Congratulations to the new mayor, Mr. Moshe Leon.<\/p>\r\n
Congratulations for inadvertently proving to us that we, the people of Haredi Judaism, are forever and ever faithful to the instructions of our holy rabbis.<\/p>\r\n
Thank you for showing the whole world that the mayor of Jerusalem, or any other municipality, is not elected based on his qualifications, or where he has lived for the past decade, nor is he elected based on his promises, or because of his pretty face.<\/p>\r\n
You have proven to us with signs and wonders that the mayor of Jerusalem can only be someone whom the elders of the generation instruct us to vote for. You have proven to us the greatest proof that although we have the right to choose, we prefer to choose life, to choose the divine command of "And do whatever He wills," and not by personal choice behind a screen made of recycled cardboard.<\/p>\r\n
Thank you, Mr. Mayor, Mr. Moshe Leon.<\/p>\r\n
\u2022<\/p>\r\n
But, Mr. Mayor. Rest your enthusiasm for a moment. You have proven to us something else. Much less pleasant than the long list above.<\/p>\r\n
You have proven to us, again without will or intention, additional things. I wrote 'without will or intention', that is not a mistake, after all, on the street they say that is what you are, Mr. Mayor, right? You have no platform, you have no opinions. They say about you on the street that you are a puppet, a puppet in the hands of the Minister of the Interior or in the hands of the former Minister of Defense. It is unpleasant to hear that, you know.<\/p>\r\n
It is unpleasant for the small citizen to think that his mayor is a small man in a big body, who appoints his spokesman according to instructions from above or according to the whims of one or two people. It is better for us, the ordinary citizens, to think that you are merely an emissary of the great men of Israel. An emissary of the mitzvah of the wise rabbi Shalom Cohen and Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, who chose you to be the man who pushes the buttons at Safra Square.<\/p>\r\n
But forget for a moment what they're saying outside. We're inside, deep inside. You've been the mayor of Jerusalem for a week, and more than you showed us before you were elected, you managed to show us after you were elected.<\/p>\r\n
You are no longer on social media, you have sent messages to all the groups that you are disconnecting, that you can no longer participate in WhatsApp group memberships, after all, you have a city to run. And you are right, you were elected mayor of Jerusalem, the most difficult city to run. There are Christians in it, there are Muslims in it, and there are Jews in it.<\/p>\r\n
And here allow me to expand a little.<\/p>\r\n
\u2022<\/p>\r\n
There are many Jews in it.<\/p>\r\n
There are Sephardim, those who vote Shas, and those who voted Degel or any other party. There are Lithuanians, those who voted Religion and those who voted Etz or any other party. There are Hasidim, those who voted G and those who voted Shav and El Ta'aseh, or Qom and El Ta'aseh.<\/p>\r\n
I think you're already starting to understand what I want from you, Mr. Mayor.<\/p>\r\n
Before you start running this great city with all its religions, try doing something with each of its factions.<\/p>\r\n
Before you start debating how to transfer budgets to the Armenian Church, for example, try to examine how, for God's sake, how to deal with this terrible and threatening division that arose after you were elected.<\/p>\r\n
Try to see how the Haredi public eats all the 'kiddush' and feasts that all kinds of journalists have been hosting in recent Shabbats, to thank God, of course, for being chosen.<\/p>\r\n
Try to see, Mr. Mayor, how to remove from the Haredi lexicon this ugly song that comes from the Olympics around the world and from the Teddy stands of "Shish-Sholsh", which is sung by young priests who study in the most prestigious yeshivahs in the Haredi community.<\/p>\r\n
