After Almost 2 Years Of Violence And Intimidation, Bookstore Caves In To Haredi Street Gang's Extortion

After 20 months of attacks and a quarter million shekels in damage, a Orthodox bookstore in the ultra-Orthodox Mea She’arim neighborhood of Jerusalem decided to accede to the demands of haredi extremists responsible for the violence – demands which allow the extremists to censor books.

Security camera footage of a Sicarii member wearing a hood shattering the front door of Manny's/Ohr HaChaim Bookstore earlier this year. Publication of the existence of this and other security footage by the media this fall forced police to take action. Before that, repeated complaints to police by the store's managers were ignored, the store's managers claim.

Originally posted at 11:02 pm CST 11-29-11

Mea She’arim bookstore accedes to haredi vandalist demands
Manny’s suffered NIS 250,000 in property damage after refusing to adhere to ‘modesty standards.’
MELANIE LIDMAN • Jerusalem Post
 
After 20 months of attacks and a quarter million shekels in damage, a religious bookstore in the ultra-Orthodox Mea She’arim neighborhood of Jerusalem decided on Monday to accede to the demands of extremists responsible for the violence.

Under the terms of the compromise, Ohr Hachaim/Manny’s put up a large sign requesting that all customers dress modestly. A mashgiach, who checks the store’s inventory to make sure there are no controversial books, will go over the books in the coming week and require that some books be removed from the shelves, though they will not be permitted to remove any English books, said Marlene Samuels, one of the store’s managers.

A haredi group called Sikrikim deemed the store as “promoting immodesty,” and since Manny’s opened in March 2010, the group has smashed its windows more than a dozen times, glued its locks shut, thrown tar and fish oil at the store and dumped bags of human excrement inside. The owners were also personally threatened multiple times.

At the end of September, police arrested one of the central figures responsible for the attacks. Since the arrest, and with the construction of steel shutters to protect the store at night, violence against the store has decreased. However, a large demonstration outside the store on Sunday night convinced the owners of the bookstore to meet with the Sikrikim to come to a compromise.

“Even though it looks like things have quieted down there were still problems looming,” said Samuels. “The truth is it’s very hard to get the better of these people… you can never beat them.”

Samuels said the damage caused by the attacks, including hiring security guards to watch the store, has cost more than NIS 250,000 over the past year-and-a-half.

The store is popular with Anglo residents and tourists and carries many English-language holy books and Judaica items in addition to Hebrew books. The harassment stems from the bookstore’s past refusal to accept demands made by the neighborhood extremist group, which would require all businesses to observe specific “modesty standards.”

The Sikrikim, a small, violent group that numbers less than 100 families, had previously demanded that all English books be removed because the store attracted many tourists who were not properly dressed. They also condemned the store for carrying Zionist books and demanded the store shut down its website to avoid attracting foreigners.

Other store owners in the area have called the Sikrikim the “Mea She’arim mafia,” and said it was pointless to try to beat them. Almost all of the stores in the area have the same sign requiring customers to wear modest dress, and other bookstores said they allow Sikrikim mashgiachs to check their inventory to remove “non-kosher” books.

Manny’s provoked the ire of the Sikrikim by refusing to acquiesce until this week.

“In the beginning, the owners thought it would stop, that it was temporary, but it didn’t stop, it got worse and worse,” said Samuels. In September, after multiple complaints to the police, the bookstore appealed to the media, including The Jerusalem Post. Samuels said pressure from the media spurred the police to arrest one of the central figures responsible, which frightened the extremist group.

“[When] the police started to make arrests and became more active, it quieted them down, but it didn’t stop them, and it’s never going to end 100 percent,” said Samuels.

However, the arrest and police pressure gave them “bargaining power,” said Samuels, frightening the group into accepting a compromise rather than the extremists dictating the terms.

“It’s such a losing battle… So much money was lost in the damages, they realized they needed to come to a compromise,” she said of the owners. “It’s not going to be that terrible,” she added.

