Haredi Soldier Attacked By Haredi Mob A Ba’al Teshuva, Mother Says
The haredi soldier who attacked by a mob of 100 to 150 haredim in the
Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem Monday night after the mob spotted
his uniform is a ba’al teshuva who grew up in a masorati (traditional)
home, went to secular schools, and only became haredi five years ago.
File photo: Haredim throw stones at police in the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem in July 2011
Haredi Soldier Attacked By Haredi Mob A Ba’al Teshuva, Mother Says
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The haredi soldier who was attacked by a mob of 100 to 150 haredim in the Mea Shearim neighborhood of Jerusalem Monday night after the mob spotted his uniform is a ba’al teshuva who grew up in a masorati (traditional) home, went to secular schools, and only became haredi five years ago, Ynet reported.
The soldier’s mother spoke about the attack and explained his background.
"My son is exhausted, he is traumatized. His [haredi] ‘brothers’ attacked him, and they should to rot in jail.…This case should be treated with utmost severity and they should be seriously punished, it is pertinent that such an incident does not reoccur.…[My son] grew up in a secular school where he excelled in his studies.… [Five years ago, he became haredi and studied in a Jerusalem yeshiva with our permission. But] “we told him ahead of time that enlistment into the IDF is nonnegotiable; you must give back to your country. He fully understood and accepted that," she reportedly said.
She also said that her son would return to mea Shearim, despite the attack – but only in haredi clothes, not in his IDF uniform.
"My son will continue to go to Jerusalem to the same place, because that is where his relatives live; but he will no longer walk those streets in uniform,” she said.
She also said that only a small number of extremists should be blamed for the attack.
“If they would've known that he went to study Torah, I'm sure they wouldn’t have attacked him. They caused damage to all of us," she said, apparently unaware that haredi soldiers have been attacked while trying to pray in haredi synagogues and have been evicted from haredi yeshivas and study halls – including at least one in the neighborhood where her son was attacked.
She also seemed unaware that no haredi rabbinic leader of note had condemned the attack or offered any sympathy its victim.
"We shouldn't make generalizations and blame the entire community. There are many haredim who enlist into the IDF,” she claimed.
Only a tiny fraction of eligible haredi men serve in the IDF, and haredi rabbinic leaders across the board have vehemently condemned the looming draft of haredi yeshiva students – and voluntary haredi enlistment.
Earlier today, IDF Spokesman Brigadier-General Yoav Mordechai castigated haredi leaders who have falied to condemn the attack and called on them to "unabashedly condemn [it].
"I shudder to think what would happened if a soldier was attacked in the Negev or in the Galilee [areas of Israel with large Bedouin and Arab populations] at the hands of one Israel's non-Jewish communities. In such a case, the public uproar would have been much more severe. It is very serious that in the Jewish state a soldier is forced to shed his uniform to return home safely,” Mordechai said, implying that the IDF’s response in that type of case would have been severe.
“Most of the haredi public accepts haredi soldiers,” Mordechai said, noting that in addition to the 3,000 haredi soldiers already in the military, an additional 2,400 will join up this year. “Therefore we need to disavow the small minority [that attacks those haredi soldiers] and act against them."
A significant number of haredi soldiers are yeshiva dropouts who left or who were expelled from haredi yeshivas. Until now, many haredi rabbinic leaders have had no objection to those dropouts enlisting in the military in special haredi programs.
Another significant segment of ‘haredi’ soldiers – so large that some say it makes up the majority – are not haredi at all – they are right wing Zionist Orthodox youth who do not want to enter existing Zionist Orthodox yeshiva-army programs or are themselves dropouts from Zionist Orthodox yeshivas.
Ynet has brief video of part of the attack here.
OH that explains it, charedim attacking BTs. I know the feeling. Wait till he looks for a shiduch.
Posted by: Hal | July 10, 2013 at 02:58 PM
What ever happened to "V'ohavta l'rayacha kamoacha - zeh klal gadol baTorah"? Isn't this taught taught anymore at Yeshivas? This type of behavior is truly sinas chinom for which we're still in exile for. And this is during the 3 weeks. You'd think that Hareidim would've wanted Moshiach to come soon. How could he? We, as Hareidi show that we haven't learned from our forefathers mistakes. How very sad, indeed!
Posted by: Jay Siegel | July 10, 2013 at 03:03 PM
Charedim don't care about moshiach. They don't care about sinas chinam. They don't even care about any mitzvos other than studying Gemara. They are the new Christians.
Posted by: Hal | July 10, 2013 at 03:27 PM
No yichus and possibly a Ben Niddah. No wonder they felt impunity to attack him.
Posted by: SkepticalYid | July 10, 2013 at 03:40 PM
Jay Siegel-
The chareidim out there don't want moshiach, because then they'd have to stop their unTorah behavior. Also, you can tell by their sinas chinam. They envision a moshiach who behaves and dresses like them.
Posted by: Bas Melech | July 10, 2013 at 03:42 PM
I'll bet the damage he suffered by the mob wasn't half as bad as what he got by the rabbis in yeshiva.
Posted by: Hal | July 10, 2013 at 03:49 PM
They lie to BT's by telling them BT's are a higher madraga than a tzaddik. Then, they ridicule BT's behind their backs.
Posted by: Yochanan Lavie | July 10, 2013 at 05:00 PM
+++we told him ahead of time that enlistment into the IDF is nonnegotiable; you must give back to your country. He fully understood and accepted that,++++
for a little while i thought he might be an actual born and bred yerushalmi charedi who went to serve. this makes more sense. his sense of duty was instilled by his non-charedi parents.
Posted by: ah-pee-chorus | July 10, 2013 at 05:39 PM
Sucked into a cult sounds more accurate than baal tshuva to me.
Posted by: NeverFrum | July 11, 2013 at 12:49 AM