Wednesday, October 13, 2004
A response to an article I haven't posted yet
Sort of a NYTimes-esque paper it seems . . .
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 12:29:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Richard xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Can you provide any insights into this ...
Hi David,
I was not aware of this. The newspaper it appears in is very left wing and
notoriously anti-religious, so although I am not saying that they are
lying, they are not beyond blowing things out of proportion.
I am sure that Yeshivas do not encourage such behaviour, and it is not an
issue that is likely to come to the attention of national religious
leaders here because, as the paper itself reports, "most of the
instigators are yeshiva students studying in the Old City," which is
tantamount to saying that it is a very limited and local phenomenon. By
the way, many of the students in the Old City yeshivas are American! And
they are not all models of studiousness and piety.
Be that as it may, there are all kinds of Jews and there are always a few
hotheads. If this represented anything more--a cultural or religious
phenomenon--it would not be limited to such a small population. Ha-aretz
is the sort of paper that just loves being able to report such a story.
There is a hostility here between the secular and religious that an
American can hardly fathom. Living so close together, secular and
religious life-styles and values often clash. There is no majority gentile
community to reinforce a sense of brotherhood among the Jews inspite of
their differences, and religious differences here have a direct political
expression. There are religious parties and anti-religious parties,
particularly Shinui, which is currently in the government. .
In general, Israel bends backwards to demonstrate religious tolerance and
to guard religious freedom. If some gestures of hatred have, nevertheless,
filtered through from hundreds of years of oppression culminating in the
holocaust, I don't think we should be quick to make judgements and
generalizations. How different our history would be if all that ever
happened to us was that we were spit upon. In Germany, my father was once
beat up and left for dead.
All the best,
Richard
Message: 1
Date: Tue, 12 Oct 2004 12:29:24 -0700 (PDT)
From: Richard xxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: Can you provide any insights into this ...
Hi David,
I was not aware of this. The newspaper it appears in is very left wing and
notoriously anti-religious, so although I am not saying that they are
lying, they are not beyond blowing things out of proportion.
I am sure that Yeshivas do not encourage such behaviour, and it is not an
issue that is likely to come to the attention of national religious
leaders here because, as the paper itself reports, "most of the
instigators are yeshiva students studying in the Old City," which is
tantamount to saying that it is a very limited and local phenomenon. By
the way, many of the students in the Old City yeshivas are American! And
they are not all models of studiousness and piety.
Be that as it may, there are all kinds of Jews and there are always a few
hotheads. If this represented anything more--a cultural or religious
phenomenon--it would not be limited to such a small population. Ha-aretz
is the sort of paper that just loves being able to report such a story.
There is a hostility here between the secular and religious that an
American can hardly fathom. Living so close together, secular and
religious life-styles and values often clash. There is no majority gentile
community to reinforce a sense of brotherhood among the Jews inspite of
their differences, and religious differences here have a direct political
expression. There are religious parties and anti-religious parties,
particularly Shinui, which is currently in the government. .
In general, Israel bends backwards to demonstrate religious tolerance and
to guard religious freedom. If some gestures of hatred have, nevertheless,
filtered through from hundreds of years of oppression culminating in the
holocaust, I don't think we should be quick to make judgements and
generalizations. How different our history would be if all that ever
happened to us was that we were spit upon. In Germany, my father was once
beat up and left for dead.
All the best,
Richard