“They might continue demonstrations, but the demonstrations will be mild.”

The name “Sikrikim” comes from the Latin “Sicarii,” a term applied – in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE – to an extremist splinter group of the Zealots who tried to expel the Romans and their partisans from Judea using concealed daggers.

These mafiosa also broke into the store and trashed it, hurled dirty diapers and garbage bags of excrement inside and threatened to physically harm staff and customers.

Until the existence the store's extensive security camera footage capturing some of this violence was publicized by the media, police did nothing.

But when that footage and the inaction of police was publicized, police reacted by denying their own inaction, by claiming they had not been notified of the violence, and then, after police denials were widely seen as lies, police began making arrests.

Even so, there is no police presence in the area and police did nothing of significance to protect the store or its employees and owners.

Rabbi Yaakov Litzman, a Gerrer hasid who is Israel's Deputy Health Minister, is apparently part of the ownership group of the bookstore.

The Sicarii and Ger hasidim are fighting a bloody and violent war for control of valuable Mea Shearim real estate known as the Warsaw Houses.

Litzman was recently given a special security detail by the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, because of threats on his life.

The bookstore deal with the Sicarii may have been made due to those threats as a way to appease the Sicarii and to direct their violence elsewhere.

Mea Shearim is for the most part a no-go zone for police, who find it too dangerous to operate in. When arrests absolutely must be made, police go in with large contingents of officers and with backup ready to flood the area at a moment's notice.

Even though Sicarii families number about 100 in Mea Shearim, Sicarii sympathisers number much more. These sympathisers may disagree with a particular Sicarii action, but they agree with the bulk of what the Sicarii do and stand for. They don't join normally Sicarii in the small localized violent actions the Sicarii often engage in, but they will join Sicarii in larger mass protests and riots, and some will join the Sicarii in attacking police.

The Sicarii operate in the haredi neighborhoods that border Mea Shearim, and they have expanded to Beit Shemesh and to other haredi areas outside Jerusalem. They are also beginning to exert some influence in other parts of Jerusalem that do not border on Mea Shearim, like Har Nof, but which have large haredi populations.

As much as the average haredi may want the Sicarii disbanded and prosecuted, police action against any haredim – including against the Sicarii – is often met with hostility. Police are viewed as the instigators of violence, as Jewish antisemites, and as the enemies of haredim.

For the Sicarii to be stopped (and for Gerrer terror squads to be stopped), rank and file haredim have to stop vilifying police. At the same time, police have to take actions against these violent groups, even if those actions are dangerous and even if they carry political risk for the ruling coalition government. And police also need to be better trained at crowd control and better trained to protect the rights of citizens, even when protecting those rights is inconvenient or difficult.

None of these musts seem to be forthcoming, which means that in all probability the Sicarii will continue to grow and with them so will the violence and extortion.

[Hat Tip: Joe Fields.]

Update 1:20 am CST 11-30-11 – Here's security camera video of a Sicarii member breaking the front door of the bookstore [Hat Tip: Burich]:

 

Comments

[A. Nuran]

Terrorism works!

[Elisheva]

It's becoming pretty clear to me that someone is going to die before the police do anything or before the rest of Israeli society stands up to these terrorists. It disturbs me to feel that way, but I don't see this ending any other way.

[Korbendallas72]

The armpit of Israel wins one. Hooray for thuggery!

[Adam Neira]

Looks like Mea Shearim is going to be an interesting enclave in Jerusalem.

[Robert Wisler]

It begins just as the Taliban takeover of Afghanistan and Pakistan begun. Orthodox Jews are no better and no worse than observant Muslims. It's time for the State of Israel to end all financial support for Orthodox Jewish institutions and time for the governments in New York State/New Jersey to end special privileges for hareidi enclaves in Monroe, "New Skvare", Lakewood etc.

