public for being anti-haredi. As long as they don't speak up, reject them, push them away, the rest of the population does not know how to differentiate between the different groups. These thugs, besides for harming the general public and making a chilul hashem, do great harm to the general haredi community.

Knesset Vaadat HaKalkala Discussing Bet Shemesh

Interesting discussion, from both sides of the argument. I am just a bit shocked that they talk about adult men throwing feces and nobody seems to be ashamed of such behavior.

Gei-Valt! At Orot

If you thought the OROT situation calmed down, it was only so because of vacation. Now that school is back in session, the hafganot of the kannoim are as well.

This video is actually not all that interesting, but there is one aspect of it that provided me with some comic relief. That was listening to the responsive calls of "Gei-Valt". It reminded me of some old zombie movie or something like that, the way they listlessly call out "Geivalt!" in unison.. Maybe they are also getting bored of their own hafganot...

I just read a fascinating story, written by Rav Aharon Soloveitchik zt"l in Perach Mateh Aharon on hilchos tshuva, that he heard had happened with his father, uncles and grandfather, Rav Chaim in Brisk. To be brief, the story goes that Rav Chaim presided over a case in beis din in which the local butcher was being sued for 3000 ruble. After failing to persuade the butcher to agree to a compromise, the case was decided on its merits, and the decision went against the butcher - he had to pay the full amount.

The butcher was enraged and became very rude to Reb Chaim. He called him names and said very disparaging things to him. Reb Chaim remained silent, until he eventually became frustrated and no longer could. He said simply "Chatzuf, get out of here."

The story goes on that shortly after, right before Yom Kippur, Reb Chaim searched out for the butcher in shul and asked forgiveness. The butcher refused and again became very rude. Reb Chaim said he asked 3 times in front of 3 people (his 3 sons) and he need not ask again. he added that he did not do anything wrong with what he said, he had not transgressed any rabbinic or Torah-based prohibitions. However, he felt it necessary to ask forgiveness because his words, even though they were allowed, had been hurtful to the butcher and had shamed him, and for that he must ask forgiveness.

A story in that vein just happened here in Bet Shemesh, via the local Tmura newspaper. Two local activists at times, more often than not, find themselves at odds with each other,  at opposite ends of many local issues. that would be Rav Dov Lipman and Rav Shmuel Peppenheim.

Rav Dov Lipman is involved in local activist activities on behalf of the Dati Leumi community, on behalf of Old Bet Shemesh, on behalf of many local groups who feel they are being slighted. Sometimes the perception is that he is anti-haredi, but he is really pro-keeping Bet Shemesh diverse and giving everybody his fair share and not taking away from others just so you can get yours (that's how I would define it, though I don't know if he would say that is an accurate description).

Rav Shmuel Peppenheim is a member of Toldos Aharon, and from an "Eida establishment" family. His activism is mainly on behalf of Eida issues, and for the hard-core haredi community, though he has more recently been involved in the opening of a vocational training center and other "more moderate" issues than one would expect from an Eida representative.

Both Lipman and Peppenheim have been writing in Tmura newspaper for a long time, each from his own perspective on various local issues. At times, Rav Peppenheim has used his platform to attack Rav Lipman and his position on whatever issue is the hot topic of the day.

Before Yom Kippur, Rav Peppenheim decided to go for a sulha of sorts and apologize to Rav Lipman for his attacks on Lipman. He sent a letter to Rav Lipman and publicized it in the Tmura newspaper before Yom Kippur. Rav Lipman sent a response, also publicized in the newspaper, and they then had a brief meeting to solidify the new relationship.

Rav Peppenheim's letter:

Requesting forgiveness.
Between Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur is a time for appeasing people you have hurt, and Chazal say that Yom Kippur does not clear sins between man and man, but one must appease his friend and ask forgiveness.
For a serious amount of time I have participated in the "Weekly Parliament" column of this newspaper and in the heat of my words I caused harm to important and dear people. I thought at the time that I was responding to the issue  and not to any specific person. But it turns out that I hurt people, and they suffered because of me in various ways.
Specifically I am coming to appease the person of action in Torah ways who busies himself in communal affairs with vigor Rav Dov Lipman, whom i failed via him as I wrote about him personally harmful words, for which there was no place. My criticism could have been made more restrained and more proper and directly to the issue and not regarding the person.
I wish to use this platform to appease him and to invite him, in the spirit of the day, to dialogue out of respect and mutual respect, as a person of Torah to a Torani person, people who are Torah and Mitzva observant. 