Please try, Mr. Mayor, try to see how far the Haredi public in Jerusalem has deteriorated, the public that was and still is the holiest, most devout and most humble, when they go out in mixed joyous dances in the same hall - devoid of partitions.<\/p>\r\n
Try to understand, Mr. Mayor, try to understand the most burning pain in the history of the Haredi public, which was created because of the terrible video circulating online. The video is not the problem, the reality that the photographer captured is our biggest problem.<\/p>\r\n
This illusory reality in which hundreds of Haredi girls, our darling girls, our only pride, the glory of world modesty, the girls of the most respected Haredi seminary in the world, go out in a wild and crazy dance in the seminary square, on the same day that your victory was announced in public, is the greatest disgrace of the Haredi public in generations.<\/p>\r\n
Can you understand me, Mr. Mayor? Can you understand the pain?<\/p>\r\n
\u2022<\/p>\r\n
We actually thank God that you won, because your victory is the victory of the great men of Israel, no doubt. But we are a little confused, we don't really know how to win, because we never won, we always did what the great men of the generation told us and they were the ones who won.<\/p>\r\n
But this time, this time something strange happens to us. We suddenly feel like we won, not them.<\/p>\r\n
True, we say, and even write in rich and beautiful language how your choice is the greatest proof that the eternal Israel will not lie, but we do not celebrate what we say. We have never celebrated the victory of the greats of the generation, there is no such celebration. There is only a celebration of personal victory, but we have never celebrated that either.<\/p>\r\n
So what are we celebrating, you ask, Mr. Mayor? Oh, it's simple.<\/p>\r\n
We celebrate the loss of the other camp, the one that didn't choose you. Those whose many were told otherwise. We celebrate their loss, and such a celebration must be in its original form, the one invented by the worst of our enemies, the one created by those who are not Jews. There is no other way.<\/p>\r\n
Please, Mr. Mayor, take the reins. For God's sake, unite us again.<\/p>\r\n
\u2022 Menachem Man is an ultra-Orthodox writer and publicist: yoredea.man@gmail.com<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u05de\u05db\u05ea\u05d1 \u05db\u05d5\u05d0\u05d1 \u05dc\u05e8\u05d0\u05e9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e0\u05d1\u05d7\u05e8: \u05e0\u05d9\u05e6\u05d7\u05ea \u05d0\u05d3\u05d5\u05e0\u05d9 \u05e8\u05d0\u05e9 \u05d4\u05e2\u05d9\u05e8 \u05d5\u05d0\u05ea\u05da \u05e0\u05d9\u05e6\u05d7 \u05d4\u05e6\u05d9\u05d5\u05ea \u05dc\u05d2\u05d3\u05d5\u05dc\u05d9 \u05d9\u05e9\u05e8\u05d0\u05dc, \u05d0\u05d1\u05dc \u05d4\u05de\u05e9\u05d9\u05de\u05d4 \u05d4\u05e7\u05e9\u05d4 \u05de\u05ea\u05d7\u05d9\u05dc\u05d4 \u05db\u05e2\u05ea \u2022 \u05db\u05d9\u05e6\u05d3 \u05de\u05ea\u05de\u05d5\u05d3\u05d3\u05d9\u05dd \u05e2\u05dd \u05d4\u05e9\u05d1\u05e8 \u05d4\u05de\u05db\u05d5\u05e2\u05e8 \u05e9\u05e4\u05d9\u05dc\u05d2 \u05d0\u05ea \u05d4\u05d9\u05d4\u05d3\u05d5\u05ea \u05d4\u05d7\u05e8\u05d3\u05d9\u05ea? \u2022 \u05d0\u05d9\u05da \u05d1\u05e0\u05d5\u05ea \u05e1\u05de\u05d9\u05e0\u05e8\u05d9\u05dd \u05e4\u05d5\u05e8\u05e6\u05d5\u05ea \u05d1\u05de\u05d7\u05d5\u05dc\u05d9 \u05e9\u05de\u05d7\u05d4 \u05dc\u05d0\u05d7\u05e8 \u05d4\u05e0\u05d9\u05e6\u05d7\u05d5\u05df?","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":468739,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[30317,30315,30316],"class_list":["post-469834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-138","tag-30317","tag-30315","tag-30316"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n