[ah pee]

I went there yesterday to buy stuff, simply to support them.
I saw the sign. It isnt massive at all. Just a small sign in hebrew on the door asking people to dress modestly.
Weird, i would imagine that most of the people that the SickRimmers (purposely misspelt) want to warn, dont read hebrew!!!
and if they do, they are there already, so wont go home.
Oh well, no point in ascribing logic to these monkeys.

[danny]

The Israeli police avoid Mea Shaarim much like the Brazilian police avoid the favelas in Rio. And soon they decay into lawless shitholes.

[Friar Yid]

Very sad. I was really rooting for them.

[Max]

Shmarya finally found out that the bookstore is owned by the Gerrorists.

The sikirikim are doing what we all want them to do; Stop the gerrorists as much as possible from taking over more and more neighborhoods.

Keep it up, sikrikim. We support you!

[David]

Just curious...where do they get these bags of human excrement? Do they all take turns dumping into a bucket or what? Inquiring minds want to know.

[Shmarya]

Shmarya finally found out that the bookstore is owned by the Gerrorists.

The sikirikim are doing what we all want them to do; Stop the gerrorists as much as possible from taking over more and more neighborhoods.

Keep it up, sikrikim. We support you!

Posted by: Max | November 30, 2011 at 12:33 AM

That you are profoundly intellectually dishonest and not very bright has already been well established. Even so, do try to get your little mind to process:

1. I've written about Litzman's connection to the store previously and about the Ger/Sicarii fighting. So I didn't "finally" find out.

2. The intimidation and extortion of many other Mea Shearim and Geulah businesses by the Sicarii is *NOT* tied to the Sicarii/Ger fighting and its origin also predates it. So what you're doing in your less than honest, amoral and unintelligent way is cheering on criminals and ignoring the plight of their victims.

3. Both the Gerrorists and the Sicarii are taking over areas of Jerusalem and other cities in Israel. Neither is honest. Neither is good. Both are violent criminal organizations. What you're doing is rooting for the Columbian mafia to beat the Italian mafia.

[Jeff]

Max, you're an imbecile. When Shmarya describes you as "not very bright", he's being generous.

[Jeff]

As I said the other day, I'm beginning to be in favor of private ownership of firearms - at least, in a situation like this. I never thought I'd say such a thing.

If it were my bookstore, I'd have been sleeping there with a shotgun (which is not a criticism of the owners).

[ultra haredi lite]

Jeff careful the incoming excrement laced missles might evade your defense batteries.

[norm]

"Wherever they burn books they will also, in the end, burn human beings."

Heinrich Heine

[p]

A sign of the times. This was the logical conclusion. What chance would an adult sex toy shop have opening up near the Vatican? If you want to open a business in Mea Shearim expect this type of scrutiny. You simply cannot ignore your neighbors and neighborhood.

[seymour]

Posted by: p | November 30, 2011 at 06:39 AM

this is not a sex shop and they hwere selling stuff that was in-line with the religion but a few lunatics

[Shmarya]

A sign of the times. This was the logical conclusion. What chance would an adult sex toy shop have opening up near the Vatican? If you want to open a business in Mea Shearim expect this type of scrutiny. You simply cannot ignore your neighbors and neighborhood.

Posted by: p | November 30, 2011 at 06:39 AM

You are amoral and a rank apologist for most of what is truly awful in the haredi world.

I hope to God one of your less tolerant neighbors vandalizes your property because, after all, you have to know where live, and you chose to live near someone who dislikes you.

Moron.

[Junarchist]

nothing that a twelve gauge shotgun can't cure

[Friar Yid]

P- You simply cannot ignore your neighbors and neighborhood.

You are being ridiculously dishonest. A book store is not a sex toy shop and Mea Shearim is not its own country with different laws than the rest of the state.

The problem is not "scrutiny," it is behavior. The behavior exhibited here was appalling and totally disproportionate. For the record, if you don't like a business in your neighborhood, there are legitimate tactics you can use to create change, such as:

- Starting a petition
- Having meetings with your local representatives
- Not patronizing the place
- Publicizing a boycott

This is how adults act.

