Haredi Street Thugs, Rioters and the Rabbis Who Enable Them

Rabbi Yakov Horowitz has done something that in haredi circles is truly courageous – he printed a column by Miriam Shear, the woman beaten by haredi men last year on a public bus in Israel. Her crime? Refusing to give up her seat move to the back of the bus. These haredim wanted sex segregated seating on a bus that was meant for all users – religious and non-religious, haredi and non-haredi, Jew and non-Jew alike. They wanted it so they got it with their fists.

The latest haredi atrocity is of course the beating of a woman by 5 haredi men on a public bus in Beit Shemesh for the same reasons Miriam Sher was beaten (this time haredim beat an Israeli soldier, as well and their haredi friends rioted when police arrived at the scene, allowing their 5 'heroes' to escape). In between the Shear beating and this one are many 'lesser' incidents of haredi harassment against women riding public buses in Israel, some of which also include physical violence.

Even though American haredi leaders have been somewhat careful to appear to be opposed to such violence, the fact is Miriam Sher has been much denigrated by haredim here and in Israel for "making a scene." She has been falsely accused of faking the incident, falsely accused of inciting the incident, falsely accused of being anti-Orthodox (she is herself Orthodox) and falsely accused of being anti-haredi. But mostly she is viewed as one giant pain in the ass who should have simply taken the beating and shut up for the good of the (haredi) team. In short, she is not well-liked.

Yet when Miriam Shear asked Rabbi Yakov Horowitz to publish a column she wrote in the wake of the latest bus beating titled, "Enough is Enough!," he agreed to publish it on his highly-read website. This is not some Rabbi Avi Shafran snake oil job Rabbi Horowitz posted – it is the unvarnished words of Ms. Shear herself, words that cut to the heart of the problem. Here is a small piece of what she says:

…When Jonathan Rosenblum interviewed me for his Mishpacha article, “Knowing our Limits”, he was sincere (without condemnation) in his curiosity as to why I stood my ground in refusing to give up my seat. This is what I explained: “The incident has to be taken in the context of what was going on while I was in Yerushalyim for 5 weeks – during the “gay parade” brouhaha. Every night, yeshivas were letting their students out to riot in the streets. Garbage cans were dumped and strewn in the streets and their contents set on fire. Many people, particularly the elderly and small children, had been rushed to hospitals suffering from respiratory difficulties due to the toxicity of the smoke that was belching throughout residential neighborhoods. Public health officials were warning that the carcinogens in the air were at dangerous levels. I personally was in bed for 3 days with a severe respiratory infection caused by being forced to inhale these fumes every day. Almost every morning, our bus would have to stop and carefully navigate around burning piles of rubbish. Sometimes, people would have to get off the bus to remove these burning piles so the bus could get through and soil their hands and clothes in the process. I stood at Kikar Shabbat one evening and watched boys as young as 8 and 9 running through the streets setting anything within their reach on fire. A white van made the big mistake of traveling through Kikar Shabbat. The van was pelted with objects. When the driver stopped and got out of his van, it was overturned and torched. Nobody even knew if this driver was “for” or “against” the very thing the rioters were rioting about! I asked one of the boys – about age 10 – “do you know why you’re doing this?” His answer: “Because it’s fun!” The following Shabbos, an acquaintance of mine told me that her sons were “not going to shul today, they need to sleep in and catch up on their rest because their rebbe had let them out to go rioting almost every night this week.” I couldn’t resist responding that I wouldn’t send my son to such a yeshiva that employed such “rebbes”.’

I also went on to explain to Mr. Rosenblum that it sickened me to stand and watch the store in Geula which had been burned to the ground by the area’s “Tznius Patrol”. This store, “One of a Kind”, is owned by an American Rosh Yeshiva’s wife who sells nice and affordable tznius clothing. However, sequins on some of the items did not meet the tznius standards of this “Patrol” and they demanded its removal from the store. The proprietor refused; they responded with an arson that destroyed her merchandise, her store, and her livelihood…

Ms. Shear describes the actual haredi world in Israel, as it really is, without the veneer of American PR added to clean it up. And Rabbi Horowitz printed this.

Many people will no doubt praise Rabbi Horowitz for this – of course, myself included. But others will be far less kind.

How will that play out? I suspect he will be praised publicly by the very men who will stab him in the back as soon as they are able. Hamayvin yavin.   

Comments

[Yochanan Lavie]

I also went on to explain to Mr. Rosenblum that it sickened me to stand and watch the store in Geula which had been burned to the ground by the area’s “Tznius Patrol”.

Exactly like Islamic Iran.

[David Bar-Magen]

Rabbi Horwitz is indeed performing a brave service in printing this column, and I fully expect a volley of heated protests about the tired wrongness of "airing our dirty laundry."

