PEOPLE ARE STARTING TO STAND UP TO THESE THUGS

The following article appeared this morning on VIN. We applaud Rabbi Oppenheimer for his bold stance and we encourage other Rabbonim and community leaders to follow suit:

New York - Do we ever learn from our past?

We have just lived through the saddest time of the Jewish year, when our collective thoughts turned to the destruction of our Holy Temple, and the root causes for that destruction.

The Talmudic story most often cited as painting a clear picture of that era is the one of Kamtza and Bar Kamtza. Briefly, there was an individual who hated Bar Kamtza so much that he refused any offer, no matter how generous, to spare Bar Kamtza public humiliation. This so angered Bar Kamtza that he slandered the Jewish people to the Roman authorities. The greatest source of Bar Kamtza's rage was his consternation that many great rabbis from Jerusalem were present at his public humiliation and did nothing to protest this travesty.

In Bar Kamtza's words, "As the rabbis saw everything, and did not protest, they obviously had no objection to my embarrassment." Not voicing an objection, not protesting when an outrageous wrong is done, can bring about terrible consequences.

The requirement to protest stems from the Torah itself. We are commanded, "Surely shall you reproach your fellow," "You shall remove evil from your midst," and many other similar statements.

These admonitions to correct the wrongs of individuals and of groups are the subject of much halachic discussion as to the appropriate time, place, and methods. Nevertheless, there clearly is a tradition of protest and outcry against societal ills, especially in the holy city of Jerusalem, and particularly among those known as haredim, or fervently Orthodox. For many years now, all manner of religious lapses by the surrounding community have been protested. Some of these protests are at hafganot, or large public demonstrations, some take the form of pashkevils, oradmonitory posters that adorn billboards decrying this or that breach of standards, and some take the form of cherem, or banishment of the perpetrators.

The subjects of the various protests and bans are wide ranging and have recently included books, concerts, Internet users, and a variety of alleged wrongs. Some of these are accompanied by well-reasoned positions, some are angry screeds. A common denominator is that they seek to buttress their legitimacy by quoting as many great rabbis as possible in support of their positions. Rabbinic approval is crucial in getting one's views heard, and thus the printed opinion of leading rabbis carries great weight and importance.

Many of the protests undertaken have been important and necessary. Having lived in Yerushalayim for many years, and having attended haredi yeshivas and a number of demonstrations, I am aware that the holiness and sanctity of the city is extraordinary, and that much of that sanctity is due to the resistance the religious community has put up against an encroaching secular culture that constantly seeks to impose its views on that community.

Nevertheless, over the past decade or so, a not insignificant number of haredi protesters have turned what might be defended as a positively motivated expression of spiritual anguish into an ugly spectacle of the worst kind of chillul Hashem. In no particular order, here are some egregious examples of this behavior:

● A few years ago, incessant weekly demonstrations at Bar Ilan Road grew ugly, with many instances of rocks being thrown at cars and police officers, who were called Nazis and pigs.

● Several Modern Orthodox women were severely beaten in Bet Shemesh for not adhering to the recently arrived haredi group's new demands for changes in their dress code. Women who did not agree to move to the back of buses in Yerushalayim were beaten as well.

● At demonstrations for Shabbos over the past few weeks in response to the opening of a parking garage, violent protesters threw rocks at police officers and called them Nazis.

● Rav Mordechai Asher of Kiryat Yovel was severely beaten by four "avreichim" when he refused to kowtow to their demands for changes in his shul.

● Worst of all have been the recent violent acts in the matter of a haredi mother alleged to have starved her child. These included starting fires in overturned dumpsters, dismantling traffic lights (and bringing public transportation to a standstill), cutting electrical lines, and hurling of stones at the police (while calling them Nazis) - all because of a claim that police and doctors concocted the whole scenario in order to steal haredi children from their mothers and communities.

It is clear beyond a reasonable doubt that each of the above instances has done incalculable harm to kavod shamayim. When taken together, it is clear these horrible actions have destroyed any possible chance that others will see haredi Jews as anything but mindless, violent, even cruel religious fanatics who represent everything evil and reprehensible about religion.

If one investigates closely, one can find this rabbi or that one who has decried this or that demonstration as beyond the pale. But loud, public, across-the-board condemnations? They are nowhere to be found.

Where is the unified voice of our great rabbinic leaders demanding an end to the toleration of hooliganism and savagery in the name of the haredi community? When will this terrible desecration of God's name be halted?

Where are the pashkevils, the protests, and the cherems that ought to be pronounced against the hooligans? Surely this is worthy of at least as much attention as books on science few had read before their banning or concerts deemed injurious to the spiritual health of the attendees.

What will it take for the silent majority of haredi Jews to once and for all stand up and spit the violent ones from their midst, and clearly and publicly reject and repudiate them?

When will we make sure that impressionable young yeshiva students cannot be influenced by the hooligans? I know of several cases where American bochurim were swayed by extremist rhetoric and joined forces with the out-of-control protesters, only to be punished severely by the Israeli police.

If ever there was a time to speak out for the honor of Hashem and His Torah, it is now. It is time for the majority of haredim to declare:

"We decry the terrible violence that has gone on for too long in the name of haredi Judaism. We wish to make it clear that we, the great majority of those who are called haredim, have deep fundamental disagreements with the perpetrators of these crimes. While we are not Zionists, we recognize that the State of Israel is the homeland of the largest community of Jews in the world and we pray and hope for its continued success in providing peace, security and basic services for its citizens.

"As citizens of Israel, we pay taxes, engage in business, and are grateful for the protection of the IDF and the police and recognize that with all its faults, the state has made it possible for a tremendous renaissance of Torah learning and observance. For this we are grateful.