Rav Lipman's letter:

I wish to publicize the thanks I feel towards R' Shmuel Peppenheim regarding his apology for what he wrote about me two years ago, and to say i completely forgive him.
In the past weeks, I have learned a lot about this courageous man. Yes, courageous. When the violence began against the students of OROT Banot, Reb Shmuel immediately opposed it publicly. You must remember that we are talking about a Jew who dresses the same and comes from the same place as the extremist thugs. Despite that it could have caused damage to himself, he opposed them and continues to oppose them. This person i call courageous. And also his apology to me testifies to his courage.
The whole nation of Israel needs to understand that throughout our history there were differences of opinion. There were intiially 12 tribes, and in the time of redemption we will  again be 12 tribes. There are many ways and approaches in religion, many various possibilities where to put the stress and focus, and many various customs and cultures. But, it is important to remember, at the end of the day, we are all children of the same family that must learn to respect each other. Reb Shmuel is a tremendous example of this.
I hope and wish that he and we all will have a good year. With the expectation of a year of cooperation between me and Reb Shmuel, and between all of us - the children of one city, one country, one nation and one family.

A Guest Post by Rabbi Dov Lipman

Bio: Rebbi, author, lecturer, and community activist who has been working to help unify and maintain the peace between communities and populations in Bet Shemesh.

My entire community was unfairly, unjustly, wrongly, and irresponsibly accused of something on this post and a response is in order. Because it is right before Rosh Hashana, I will avoid the approach of stinging, personal attacks. I will stick just to the facts.

The communities of Sheinfeld and Nofei Aviv have just experienced one of the most devastating months in their histories with little girls being called "shiksa" and "prutza" by grown men on a daily basis, having to dodge eggs and tomatoes being thrown at them, and having to fear that a bag of human feces could be lobbed into their school yard during any recess. The suggestion was made that all of us are "loving every minute of this" because it enables us to act on our anti-Chareidi feelings.

Nothing could be further from the truth. In fact, much of our devastation comes specifically because we respect the Chareidi community so much!

It is true that we are suffering emotionally and the this emotional damage has expressed itself with little Jewish girls having nightmares, experiencing bed wetting, and waking up with stomach pains. Without in any way belittling that, this is not what has been most devastating to us. Even more devastating has been the spiritual damage!

How has this month hurt our communities spiritually you ask? We have always taught our children embrace all Jews including Chareidim. But children cannot differentiate between the hooligans who are terrorizing them and every other Chareidi they see on the street. When we drive up Nahar Yarden they actually ask: "Are those good guys or bad guys?" Even I have seen children cross to the other side of the street when they see me approaching in my hat and jacket until they realize, as one remarked, "phew, it's just Dov." And, we as adults are also confused. Is it just a small group of 20 guys who come out daily to terrorize the children? But 50 came out just today to swarm one of our grandfathers who was caught in a spontaneous hooligan riot!
400 came out to support the goons last week! Some major Rabbis signed a letter calling us very horrible names. Do their students and congregants who number in the thousands also side with the thugs? No one knows who is what any longer? And this turns us into people who fear and lack trust for fellow Jews, a real spiritual deficiency in our eyes.

Without us as parents saying one negative word, our children have lost that love for all Jews in the last month and now suspect that every Chareidi looking person may hurt them. We have lost the comfort of giving all Chareidim rides and generously giving them tzedaka when they come to our doors.

How dare anyone suggest that we "love every minute of this." This is torture for us as parents and is devastating for our childrens' souls.

Despite all the pain and confusion, we worked so hard to organize a unity rally the other night. During that rally it was emphasized over and over again that this was not anti-Chareidi and specifically against those who were threatening and violent. And yet we are accused of being "anti-Chareidi?" This really is a crazy world where people can convince themselves that black can be white and white can be black.

Our communities have been crying to hear the Chareidi Rabbis say something against these thugs and goons because we so badly WANT to continue loving all Jews as we always have. Hearing those comforting words would reassure us of regarding that which is not so obvious in these dark days and would help give us the strength we need to help our children (and ourselves) through these difficult spiritual times.

