Something from a Chareidi Grandmother that I copied from DIN which he says is from Matzav:
I was there tonight at the draft protest in Yerushalayim. I am not repeating rumors, headlines, or social media hysteria. I watched it unfold with my own eyes. I am a chareidi grandmother, and what I saw was shameful, reckless, and utterly leaderless.
Hundreds of boys — children — were running wild in the streets. They were jumping on buses and cars, blocking traffic, and preventing drivers from moving. There were no parents in sight. No rabbonim. No roshei yeshiva. No adults taking responsibility. No one stopping this disgraceful chaos.
Garbage bins were dragged into the road and set on fire. Plastic sheets were slapped across bus windshields, blinding drivers until they struggled to rip them off. Buses full of chareidi passengers were stuck for twenty minutes or more, held hostage by unsupervised, out-of-control boys who clearly had no idea what they were doing or the danger they were creating.
The bus drivers tried — desperately — to maneuver through the madness without hurting anyone. They were surrounded, harassed, blocked, and endangered. This was not a “peaceful protest.” It was anarchy.
And then the unthinkable happened.
People put themselves in front of a vehicle in a lawless situation that should never have been allowed to develop.
And what happened afterward was perhaps the most horrifying part of all.
After the incident, boys were singing and dancing in the middle of the road. Singing. Dancing. As if nothing had happened. As if a life had not just been lost. It is now past midnight as I write this to you at Matzav News and they are still there. Still no parents. Still no rabbonim. Still no melamdim. Still no adults willing to step in and say: Enough.
If this is what protest looks like, then someone must finally ask the obvious question: Where was the leadership? Who allowed children to be sent into the streets with no supervision, no guidance, and no boundaries? Who thought this was acceptable, let alone justified?
This was not mesirus nefesh. It was abandonment.
Tragedies do not happen in a vacuum. They happen when responsibility is shrugged off, when adults disappear, and when children are left to play with fire — sometimes literally.
If we do not have the courage to tell the truth about what went down tonight, then we will see this again. And next time, the price may be even higher.
Enough with the slogans. Enough with the posturing.
I read that in Matzav. Did you read all the comments afterwards? There were a number of reasonable comments about what happened. But what really struck me is that there were so many horrible comments blaming the bus driver, Zionists, leftists, non-religious and I can't recall who else; anyone and everyone but themselves, the charedim.
I get a daily news email called "The Blast" for USA charedim (I live in Israel and am not-charedi; I have no idea how got subscribed to it). In today's edition, one of the news items had the following sentence: "Yosef Eisenthal, 14, was murdered and three other teens were injured at an intersection in Jerusalem's neighborhood of Romema when a bus rammed into Haredi protesters". Note the language: he was murdered, not killed; and the bus "rammed" into... Again, blame everyone else.
I am a Torah observant grandmother living in Israel, and I would like to better understand why you called me "sick".
The death of the young boy, Yossi, is a tragedy. It should not have happened to him; it should not have happened to anyone.
But was he killed for learning Torah? I don't see how you can make such a statement. Had he stayed in his Yeshiva, spending the evening in the Beit Midrash learning Torah or reciting Tehillim, or even relaxing with his friends, he would not have been run over by a bus. Had he participated in the demonstration, while supervised, at the official site of the speeches, he would not have been run over by a bus. Unfortunately, though, he was present -apparently unsupervised- at a location where people were burning dumpsters, blocking traffic, breaking windows of buses, and threatening the drivers. He should not have paid with his life for being in the wrong place with the wrong people, but he was not killed for learning Torah in Israel.
Please retract the Motzi Shem Ra.. I don't think I am sick.
Thank you. Also -- while i think it is a shame that tragedy is being politicized (admittedly, by the Charedim it seems) -- is there word on who the driver was. Because motives have been questioned. Obviously, if it is not a Jewish driver it is unlikely he took a side in the ongoing debate.
I tend to have major issues with RNS's views and approach but I don't know anyone else who can articulate this specific issue as well, as accurately and as on point. Full agreement from me on this one.
To shift to the commentary, I believe this is one of the most immediately tragic results of the primary problem with the charedi world that is the cause of virtually all their errors. They refuse to learn anything whatsoever from any source other than classic Torah sources, which means they will learn nothing about the modern world, accept no non-Torah knowledge let alone non-Jewish knowledge and end up leading absurd lives. I don't think they are bad and heartless and selfish and all the negative things RNS says about them routinely. I think they are stuck in the shtetl and see the rest of the world as bent on it's destruction and they only know how to rage against it to one degree or another. The fact is the world moved on from the shtetl and it's already destroyed everywhere but in their fierce commitment to perpetuate it, which is not only hopeless and impossible for any outsider to understand, in the context of their responsibility to klal Yisrael, which is central to the Torah ethos, it is as tragic an error as any in Jewish history.
Something from a Chareidi Grandmother that I copied from DIN which he says is from Matzav:
I was there tonight at the draft protest in Yerushalayim. I am not repeating rumors, headlines, or social media hysteria. I watched it unfold with my own eyes. I am a chareidi grandmother, and what I saw was shameful, reckless, and utterly leaderless.
