Beggars Kicked Out Of Kotel

"The commandment of charity is always mentioned in Jewish history, and it is a little bizarre that at the Western Wall of all places, collecting charity is forbidden."

Beggars kicked out of Western Wall
In bid to prevent beggars expelled from site from returning, security stations provided with their pictures. 'These are pitiable people, but in order to allow most touristy site to run properly, we need to block them entry,' says security officer
Ari Galahar • Ynet

The Western Wall Heritage Foundation and Israel Police have decided to make the fight against beggars more efficient and distributed pictures of all the people forbidden entry to the site after asking for donations.

In recent years, the beggar phenomenon at the Western Wall has reached massive proportions, with dozens of panhandlers roaming the site every day. In a bid to combat the growing trend, any beggar caught asking for handouts is forbidden entry to the site for a full month.

However, in many cases, enforcement was ineffective and beggars made their way back into the Western Wall pavilion. Now, in a bid to make enforcement more streamlined and efficient, the company that operates security guards at the Western Wall, Modi'in Ezrahi, distributed pictures of known beggars at all security stands to prevent them from infiltrating.

"We stand nearly every day in front of the beggars' pictures, so it is easy for us to spot them," said one of the guards. "The pictures are right in front of our eyes, and we already know them by heart. Some people even dream about them from time to time."

According to the same guard, the pictures have already helped him block entry to a number of beggars banned from the holy site. "Over all, these are pitiable people, but in order to allow the touristiest spot to be run peacefully, we need to prevent them from entering," he said.

About a half a year ago, Yedioth Jerusalem revealed the method used by beggars working the Western Wall. The system has been coined "the rabbi and the custodian." This is how it works. One of the beggars adopts the roll of "the custodian" and brings tourists to another beggar, "the rabbi," who is praying in a prayer shawl. The tourists receive a blessing from "the rabbi." The custodian then asks them for a donation for the blessing, badgering them until they give up their money.

One of the beggars that Ynet caught up with this week at the Western Wall said that a distinction must be made "between frauds who cling to people and don't leave them alone until they give them money and people who collect money because they really don't have any. There are a lot of people who fall between the cracks in the state infrastructure and can't manage to finish out the month. The State can't prevent good people from donating to them.

"The commandment of charity is always mentioned in Jewish history, and it is a little bizarre that at the Western Wall of all places, collecting charity is forbidden."

Comments

[Maskil]

"The commandment of charity is always mentioned in Jewish history, and it is a little bizarre that at the Western Wall of all places, collecting charity is forbidden."

I don't know what the hell that was about. The wall is the place to which the Romans banished us in shame when they destroyed the Temple Mount. And historically it was a place of exchanging currencies, certainly not collecting them.

But I'm happy to hear that the beggars were finally kicked out of the plaza beneath the mount. I'm so sick of those Haredi shnorers. It's about goddamn time.

[Mr. Apikoros]

Good riddance to them. How would you like it if someone was harassing you while you're praying?

This is not quite the same as passing the collection plate, for all our Christian readers.

[Adam Neira]

The issue of begging is a real problem all throughout the world. In the full Messianic Era such actions would not need to take place. We are still many decades from that time. The Kotel as a special place of prayer should have some rules in place. As I have experienced in India, Indonesia and many other countries in the world there are some professional beggars who choose to pray on the generosity and kindness of strangers. The municipal authrorities in Jerusalem should try to determine the nature of the true level of poverty in the city and help those who are in genuine need. Some places should be reserved for spiritual matters.

[harold]

The commandment of charity is always mentioned in Jewish history

Good move. The beggars detracted from the experience. I understand your deep concern for the tradition of charity so I think that it is very important that tzadaka boxes be available in easily accessible places for those who wish to give.

[Hometown Postville]

Hey! Leave these poor Haredi alone! They are just trying to do an honest day's work!

[Mr. Apikoros]

My charity, Harold, doesn't extend to schnorrers and hustlers.

These guys are no different than the bums who claim to be disabled Vietnam vets who prowl the NYC subway system grubbing for handouts.

[Abracadabra]

Does anybody here get harassed by charity collectors when they go to a kosher grocery store? There is a store I used to like shopping in, until some tzedakah collectors started harrassing me for money while I was shopping.
I don't know why any stores would let these guys harass customers in their stores.

[harold]

My charity, Harold, doesn't extend to schnorrers and hustlers.

If you read my post you would see that I am in complete agreement with you. They should clean up the Kotel from beggars; However if one wishes to give charity then a venue should exist for them, hence my suggestion for strategically placed tzadaka boxes.