But, instead, first we heard the sound of silence, a sound that is more confusing and devastating than the accuser can ever imagine. But following the sound of silence we heard the "explanation" for the silence which was simply painful, hurtful, and false!

On behalf of our communities, I call on the accuser you to please retract that horrific charge against our community and to understand why a letter signed by CHAREIDI Rabbis is so critical. Had he seen the faces of the girls when the righteous, sensitive, caring, and loving CHAREIDI women sent them flowers he would understand how much that letter would mean to the children and
the adults.

May that retraction and, hopefully an apology to the thousands of Jewish people he branded so maliciously and falsely serve as a merit for all of us to be blessed with a year in which Hashem truly does remove all "strife" and "sinat chinam" from our midst.

A Guest Post By A Haredi Who Joined The OROT Rally

Hello all. I am a Chareidi resident of Ramat Beit Shemesh and I attended the Achdus rally on Sunday organised by Rabbi Dov Lipman. It sounded like a very promising event and, as a supporter of the Tov party and subscribing to its message of communal unity, related strongly to the aims of the rally.

Timing had it that I arrived just in time to hear the words of a Mr. Raanan Amsallem. He was going on about how Chareidim are leeching the municipal funds. I said to a colleague I was standing with - "this stinks" and I left not much longer after having come. I couldn't believe an event I had been promised would me no more than a rally of unity would be a platform for hate and venom.

I wrote to Rabbi Lipman to complain, stating that I had come at personal cost to support a cause that effectively did not directly affect me or my community (only by unreasonable association on the part of others) and one of the speakers chose to insult those of us from the Chareidi community who had chosen to attend.

Rabbi Lipman admitted to me that it was a small part of the speech that had been added in the last minute without him seeing it and in effect, was anti-chareidi and false. Specifically, 4 lines where Mr. Amsallem (in the words of Rabbi Lipman) "talked about budget cuts as if they were happening only in the non chareidi community when in reality it was done across the board".

He gave me permission to convey on his behalf that he "was against any message which came across as anti chareidi".

Rav Malinowitz, in his weekly Chadash article, did not continue this week laying out his position regarding the OROT school issue that he had begun last week (he explained there that he thought there were 2 columns left to Rosh Hashana, and he was then informed that there was only one left, and he didn't want to write about this the week before RH), but he did offer to send his thoughts by private email for those who would correspond with him asking for those thoughts. Someone emailed and a conversation ensued, and with permission from both parties I present to you the entire conversation that will hopefully help you understand his position.


To ease the reading, I color coded the conversation. There are times where the discussions settles to inline comments in the emails. I kept the color coding so it would be easy to understand who said what. Green text is the questioner, purple text is Rav Malinowitz.

----- Original Message -----
From:  C
To: Chaim Malinowitz ; rczmchadash @ gmail. com
Sent: Saturday, September 24, 2011 9:01 PM
Subject: petition

Dear Rabbi Malinowitz,

In an attempt to reach some lowest common denominator between the various communities in Beit Shemesh, a number of community members have put together the attached petition.

The idea is to cleary denounce harassment, both verbal and physical, as unequivocally unacceptable.

Would you be prepared to sign this.

Shavua tova and shana tova,

---
On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 2:14 AM, Rabbi M wrote:

I am afraid I will not sign the petition ---because I will not be meshatef pe'ulah with people that I hold have a definite anti-chareidi agenda here, loving every minute of this, and painting all "chareidim" with the same brush. And demanding, actually demanding, that 'chareidi people' condemn what is going on because "they" have a special responsibility to do so to show that they do not approve.

To my mind,this is like demanding that every Italian condemn bank robbery after the Mafia pulls off a job. That every Russian condemn murder after the Russian mafia has someone killed. That every Jew condemn financial fraud after Bernard Madoff was arrested. That every white condemn the KKK after they burn a cross on a black's lawn.

That a few (hired, by the way) kooks who should be arrested and thrown in jail have managed to give a black eye to RBS and BS in the eyes of outside circles is entirely the fault of the people I refer to in my first sentence. They are kvelling at this opportunity to show "the true face of chareidi Jewry". And it is not the first time they have gone public to "expose chareidim".

By 'officially' condemning what is condemned by any sane person, I am playing their game. And so I will not.
I will not officially - 'as a Chareidi rabbi'-- condemn the actions perpetrated by these hired kooks, just as no Jew should condemn officially, as a Jew, what Madoff did "to show that all Jews are not like that", and no white should officially condemn, as a white, the lynching of a black.

