Response To Stern's Arabs YES! Zionists NO!

18 of the Fourth Month 5770

Arabs YES! Zionists NO!
Paula R. Stern, 13 Tammuz 5770/June 25, 2010

There was no respect last week in the streets of Jerusalem as tens of thousands of protesters caused massive delays, littered the ground, trampled the cemetery walls, and cursed the Zionist hand that helps make their lives tolerable here.

Okay, now that I have your attention with that horrible title - imagine seeing it plastered to a street sign in Jerusalem, our holy city, the capital of our Jewish nation. That's right...there it was (picture coming soon). So the Hareidim (Ultra-Orthodox) protested again today. To emphasize their opinions, they dumped garbage on the streets of Jerusalem and burned those garbage cans again.

I had a meeting near one of these neighborhoods. My first impression as we drove through the streets was of the garbage, strewn on the sides, piled on the sides and even sometimes in the middle. Then I saw the "carcasses" of the garbage cans...all that remains is the twisted metal, the plastic having melted away completely and the garbage left to be scattered. What disrespect, I thought to myself - of our beautiful city, our holy land.

Last week, they had a demonstration. I walked through the crowd on my way to make some purchases. There they stood on the high wall that surrounds the cemetery. There they congregated to watch the huge protest rally...what disrespect, I thought to myself. Of the dead who lie there in eternal rest, here in the holiest of holy cities.

They are saying it isn't about racism, but rather a battle between the arrogance of a judge who dared to declare the law was above man, or at least their rabbis. There are those who say this began as racism and certainly the words of one mother, saying "In any case, we won't agree to unite the (Ashkenazi and Sephardic) classes" implies that it remains an issue of racism.

When the demonstration was over last week, massive crowds drifted away...many taking buses to get home. Buses...of the Zionist state they condemn, on the roads built by the Zionist state. They paid for the buses with the Zionist money and when they got home, as evening arrived, they turned on the lights in their homes - powered by electricity from the Zionist state.

From outside our borders, they send flotillas filled with those who hate this land. But worse, so much worse, are those who dare, in our holy city, to put up a sign that says, "Arabs YES, Zionists, NO!." Not so many years ago, there were Arabs who tried to blow up those very buses they took from the demonstration. I was filled with fury when I saw the sign. I was filled with disgust.

(Read more....)

Paula, you know very well that the expression "Arabs YES! Zionists NO!" comes from only a segment of the Haredi community.

Feel free to criticize the Haredi leadership. I am certainly with you on pointing out the blatant hypocrisy here. But be careful not to demonize the entire Haredi community. Perhaps it was not your intention, but you came off as way too "us and them," playing into the hands of ultra-leftists who cheer on an disagreement between groups of religous Jews. Divide and conquer, as it were.

The racism which exists within the Haredi community is repugnant (... as if the Religious Zionist and secular communities are innocent? I think not.)

Yet, how do you explain the large number of Sefardim at the protests?

How do you explain Rabbi Zalman Melamed's (Beth-El) call for Religious Zionists to join the protests?

You see, Paula, there IS a greater issue involved here.

Justice Edmond Levy's statements regaring the court's authority were most definitely arrogant, if not rebellious against HaQadosh Barukh Hu (The Holy One, Blessed Be He) and His Torah!

On the other hand, the Slonimer Rebbe was absolutely right, irregardless of how right or wrong his community's leaders were:

In a conflict between the laws of Torah and those of men, the divine decrees must prevail.

Unfortunately, those such as the religious mamlakhtim (undying State-worshipers), perhaps like Justice Levy, fail to acknowledge the existence of this increasingly prevalent conflict.

Thus, the future of a sovereign, Jewish Homeland rests in the hands of the Haredi youth,...unified with the settler youth.

Those with undying loyalty to the State, and its courts, over the authority of "Divine decrees," will be sitting on the sidelines, not knowing what hit them, when their Erev Rav controlled, Golden Calf fails them again.

It was their Golden Calf threw them out of their homes in Azza (Gaza) and the Northern Shomron (Samaria), and before that, Yamit. They did not know what hit them then either.

So, my suggestion to you,m Paula, is that the next time you employ the phrase "us and them," you make sure that the "us" is Torah observant Jews like ourselves, as flawed as we may be, along with the secular Jews who love the Land, and are invested in building it up, and the that the "them" is the Erev Rav, our real enemy.