You don't get to fling feces at the door or break their windows to get your way. That is how immature children act.

And you're defending them. So what does that make you?

[fg]

Its hard to draw a line where such violent action of the Sikrikm would be acceptable. imagine somone obtaining a permit and opening a strip club on your block. would u permit that when youu are trying to raise a family? every community would take action including the sikrikm.

[p]

You are amoral and a rank apologist for most of what is truly awful in the haredi world.

I hope to God one of your less tolerant neighbors vandalizes your property because, after all, you have to know where live, and you chose to live near someone who dislikes you.

Moron.

Posted by: Shmarya | November 30, 2011 at 06:57 AM

Lets see if I can give another example.

A yeshiva boy with flowing peyos sits down by himself on a park bench on a Sunday afternoon in a park in the middle of Brownsville next to the basketball court and takes out his iPad and begins to browse the web (I assume looking for porn). Question, is he allowed to do that here in the USA? Question, would it surprise many if within 2 hours he is without his iPad.

Point. I am not condoning what happened in Mea Shearim, I am simply saying was it such a surprise. As a businessman he should be looking at what should he be carrying and selling and conducting business to maximize his profits and I assume that at the end that is exactly what he did however it is a shame that he had to suffer some hard knocks until he realized it.

There is a difference between what should be and what is. You strive to attain what should be but in the meantime you deal with the realities of what is.

So while one should be able to walk the streets of America working on your iPad in reality there are locations where you simply do not. Same goes for Mea Shearim one should be able to conduct business how you want, one should be able to walk through the neighborhood in a bikini but the realities on the ground poses a problem that cannot be ignored.

[Jenny]

I think I'd prefer to walk through the neighborhood in my Obama 2012 T shirt. To be nice I'll wear a long skirt. Should be fun.

[who knows]

P, you suggest that bussinesses should give in to racketeering, in order to adhere to a "reality". If everyone would have your Darwinian survivalist ideology it will be hell on earth.

Don't you see that your logic is parasitical (someone else will take a stand..) and distructive?

[tonda]

There always has been, and always will be something special about books. Printed, bound, volumes have a special place in civilization. The simple act of burning them speaks more about the perpetrators than the contents of the volumes themselves.

While burning ANY religious volume, be it the Koran, the Bible, or a Torah is a despicable act againt humanity. Equally so is the wholesale censorship and destruction of the written word. Thought, ideas, and learning are not one size fits all commodities. Programmed groupthink is for insects, not humans.

A person can not understand good unless he is exposed to evil. A person's moral compass depend on the ability to decide right from wrong for ones self, not the rote teachings of one person or school of thought.

Read Shakespere, Whitman, Rand, Vonnegut. Also read DeSade, Balzac, Twain, and Satre. An equal space on the bookshelf must be accorded those authors lauded as those who would be banned. There are lessons to be learned from each.

In the case of the latter however, you can usually learn more about the person wanting a book banned. Maybe this scares them more than the actual contents of said book.

[Alter Kocker]

I am saddened to hear that the extortionists have won this round. My only recommendation is for the owner to booby trap his store, or on occasion to hide in the store and taser the vandals.

The Sicarii win by being the aggressors. A gang of like minded individuals waiting in the shadows to pounce and pummel a Sicarii vandal might make them re-think their position.

[Guest]

p is right.

The fact is that in Meah Shearim, they will always win. You cannot reason with religion. They are willing to die for their religion. Are you willing to die for our religion? I don't think so. They won, period.

You can cry about it. But face reality. As long as they are willing to die for their relilgion, they will win.

[tonda]

Any person willing to die for their religion in the attempt to impose it upon someone else, should have as much assistance necessary to get the job done as quickly possible.

[Guest]

Any person willing to die for their religion in the attempt to impose it upon someone else, should have as much assistance necessary to get the job done as quickly possible.