However, as one who lived minutes away from "Kikkar Shabbat" during the era of the anti-parade riots, I could not help but notice a couple of discrepancies in Ms. Shear's account.

1. The white van in question was indeed pelted--and its driver harrassed--but was not "overturned and torched." The recurring police presence in the area (also hotly contested) prevented this from occuring.

2. Children did routinely participate in the burnings, but they did not set "everything within their reach on fire," a comment that implies widescale torching of the entire Geula area. They DID, however, throw everything they could reach into the existing fires begun by the yeshiva students. Again, continuous police presence controlled the mayhem to a limited extent.

3. I knew the store in question (One of a Kind) well. The windows were broken and the building and merchandise damaged, but it was by no means "burnt to the ground." In fact, the side-by-side placement of Geula's business district would mean the consequent burning of any adjacent stores.

I stress that my corrections of Ms. Shear's account are by no means an APOLOGY for the wrongs perpetrated. The thugs responsible for all damage to stores and people should be rounded up and placed behind bars without bail. I, too, suffered respiratory problems from the thick, choking smoke that hung in the air for days and I have not forgiven the idiots responsible.

However, when reporting a crime it is important to be totally accurate, lest individuals familiar with the reported crime discern exaggeration and dismiss the victim's report as being false as the wrongdoer's justification.

[Anon]

--Rabbi Yakov Horowitz has done something that in haredi circles is truly courageous--

I regularly interact with many haredim. While I cannot gauge the predominant view of haredim in Israel, in my experience, here in the U.S. the predominant view is one of utmost disgust and condemnation of the attack against Mrs. Shear. Accordingly, while Rabbi Horowitz may be a fantastic person, there is nothing courageous about his giving Mrs. Shear a forum to post her views and you are being disingenuous in trying to portray the haredi community of somehow supportive of that attack.

[Ari]

Anon, unless the Charedi community makes it KNOWN that they condemn and oppose these attacks, then all that there is left to assume is that they do NOT do so, and that is their OWN fault.

Silence is not an option.

--Anon, unless the Charedi community makes it KNOWN that they condemn and oppose these attacks, then all that there is left to assume is that they do NOT do so, and that is their OWN fault.--

And when someone eats a ham sandwich they have to make it know that they don't approve of that either or they are deemed to approve?

[Anon]

--Anon, unless the Charedi community makes it KNOWN that they condemn and oppose these attacks, then all that there is left to assume is that they do NOT do so, and that is their OWN fault.--

And when someone eats a ham sandwich they have to make it know that they don't approve of that either or they are deemed to approve?

[Me]

Question to Shmarya
Re: This Web site

What good does this exhaustive effort of yours bring to Jews and to the world at large?

How have your efforts bettered our battered world?

[Ari]

Anon, when someone eats a ham sandwich, that is a private, not a public, event. Your analogy is faulty at best.

An individual, in committing an act that involves only himself, outside of the public eye, is not claiming, nor appears to be representative of Charedi Judaism. Moreover, eating a ham sandwich is something that is so clearly antithetical to the belief system that any reasonable person would recognize that this is not accepted practice. Still further, such an individual certainly would not be re-accepted into the community, shuls, his yeshiva, etc...

In contrast, this was a VERY public event, which concerned not only the individuals responsible, but also others who were attacked by them (and arguably also others who became fearful of the same happening to them as a result). This was not an isolated incident - indeed such acts and similar ones are becoming nearly commonplace in certain areas - nor was it the act of a single individual, lending a greater air of representativeness. The fact that there are SOME requirements of tznius and related topics (though nowhere near the level advocated by these individuals) is likely to lead to confusion over whether such behavior is acceptable or not. Thus, it becomes much more necessary for leaders to step up and clarify the issue, at risk of implicitly condoning it. Surely you can understand that something which implicates forcing beliefs on others is different than a private act inconsistent with major tenets of the religion?

[Angela K Safonoff]

Wow! Whats happened to the Jewish community in Jerusalem, Isreal? Please don't act like a bunch of nuts. Grow up please. Be adults!

[Fleishike Kishke]

As with all hateful fanaticism (like anti-Semitism, 9-11 was an inside job, radical Islam, violent Hasidism) there is little one can do to change the mindset, the worldview, the reality of those who hold those opinions. The only thing to do is to protect oneself. Carry a weapon and fend off Hasidim whose religious sensibilities cause them to attack innocent law-abiding citizens.

[Lev]

Fleishike Kishke, you read my thoughts almost...
"Shoimrei Tznius", "Neturei Karta Hakedoisha" all think that the civilization, society, as we know it, ended!
And they can roam and do whatnot without any consequences for the integrity of Judaism, Jewish people, etc...

[Isa]

Regarding:"""Question to Shmarya
Re: This Web site

What good does this exhaustive effort of yours bring to Jews and to the world at large?"""