There is no greater polarization of the Jewish people that can be perpetrated than to demand that any chareidi must show that they do not approve of these hired kooks' actions. So much for the 'achdut' people.
Shavua Tov

rczm

----
From: C
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 4:44 AM
To: czm
Subject: Re: petition


Thank you for your response. I wish to share my thoughts.

This is not about achdut. It's about addressing a context in which the kooks operate. I will explain.

When Rabin was murdered I worked in Tel Aviv. The contemptful looks I received for many months were so many that I lost count. At first, my thoughts were similar to what you write below.

Then I read R. Lichtenstein's piece on Rabin's assassination. Bottom line summary of that piece as I understood it: While the overall national religious community was not directly responsible for the murder, elements of our community did, indeed, create the tone and context in which it took place. It was time to re-think our value system, epsecially in terms of prioritization of values. That the hilonim were kvelling didn't stop R. LIchtenstein from writing what he thought to be true.

My thoughts: while the overall haredi community is not responsible for what's going on in Orot, elements of the mainstream have, over the years, set the context and tone. Empty cart (really? empty??); Rabbit eaters! This is a Jew??; Mouthpiece of R. Elyashiv on R. Drukman: apikores be-mezid; R. Kanievsky (re: R. Chaim Amsalem's position on conversion): apikores; A very moderate haredi Rav who I respect deeply and whom you know very well: "This is not a Jewish state. It is a state run by leaders who are partly descended from Jews."

I wish to point out that there are plenty of leaders in the mainstream haredi community who never took part in setting such a tone: Rav Moshe and Rav Shlomo Zalman are just two. There must be others still alive.

I would have hoped that while certain elements of the community are kvelling, it wouldn't stop anyone from saying what needs to be said.

May I publish this conversation?

Shana tova,

---
On Sun, Sep 25, 2011 at 5:52 AM, Chaim Malinowitz wrote:

Yes--as long as you publish every word that I said, including this response to your response (you may leave out this sentence).

I will not give my opinion about what R. Lichtenstein said. But I do know that here it is totally untrue (I speak of the actions of the hired kooks vis-à-vis the chareidi world.) These are the same hired kooks that were hired to yell and say tehillim and blow shofar at people going to a real-estate "fair" selling apartments in RBS Gimel because of some supposed kevarim that were there. (It was near my Shul; I recognized them when I saw a video) The only thing that stopped them them there from acting the way they acted here is that they were facing adults. Nu, what value system of chareidism brought that about?

And so I don't agree.

And by the way--may I demand that you condemn those who polarize the Jewish people by reinforcing what they purport to condemn in order to further personal agendas?
I am not a communal leader. Nobody gives a hoot what I think. You are a communal leader. Lots of people care about what you think.

Maybe, maybe not.....but I explained my reasoning already for not speaking out in an official capacity. It reinforces the polarizing, and lays a guilt trip on chareidim. Sorry, I'm not playing.

Those who quickly made this a case of us against them --would they do so if a chareidi robbed Bank Mizrachi?
If a charedi robbed Bank Mizrachi in the name of the Torah, and if R. Kopschitz sat on the dais of a gathering organized by the robber, then I hope so.

R' Kopschitz is not a kook. Rav Kopschitz was doing what that community does when the kooks get the headlines. They make a harmless asifah about the inyan and rail against it..this marginalizes the kooks within their community even more, and lets steam be let out in a harmless way, and shows that their leaders agree in principle for what is being fought for (that the school should move out). That is how they function. You may not like it, you may want the asifah to be against the violence, you may not like the idea that they are advocating the school's moving--but that is not the point. This is their way of cooling tempers. (I do not want a discussion about that --I was merely addressing Rav Kopschitz's intentions, to answer your questions)

I had and have no problem with people in my Shul going to Orot to try to minimize the girls being traumatized (although I have no personal knowledge if it was necessary; and also whether or not it exacerbated the situation). I had and have a huge problem if they "go as chareidim"

I am glad you had no problem with that. Thank you for not opposing that.

I repeat--I do oppose it if they "go as chareidim".

