The incident of the 'Pious Captain and the Blasphemous Woman' flooded social media - and it seems nothing new. After all, aside from the seriousness of the incident, the woman's almost surreal accusations against the young Haredi man were a great item.
Alongside this, two other important disputes arose:
• Was it appropriate for 'official' media outlets to publicize the event, disseminate the woman's name and picture, before conducting a more in-depth investigation with the individuals involved?.
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• Wouldn't it have been appropriate for the Haredi to have kept his mouth shut in the sense of 'those who are offended and not offended,' and not have responded at all to the woman who slandered him?.
The answer to the second question, in my opinion, is completely negative.
The days when Haredim hear insults and condescending talk and they continue to remain silent are over.
Gone are the days when non-religious people, filled with hatred, whose level of education is often ten times less than that of the ultra-Orthodox person standing in front of them, allow themselves to be insulted and hurt.
And in this regard, a nice episode comes to mind, which if someone had documented, it is likely that Gadi - whom you will recognize immediately - and I would have performed at Oded Ben Ami's.
It was after my last practice at the university. It was grueling. Preparing, concentrating, and answering the talented students' questions required quite a bit of cognitive resources.
This is why, as I boarded the intercity bus heading towards Tel Aviv, I felt that an hour of rest and relaxation lay ahead of me.
Out of the corner of my eye, I caught sight of Gadi, a friend, a doctoral student in social work, also Haredi, sitting in the row of chairs next to me. He was in the middle of a conversation and I nodded my head goodbye and planned to take a nap of sorts.
But then the driver's voice was heard: "The guy with the phone, your conversation will probably last all the way to Tel Aviv. I ask you to be considerate and not disturb those sitting around you.".
Gadi raised his head, clearly hurt, continued talking and after a few minutes ended the conversation.
I saw him get up from his seat and walk towards the driver.
Excuse me, were you talking to me? He asked politely.
Yes, the driver said firmly, you are disturbing my passengers.
Why, Gadi asked, still with sincere innocence, am I not allowed to talk on the phone on the bus? And why do you think I would have a conversation all the way to Tel Aviv?
“This isn’t the bus to Bnei Brak here,” the driver replied angrily.
At this point, I stood up from my seat with blood flooding my face: “Why is he not allowed to talk on the phone, what does this have to do with the bus to Bnei Brak?”
The driver raised his head – and said: “Did you forget to take your pills this morning?”
Despite the profound and intelligent argument, we decided to make an effort and not give up. We asked him again, by what right does he have to ask a passenger who is talking quietly - by the way, it was a professional conversation in the social worker's field of work - in front of everyone to 'consider the passengers', and again, how does this relate to the 'bus to Bnei Brak'?
The driver claimed that he was 'protecting his passengers', and that he always asks passengers not to talk [which is true], but we couldn't help but feel that the direct address to the ultra-Orthodox-looking passenger, as well as the bus's strange reference to the large ultra-Orthodox city, came out of nowhere.
At this point, the driver raised his head and said: “I don’t want to talk about this, leave me alone, let go of me.”.
“Why did we let you down,” I asked, “you started this unnecessary verbal brawl.” Or in simpler words: you started it.
“But you started it, but you started it,” I shouted again like a child.
“Complain about me,” said the driver.
We didn't complain.
We learned our lesson, as written above.
It turns out that the young ultra-Orthodox Israel Hirsch - a captain in the reserves - also studied well.
