Sep 22, 2009

Haredim rejecting violence, dayeinu

According to this article on Kikar.net, a woman in bet Shemesh was "stoned" for being dressed immodestly.

The more interesting part of it is that:
  1. Pashkevilim were put up condemning the attackers.
  2. Rav Moshe Grylak of Mishpacha magazine condemned the violent action.
More and more, we are witnessing the normal haredi community finally stepping up and rejecting the way of the violent extremists. It used to be the crazies would do what they wanted in the name of haredim, and everyone else would mutter about it and complain how they make us look bad. And they would make excuses that it is only a few people, only bored kids, only people dressed like haredim but they don't listen to rabbonim, etc. But nobody ever actually spoke out against it.

The result of the silence, is that even though speaking up might not actually change anything on the ground, as these people will not listen to those condemning, but the normal average haredim who knew that this was not the way of the Torah, were becoming unsure and were feeling like they had to start justifying those actions. Look in the haredi forums any time these things happen and you will see plenty of people justifying (along with plenty condemning) it. The silence made people unsure - hey, maybe what they are doing has some merit to it. Maybe the end justifies the means.

Finally we are seeing more and more of the haredi public openly condemning such violent actions. I suspect it is a result of the recent violent protests in Jerusalem by the Eidah. Those reached such extreme levels of violence, that many factions within the haredi sector spoke out against it. Since then, we have heard more condemnations more regularly.

If this is the only good thing that came out of the violence, that the haredi community starts actively rejecting the ways of these violent thugs, dayeinu.

2 comments:

  1. It's deffinately a good start for people to do something about it

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didnt hear any response from the local Chareidi boys.

    Where's Shloime Perlstein and Eli Kornfeld?

    ReplyDelete