Jun 3, 2012

Discrimination Against Haredi In Mall Brings Out The Best In People

The religious rage of the day triggers an interesting debate. A haredi fellow tried to enter the Ramat Aviv mall. The guard at the door stopped him from entering, saying he is not allowed in the mall. Shock. Awe. Disgust. Discrimination. Yehoram Gaon on his Friday radio show criticized the behavior of the mall management saying it is reminiscent of Germany in 1939 when in Berlin a popular coffee shop refused entry to Jews.

The initial claim by the guard was that he told told to prevent entry to the fellow because his presence caused shoppers to feel uncomfortable.

Haredi groups enraged over this behavior are threatening to bring lawsuits against the management and anybody involved in the making of this decision. As well, they are demanding the firing of any people involved. And furthermore, there is talk about possibly arranging to being  busloads of haredim to the mall to wander around.

Mall management further explained that the mall is open to one and all equally. There are plenty fo religious people and haredi people in the mall at any given time. They even have a bustling shul inside the mall open all hours of the day and very active. They calim that their problem is with the Chabadniks who walk around and try to put tefillin on people and engage them in other religious activity. Other shoppers have complained about being harassed by the Chabadniks and they, the management, have asked the Chabadniks numerous times to stop such activity inside the mall, and therefore it has come to the point where they are being denied entry.

When the banned Chabadnik, Shneur Shneurson (love the name!), responded (to Bechadrei), he basically confirmed that that is what he goes to the mall regularly to do. He said he has been going for a long time and will continue to do so. The rebbe said that when there is something preventing work and causing problems, it shows that the issue must be a very big mitzvah. He said many stores open their doors to him, many people want to put on tefillin, and "yad chassidim al ha'elyona" - the hassidim have the upper hand as always.

The debate I look at is whether the mall can prevent such "missionary" activity. We would expect them to not allow Christian missionaries to promote their religion in the mall. If the secular groups would send to religious malls and areas secular activists looking to promote secularism and attempt to sway young religious people off the path of religion, we would understand and even demand that they be thrown out and not allowed entry. of course, shopping is fine, but once you start peddling your religious wares, that's a different story. So just because he is peddling Orthodox Judaism and mitzvos, does that make it ok? Does the mall have the power to prevent him from doing so? If certain shopkeepers like him and want him to bring them tefillin, can the mall still stop him from entering and going to those shops? I don't know, but it is an interesting debate.

What is especially interesting to me is that according to one of the reports, when Shneurson was being prevented from entering, other people nearby who saw what was happening were all enraged over the incident and tried to do what they could to make the guard let him in. People called out from coffee shops saying he is a guest of theirs, people nearby said that such discrimination is wrong, and the like.

It reminds me a "What Would You Do" program that ran in Israel a while back in which someone dressed as the proprietor of a kiosk at a gas station refused to serve coffee to an Arab customer. Other customers for the most part expressed their outrage at such discrimination.  It seems like most people in general reject discrimination whether it is against Arabs, religious and even against Haredim.

(sources for these events began with a report on dossim.net, and then Bechadrei and Bechadrei again with more details)

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10 comments:

  1. And what would people say if a secular woman tried to enter a Charedi place in less than tzinus dress (like at the Merkaz RBSA)?

    Of course they would be asked to dress modestly or do not enter.

    Would the Charedim run to the lady's defense or say "no you make people feel uncomfortable here".

    While I feel that this man should not have been barred entry I also feel that the double standard should stop.

    What's good for the goose should be good for the gander.

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  2. In technical terms, there isn't any question. It is a simple matter of property law. The mall is private property. They may invite or exclude whatever activities they will. This says nothing about the morality of it; but then, the Chabadnik also has to recognize that morality includes my abiding by someone else's property rights.

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  3. I don't think that is correct. the mall might be private but it can not discriminate in the services it offers to the public. and what if this fellow or another haredi where to find employment at a shop in this mall - could mall management ban from such employment simply because he is haredi?

    discrimination is not just illegal in the public sector...

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  4. They are not banning charediim. They banned this charedi for violating terms of entry. This has nothing to do with discrimination. They made the choice not to allow people to preform missionary work in the mall; a perfectly legal choice. They informed him that he was in violation of the terms of entry and his behavior continued. After his offensive behavior coninued they banned him from the mall.

    This has nothing to do at all with discrimination!

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  5. a mall is owned by private owners. people have a right to decide how their property can be used.

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  6. Mordechai, Rafi is right. You can't set up a mall and ban blacks or women or charedim, just because it's private. It's not like your own home.

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  7. mother, you are flat out wrong. This has nothing to do with discrimination. The mall did not ban an entire class of people, they banned specific people who are violating the rules. You are not allowed to walk into a business and behave any way you want. If you break the rules you can be kicked out, banned, and even arrested.
    If they banned all charediim you would be correct, but they did not and therefore you are wrong.

    I fail to see why this point is so hard to grasp. If a black man walked into a kosher restaurant and took out a bacon sandwich and got kicked out, that would not be discrimination. If they banned all black people that would be discrimination.

    Or are people being dense simply because they want to proclaim that charediim are discriminated against?

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  8. I know this guy. He's an absolute nut job. I'd ban him from entering my business too even though I'm a Chabadnik myself.

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  9. I know this guy. Even though I'm a Chabadnik myself, I would not let him into my business either.

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  10. Seems similar to stores that ban people from soliciting donations from their customers while in the store. That's called discrimination?

    Chabadnik, sefer Chafetz Chaim says that the one who speaks Lashon Hara is actually the one to be suspected. So why should we believe you?

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