"Please know the terrible hooligans represent only themselves and are a source of painful embarrassment and anguish to us, and that we pledge to do all we can to ensure they are marginalized and ostracized in our communities. For us, authentic Judaism means living in a way that sanctifies Hashem at all times, and that is what we seek to achieve, above all else."

Rabbi Yehuda L. Oppenheimer is the spiritual leader of the Young Israel of Forest Hills. He can be reached at lenopp@gmail.com.

As we stated in our opening post, we are dedicated to rooting out the groups that are perpetrating the riots and violence as well as their supporters. We will also be targeting thugs who hide behind the label of “Mishmeres hatznius” to intimidate and threaten store owners and others. We are currently in the process of exploring the very real possibility of designating the Neturei Karta and the “Tzniyus patrols” as a Foreign Terrorist Organizations. This will freeze their assets and make it a crime to send them financial contributions. We feel that we have a strong case for this as their violent activities of beating women on buses, pouring oil on women not dressed according to their standards, shaking down businessman to accomplish their goals clearly fit item #3 below “The organization’s terrorist activity or terrorism must threaten the security of U.S. nationals” – keeping in mind that many of the victims such as Miriam Shear are American citizens, as are residents of Yerushalayim and Ramot Beit Shemesh whose stores have been singled out for strong-arming and worse.

Legal Criteria for Designation under Section 219 of the INA as amended

1) It must be a foreign organization.

2) The organization must engage in terrorist activity, as defined in section 212 (a)(3)(B) of the INA (8 U.S.C. § 1182(a)(3)(B)),* or terrorism, as defined in section 140(d)(2) of the Foreign Relations Authorization Act, Fiscal Years 1988 and 1989 (22 U.S.C. § 2656f(d)(2)),** or retain the capability and intent to engage in terrorist activity or terrorism.

3) The organization’s terrorist activity or terrorism must threaten the security of U.S. nationals or the national security (national defense, foreign relations, or the economic interests) of the United States.

The leaders of Neturei Karta have, for too long, brought shame upon our people by standing arm in arm with kissing and even davening for Yasar Arafat, yimach shemo and now they claim to stand in “solidarity” with Machmud Achmadinajd yimach shemo, our modern day version of Hitler, a man who has on too many occasions threatened to “wipe Israel off the map”. The United States has designated Iran as an enemy of this country and these people give him aid and comfort. They have taken the name of the Satmar Rebbe, zatzal, and dragged it through the mud to promote their own agenda of hatred. We are seeking lawyers who would be willing to work pro-bono to assist us in this endeavor of getting these people classified as enemy combatants and cut off their sources of funding.

We urge you to go on the NIS website and report Neturei Karta's activities.

Over the last few weeks, there have been too many very unfortunate episodes of violence taking place in Yerushalayim, Ramat Bet Shemesh and other cities in our holy land. This follows the pattern of such outbursts in previous years and even decades.


These riots have cast a dark shadow on the entire orthodox community the world over. The people organizing these riots lurk in the darkness of places like Ramat Bet Shemesh and Mea Shearim and use fear tactics to drum up support for and organize these riots which have brought such shame to our people. They also use overt and covert threats to intimidate those who oppose them – very effectively, we might add. They have even intimidated some Rabbinic Sages by throwing fruit at Rav Elyashiv s’hlita a few years ago for having the temerity to oppose them and picketed Rav Shteinman s’hlita for supporting sending SOME boys to the Nachal Charedi division of the Israeli Army; it should be pointed out that it was a limited number who were in the streets and not attending any yeshiva.

There is a network of people around the world who are responsible for aiding, assisting and supporting these self proclaimed kanoim and this blog is here to tell you that the game is up.
This website represents a grass root effort of concerned individuals from around the world who are dedicated to shutting the violence and protests down, and we will use this blog and the power of the internet to peacefully yet forcefully expose those kanoim responsible for bringing shame onto our people and violence into our streets.


These extremists operate in fear and darkness. Now, we will use the brightness of day to expose their identities and those of their donors, supporters and enablers and we will exert tremendous pressure through the Internet and various media in addition to law enforcement officials (it is our understanding that funding these acts of terror is illegal and we will vigorously explore the possibility of working with law enforcement to follow the money trail that fund these activities and prosecute the donors. We will also work to get the Neturei Karta and perhaps other organizations classified as terror groups to shut down their network.


We wish to serve notice that whether you are the ones organizing these violent protests, participating in them, raising money for them, or housing their leaders for parlor meetings in your homes, your names and pictures will be identified here and will be sent to various press outlets to pressure you to stop these acts from taking place.


We feel that we are left with no choice at this point other than to, peacefully, expose you and shut you down. The shame and damage you have done to your people over the last few weeks and years is irreparable and we are here to tell you that it stops today. Whether you live in Ramat Bet Shemesh, Mea Shearim, Antwerp, Vienna, London, Monroe, Williamsburg, Lawrence, LA or wherever you may be, we are going to find you and you will be exposed for supporting and instigating these riots.


We ask all decent Jews worldwide who have any information on these people to come forward and e-mail pictures addresses and any other information that you might have to: peaceinourholyland@gmail.com . All information and contacts will be kept confidential.
We wish we had the ability to post our names. However, due to the fact that these extremists have proven to be capable of violence that stops just short of murder, we have no choice but to remain anonymous. We look forward to the day when decent people like us will not need to hide, but instead, extremists and their families will cower in fear for the backlash that will follow when they harm others.

We hope that our efforts will be short and that we will be able to return peace to our holy city in the very near future, but we are determined to do whatever it takes to accomplish that goal.

Yehi Shalom B' Chelech Shalva B' Armenosayich.