Chilul Hashem!

In a scene reminiscent of BLM riots or of protests in Iran, the unthinkable happened. It seems two Israeli policewomen, who were coming to visit a colleague in Bnei Brak, were surrounded by over a thousand people on Chagai Street. They were chased, screamed at, and called Nazis. Attempts were made to physically assault them. Police had to rush in and extract them from the crowd. During the ensuing turmoil, rioters overturned a police car and set a police motorcycle ablaze. T’filin and a siddur that had been inside the motorcycle were left burned.

What an immense chilul Hashem (disgrace of G-d’s name)! To see hundreds of yeshivah boys – who should have been protecting us by sitting and learning –rushing, instead, like hooligans to attack female officers (I guess the laws of negiah – not touching a female – are suspended for such an important cause) brings one to ask how this could happen.

As noted in an article a couple of weeks ago, the vitriol coming from some of the chareidi leadership against the army produces results. No longer is the argument that learning Torah protects the Jewish people from harm. Instead, it has been reduced to referring to the IDF as Nazis and partners with Amalek.

Rabbi Yair Hoffman wrote a scathing article about these events in VINnews. In it, he quoted from Rav Yitzchak Yosef, former Rishon L’Tzion, who called for the rioters to be expelled from the camp. Rabbis Dov Lando and Moshe Hillel Hirsch also penned a letter condemning the riots and imploring yeshivah students to remain at their desks learning in yeshivah.

But I’m afraid it’s too little, too late. Half-crazed mobs don’t listen to anybody. Besides, they have been conditioned to think of anyone in a uniform as the enemy. And rampaging through the streets with garbage cans burning is a lot more thrilling than poring over a page of Gemara.

What can be done to stop this misbehavior? Not just a letter, but a rousing speech by the leadership excoriating these lunatics and announcing that anyone seen participating in these riots will be immediately expelled from their yeshivah. It must be a concerted effort, not just one or two of the roshei yeshivah. I’m afraid it will take a whole re-education process.

Rabbi Yoel Schonfeld is the Rabbi Emeritus of the Young Israel of Kew Gardens Hills, President of the Coalition for Jewish Values, former President of the Vaad Harabonim of Queens, and the Rabbinic Consultant for the Queens Jewish Link.