And sir : This is most definitely NOT a "Jewish State ". It is at best a State of Jews. I suggest you read The Jewish State: The Struggle for Israel's Soul by Yoram Hazony, and just about everything Moshe Feiglin writes.
Kesivah vachasimah tovah.

State of the Jews but not Jewish State is a legitimate position, albeit one with which I firmly disagree. State run by leaders partly descended from Jews is not legitimate, I believe.


At any rate, I believe you have missed my primary point. There is a context and tone set by any number of mainstream charedi leaders over the years in which the kooks operate.

I didn't miss it at all-I totally disagreed . And that is a polarizing statement, as surely as if I would say that the dati-leumi crowd has created a context and tone set by any number of mainstream dati-leumi leaders over the years that the State takes primacy over Torah.

RCZM

---

From: C
Sent: Sunday, September 25, 2011 6:42 AM
To: Chaim Malinowitz
Subject: Re: petition

A few thoughts.

The Russian mafia does not claim to knock people off in the name of the Russian Orthodox bible or whatever other texts they believe holy. Madoff did not claim to rip people off in the name of the Torah. The kooks do claim to be acting in the name of the Torah.

R. Kopschitz was seated on the dais of the protest organized by the kooks. Is R. Kopschitz a kook?

Please see below a few additional thoughts.

from: Chaim Malinowitz

to: C
dateSun, Sep 25, 2011 at 7:33 AM
subjectRe: petition

Important mainly because of your interaction with messages in the conversation.

I cannot continue this back-and-forth for lack of time. But I cannot leave you saying things that are not so .
You can do what you want with this, you can even have a last word--but not to me, for then I will be forced to answer..and only if you do not edit even one word from what I write.
rczm


The kooks do claim to be acting in the name of the Torah.
So what? 
Does that make a special responsibility of chareidim to condemn their actions? By your reasoning (and that is PRECISELY my point ) any Torah-observant Jew should ; why are chareidim given a special responsibility?Polarization, my friend, and points scored, that's why. I'm not playing.

kesivah vachasimah tovah
RCZM

----

UPDATE: This is the text of the petition that the rabbonim are being asked to sign:

ב"ה

אנו הח"מ, מוקיעים את כל מי שנוקט באמצעי הטרדה פיסית ו/או מילולית נגד כל אדם באשר הוא, ובמיוחד נגד בנות שלבושן אינו לפי טעמו של אדם זה או אחר.

כמו כן, אנו קוראים לכל רבני בית שמש ומנהיגיה להוקיע באופן שאינו משתמע לשתי פנים את כל מי שנוקט באמצעי הטרדה כנ"ל. 

I hope this helps to clarify the position of Rav Malinowitz.

All comments on this topic should remain on topic and not get personal. No personal attacks, no disrespect (you can disagree, just do so respectfully), and keep it civil. I will moderate the comments on this post with a heavy hand.

After last week hafganat anak to which just a few hundred supporters of the thugs turned up, the supporters of OROT are holding a hafgana this evening. I plan to be there. I do not know if their rallying call of either you are with us or against us is accurate, but I do feel it is important the the thugs should be marginalized and even chased out of town.

Participating in this hafgana is one step in marginalizing them, and leading Bet Shemesh back to being the diverse city it should be, where different communities can live side by side, each being allocated the resources needed without stepping on the others' toes.

Below are images of two interesting pashkevilim up in RBS B in recent days regarding the fight about the OROT building:

1. (pashkevil is split in two parts)



While this poster is anonymous, I think it has the style of the haredi community and classic pashkevils. This pashkevil is against the kannoim/thugs. It decries their use of violence and claims they are giving the haredi community a bad name, and the purpose of this is to protest their behavior so people should not say they remained silent. They call them thugs, they says the kannoim have called for a "war" but their war is not our war, etc.

2.
this pashkevil is from the kannoim/thugs once again and it says they are arranging a major hafgana, and they will not be deterred by the frothing dogs or the inciting stormtroopers..

Both of these pashkevils are worth reading completely if you can make out the Hebrew... they are both entertaining in their approach and style

A Guest Post by Shoshanna Jaskoll

Dear Man,

Hi, its me, Woman. It’s... been a while. And even longer since we frolicked in the garden of Eden, huh? Was nice back then... before you told me that God said not to touch the tree, but actually, what He said was not to eat from the tree…

Such a world of difference between touching and eating- don’t you think? Like the difference between looking and lusting? Between appreciating and desiring? Between wanting and taking…

But I digress. When the snake proved that I would not die by touching the tree, I thought perhaps you had misunderstood, that the message somehow was incorrect. For you would never mislead me.

