Channel 2. Yes. I do not belong to the Bnei Torah movement, or as they are called for short, the Peles. I never have been, and I probably never will be. In fact, in my life and personal and professional choices, I am almost a symbol of the absolute polarity of everything that this movement represents. I have written so many times and on so many platforms against Nati Grossman and his friends that the only thing that remains unclear in our interaction is the fact that I have not yet received a libel lawsuit from them.
But this dichotomy that exists between us and many others does not justify the fact that on Hadashot 2, the most important and watched channel in Israel, an article against the newspaper and its people was broadcast, consisting of materials and texts so disconnected that it seemed that the reporter had never been exposed to the difficult conflict between the two groups that make up Haredi society. If it were not for such a large and established channel, it would be permissible to suspect that someone had commissioned this sloppy article.
The article presented the difficult situation of 'Hapeles', and noted how activists of the Jerusalem movement are organizing to not purchase the products of companies that choose not to advertise in their newspaper. 'The people of Hapeles', as the article stated, 'harass the large food and marketing companies and threaten not to purchase products, just because they are not advertised in their newspaper.'.
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And the police, the reporter wonders in genuine astonishment, are not investigating the harassers. Strange indeed. They are heard in the recordings uploaded during the article as a cult of idiots who are only trying to guide the peace of honest business owners who do not understand where this intra-Haredi sleepwalking quarrel has landed them, and the authorities allow them to continue to run amok.
In the Haredi interior space - everything seems to be permitted. The rabbis have become playthings in the hands of journalists and courtiers, and fictional novels are distributed on social networks as part of the 'establishment of the daily myth.' A one-sided article of this kind is also not unexpected in times of war. It is even almost expected.
But as stated, the article appeared on a national, large, and well-established news channel. On Channel 2. Not on a purchased Haredi news site. Didn't the professional reporter do minimalist homework, stating that an advertising boycott had been imposed on the Peles newspaper, and that it had been made clear to advertisers and advertising agencies by elements delicately referred to as "courtiers" that they should not cooperate with the Jerusalem newspaper?
The Peles people, who Yaakov and Adi have nothing to do with, are in a war of survival with the Yated people for their legitimacy, and for trying to keep their dying newspaper afloat. What is expected of these desperate people, to allow the big chains to ignore their group, to execute their newspaper, and also, as in Stockholm syndrome, to continue to purchase their products?
Is the ultra-Orthodox society, which knows how to ruthlessly exterminate those who choose to step outside the fold, incapable of realizing that a day will come when a civil war will break out between the members of the group and the famous French call to arms will be raised by both militias?
It is worth remembering that Haredi society is currently in the midst of a tribal war, and war, as we know, has its own rules.
Who is religious? Prof. A.A. My friend. You wondered how, in these exalted days of Elul, I chose to mention to you that I doubt the faith of quite a few young people and even older Haredi people. You were astonished, why exactly now did I claim to you that for a significant portion of Haredi society, the religious lifestyle is apparently one of conformity, of walking in the same rut, of inertia?
And the answer, Professor Habib, is that I draw my conclusions in light of the fact that in 13 days, September 25th will fall, which, according to the Hebrew calendar, is the first of theTShari - Rosh Hashanah, the date on which it is stated in the Mishnah that humans pass before God like sheep, and a divine judgment is passed upon them regarding the coming year. The options before the judge, it is important to remember, are endless, from rare wealth and days of wonderful creation to suffering and a terrible death in agony in various variations. Everything is open.
Just the thought of it is terrifying. In a matter of hours, a person could receive a verdict that could kill them just by reading it. Not to mention the thought of its operative execution. But the Haredi street is completely calm. The fear that runs across the faces of the Holyland convicts, for example, that they will "only" end up in an Israeli prison, is hardly visible on anyone's face. Everyone is busy with fights and the familiar slander, even in their daily lives, and the trial that could result in a death sentence has never seemed further away. Is this faith? Can a person who declares that the words of the Mishnah are true to him be so indifferent to a legal proceeding whose opening date is fast approaching?