When I go for example to the the Ohel, no Lubavitch comes over to me looking for a handout. There are tzadaka boxs there for people to give what they want.

People should give because they want not because they feel compelled.

[Jeffrey Rappoport]

No one wants to see people reduced to begging. However, the situation at the Kotel has reached epic proportions. It is impossible to walk three steps without being accosted by a very determined beggar. And if you give to one, the rest are like sea gulls rushing to thrown bread. One man at the Kotel told me that he needed $1000 to buy his son bar mitzvah tefillin. When I suggested that he get a job so he could buy them, he told me that he is a full time kollel student. I guess that means full time other than when he is out begging. I daven every day and I do not have thousand dollar tefillin, btw.
I suppose what bothers me the most is that I am not convinced that all of those beggars really have no- or inadequate- income. Plus, most of them are quite rude and aggressive. Once I saw a beggar throw the coins he had just been given by a tourist on the ground because he wanted a bigger payoff. Sheesh.

[Isa]

In Houston, some beggars use props such as crutches and wheelchairs.

Where I live it is illegal to beg on the street or to 'offer' car window cleaning service. Also illegal is door to door 'selling' or begging without a city permit[$]

Back in 1985, at the Kotel, I ran into two hustlers, now from what I read the place is swarming with these types.

[WoolSilkCotton]

The beggars at 770 act insulted if you give them less than a quarter.

[Bill]

Wool,

Now I know how you got your name.

You've been giving these people lint instead of coin!

Ha!

[WoolSilkCotton]

Giving the blind guy a button sometimes works, too! LOL!

[who knows]

I've been there and have been harrassed by the beggars.

They are agressive and ungrateful people.

[robert]

the beggars, along with loud, ugly yeshiva music that is occasionally blasted on the open area in front of the kotel premises, have made the kotel into an unpleasant, tacky Disneyland, without any trace of spirituality. It's bad enough that the charedim "own" the kotel and impose their particular slant on Judaism upon klal Yisrael....Or maybe it's worse that klal Yisrael have let them to it (unsureness of one's own authrenticity is probably one of the causes of this.) There is a large pushka in just inside the entrace into which charitable donations can be made. As for the beggars, they should be at Lifeline for the Old on shivtei Yisrael street, learning a skill so that they can have some respect in their own lives.

[Althelion]

If these beggars spent as much time and energy training for and getting a job as they do begging we wouldn't have this situation in the first place.

a greater issue is the "normalization" of begging as a socio-economic position for individuals. In synagogues large and small around the world people show up and tell their hard luck tell for sympathy and gelt:

"I have 9 children and a wife to feed. My mother is sick. my car broke down and needs to be repaired. Etc., etc., etc."

To quote the old '50's song:

Shana nana shana nana na - Get A Job.

[who knows]

The beggars at 770 act insulted if you give them less than a quarter.

Posted by: WoolSilkCotton | April 21, 2010 at 07:39 AM

The beggars at the kotel act insulted if you give them less the 20 shekels. Some don't appreciate 50.

[ruthie]

VERY IMPORTANT

beggers in front of wesley kosher, 770, monsey glatt....are all gypsies. i have no problem giving a gypsy money...but NOT when they pretend to be jewish...just ask them to say the shema....
they're great scam artists, i envy them!!!
please people they are making so much off our ignorance...better to give the money to a family to pay tuition for a jewish school.

[WoolSilkCotton]

Ruthie,

I've noticed a lot of those guys don't seem Jewish (my Jewdar meter reads zero- don't ask me how that works!) but they've learned a few key words- " zeit gezunt, give tzedaka, boruch hashem" and on Fridays "good Shabbos".

They are certainly trainable when it comes to schnorring skills!

[randomthought]

When I was at the wall some guy started saying a prayer for me and a friend... I thought "Oh this is nice of him." Then he proceeded to ask for money... :(

[chabadnik attorney]

This is an issue that has really upset me and I am glad they are finally taking steps to resolve it.

After not being in Israel for many years I was finally able to get there about three years ago. I was at the Kotel for the first time in 17 years quietly praying real close to the wall. When a fellow (not Charedi, by the way, to the bigoted, hateful, narrow minded, poorly educated, poorly raised and/or ignorant people commenting here) comes up real close to me, sticks his hand between me and the Kotel and will not leave despite my repeated polite requests. He kept an aggressive posture real close to me and harassed me. Shmarya would have punched the guy in the face. I know I wanted to but was afraid to get arrested. I had to walk away and stop my prayers.