But, how to show you? So, I took of the fruit and gave you to eat too... and then, the world went black.

It was then that you revealed that the prohibition had been against eating from the tree and not as you had taught me, from touching the tree. You told me that we had just betrayed our Creator.

I wanted to die. I didn’t understand why you had told me something false; something that was not commanded of us. But I had no time to contemplate, for you told me to hide and to make us clothing.

And then He searched for us- called out and asked where you were. And you did the one thing I could never have expected.

You betrayed me- and as you did the world changed. The garden, so green and glorious, dulled to a shadow of what had been. The vibrant cobalt sky paled in shame of your act. The Earth hardened herself against you.

I was your other half, the being you longed for, the only other person in the entire universe. And yet, you screamed out:

‘The woman you gave me- She made me eat!’

I can still hear that scream; it resonates in my soul and in the pieces of my heart.

And it reaches through the years and translates into Yiddish, in the Pashkevilles plastered on the streets, in the tomatoes, eggs and stink bombs thrown at my daughters.

It’s the women! The women are our downfall!

You are still screaming. And I am still hurting.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4122805,00.html

I have watched over the years as slowly, my daughters have gotten out from underneath the shame of the sin you foisted upon me. I have seen them grow more educated, more respected, and more successful in all fields.

They contribute so much to the world.

I will not allow you to take that from them, to make them feel shame, to hide their accomplishments to throw YOUR sins upon their shoulders.

It has been said that in secular law men have rights, but in Judaism men have responsibilities.

It’s a subtle difference, but it is the entire difference.

You see, according our Creator’s actual word each of us must fulfill our obligations

Man, it is your responsibility to fulfill your commandments and to not transgress your prohibitions.

It is upon you to ensure that you fulfill your obligations.

It is not your right to insist that others fulfill theirs.

It is not our obligation to arrange our lives, dress and behavior according to your warped and distorted interpretation of Gd’s word.

You are erasing my daughters from the society in which they were born and belong. You blur them from pictures, refuse them the right to go to school in peace and persecute them for your failings.

We are to cover up- to be modest lest you sin because of us. And yet, when this modesty infringes on your pleasure, a witch hunt ensues.



You scream our sins from rooftops as you hide behind dirty diapers. You harass my daughters off of buses. You cut off their voices to make yourselves more comfortable.

But who holds you accountable, Man?

Understand this.

My daughters are stronger than I was. They are not so naïve. They no longer rely on your interpretations to tell them how to act.

We are educated. We are wise. We are proud.

We will not let you shame us again.

Gd gave us free choice. It is not yours to take away

It seems that Mayor of Bet Shemesh Moshe Abutbol has been coming under increasing pressure from a variety of sources. I do not know if he actually realizes how stupid it was to come out on the side of the kannoim/thugs, or if he is just finally beginning to succumb to pressure to change his approach. Either way, he is beginning to backtrack a bit from his previous stance.

Pressure is mounting on Abutbol from:

•  Jewish organizations abroad. As Abutbol travels the world looking for support and funding for the city and its massive construction plans, he sells his ideas on Bet Shemesh being a diverse city with open arms welcoming new olim of any stripe. Organizations that have been supportive are now getting upset as they realize they have been hoodwinked by him. While he talks a good game, they were recently made aware of documentation that shows he directed the changes in plans to style the future neighborhoods specifically to be attractive to haredi buyers and unattractive to others. As well, sagas like the OROT school have also raised their awareness of where Abutbol's true intentions lie. 
• Shas is beginning to get upset with Abutbol. As they try to convince other cities to open up their cities to construction, and at times to even agree to build new areas for haredim or for Shas supporters, they are beginning to meet opposition. City representatives are pointing to bet Shemesh and saying look what happens when you guys put your people into a city, and we do not want that here. they are finding it difficult to get agreements on building in other cities.
• Shas, as well, is upset because the natural allies of Shas are far more Zionistic than the kannoim/thugs. In many cities, Shas representatives partner with Mafdal and even Likud, and not necessarily with UTJ, and in some places there is no UTJ. Shas's natural voter base is largely working class, baalei teshuva, masorati, zionistic, army-serving people. The situation in bet Shemesh is causing pressure on the national Shas level as they are beginning to feel alliances slipping away as people look at Bet Shemesh.

