This editorial at the Jerusalem Post focuses on what is becoming a disturbingly regular event in Israel's capital: haredi riots on Shabbat. Just as Fridays have, over the past few years, become the scheduled day for riots by "peace activists" at the site of Israel's security wall in Bil'in and Ni'lin (e.g.), so the "ultra-Orthodox" and anti-Zionist group Eda Haredit has taken to organizing violent and disruptive protests in Jerusalem on the Sabbath.
In a separate article, Abe Selig delves into some of the background of these riots and the factors that are fueling Eda Haredit's increasing sense of entitlement and empowerment. He also stresses the importance of Intel's presence in Israel to the economic health of the country, giving due credit to this comprehensive report on the riots and their implications by Jameel at The Muqata earlier this week.
There is no place on earth like Jerusalem. It seems that Shabbat descends there with its gentle presence all on its own, regardless of what else is going on, who's still working, what noises they're making. Some of it, of course, is the swelling music of joyful songs that rises from hilltops, homes and synagogues, and the bustle of people hurrying home with smiles on their faces and the way the light seems somehow ... different as dusk falls. And some of it is ... well, something else.
Eda Haredit could find much, much better ways of promoting the peace of Shabbat in Yerushalayim. I sincerely hope they do.
Shabbat Shalom.
Sometimes it seems as if there's an evil mastermind out there determined to make Jewish tradition, observance and ritual seem repellent, retrograde, even ridiculous to as many unaffiliated and secular Jews as possible while making even the traditionally observant cringe with embarrassment.It's hard to fathom how breaking into the Intel plant's chapel, smashing windows and furniture and throwing prayerbooks on the floor could possibly be seen as a defense of Shabbat on any day of the week. On the Sabbath, such vandalism is, clearly, a desecration of the day of rest, in addition to a viscous crime.
What better way to heighten alienation from all things Jewish than to rebrand Judaism as the sole province of a scowling ultra-Orthodox minority - and to do so in Jerusalem before the entire world. Last Shabbat, hundreds of "fervently Orthodox Jews" spent the afternoon rioting outside the Intel computer chip fabrication plant in Jerusalem, "desecrating the Sabbath in order to save it."
In a separate article, Abe Selig delves into some of the background of these riots and the factors that are fueling Eda Haredit's increasing sense of entitlement and empowerment. He also stresses the importance of Intel's presence in Israel to the economic health of the country, giving due credit to this comprehensive report on the riots and their implications by Jameel at The Muqata earlier this week.
There is no place on earth like Jerusalem. It seems that Shabbat descends there with its gentle presence all on its own, regardless of what else is going on, who's still working, what noises they're making. Some of it, of course, is the swelling music of joyful songs that rises from hilltops, homes and synagogues, and the bustle of people hurrying home with smiles on their faces and the way the light seems somehow ... different as dusk falls. And some of it is ... well, something else.
Eda Haredit could find much, much better ways of promoting the peace of Shabbat in Yerushalayim. I sincerely hope they do.
Shabbat Shalom.