Posted by: tonda | November 30, 2011 at 12:00 PM

Good point. However, for the sake of intellectual honesty, these people aren't going into other neighborhoods and imposing their will on others. They want others from other neighborhoods to stay out of their Meah Shearim neighborhood where they have lived for the last 100 years.

Israel is a huge country, compared to Meah Shearim. The sikrikim aren't bothering anyone else, except for the outsiders that have invaded their neighborhoods in Meah Shearim and Bet Shemesh.

I'm not condoning their behavior. Just pointing out that they have no interest in imposing on anyone else. They just want to keep their own neighborhoods pure.

You may think they are nuts. Or you may think that promiscuity is pure. You can agree with them or disagree with them. But at the end of the day, you have to admit that these sikrikim aren't imposing on anyone else. They just don't want anyone else imposing on them.

And they're willing to die for that.

Therefore, they will win.

[tonda]

The moment someone sets foot in my business or property and demands that I change any legal behaviour to suit their definition of proper by threats of violence, then I am free to defend myself by any means necessary.

They are free however, to try to convince me through the use of compromise, argument, monetary compensation, or seduction.

[Dovit]

I have a better one for you, p. A group of Jews with flowing peyos moves to a new country - Germany. They wear their traditional clothing, open up a synagogue and within a few years, they are gassed to death. Do you still believe people have no right to move into neighborhoods where beliefs or traditions are different??!

[p]

P, you suggest that bussinesses should give in to racketeering, in order to adhere to a "reality". If everyone would have your Darwinian survivalist ideology it will be hell on earth.

Don't you see that your logic is parasitical (someone else will take a stand..) and distructive?

Posted by: who knows | November 30, 2011 at 11:09 AM

I simply said that I am not surprised.

I will also say that as long as they continue to win the population war their ghetto strongholds will be a tough place to expect reforms.

There are many other battlegrounds where there are greater chances to make headway. But to get bogged down in the ghettos is a losing proposition.

An other analysis would be in a war time setting. You can't always advance the front. Sometimes you have to pull back and find another battle to win. Not every hill has to conquered to win a war. If a location is heavily fortified by the enemy you look for other softer targets.

Mea She’arim is a lost cause, contain them there and go on to other problems and believe me Israel has more than enough to keep them busy.

[tonda]

The lost cause is those who accept appeasment for this kind of behaviour.

The storekeeper was the victim of repeated acts of violence and other criminal acts. To simply let it go as a "neighbourhood issue" because the perpetrators are doing it under the guise of religion is both defeatist and lazy. Forgiving or ignoring this kind of behaviour only makes the groups that promote it only makes them stronger and bolder.

Modern Islam, Judiasm, Christianity, et al should be more alarmed by the barbarians inside their own gates than the ones outside.

[Litvish]

One of the owners is quoted as saying:
“The truth is it’s very hard to get the better of these people… you can never beat them.”
===
Actually, you can beat them.

With metal poles and many other objects.

It seems to have a deterrent effect.

Also, a question:

What qualification does R. Yaakov Lantzman, the Gerrer hosid, have to be the Deputy Health Minister of Israel?
What medical school did he graduate from?
Really, what school, if any, did he graduate from?
Would you want him deciding the health care of your family?
I wouldn't but then who am I to argue with the wisdom of Das Torah ( Das Kapital?).
We all know that the rabbis know all because they study the Torah.
They are now qualified to pontificate on any topic under the sun because they went to a yeshivo.
And to think of all the years I wasted going to university and medical school.
Silly me.

[Guest]

What qualification does R. Yaakov Lantzman, the Gerrer hosid, have to be the Deputy Health Minister of Israel?
What medical school did he graduate from?
Really, what school, if any, did he graduate from?
Would you want him deciding the health care of your family?
I wouldn't but then who am I to argue with the wisdom of Das Torah ( Das Kapital?).
We all know that the rabbis know all because they study the Torah.
They are now qualified to pontificate on any topic under the sun because they went to a yeshivo.
And to think of all the years I wasted going to university and medical school.
Silly me.