I would like to see such a letter written in Hebrew and posted in the newspapers of Bet Shemesh, especially in Chadash. if not, this is just like the Palestinians (which Abutbol and his speaker Rosenzweig like to compare the haredi community to) when they say one thing in English to the world community but in Arabic to their own people they say completely different.

Rav Baruch Efrati, a rav in Efrat and Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat Hesder Shvut Yisrael, had an interesting way of expressing his support the parents of OROT in the fight against the kannoim/thugs.

According to Srugim, Rav Efrati was asked why nobody is coming out in support of them in the fight.

Rav Efrati's response was:

In the ashkenazi exile we were influenced with impure influences of the Catholic Christianity. The exile caused, by its very nature, a disconnect from our holiness and it allowed a bit of foreign culture to enter, a culture that is opposite of our Torah. 

What is happening in Bet Shemesh is witness to the fact that in a small and fringe section of radical haredi Judaism  remnants of the catholic culture got in and remained, remnants of heresy and idol worship. 

Hatred of normal life, fear of dealing with life's challenges, battling against science, the trend of living in isolation, the stress of mitzvos between Man and God at the expense of the mitzvos between Man and Man, fear of normal marital partnership - these are all signs of christianity that have seeped into the world of radical religion.  

We must fight against them and against their religion. There is no Judaism here, rather there is foolishness, fear and heresy. Would the Rambam have been happy with them? Would the Ramchal have been happy with them? Would the Chafetz Chaim have been happy with them? Certainly they would have denounced them for their ugly behavior...

Rav Efrati goes on to provide words of support and encouragement. I particularly enjoyed the way he negated them by explaining them to be remnants of the Christian influence.

A Guest Post by Bracha Goldstein (originally posted at Colloquially Speaking)

Well, it’s reached me. I tried to keep quiet about it, tried to watch from a distance, but it’s all the rage at the park these days and lord knows I ain’t one to let a good point go unheard.

Orot Banot – by now the best known school in Beit Shemesh – has made it’s mark on little old me, who never heard of it and still doesn’t know where it is.

Some self-hating Jews found it and seem to hate it. Loudly and obnoxiously, they’ve let their point be heard and now I have to respond.

But not to people who can’t hear. I have no nothing to say to, or about, a group of people hell-bent on bitter fighting. I have nothing to say to people who terrorize children and swarm the streets, dispensing their twisted views oh too freely.

The truth is, there is nothing anyone can say to them, or about them, that they haven’t already said. This is a group of people who have been around for years. Discussions were held, points were made, voices were lost in the intensity of the disagreements………..and no progress was made.

So stop expecting people who don’t agree with them, don’t want to be associated with them, and do not want to engage them in any form of conversation to speak up about them.

I will spell it out, because talking in tongues never seems to give the right impressions. The Dati Leumi community is asking the Chareidi community to condemn the actions of a mixed group of people in the same league as the wackos who shake hands with our enemies.

Now tell me, is that necessary? Do you really need the Chareidim to state the obvious? Or do you have such a horrible opinion of Chareidim that you don’t trust that they’ve come to the same logical conclusions about people who are certifiably insane?

Let me tell you something about Chareidim. I am not Chareidi. I am actually anti a lot of their hashkafos and have deliberately chosen not to live amongst them because of those hashkafos. I only know that I do not want to be Chareidi because I tried to be Chareidi once. And so I can say without a doubt that there is nothing Chareidi about this. The Chareidim should not break their teeth reiterating that they don’t agree with this. They should not put themselves in a position to defend the Chareidi world, because any sane person should be able to deduce that a small group of men shouting pathetically outside an elementary school for girls is not a proper representation of the Chareidi world.

There is nothing to say to a group of people that make their own rules, as there is no one who can make a difference with any sort of proclamation.

The girls need to be protected because there are people who are dangerous outside their school. Do what needs to be done. Put them first. Try to get this to be over using the tools available. Don’t make this into a civil war.

Let’s protect all the children. Maybe we should start by leaving this sort of discussion outside the park. I moved here so that my children could be raised in an environment of tolerance and acceptance. That my children could be accepted and so that they could accept others is dependent on what they hear at home, in school and in the park.