46 Comments

Bonus points if you can figure out why the tank in the picture above has a “sorry!” sign hanging from it!

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I would have thought it should have had a "tank you" sign hanging from it.

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The second story is certainly believable, although the guy walking around in short sleeves is clearly not a Charedi as the term is commonly understood, rendering the story pointless.

The first is not a story at all, but someone's subjective belief, that she will be attacked by religious Jews if she goes into their neighborhood. This could also be true -people have all sorts of irrational fears - but it too, is meaningless. The only thing it makes one wonder is what you don't want to hear, but that's bc you're not thinking objectively: What kind of "soldier", in an army, is afraid of other Jews, and needs to be picked up by her father?

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Grammar check: "surprised my wife and I" should be "surprised my wife and me". You wouldn't say "she surprised I", and adding "my wife" between the verb and the pronoun doesn't change that.

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Natan, to solve some of your traumas, I propose the following exercise: Try for a period of 24 hours, to keep chareidim completely out of your mind.

Don't look at them, think about them, talk to them, argue with them, blog about them, or eat them. Just complete total disconnection, For 24 hours you're going 100% Dati Leumi. Completely. Entirely. Absolutely.

You'll be surprised what this would do for you. This unhealthy obsession you have with chareidim is toxic for yourself and your family. You'll be shocked to see how much calmer you'll feel.

Now if it works, then try keeping this up for another 24 hours, and then another. Who knows? You might even find time to do something productive in life, such as finishing Volume II of The Torah Encyclopedia of the Animal Kingdom.

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As a soldier who served in Shachar ten years ago, I can personally attest to the threat Ms. Slifkin was afraid of. I served in Ramat Gan and lived in Neve Yaakov, and the most convenient way home was to take the bus through Bnei Brak that let me off in the Bar Ilan neighborhood. Suffice it to say that it wasn't a question of if I would hear comments about my uniform, but how many and of what intensity. I was spat on multiple times, chased after and screamed at. From conversations with fellow soldiers who lived in Haredi population centers who dared walk around in their uniforms, it seems this was standard.

There was a while when there was a concerted campaign to besmirch Haredi soldiers - the infamous Chardakim campaign. One of my fellow Haredi soldiers approached one of the "gedoilim" at the time, asking him to take a public stance against those who were abusing the Haredi soldiers. He demurred, saying that none of "his people" were participating in the campaign. This did wonders for my emunas chachamim.

One of the incidents that particularly stands out in my mind: After a family day on the base I was on the bus home with my wife and kids when a distinguished looking gentleman in a long beard and frock got on the bus. Upon seeing me, he leaned over my six year old boy to scream in my face "עדיף מדי כומר!!! It would be better to wear priests garments!!!" "Why did he say that Abba?" my son asked...

To his tremendous credit, Rabbi Yirmiyahu Kaganoff was always quick to stand by my side. The first time I came to shul in Neve Yaakov in my uniform when I was feeling extremely uncomfortable and vulnerable, he got up from the other side of the shul and came over to publicly say Shalom Aleichem to me, as if showing everyone present the right way to behave towards a Haredi soldier.

I'm sure there were people who said encouraging things to me too. Unfortunately only the kindness of Rabbi Kaganoff managed to supercede the trauma of the many other negative incidents. Ten years later, driving into Yerushalayim still raises my blood pressure...

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Noson, your "rationality" has gone so far to extreme as to become irrationality!

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"... greatly surprised my wife and I..." . Proper English would be "my wife and me"

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"But neither would they say a prayer in shul for their safety"

Motzi Shem Ra!

Not having public prayer synagogue for soldiers does not indicate that individuals don't daven for the welfare of every Jewish soldier!

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They show that your belly is itchy.

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Two questions:

What subject is your daughter teaching to these immigrant soldiers in the army? (Is it Hebrew, perhaps?)

Are the new immigrant soldiers your daughter teaching, male or female, or a mixture of both? Are they secular or religious, or a mixture of both?

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Um, the 4, 14, 15 lines all go from the train station to near your house without passing through RBS bet.

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In our American Chabad shul, the prayer for the government is not said, but prayer for the IDF IS said.

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"surprised my wife and I" ???

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As someone who served way back in the previous century, you often would bring home extra laundry on the weekends off belonging to other people in the unit who got stuck back on base.

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