The Emmanuel Time Bomb

Thank G-d, we're home safely in Israel after 2 weeks abroad. It was thrilling and gratifying to see our wonderful friends in NYC, Cleveland, Chicago, Miami, and Panama. May Hashem bless all those that helped us spread the message of emuna.

We came home to a doubly-tense Israel. The Israeli High Court of Justice has yielded to the cheap populist efforts of Charedi-bashing by jailing dozens of Charedim for contempt of court and alleged discrimination against fellow Jews. This is turning a blind eye to the facts. In fact, parents of Sephardi girls who attend the Chassidic Beis Yaacov in Emmanuel have also been incarcerated, but most of the media has deliberately ignored that fact. The girls who were not admitted to the school came from families that failed and/or refused to uphold the religious guidelines of the school, which are based on traditional Torah education that any Haredi Jew will give his life for; they were not refused because of ethnic background. The fact is that 30% of the girls in Emmanuel's Beis Yaacov come from Sephardi homes.

There are currently severe judgments looming against the Jewish people worldwide. Emuna, teshuva, and unity can mitigate them. My personal prayers for the last two weeks have been almost exclusively on this subject, begging Hashem to be a little more patient with us and give us time to fight spiritual ignorance by spreading emuna in the world. Yet, the anti-Haredi bashing is creating a strong current of more severe judgments that makes our job a lot tougher. Historically, all of Israel's wars have been preceded by attacks on the Torah-observant population. It's as if Hashem is saying, "If you have so much idle time to make trouble for the Torah-observant population, I'll give you something to keep you busy..."

The Emmanuel Issue is a time bomb, especially with imminent showdown-scenarios brewing in the Mediterranean. Any little spark could ignite the Middle East right now. In my humble opinion, the populist unjust and untruthful decision of the Israeli High Court of Justice is certainly counter-productive to invoking Divine Compassion for Israel in the Heavenly Court. May Hashem help us defuse this time bomb.

Comments

[Esther Wong]

Don't forget the oppressed, such as the Tessler Family, whose 8 year old son, Eliel (my G-d is the Almighty), who has been kidnapped and held captive in an abusive institution for children, receiving real abuse. It is acts such as this and others, that gives us, the Jewish People, little merit, to be seen in a positive light by HaKadosh Baruch Hu.

http://www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/eliel/

[Puah yiska]

Oops typo...capet....should be CARPET

[Chaya Slain]

Rabbi Brody,
I do not understand why the religious school did not allow the other girls to be in the school. I hear what you are saying that it wasn't a discrimination thing against Sephardim but wasn't it a discrimination thing against those that are less religious? If some "less religious" girls want to go to a Charedi school, shouldn't they be welcomed in? Isn't this an amazing opportunity for kiruv? Even if the girls and/or their parents went to the school for the wrong reasons, they could still be welcomed in and educated and taught the beauty of this way of life and why they should observe these commandments. Am I missing something?

[Leah Ominsky]

I have to agree with Chaya on this one, Rabbi Brody. As a product of the Bais Yaakov environment in the U.S., I can fully understand the plight of the girls not accepted among the more religous track. As a closet Chassid :) and a daughter of a Baal Teshuva family, I was directly told and treated that I nor my family was not as important as other more Yeshivish families...in other words, I didn't have the lineage to prove my worth. Yes, we had T.V. in the home, my Mom didn't cover her hair, Dad worked from 9:00 - 5:00, but we were a righteous family, and this Hashem can testify to...not Bais Yaakov and not the Supreme Court.

I've personally witnessed among myself, family, and close friends the SERIOUS pain caused by the Bais Yaakov "system" that damaged such precious neshamot so intensly that 35 years + later the pain of rejection still resonates loudy in their hearts, tears still form, and isolation from a Jewish community results.

I do believe that we all are missing the hidden interests to both sides of this story, and if we dig a bit deeper, we will uncover that both sides are suffering from the same sadness and insecurity of not being accepted or good enough to our fellow Jews. This is the true crime...not the Chassids going to jail nor a Supreme court decision.