Aside from that in general the beggars in the old City and Kotel area pretty much all demanded $20.00 American. At first I tried to be upstanding and offered 20.00 NIS to anyone (even the annoying ones) who approached and I learned this was not acceptable so I just stopped giving. if a guy approached me politely I would offer 5.00 NIS and if he accepted it with a Thank you, I would give him $20.00 more. Most were not Thankful. With our group tour guide we arranged to visit families of victims or terror and gave directly to them or to organizations helping them.

[chabadnik attorney]

WSC, I never understood how the "Jewdar" works. I know people who get it right every time. Its a special talent.

[Michelle]

B"H

The women's side was just as bad--with toothless old hags wanting to tie some snarly old red thread on your wrist while you tried your hardest to keep a large enough distance that their lice didn't jump to you.

If they were truly needy, there are plenty of places they can go for help. Unfortunately for them, those places require them to stop using drugs and alcohol.

It's easier to beg than deal with addiction.

M

[chabadnik attorney]

Wow, a pretty unified take on this issue from the normally divided FM family.

[harold]

Wow, a pretty unified take on this issue from the normally divided FM family.

I too am surprised. Scotty usually sets the tone of the responses with his pre-story spin. It didn't work this time so it looks like Scotty is the only one who has a problem with this Kotel cleanup.

[friend]

VERY IMPORTANT

beggers in front of wesley kosher, 770, monsey glatt....are all gypsies. i have no problem giving a gypsy money...but NOT when they pretend to be jewish...just ask them to say the shema....
they're great scam artists, i envy them!!!
please people they are making so much off our ignorance...better to give the money to a family to pay tuition for a jewish school.

Posted by: ruthie | April 21, 2010 at 11:37 AM
I don't know the other places you mention, but this is not true of 770 there many are actually Jewish some aren't and none of them that I have seen near 770 even look like Gypsys.
If you ask they honestly tell you they are not Jewish Russian, Ukrainian whatever one old lady says she is not Jewish but has a Jewish paternal grandmother. In any case one should give a token amount to all of them Jewish or non Jewish doesn't matter(look in Shulchan Aruch and Rambam and other sources it says virtually everywhere we should help both Jews and non Jews) , give some more to those who seem to have a credible sounding hardship story and or a letter from someone reliable attesting to their need (something like this http://www.tsedokoh.org.uk/sample.html.
One should stop giving to those who are rude, throw money back demanding larger amount known to be frauds or substance abusers etc. Just like it is a mitzvah to help the needy all the mitzvos still apply to the needy too, to show hakoras ha'tov - gratitude, to have derech eretz - good manners etc.
The ones in charge of a shule or in this case the kotel should ban people who are constantly rude, harass the mispalelim (worshipers) and or known to be frauds or substance abusers, but a wholesale ban on beggars is shameful departure from the letter and spirit of the Torah, teachings of the prophets and thousands years of Jewish tradition and practice.

[Ednol]

My last day of a visit to Israel I was at the Kotel and praying with my face inches from the wall. Someone stuck his face between me and my prayers and it did something to the meaning of the moment.

I stepped back and asked "I wonder if Hashem will remember your interrupting my prayers when you say Al Het on Yom Kippur?" He literally blanched and left me alone, as did they all after that.

Was I too unkind?

[uncle joe mccarthy]

the issue at the kotel is, most of those that beg there as hustlers...this has been the case for decades

so im glad that they are finally fixing the situation

[the farshlepte krenk]

YOU ARE THE PEOPLE OF SODOM!!!! MAY YOU ALL BURN IN FIRE AND BRIMSTONE!!! (Bezras hashem yisborech, bli neder, kein yirbu)

ANA BEKOACH GEDULAS SMOLCHA KILL THESE STINGY MOFOS!!! DIE, BOURGEOISIE SCUM!!!

FIRST THEY STEAL THE LAND FROM ITS OWNERS AND MAKE A PLAZA FOR THE WORSHIP OF FALSE ZIONIST IDOLS, NOW THEIR TRUE NATURE COMES TO FORE ONCE MORE AS THEY SEEK TO FEED THEIR INSATIABLE APPETITE TO DISPLACE AND DISPOSES THE WEAK AND WEARY

POWER TO THE PEOPLE! VIVA LA REVOLUCION!

[the farshlepte krenk]

Moving from Marxism to Chassidus (me'inyan le'inyan toch inyan):

Those who do not exercise midas harachamim will bring upon themselves midas hadin