Mishenichas Av, Marbim b'Chillul HaShem? --Tisha B'Av 5775
Same old story, for the third time. Rosh Chodesh Av comes, so I can't listen to music. I switch to a live stream of my old favorite New York news station, and wham!...there's a piece about frum Jews acting badly.
In this case it's about developers in the Satmar town of Kiryas Joel allegedly bribing New York Governor Cuomo to veto a bill that would stop the town from easily annexing surrounding land. He vetoed the bill, and within a week $250,000 in campaign contributions were made to his campaign account, all from accounts linked to one developer who apparently has much to gain from the annexation. (See this article.)
This may not actually be a bribe according to U.S./N.Y. law. But it looks and quacks like a duck, so what else can it be? You can bet that's how people hearing the news are reacting...and that's enough to make it Chillul HaShem.
There was another item on Rosh Chodesh, but this one at least didn't make it across the pond...I saw it on the Jerusalem Post site here. In the continuing war of the Hareidi world against the Women of the Wall (as if destroying them, many of whom are sincere, frum women, would solve all our problems), the Women tried again to smuggle a Sefer Torah into the women's section at the Kotel for their Rosh Chodesh davening. The woman who tried was arrested for "trying to bring a 'questionable object' to the Western Wall."
A Torah is now defined as a "questionable object?" By hareidim? I thought "v'nahafoch hu" was for Purim?
The answer is, that once Sinat Chinam takes hold, nothing else matters. The Women of the Wall never started any trouble...but their very existence is such an anathema to the Hareidi world that anything goes...including physical violence, throwing dirty diapers right under the Kotel, you name it. And that leads to public Chillul HaShem.
We are supposed to anticipate the coming of Mashiach every day. Every year there are people who invite others to their Tisha B'Av barbecues, in the event that Mashiach does come right before and the day changes to a Yom Tov. Well, I didn't get my barbecue this year...and as long as frum people keep acting that way, I find it hard to believe I will even next year.
But I know that it can change; we just have to turn our focus back where it belongs. Acheinu B'nei Yisrael. The non-frum have to be loved, and respected, and encouraged to learn. And the frum have to stop the hating and the hypocrisy, and set the kind of example that will help the others, and the entire world, to learn. Only then will we be ready for Mashiach. במהרה בימינו.
In this case it's about developers in the Satmar town of Kiryas Joel allegedly bribing New York Governor Cuomo to veto a bill that would stop the town from easily annexing surrounding land. He vetoed the bill, and within a week $250,000 in campaign contributions were made to his campaign account, all from accounts linked to one developer who apparently has much to gain from the annexation. (See this article.)
This may not actually be a bribe according to U.S./N.Y. law. But it looks and quacks like a duck, so what else can it be? You can bet that's how people hearing the news are reacting...and that's enough to make it Chillul HaShem.
There was another item on Rosh Chodesh, but this one at least didn't make it across the pond...I saw it on the Jerusalem Post site here. In the continuing war of the Hareidi world against the Women of the Wall (as if destroying them, many of whom are sincere, frum women, would solve all our problems), the Women tried again to smuggle a Sefer Torah into the women's section at the Kotel for their Rosh Chodesh davening. The woman who tried was arrested for "trying to bring a 'questionable object' to the Western Wall."
A Torah is now defined as a "questionable object?" By hareidim? I thought "v'nahafoch hu" was for Purim?
The answer is, that once Sinat Chinam takes hold, nothing else matters. The Women of the Wall never started any trouble...but their very existence is such an anathema to the Hareidi world that anything goes...including physical violence, throwing dirty diapers right under the Kotel, you name it. And that leads to public Chillul HaShem.
We are supposed to anticipate the coming of Mashiach every day. Every year there are people who invite others to their Tisha B'Av barbecues, in the event that Mashiach does come right before and the day changes to a Yom Tov. Well, I didn't get my barbecue this year...and as long as frum people keep acting that way, I find it hard to believe I will even next year.
But I know that it can change; we just have to turn our focus back where it belongs. Acheinu B'nei Yisrael. The non-frum have to be loved, and respected, and encouraged to learn. And the frum have to stop the hating and the hypocrisy, and set the kind of example that will help the others, and the entire world, to learn. Only then will we be ready for Mashiach. במהרה בימינו.
posted by meturgeman | 4:01 PM
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