It was Passover Eve, and I was driving my car from the city of Modi'in Illit to Jerusalem. At the Shilat intersection, I noticed a small gathering centered on the tiny traffic island in the middle of the road, and the corner of the intersection around the Green Fence. My little daughter, who was sitting in the back, was excited by the many police cars, and together we counted about 13 cars and one motorcycle.
I estimate the number of protesters to be around 25-30 people. All or the vast majority of them were around the age of ten. By simple calculation, each police car was designed for two protesters.
This unsavory sight aroused a strong emotion in me, which didn't take too long to identify: shame and also sorrow.
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I felt pity, and also pain, for you, my good friends. Is that what the poet meant? Do these unimpressive demonstrations, reminiscent of a vacation trip by children who were told they were allowed to go out but were not told where to go, respect you?
A significant portion of the members of the "Jerusalem faction" are figures I grew up with and learned from. Some of them are known to me as intelligent, settled, and, above all, not impulsive people.
Where do these embarrassing emotions come from that take you or your children out every Monday and Thursday onto the city streets and busy intersections while the haredi community as a whole shies away from your activities? Don't you feel that you are marching into an isolated corner that will leave you in the test of history as a marginal, sullen, and isolated group in the narrative of the haredi public?
The rift that has opened up within the Lithuanian sector is too great, and depends on rabbis too great, for me to discuss it. The arguments that 'you too have a rabbi' are familiar to everyone, and no one, God forbid, belittles your greatness. And in any case, don't you feel that in recent moves you have gone beyond the red line that demarcates the boundaries of Haredi society?
During my visit to one of the best-known rabbis in Kiryat Sefer, the rabbi told me about a surprising phone call he had received just minutes earlier. It was from a benefactor belonging to the "central faction," who asked the rabbi for advice on how to overcome his aversion to the "Etznik" who passed by and greeted him. Should he return the benefactor's greeting, is he allowed to lend him utensils or food, or is he exempt from recognizing him?.
If I hadn't heard it with my own ears, I would have had a hard time believing it, but almost identical stories have been heard over and over again over the past few months.
So it's true, these are radicals, hate-filled rascals whose minds were driven crazy by the heated controversy, but the disproportionate response of those individuals is a clear symbol of the antagonistic, not to say hostile, attitude towards you on the part of the 'sane' Haredi mainstream.
This core group, my good friends, honestly, you are going to lose.