If there is a lesson to learn, let's dig up our dirty laundry, accept what is our fault, ask forgiveness of each other, and acknowledge that we truly are one people with similar feelings...more alike than different.

Regards and blessings to Klal Yisrael!
Leah Yaffa Ominsky

[Zchus Avos]

The chareidi school has rules. Follow a,b and c and you can get in. The parents that send their children to the school don't want their kids to be influenced by those that have TV's in the house, etc. There are also rules on how the girls must dress (tznius), as handed down by Rav Shmuel Wosner shlita, one of the greatest poskim of the generation. If the parents really want their kids in the chareidi school, all they have to do is adhere to the rules.

[Yaakov Bar-Nahman]

BS"D
Precious Rav Lazer Shalom;
1st of all welcome home back to Eress Hakodesh!
Please be careful what you listen to regarding Emanuel school mess. I used to live there & we still have friends there. So we know FIRST HAND what the truth is. The Slonim hhasidim have a real bad track record for gizanut (Racism), hossa'ath shem ra (defamatory slander), feeding false information to their Admo'r - the public & journalists, & for real physical violence. When I was there they were calling the Sfaradi women "prussoth(licentious)" for wearing cloth full head covering instead of long flowing wigs, for wearing skirts that were 2 centimeters shorter (still lower than half way between knee & ankle) but wide (as per halakha) & not slinky tight like the Hhasidic women, ditto the sleeves. Same regarding the teenage girls skirts & blouses. Oh yes & how "terrible" many of the Sfaradi girls/women wore stockings that were 50 or 60 denier not 70 & wore brown dark blue instead of black. Such stockings are halakhikaly perfectly fine but not the hhasidik style.
The Slonim Hhasidim & their Rav in Emanuel instigated & led the "beat'em-up squad" against boys who did not "dress the dress" & against a realtor who dared to sell or rent homes to mizrahhnikim. It got to the point where they set fire to apartments as well to show how "right" they are.

When the Sfaradim tried to open a boys school, & later a girls school of their own, they found recognition & funding "unexplainably" blocked. hmm.

I know Yoav Lalum since he was a kid. He has an axe to grind. He, his siblings & friends suffered a lot from the gizanut in the Hhinukh Assma'i (Independant Hhareidi school system)in Betar, Emanuel, Yerushalayim etc. He has made it a personal campaign to break the power of gizanut & make equal quality education equally available.
Know that in the case of Emanuel he did indeed go 1st to a Beit Din (Rav Yaakov Yosef, a son of Rav Ovadia Yosef) & the Hhasidim refused to come. His Beit Din is known already for having told off sternly the "beat'em-up squads" & the "Keep Sfaradim out-new resident acceptance committee" in Betar Ilite. The Slonim Hhasidim didn't ask for a different Beit Din as is permitted by Halakha. They just refused to show up. That is why Rav Yaakov Yosef gave his approval to "erka'oth" (civil courts). Rav Yosef has since been subject to physical assaults & death threats against himself his children & grandchildren.

After the session in civil supreme court that sent some of the parents jail, Lalum agreed to their request to go to a Beit Din of their choice. This was an Ashkenazi Beit Din. There he was requested to stop his civil court proceedings. When he conditioned his doing so on the other side's signing a paper requiring them to accept & do what the Beit Din decides must be done (which by the way is required by halakha!), the Beit Din turned around & called him a violator. hmmmm, can the be called truly impartial if that's the way they react to a halakhikaly correct request?
And people wonder, "why are the hhilonim attacking us?", "why are the goyim so against the Jews, against Israel?" .......
Mekubalim & Nistarim I am in contact with tell me that HaShem is very very angry at all this hatred & mahhloketh (decisiveness) within Am Yisrael. A lot of tshuvah & repair must be done.
HaShem bless you & Rav Shalom for bringing Emunah & Ahava (love) to our people.
bebrakha
Yaakov