Year: 2018

The media warn of Arad turning into another Beit Shemesh…

Let’s understand the shared origins of the two cities.

In both cases, Charedim claim the right to settle in some city. Their opponents find some excuse to oppose this and speak longingly of the warm and soft “Status Quo” they had grown used to. Charedim remind the secular of their hypocrisy: “Democracy”, hello?!, adding accusations of antisemitism to the mix. The media fan the conflict’s flames with all their might, harming their own secular constituents worse than the hated Charedim, by causing secular flight.

Who enabled/forced the public integration in this country, anyway? Who elevated “open entry” to the real estate market above all else? The state of Israel – and not because of Charedi pressure, either.

Discrimination is positive. As Chazal say, “If there is no knowledge, how can there be separation?!” You break up communities, remove signs, fight gender separation, and on and on in the name of anti-discrimination, right?

For every separation between “Kodesh” and “Chol’ we got smeared as racists. Every acceptance committee got sued. Halachic genealogies were outlawed. When some Charedi and Dati rabbis mentioned the prohibition against renting to non-Jews in Israel, this was deemed “incitement”, and police investigations began. And the Emanuel school story, remember?

So all of a sudden you rather mild “apartheid”? You accuse the Charedim of narrow sectorial concerns?! Who invented that wheel?

And why offend rabbis personally? Even “extreme” Charedim don’t hang signs with pictures of Ben Gurion and Jabotinsky in the town square, because of red lines and Derech Eretz. We understand. The anger is not at any specific Shul or Chassidic Rebbe: they find it hard to admit the blame lies with them, so they direct the rage at us.

“But as much as they would afflict them, so did they multiply and so did they gain strength” (Shemos 1:12).

This article first appeared in Hebrew.

With Heaven’s help, Yehuda Segal

YSMehadrinews@Gmail.com

From Mehadrinews, here.

Every year, preceding Rosh Hashana, there is a major pilgrimage by tens of thousands of Jews from around the world to the burial site of Rebbe Nachman of Breslov. Rebbe Nachman made great mystical promises to those who come to his grave, especially for Rosh Hashanah.

There are known valuable effects to the trip in increased Kavanah in prayer, Chizuk from speeches, dancing, and opportunities for religious growth. But what about the downside?

Breslover Chassidim are very pleased to see the yearly gatherings become bigger and bigger, but along with higher quantity comes lower quality. People come to Uman for all sorts of reasons, not all of them positive. Good friends are important.

The announcements issued by Breslover rabbis against women arriving in Uman for Rosh Hashana imply more than they can say openly. Are Ukrainian police effective in preventing destructive incidents en route? Should young men still be sent abroad without genuine supervision?

Many rabbis, including the late Rabbi Ovadyah Yosef, have seen these pilgrimages leaving the land of Israel as disrespectful to the Holy Land. It is one thing to go to Uman from Williamsburg, both in the Diaspora; quite another to go from Jerusalem.

Here is Rabbi David Bar-Hayim on the topic:

And then there are the dangers of anti-Semitic violence, not all of them reported.

Look before you leap; is visiting Uman for Rosh Hashana the right move for you?

This article first appeared in Hebrew.

With Heaven’s help, Yehuda Segal

YSMehadrinews@Gmail.com

From Mehadrinews, here.