I don’t have the answers. But no matter, the time has come for us, the bnei Torah and the larger frum world, to say, “Enough is enough.”
The time has come for us to rally around our true leaders and our concerned fellow Jews and issue loud calls of protest against those who misrepresent halacha and hashkafa- and do so thinking and proclaiming that they are correct.
Unfortunately, the extremists in Bet Shemesh or anywhere else who have invented their own versions of kannaus, modesty and numerous other aspects of our Torah life are labeled in the media as “chareidim,” lumping them together with those of us who are abhorred by their conduct as anyone else is. We can no longer allow their distortions to go without strong condemnation.
With those who hijacked the Neturei Karta name and engage in communication and behavior that clearly places them in the category of rodfim, there has long been dispute as to how much we, the true chareidim, should publically protest their shameful conduct. After all, some argue, why give those fools a platform and free exposure? Why help them spread their misguided messages?
At the same time, it has been realized that to sit by quietly is not the answer either. We can’t let people put on Ultra-Orthodox garb and conduct themselves in any way they desire, thus helping the international media paint all us Torah Jews as suicidal neanderthals who have no problem forming ties with the world’s nuclear madmen.
In regard to the latest shameful engagement by some so-called frum Jews in the name of modesty, whether on buses or on the streets of Israel’s cities, silence is no longer the answer. The Israeli secular media is clearly having a field day - and who can really blame them? They have been given the perfect excuse and most perfect story to report, “confirming” their long reported claims that the chareidim are close-minded chauvinistic misogynists. This campaign is helped by those in the frum media, especially online, who report every story of a religious-looking Jew allegedly acting in ways unsanctioned by the Torah. [Just this morning, a story was first reported regarding a chareidi Jew, and only later did it emerge that it was basically untrue.]
Unfortunately, it is “Jews” like those who have been desecrating Hashem’s Name who get the most exposure by national and international media outlets. A so-called chareidiJew spitting at a seven-year-old girl for not dressing according to his fabricated modesty standards is a fastball thrown down the plate for the anti-religious media to hit right out of the park, fueling the strong hatred already found across Israel toward Torah Jews.
I think of great Jews of the recent generations, including Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Rav Noach Weinberg, Rav Henach Leibowitz, and Rav Avrohom Pam. I think of our currentgedolim, including Rav Yosef Sholom Elyashiv, Rav Chaim Kanievsky, Rav Aharon Leib Shteinman, Rav Gershon Edelstein and Rav Nissim Karelitz. I think of present-day American roshei yeshiva, including Rav Simcha Schustal, Rav Shmuel Kamenetsky, Rav Meir Hershkowitz, Rav Avrohom Chaim Levin and others. These were and are from the most dignified, princely people in the world. Oh how pained they would be and are by the disgusting - yes, disgusting - behavior of those who have hijacked our Torah and made a colossal chillul Hashem for the entire world to see. Those who have engaged in this reprehensible behavior - lesheim Shomayim, of course - have not one true Torah leader guiding or supporting their activities, and yet they will tell you with a straight face and all sincerity that this is what the Ribono Shel Olam wants.
And please don’t allow the media to call them “zealots.” They aren’t zealots. A zealot, by definition, is a supporter of a cause, especially a religious cause. What they have been busy with isn’t a cause, and surely not a religious cause. It is pure naarishkeit and even worse. It is unfounded extremism that has no basis whatsoever in the Torah, not halachically nor hashkafically.
Let the world know that true Torah Jews are shocked and dismayed by those who have acted disgracefully in the name of the Torah and Hashem. We call for immediate action to stop these hooligans from portraying our beliefs and standards falsely. We must do what we can to make the voices of the silent, peaceful, upstanding Torah-true majority heard loud and clear.
