Ruth? A convert?
Did you hear that Rabbi Amram is marrying a former Christian convert?
The year was 1953, and on the streets of Mea Shearim, there was a stormy demonstration by about 200 members of Neturei Karta against the military police who were conducting 'scans' in the narrow streets of the Haredi neighborhood in order to find draft refusers.
About ten demonstrators were arrested, led by our acquaintances, Rabbi Amram Blau, leader and founder of Neturei Karta, and his son Uri Blau.
Our grandparents remember the cries of prayer and the sounds of the shofars in remembrance of Moshe and in the various churches in Jerusalem well.
Later in the day, the police arrested over a hundred young men and women who were brought to the recruitment office.
And the history surrounding Rabbi Amram Blau does not stop only with the question of conscription. Rabbi Amram was a pioneer before the camp in all the wars over the religious character of Jerusalem. For example, in the affair of the Edison Cinema on Yeshayahu Street in Jerusalem, where the screenings of films were not on Shabbat, but the tickets were sold on Shabbat.
They returned to their grandfather's house, or even their father's in this case, who probably remember well how Rabbi Amram, the first and foremost, stuck his head through the bars of the ticket booth as the guards of the law beat him with their clubs and fists from the inside and outside until he bled, and Rabbi Amram did not flinch - he stood hunched over, complacent and calm. Some claimed that a faint smile was on his face.
Figures like Rabbi Amram existed in his time, and a little after him, until they faded away completely.
Their war was not always successful, they experienced difficulties and went through bumps, but they did not despair and continued to sacrifice their lives and bodies for the ideology of preserving Jewish/Haredi Zionism in the Holy Land.
Thanks to Rabbi Amram
How are the wars of recent history related to our time? I will try to answer this with two insights, each of which complements the other, even if they seem contradictory.
One: When there is a way to communicate, it is the blessed way, even if sometimes and in certain cases it fails.
Rabbi Amram, in his own unique way, also knew that not every campaign ended in success. He too knew how to accept the other despite their differences, he too knew how to marry a convert, a former Christian, but a righteous and complete Jew in the present. In other words, Rabbi Amram knew when to change from the norm but also to be very careful not to lose his Jewish identity along the way.
This insight is gaining new validity today, when there is a welcome interest and rapprochement among the general population, who truly want to know, understand, and even respect the intricacies of ultra-Orthodox society and its principles..
And the second, no less important: We must not forget to acknowledge the more extreme figures of the time, whose battles for Haredi Judaism led to the status quo we are familiar with today on various issues.
Join the Haredim 10 Facebook page >>
Join the X page of Haredim 10 >>
Want more news, videos and stories? Join the Haredim 10 WhatsApp channel >>
