With all the pain, we must say: Police officers are human beings, not monsters I Opinion column

May 25, 2019   

1. The incident that happened to the poor boy, who was attacked and beaten by 'human monsters', does not give us peace of mind. Each of us, the parents, feels that we would like to reach out to this child at this moment, hug him and shower him with so much love that it might make up for the shocking incident that happened to him and who knows how he will come out of it. Luckily for the boy, he has loving and wonderful parents, who will certainly do everything for him. But I want to talk here about the police as a whole, as an entire sector. Let's look within ourselves, the Haredim, and see how hurt we are when one of us (a weed) commits a crime, and immediately the entire secular media comes out against us: "Haredim, you're fed up!" "Only the Haredim are capable of such things!" "You need to be dealt with harshly, parasites!" We are outraged by the generalizing statements, justifying ourselves and responding rightly: "In a pile of apples, there is sometimes one rotten one." "We're fine, these are just weeds, there, at the edge." "Because of one fool - blame the whole camp?" "One did something and the whole nation will be punished?" And now, when it comes to others, we forget our answers. A few act like animals of prey, an entire committee on the pillar of shame. Exactly. 2. On Lag BaOmer, we drove to Meron in our private car. We had permission to go inside. We met police officers at every intersection. I'm sure some of them were nervous and grumpy, which is how they are in essence, or the heat made them do it, or the workload, but I didn't meet one like that the entire way. Even when people were stopped at certain intersections, waving, pleading, shouting - I didn't see the police reacting wildly. At one intersection, a woman was sitting on the side of the road, next to the police officers, and the police officers took care of her and asked every driver they stopped for a checkup if they would be willing to take her, because she wasn't feeling well. I saw a police officer turn to a relatively elderly man and ask him if he was okay. And I saw a police officer serve a sweet snack to an ultra-Orthodox child. (I didn't check the kosher). I saw police officers smiling and I saw tough ones. I saw calm police officers and I saw tense ones. I saw police officers running and I saw resting. I didn't see any special clashes. I know that I'm just a single example. I'm sure there were Cops who behaved disrespectfully, aggressively, urgently, loudly, impatiently. Sure. But, does that make the entire police force animals? Beasts? 3. I have never checked what percentage of police officers use excessive violence and how many do not. As long as we do not know that they, most of them, or the majority, are like that, let's give them the legitimacy not to be called 'monsters' or 'animals.' Who is a police officer? A police officer is one of us. A father to children, just like we are. A son to parents, just like we are. Let's give them the privilege of being called human beings! A police officer is also a human being. A police officer is also offended when he is insulted. A police officer may also be hurt when he is hurt and spoken to like a... cheap animal! 4. A policeman comes to the scene to bring order. He clearly doesn't arrive wearing silk gloves. Some policemen exaggerate. Perhaps we, as Haredim, feel hated. We need to deal with this matter in a specific way, and not in a way that smears an entire group that often protects us when we need it. Let's be ourselves, as we should be, and as we consider ourselves: moderate, not belligerent, gentle, Torah-followers. That way we will have the courage to complain, when we need to complain. Let's stop, at least we, the columnists and word-scrapers, from talking about an entire community as a terrible monster, because if we, the journalists, reporters and members of the public, utter epithets like 'monsters' and 'beasts', we shouldn't be surprised that the word "Nazis" will also be used, and we will never be able to remain a decent member of society. So a pure child who is harmed is a whole world away, and not a small thing at all. Let's make sure that those who commit crimes are severely punished, that those who suffer are released in peace, but let's not place an entire audience on the altar of depraved generalization. What is something we hate, why would we do it to our friends?