Are London's haredim boycotting pro-Israel rallies during this trying time of war? Could be. Our London correspondent The Beadle writes:
Hi Shmarya,
I went to the "Yes to Peace - No to Terror" Solidarity Rally held at
Jewish Free School.
There were 7,500 people (which is a lot for British Jews, considering
our numbers). There were messages of support from the British Hindus
and British Anglicans who said that they stood with the Jewish people
and the people of Israel in their fight against terror. There were
various speakers, Zvi Heifetz the Israeli Ambassador, the head of the
UJIA who said (quite correctly) that we are the true authentic voice of
British Jewry (an attack on those who signed the anti-Israel ad in The
Times a couple of weeks ago), and the Chief Rabbi who made a very
emotional and inspiring speach. We had a live satelite link-up with the
mayors of various Northern towns. I am sure you will be able to find
various reports on various websites.
It was all very moving and we were very proud of most of the Jewish
community.
The one upsetting part, in my mind, was that apart from Chabad (who
were there ostensibly to put Teffilin on people), the Chareidim were
almost non-existant. Chareidim are usually quite noticable - but amost
none could be spotted. A few of my friends there commented
similarly.This on top of the fact that someone told me that in his
Chareidi shul yesterday when he asked them to make a special
mishaberach for the matzav in Israel they refused saying that it wasn't
warranted.
I was hoping that, with your help, maybe some of your readers out there
in the blogosphere could offer a suggestion as to why Chareidim feel
that showing solidarity with their fellow Jews in Israel is not of
particular importance to them?
Best regards
The Beadle
The Beadle also noted there seemed to be more non-Jews rallying to support Israel than haredim. Readers?