Posted by: Litvish | November 30, 2011 at 01:32 PM

I had the same questions about Kathleen Sebelius who is the Health and Human Services Secretary of the US, and who is about to take over the healthcare industry in the US with the implementation of ObamaCare.

For that matter, what qualifications did the Democrat Congress and Obama have when they rammed through ObamaCare against the wishes of a majority of Americans, and are taking away healthcare decisions from doctors and instead place them in the hands of bureaucrats??

But who needs qualifications?

[SkepticalYid]

You really don't have a clue. First of all, the health care reform leaves insurance in the hands of the private sector. It was not over the objection of the majority of Americans. In fact, reliable polls indicate the majority of Americans wanted a public option. It most definitely does not take decisions from doctors and patients. Anyone is still free to pay for any care they choose out of pocket.
Odds are when Gingrich proposed the basis of this plan in the 90s, ditto heads like you were all for it.

[Litvish]

Kathleen Sebelius graduated with a BA in Political Science and an MA in Public Administration. She served for many years as Insurance commissioner for Kansas. She refused to take campaign contributions from the insurance industry and blocked the proposed merger of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, the state's largest health insurer, with an Indiana-based company. Sebelius's decision marked the first time the corporation had been rebuffed in its acquisition attempts.

Rabbi Lantzman?

His CV is quite different and, in my opinion, utterly unqualified to direct health care decisions even in his own home let alone for an entire nation.

[Guest]

And to think of all the years I wasted going to university and medical school.
Silly me.

Posted by: Litvish | November 30, 2011 at 01:32 PM

You can say the same about Kathleen Sebelius, no matter how many BA's and MA's she has in political science and public administration.

Kathleen Sebelius graduated with a BA in Political Science and an MA in Public Administration

And therefore? So she knows how to be a bureaucrat! Would you put your medical decisions in the hands of such a person?

She served for many years as Insurance commissioner for Kansas

Wow, impressive! That definitely taughther what you learned in medical school!

Litzman served on the Knesset's Internal Affairs Committee from 1999–2001,[1] and as the Deputy Chairman of Knesset Labor and Welfare Committee.[2] As part of the coalition agreement with the ruling government of Ariel Sharon in 2000, Litzman was appointed chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, a position he held until 2007.

She refused to take campaign contributions from the insurance industry

And therefore.......

and blocked the proposed merger of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas, the state's largest health insurer, with an Indiana-based company

So now she REALLY has credentials to be able to make healthcare decisions. Just like "Litvish" who went to medical school.

DISCLAIMER: I HATE GERRORRISTS, and I think Litzman is one of the best examples of what is wrong with the Hasidic religion. But your comment smacks of intellectual dishonesty, if you're going to pick on Litzman and not on Sebelius.

[Guest]

Oh, and did I mention, Mr. Litvish, that you don't even know Litzman's name. Not that it means your opinions are wrong, but you would have more credibility if you knew more of what you speak.

[jancsipista.]

Guest- if theese sikrikin are botherd by absolute nonsense that someone is going into a store not dressed according to their liking then i saw they are mentally very very disturbed let them go and work like normal human beings i guarentee you they wont be bothered by how others dress this is all due to theese sikrikims having all the time on their hands to make life difficult for others

[Litvish]

His name is Yaakov Litzman and he is still an unqualified moron when it comes to healthcare laws and administration.

[Litvish]

Guest

Thanks for the name correction.

[SkepticalYid]

According to my nephew in Israel, one of the main objections the Sickirim (sic) had was that the bookstore carried seforim written by Rav Kook. Wow, what a great reason to terrorize a merchant.

[Jeff]

According to my nephew in Israel, one of the main objections the Sickirim (sic) had was that the bookstore carried seforim written by Rav Kook. Wow, what a great reason to terrorize a merchant.

Posted by: SkepticalYid | November 30, 2011 at 08:20 PM

Jesus. Seriously?

If Rav Kook were alive to see what Orthodoxy has degenerated into, it would kill him.