All corruption must be exposed so that the truth be known and things hopefully be improved. For instance, Things ARE improving for sexual abuse. No longer will predators will be assured that their crimes will be hidden-we are not there yet but there is hope.
There was a time when Catholic priests could molest at will and even if they got caught they simply got moved to another church. NO LONGER IS THIS TRUE!

[WWW.chabadtalk.com]

what happened to www.chabadtalk.com?

[chief doofis]

There were guides (sic) for "Tznius" that were in vogue when my siblings were growing up. Skirts below the knee, cover your elbows. Use common sense on the neckline.

All of a sudden, enter the Taliban. What was good for a Rosh Yeshiva's daughter (or wife) in 1970, is now evil!! Apparently, a "New Testament" was delivered since then!! Someone is rewriting Halacha.

This nonsense has to stop. It's guys like Shmarya who provide the rank and file (and some who aren't so rank and file), with a voice, a soapbox, etc. No longer can the voices of the Oligarchy, the leadership which is so out of synch with us,totally dominate the Orthodox world!

On this blog, I am able to express my concerns and shout them out to the world. No Moetzes, no Va'ad, no Council, can stifle us!!

As Shmarya said, the molesters (and their abettors) are on the run. There are others who have to be taught a lesson as well. Why can't our so called "leaders" be as critical of their followers, as they are of those who ever even slightly to their left? Instead of rejoicing that x percent of Jews are more or less observant, and SHOWING BY EXAMPLE to the y percent who are not yet observant how wonderful a life based upon the principles of Torah can be, they alienate every one who is at all different from themselves.

I teach part time. When I take a group of youngsters on a trip, and the world sees kids, who are obviously Orthodox, dressing clean, acting courteously, and behaving properly, a Kiddish Hashem is made. On the other hand, when a group is unkempt, has B.O., doesn't hold doors open, etc.,: What sort of message does the world get?

[Neo-Conservaguy]

Chief Doofis: I love reading your posts and hang to every word. However, I find myself wondering, how is it that only a small number of "youz guys" that were raised in Orthodoxy managed to retain a (more) rational approach to that hashgafa, while the vast majority either actively or passively aided the well-known slide of that group/groups to the right?

[rabbidw]

We are the smarter ones. In my case, I had good parents.

[Nachum]

"Exactly like Islamic Iran"

Um, in Iran, it's government-sponsored. No so in Israel, thank God. (Yet?)

[yankel]

How much did rabbi horowitz pay you to post it
he does not represent the main stream charedi circles he is in the MO camp.

[jewishwhistleblower]

Journal of the American Psychiatric Association (APA)
November 2007 issue

http://ajp.psychiatryonline.org/content/vol164/issue11/

Rachel Yehuda, Michelle Friedman, Talli Y. Rosenbaum, Ellen Labinsky, and James Schmeidler
History of Past Sexual Abuse in Married Observant Jewish Women
Am J Psychiatry 2007 164: 1700-1706 [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

[Ira]

If R. Horowitz is MO, then it means anyone that thinks independently is now MO.

[chief doofis]

Like RabbiDW; I had good parents. I was never condemned for my opinions. As long as I remained loyal in practice, I was O.K. Those of my friends who, like myself, moved to the suburbs, have children, (now more or less adults, themselves), who are also "more rational". The ones who moved to the more right wing neighborhoods, have kids that are more right wing.

The reason "youz guys" are disappearing, is because of a concerted effort made by the "establishment" to "flip" our kids. My opinions, shaped by a father who had strong opinions, have been passed on to a new generation. Many fathers did not inculcate a sense of independent thought in their kids' mindset, and have paid for their actions, or inaction. Year after year, after year, of KOILIL!!

"Avi Shafran snake oil job"

heh heh...tha't about sums it up

[Lawrence M. Reisman]

Jewish Whistleblower:

This article was reported on in last week's NY Jewish Week. Is there some place we can get the study without paying the $15 fee your url wants? I'm a little skeptical of the study until I read what questions were asked. If the only question they asked "Were you sexually molested?" the survey is totally useless, since the definition of "sexually molested" can mean anything from an unwanted hug to you know what. If the survey asked about specific acts, then obviously it is a lot more reliable. Let's read the whole thing, ask a few questions, and then come to our conclusions.

[Lawrence M. Reisman]

A quick followup to my last posting. I tried to purchase the article, but the journal wouldn't let me. It appears they've embargoed it.

Since the NY Jewish Week reported the original article, I hope they will followup with the embargo.

[Shmarya]

I haven't seen the whole thing but I understand it to be well-defined and the results far from meaningless.

[Lawrence M. Reisman]

Shmarya:

How much have you seen, and where? I'd like to access the original.