Haredim To Learn Mishna In Memory Of Asaf Ramon

Move considered significant in part because leading haredi rabbis are not behind the initiative.

Haredi web surfers to learn Mishna in Ramon's memory
By Yair Ettinger • Ha'aretz

An ultra-Orthodox Web site dedicated to studying Mishna in memory of Israel Air Force pilot Capt. Asaf Ramon was set up on Sunday. 

The "Behadrei Haredim" Web portal devoted its headline to the initiative, which represents a small breach in the official Haredi policy of distance from Israeli national tragedies in general and in the army in particular. People who respond to the memorial effort will commit to study all six books of the Mishna, as is customary in times of mourning. 

The manager of Behadrei Haredim, Rabbi Dov Povarsky, said the strong response to the initiative shows that "the Haredi public, really all of it, identifies with and is pained by the death of Asaf Ramon. As opposed to the [leading] rabbis, who carefully weigh how such a move would be interpreted, we don't make such calculations. We are Internet journalism that grows from the bottom up and expresses the public's true feelings."

[Hat Tip: Joel Katz.}