Haredi Rabbis Ban Beit Shemesh Supermarket

Five Beit Shemesh rabbis linked to the Mea Shearim-based haredi umbrella group Edah Haredit have banned haredim from shopping in an a newly-opened haredi-owned supermarket there, part of the Osher Ad chain.

Beit Shemesh sign telling women to move to the other side of the street

Haredi Rabbis Ban Beit Shemesh Supermarket
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com

Five Beit Shemesh rabbis linked to the Mea Shearim-based haredi umbrella group Edah Haredit have banned haredim from shopping in an a newly-opened haredi-owned supermarket there, part of the Osher Ad chain, Globes reported today.

Osher Ad is owned by Gerrer hasidim. Ger and Edah Haredit are fighting – sometimes physically – for control of valuable housing stock in Mea Shearim. Rival haredi gangs have beaten members of the rival grouping there and in Beit Shemesh, and a home occupied with by a family with small children was set on fire in Mea Shearim last year as attackers used rocks and sledge hammers to break down walls and doors and shatter windows.

"Great depravity prevails in this place, and there is terrible spiritual danger from forbidden sights and other frightening stumbling blocks, may God preserve us, with incalculable consequences. We therefore hereby issue a severe warning not to go there!" the rabbis – wrote Yehoshua Rosenberger, Nosson Hacohen Kopschitz, Moshe Tuvia Dinkel, Shlomo Zalman Perlstein, and Mordechai Goldstein – about the new Osher Ad store in Beit Shemesh, which opened less than a month ago.

Osher Ad cancelled all advertisements scheduled for publication in Beit Shemesh.

"We didn't want to place people in a position of conflict, and we have no intention of sending advertisements this week either," the sources in Osher Ad told the Israeli business daily Globes. "This whole group is deluded and irrelevant. Go to Jerusalem, to the Geula neighborhood [abutting Mea Shearim], and you'll find 10-15 such warnings there every day. They are same lot who have come to live in Beit Shemesh as well. This isn't the haredi community, this is the Yerushalmis [Mea Shearim Jerusalemites], and they are the ones who caused all the commotion with the spitting on the little girl in Beit Shemesh. It's the same kind of people."

Last year groups of haredi men affiliated with Edah Haredit attacked and harassed little girls going to and from school in Beit Shemesh. Even though the pre-teens are Orthodox and were dressed modestly, the haredi men spat on them and chased them down the street screaming while screaming “whore” and “shikasa” at them.

The girls’ Orthodox Zionist school, Orot Banot, is located adjacent to a haredi neighborhood populated by the Yerushalmis, who want the school building for their own use.

Haredim in the town stoned a woman as she was driving in her car because they believed her to be immodestly dressed. One of the windows of the car was shattered during the attack. A similar attack happened there several months ago, as well.

Earlier this year, signs ordering women to walk on the opposite side of the street from men were removed from haredi areas of Beit Shemesh by the city under pressure from Israel’s High Court of Justice. Haredim stoned city workers and replaced the signs when the workers retreated.

The pretext for the current announcement by the five Yerushalmi rabbis banning Osher Ad is the chain's decision to remove a sign that had been placed at the entrance to the supermarket ordering women to dress modestly. It was paired with a bin of large black shawls given by security staff to women whose clothing did not pass haredi muster.

Complaints from non-haredi shoppers and national media attention forced Osher Ad to remove the sign – although it left the shawls in place at the front door for ‘voluntary’ use.

Shufersal Ltd., a rival supermarket chain known in the US as Supersol slashed prices, apparently to take advantage of the attacks on Osher Ad.

"We are adjusting prices, and checking all the stores in the area [to meet or beat their prices],” sources at Shufersal told Globes. "We won't let ourselves become uncompetitive. Whatever they do, we will do too. We have a working mechanism. There is no way that we will be caught dearer [i.e., with higher prices]. On the contrary, we can only be caught being cheaper."

Globes reports that the conflict and the price war have helped Shufersal's sales, and the chain's branches in Beit Shemesh (and also in Ma'aleh Adumim, a suburb of Jerusalem where competition is also fierce) are reporting higher inventory turnover – but sources believe that these Shufersal branches are actually losing money.

Yesterday, the director of Israel’s Antitrust Authority, Professor David Gilo confirmed a Globes report that it had opened an investigation into Shufersal’s apparently predatory pricing policy.

“[But] one has to be very careful before intervening in conduct that lowers prices,” Gilo told Globes. “It could be that what is happening in these markets is that there is fierce, but healthy, competition."

Comments

[moshe]

If these 2 cults demolish each other it will be no great loss.

[John Nagle, Silicon Valley, CA]

"Great depravity prevails in this place."

Right.

Laughing at both sides may help. They need to be made to look silly.

[Abracadabra]

There's nothing like money to influence sincere, spiritual, deep, religious experience.

Tell me again that this is all in the service of God.