Hundreds of boys — children — were running wild in the streets. They were jumping on buses and cars, blocking traffic, and preventing drivers from moving. There were no parents in sight. No rabbonim. No roshei yeshiva. No adults taking responsibility. No one stopping this disgraceful chaos.
Garbage bins were dragged into the road and set on fire. Plastic sheets were slapped across bus windshields, blinding drivers until they struggled to rip them off. Buses full of chareidi passengers were stuck for twenty minutes or more, held hostage by unsupervised, out-of-control boys who clearly had no idea what they were doing or the danger they were creating.
The bus drivers tried — desperately — to maneuver through the madness without hurting anyone. They were surrounded, harassed, blocked, and endangered. This was not a “peaceful protest.” It was anarchy.
And then the unthinkable happened.
People put themselves in front of a vehicle in a lawless situation that should never have been allowed to develop.
And what happened afterward was perhaps the most horrifying part of all.
After the incident, boys were singing and dancing in the middle of the road. Singing. Dancing. As if nothing had happened. As if a life had not just been lost. It is now past midnight as I write this to you at Matzav News and they are still there. Still no parents. Still no rabbonim. Still no melamdim. Still no adults willing to step in and say: Enough.
If this is what protest looks like, then someone must finally ask the obvious question: Where was the leadership? Who allowed children to be sent into the streets with no supervision, no guidance, and no boundaries? Who thought this was acceptable, let alone justified?
This was not mesirus nefesh. It was abandonment.
Tragedies do not happen in a vacuum. They happen when responsibility is shrugged off, when adults disappear, and when children are left to play with fire — sometimes literally.
If we do not have the courage to tell the truth about what went down tonight, then we will see this again. And next time, the price may be even higher.
Enough with the slogans. Enough with the posturing.
It is time for accountability.
Bella Abraham, A Bubby in Yerushalayim
I read that in Matzav. Did you read all the comments afterwards? There were a number of reasonable comments about what happened. But what really struck me is that there were so many horrible comments blaming the bus driver, Zionists, leftists, non-religious and I can't recall who else; anyone and everyone but themselves, the charedim.
I get a daily news email called "The Blast" for USA charedim (I live in Israel and am not-charedi; I have no idea how got subscribed to it). In today's edition, one of the news items had the following sentence: "Yosef Eisenthal, 14, was murdered and three other teens were injured at an intersection in Jerusalem's neighborhood of Romema when a bus rammed into Haredi protesters". Note the language: he was murdered, not killed; and the bus "rammed" into... Again, blame everyone else.
I wrote to R. Kallus. You can write to him, too. https://ateressholom.com/contact.php
Thank you.
I also wrote:
Dear Rav Kallus
I am a Torah observant grandmother living in Israel, and I would like to better understand why you called me "sick".
The death of the young boy, Yossi, is a tragedy. It should not have happened to him; it should not have happened to anyone.
But was he killed for learning Torah? I don't see how you can make such a statement. Had he stayed in his Yeshiva, spending the evening in the Beit Midrash learning Torah or reciting Tehillim, or even relaxing with his friends, he would not have been run over by a bus. Had he participated in the demonstration, while supervised, at the official site of the speeches, he would not have been run over by a bus. Unfortunately, though, he was present -apparently unsupervised- at a location where people were burning dumpsters, blocking traffic, breaking windows of buses, and threatening the drivers. He should not have paid with his life for being in the wrong place with the wrong people, but he was not killed for learning Torah in Israel.
Please retract the Motzi Shem Ra.. I don't think I am sick.
Shabbat Shalom
Let me know if you get a response. He didn't respond to me.
Where is the original video. I know its above but where was it posted.
I dont know, you will have to ask R. Slifkin.
Thank you. Also -- while i think it is a shame that tragedy is being politicized (admittedly, by the Charedim it seems) -- is there word on who the driver was. Because motives have been questioned. Obviously, if it is not a Jewish driver it is unlikely he took a side in the ongoing debate.
I tend to have major issues with RNS's views and approach but I don't know anyone else who can articulate this specific issue as well, as accurately and as on point. Full agreement from me on this one.
To shift to the commentary, I believe this is one of the most immediately tragic results of the primary problem with the charedi world that is the cause of virtually all their errors. They refuse to learn anything whatsoever from any source other than classic Torah sources, which means they will learn nothing about the modern world, accept no non-Torah knowledge let alone non-Jewish knowledge and end up leading absurd lives. I don't think they are bad and heartless and selfish and all the negative things RNS says about them routinely. I think they are stuck in the shtetl and see the rest of the world as bent on it's destruction and they only know how to rage against it to one degree or another. The fact is the world moved on from the shtetl and it's already destroyed everywhere but in their fierce commitment to perpetuate it, which is not only hopeless and impossible for any outsider to understand, in the context of their responsibility to klal Yisrael, which is central to the Torah ethos, it is as tragic an error as any in Jewish history.
Accident by the driver. Murder by the rabbis