Conservative Jews Stoned By Orthodox Youth After Shul

Masorti (Conservative) worshipers exiting their synagogue in Netanya on Friday night were stoned, just a few days after a Reform synagogue in Ra'anana was vandalized by unidentified assailants.

 

Netanya Masorti worshipers are stoned on Shabbat
Orthodox rabbis, including former Shas minister, unite to condemn attack against Reform Ra'anana synagogue.
By JONAH MANDEL • Jerusalem Post
 
Masorti (Conservative) worshipers exiting their synagogue in Netanya on Friday night were stoned, just a few days after a Reform synagogue in Ra'anana was vandalized by unidentified assailants.

Members of the Beit Yisrael congregation were met by youths who flung rocks at them at the end of the Shabbat service. According to eyewitnesses, they youths – who appeared to be religious – attempted to enter the building, but were deterred by the security cameras that were installed on the site, following two previous attacks. The youths then camped out behind a van parked across the street, and when the people exited the synagogue, pelted them with stones and fled the scene by foot. None of the worshipers were wounded, and no damage befell the building. A complaint was filed with the police, who will be securing the synagogue in the near future.

Netanya Mayor Miriam Feierberg-Ikar on Sunday “strongly condemned violence in any form, especially against worshipers in a synagogue. We believe that each person should be able to live according to their belief, and it's these people's right to act on their faith and outlook.”

Executive Director and CEO of the Masorti Movement in Israel Yizhar Hess said that “the vile wave of violence against non-Orthodox synagogues in Israel should be a warning signal to anyone who cares about democracy in Israel. The Masorti Movement has established eight new communities in Israel over the past two years,” he continued. “As the non-Orthodox communities continue to grow, the ugly face of Jewish fundamentalism in Israel is revealed. Some people just can't deal with the fact that there is a different Judaism. These people are hateful Jews who know nothing about Rabbi Akiva's principle of loving your neighbor as you love yourself,” he said.

In related news, former Shas minister and Ra'anana's current Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Peretz joined his name on Sunday to a letter of 14 orthodox Ra'anana rabbis and public figures condemning the attack against the Ra'anan synagogue overnight Wednesday, when unidentified assailants smashed six of the buildings' windows and spray-painted “it has begun” on the exterior wall. Head of the Ra'anan congregation, Rabbi Tamar Kolberg, had noted the “serious problem of negative messages that trickle down from high up to low, and create a certain atmosphere, as if the speakers are trying to see how far they can push the limit of their rhetoric,” alluding perhaps to Religious Services Minister Yaakov Margi who recently declared that legislation should determine that there are no streams in Judaism.

The letter stressed that the Torah is opposed to any acts of violence and harming others, and called on public leaders to eradicate the violence in our city, and act to promote fraternity.

Head of the Orthodox Netivot community Rabbi Seth Farber initiated the letter, which was read at a ceremony held at Kehilat Raanan on Friday night. "Unfortunately, we only learn to recognize the ties that bind us at times of crisis,” he said on Sunday. “An attack on any religious institution is an attack on the Jewish people as a whole.”

“It wasn’t easy to reach consensus within the orthodox community regarding the reform synagogue,” Faber noted, calling the outcome in the form of the letter “a real breakthrough for the Israeli Jewish community.”

“As we celebrate our national redemption, it is encouraging to know that our community can sometimes overcome its inhibitions and support those under attack,” he added.

Comments

[Adam Neira]

Yes this is exactly what G-d wants. Jews stoning Jews just before Pesach. Someone needs to come to Israel and teach some of these people a few good lessons. The schisms between the sects can be healed, but some people are going to have to give up their petty dogmas.

[A. Nuran]

This is religious terrorism pure and simple. It should be treated the same way Israel treats stone-throwing Arabs. Imprison them and tear down their families' houses.

[jay]

Rubber bullets, tear gas and high pressure hoses would be a good start as well.

[A. Nuran]

Jay, why rubber bullets? Throwing stones at someone is assault with a deadly weapon if not actual attempted murder. Deadly attacks merit a similar response.

[BronxJew]

All Jews should defend the right of Masortiim to practice their form of Judaism freely without the fear of violence from extremists. For no matter how pious you think you are, there will always be some Farfrumter Putz who will condemn you as a Sheygetz.
We need to acknowledge the fact that rabbinical Judaism has always had many streams of belief, practice and interpretation. And along with that, classical Judaism is a religion of peace. And when a Jew attacks his brother - bodily or otherwise, when he condems his fellow Jew with foul, ugly words, when he degrades his brother - he is degrading the Tzelem Elokim, the very image of G-d in which we have all been created.
The Jew who attacks other Jews is committing Apikorsut of the first order because he is denying the very nature of the Torah which the Book of Proberbs (3.17) describes as "No'am" and "Shalom" ("pleasantness" and "peace").

[Dr. Dave]

Just as the actions of the Muslim youth can be squarely laid at the feet of the radical mullahs egging them on so to can the actions of these thuggish mamzerim be attributed to the "rabbis" (undeserving of the title) who instigate and inflame the fires of sinat chinam (baseless hatred of fellow Jews).

[Betzalel]

What has happened to the religious youth in Israel? I lived there 12 years ago in a black hat neighborhood in Jerusalem. Never once did I see any violence. I saw Masorti praying at the Kotel during Shavuos, with no violence from the Haredi.

What has changed?

[A. Nuran]

Betzalel, stoning Shabbos drivers started more than twelve years ago.

[seymour]

The letter stressed that the Torah is opposed to any acts of violence and harming others, and called on public leaders to eradicate the violence in our city, and act to promote fraternity.

huh, did they read the Torah

[sephardic-male(ex-Judaism)]

Numbers 31:17-18 God commands Moses to kill all the Medianite people including children and women. To top it off he commands that the virgins be saved for later raping by Moses’ soldiers.

Deuteronomy 3:3-7 God ordered Moses’ army to “utterly destroy” 60 cities, killing all the women and children within!

Deuteronomy 7:12 God ordered the Israelites to kill all the people of seven nations. He even adds, “show no mercy unto them”.

Deuteronomy 20:16 God orders that we kill everything that breathes in the cities that he gives us for an inheritance

the Torah advocates voilence

[Western Jew]

Stones are the new "kiruv"?

[BeenThereDoneThat]

I couldn't get though a service unless I was stoned...

Seriously though, this is not the yiddishkeit I was taught.