Modi'in Ilit's Mayor Yaakov Gutterman told the haredi newspaper Yated Ne’eman last week that the site, which is believed to be an agricultural village from the Second Temple period, "will operate according to the doctrines of our forefathers, according to the Jewish historical sources presented by the Bible, the Gemara and ancient Jewish sages only. The site will be open only to haredim, which will keep it a proper place for them to visit and connect to their Jewish roots, without the distortions and disruptions of other places, where there is fear of hearing false opinions."
Haredi Mayor To Block Non-Haredi Visits To Archaeological Site To Prevent Haredim From Hearing “False Opinions”
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The mayor of the Israeli haredi West Bank city Modi’in Ilit wants to block all non-haredim from visiting a state-excavated and maintained archeological site in the city.
Ha’aretz reports that Mayor Yaakov Gutterman told the haredi newspaper Yated Ne’eman last week that the site, which is believed to be an agricultural village from the Second Temple period, "will operate according to the doctrines of our forefathers, according to the Jewish historical sources presented by the Bible, the Gemara and ancient Jewish sages only. The site will be open only to haredim, which will keep it a proper place for them to visit and connect to their Jewish roots, without the distortions and disruptions of other places, where there is fear of hearing false opinions."
The site, Khirbet Bad-Issa, was named a national heritage site by the Government of Israel last year. It also decided that the site would be developed to serve haredim.
Earlier today, Haim Bibas, the mayor of Modi’in Ilit’s larger and older non-haredi neighbor Modi’in, responded to Gutterman’s threat by threatening to close Modi’in’s central park to haredim unless Guterman backs down.
"National heritage sites are places central to the history of the Jewish people and should be open to everyone, whatever their worldview or religious affiliation may be. As you know, two years ago, we inaugurated the Aneba Park in Modi'in – the city's central park. Since it opened, thousands of [haredi]Modi’in Ilit-Kiryat Sefer residents have visited it, since your city doesn't provide adequate family recreation facilities. Up to now, I have refrained from discriminating between haredi and secular visitors, despite the multitude of petitions by Modi'in residents complaining that the park is being taken from them.…If the municipality you head doesn't reverse its decision and will in fact bar secular visitors, the city of Modi'in will bar residents of your municipality entrance to Aneba Park,” Bibas reportedly wrote in a letter to Gutterman.
The demand to control and manipulate scientific and historical data to fit a haredi worldview is not unique to Modi’in Ilit.
Haredim did not study the history of the Holocaust for decades in part because so many pre-war haredi rabbis had told their followers to stay in Europe, with some even promising their flocks that there would be no war or that the Nazis would not harm them because the anti-Zionism of haredi communities would shield haredim from harm.
Instead, haredi book publishers published books that glossed over or omitted entirely the statements made by their rabbinic leaders just before and during the war.
Satmar hasidim went even further, publishing a trove of anti-Zionist books that demonized wartime Zionist leaders and accused them of collaborating with Hitler.
The rebbe who founded and led the Satmar hasidic movement, Joel Teitelbaum, was rescued from the Holocaust by Zionists.
But Teitelbaum – who was perhaps the world’s leading anti-Zionist before, during and after the war – refused to thank his Zionist rescuers or acknowledge their role in saving his life.