By Shmuel Katz
About two weeks ago, a soldier failed to report for duty. He had been in the army for several months already and I am sure that he had reasons that led him to go AWOL. But that doesn’t matter much to the army. If you don’t report to your job, they chase you down, arrest you, and put you in detention.
This soldier went AWOL and some people who heard about it decided that it was unfair that he was arrested and detained. They made demonstrations about this soldier. And the demonstrations, as they are wont to do here in Israel, became more about demonstrating than about the person himself. They became violent and some of those people who were either violent or disobeyed the law were arrested.
With violence and arrests, the leaders of the protests decided that the situation demanded national attention and called for demonstrations in multiple cities across the country on Thursday afternoon last week. These demonstrations were not legally organized or conducted. In many instances, traffic was illegally stopped and many, many people were inconvenienced or physically intimidated.
Many of you already know what I omitted from the story. Others maybe not. Yet this one fact dramatically changes this story. I neglected to tell you that this soldier is chareidi.
He had agreed to serve in the army instead of using his yeshiva student exemption. I do not know why he did that. And I honestly have no clue as to why he decided to go AWOL. But he was AWOL, and the law is the law. Unfortunately, it seems that any excuse to try to wreak havoc is an opportunity.
So there was a “demonstration” in Bet Shemesh on a Thursday afternoon. It began around 4 p.m. and lasted through the evening and into the night. A group of chareidim assembled at the main intersection and access point to Ramat Bet Shemesh Bet (very near our home) and proceeded to stop traffic.
The police were there and slowly broke up the blockage. Not wanting confrontation, the police fell back to a point a hundred feet away. And the protesters went right back into the street. Some of them sat and sang songs in the street. Others created other kinds of disturbances.
Our daughter Batya had been working at my garage and was on her way to school for a bagrut (read: Regents) exam. Her bus was stuck on the approach to that intersection. She sent us a series of messages because her bus was stuck, not moving. She said the police were there, but traffic was not moving.
We told her to get off the bus and walk to a different street to catch a cab that would use the back roads to bring her to school on time. She replied, “I’m too scared to get off the bus.”
About 15 minutes later, she sent us a message that the bus had turned back and would be taking the back roads to Ramat Bet Shemesh Aleph. She then added, “This poor girl was crying hysterically so I sat next to her and let her call her mom and gave her tissues. She was so scared.”
Then, an hour and a half later, on her way home, she told us, “The hafgana is still going on. They’re burning stuff, but we got through fairly quickly.”
When she got home, Goldie had to take her on an errand and they came home through that intersection. They came home infuriated. Apparently, a group of demonstrators surrounded the car and were banging on the windows. Goldie and Batya were extremely upset and quite motivated to do something to show our opposition to the protest and the way the people were acting.
So I sent Moshe to fetch my giant flag, and with him, Goldie, and Batya, we jumped into the car and drove over to the demonstration. For about 40 minutes I stood on an opposite corner and took turns waving the flag with Batya. I did not say or do anything inflammatory. We waved the flag (surrounded by about 10 local kids from our neighborhood and about 20 chareidi kids and teens).
Goldie and Batya were engaged in conversation with some of the protesters. One teen came by screaming at us “American foreigners” to go home (many of the Americans in RBS are not Israeli citizens, for a variety of reasons). To which I replied, “If you want, I will gladly show you my citizenship papers.”
At one point, while I was focused on some of our teens who had been having a debate with a passerby, that same kid and two of his buddies ran at me from behind to try to steal my flag. Moshe tried to warn me and I refused to let it go. But the stress was too much for the material, and the flag ripped.
We stayed for a while (and I admit to making an inappropriate gesture, in anger, at a kid who was taking a picture of me with the torn flag). During this time, Batya was called several unmentionable names and a young kid walked over to Moshe and threatened to electrocute him.
I later discovered that several other people went to the intersection with their flags as well, all taking a turn showing our support for our country.
At the end of the day, I don’t really care much about the politics. Do the army, don’t do the army—there is an exemption under the law, so use it if you want. But I am continually troubled by the attitude and approach of chareidim and their leaders. For people who proclaim that they are standing for Torah and Torah values, I have a hard time understanding the actions they condone.
Disrupting people’s lives? Threatening people? So terrifying a little girl on a bus that she cries in fear? Destroying private property? How is this Torah values?
I know that many readers consider me anti-chareidi and an instigator in this area. And yes, I knew that going with my flag would be confrontational. But nothing excuses their behavior. And no one in the USA, no matter where they stand in the Jewish community, would ever act in such a manner.
Think of that the next time one of the Israeli admorim comes asking for a check.
Shmuel Katz, his wife Goldie, and their six children made aliyah in July 2006. Before making aliyah, Shmuel was the executive director of the Yeshiva of South Shore in Hewlett. You can contact him at shmuel@katzfamily.co.il.