[Moishe Rabbeinu]

balance - truth. two factors obviously missing in your obviously severly one-sided view. keep your views to yourself, and tell us the facts. i'm no yerushalmi, and not a gerrer either - but who said that a rabbi's ban on a supermarket is connected to a fight on property in jerusalem - especially since four of the rabbis aren't even from jerusalem, and your lack of basic knowledge is obvious to all, for they have no connection with mea shearim whatsoever - Rabbi Goldstien i personally got to know from visits to bet shemesh - he is an american rabbi who knows less about jerusalem's local politics than you do [which is obviuosly difficult!]
i would like to just remark from the torah - respect your wise men - give the basic decency and respect for G-d's holy people to call them Rabbi so and so.
Aside from that - i'm not meeting in gehinomm [yes! i have no fear from discrimaination, if you want to sue me - sue G-d first for Him i am quoting] anyone who speaks Loshon Hora - evil speech about anyone of G-d's nation, no matter what your personal view is on them.
to conculde, i am thinking about sueing you for discrimination of people you know nothing about [obviously!]....

[seymour]

turf wars no different than the mafia or drug cartels

[Alter Kocker]

Moishe Rabbeinu
You are an ass.

Best possible scenario: On a football field far from civilization, arm both sides to the teeth, small arms, knives, swords, clubs etc. then let them have at one another. Last black hatted fucker standing wins

[David]

They prove everyday in these esteemed pages that they simply CANNOT FUNCTION in modern society. They really need to start up their own country or at least establish their own self-sufficient precinct somewhere.

The problem is, that like all parasites, they need to remain firmly attached to the host as they are not capable of self-sufficiency.

[Rocky]

Worth reading: "The Undeserving Poor?", an editorial from today's "The Forward":

http://forward.com/articles/158169/the-undeserving-poor/

[Mike]

@ Moshe Rabbeinu-

The Torah says respect your wise men. These people have half the intelligence of a piece of gefilte fish.

[David]

Worth reading: "The Undeserving Poor?", an editorial from today's "The Forward":

http://forward.com/articles/158169/the-undeserving-poor/

Posted by: Rocky | June 21, 2012 at 05:34 PM

Excellent article!

[Yochanan Lavie]

All those interested in meeting this summer contact me at yochananlavie145@gmail.com.

Debauchery is guaranteed for all!

[jancsibacsi]

Moishe Rabbeinu-You are obviously mentally deranged, its all in youre writing,you are full of hate and anger go get help.

[seymour]

All those interested in meeting this summer contact me at yochananlavie145@gmail.com.

Debauchery is guaranteed for all!

Posted by: Yochanan Lavie | June 21, 2012 at 06:09 PM

I am willing to go if you promise not to buy any products from haredi-owned supermarket of the Osher Ad chain.

[Rebitzman]

i am thinking about sueing you for discrimination of people you know nothing about [obviously!]....

I have seen some empty threats in my time, but this.........

[Jake]

Rebitzman

" ,but this.........". Is full of ..... Ex-nihlo?

[Fleishike Kishke]

Moshe Rabeinu: Gei kokken affen Yamsuf.

[Jeff]

"Great depravity prevails in this place, and there is terrible spiritual danger"

Why - do they sell cholov stam?

(I was much better off when I didn't know what terms like that mean.)

[Abracadabra]

Ex-nihlo - LOL Jake!

[danny]

"Great depravity prevails in this place, and there is terrible spiritual danger from forbidden sights and other frightening stumbling blocks, may God preserve us, with incalculable consequences. We therefore hereby issue a severe warning not to go there!"

If I was a yeshiva boucher, no way could I resist the temptation to see what wonders await at this supermarket. It sounds even more enticing than a topless beach in Eilat.

Imagine the boucher's dissapointment when he sees that it is just a plain old supermarket with ugly people and crappy food.

[David]

Imagine the boucher's dissapointment when he sees that it is just a plain old supermarket with ugly people and crappy food.

Posted by: danny | June 21, 2012 at 10:06 PM

I don't know.... What about all those cereal boxes as per this FM story:

http://failedmessiah.typepad.com/failed_messiahcom/2012/06/exclusive-haredi-supermarket-censors-cereal-boxes-456.html

[Bob Guthrie]

Posted by: danny
"It sounds even more enticing than a topless beach"

Oh, fudge!. You beat me to the punchline! >=)

[ah-pee-chorus]

to conculde, i am thinking about sueing you for discrimination of people you know nothing about [obviously!]....

Posted by: Moishe Rabbeinu

i counter conculde(sic) that this is one of the funniest things ive ever read here.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Seymour: If I'm guaranteeing "great depravity" how can it have a chareidi hechsher?

[AztecQueen2000]

Moishe Rabbenu--I respect wise men. I do not suffer fools who sign anything without a little background fact-checking.

[Michael]

Facts on the ground from here in Bet Shemesh...

Been Oshar Ad and plenty of Chareidim are ignoring this nonsense because real Shekels speak louder than fake "Daas Torah".

Every time these so-called Rabbis' names appear on one of these edicts it drives another nail in the coffin of the modern-day, manufactured "Daas Torh".

So keep 'em coming.

[Ed]

Clearly, your readers should learn Torah, where they would learn the famous concept:

Bishvili Nivra Haolam – The world was created for me

I am the most important person in the world and anyone who stands in my way had better watch out.