For the past year and a half, the Haredi public has been on the defensive because of intensive legislation, which they see as anti-Haredi legislation. The highlight of this legislation, from their perspective, is the yeshiva youth recruitment law. When, in protest against this law, hundreds of thousands took to the streets of a city in a protest rally, prayer, and outcry.<\/p>\r\n
Things got to the point that last Purim, almost overwhelmingly and as if it were a foregone conclusion, ultra-Orthodox children did not dress up as soldiers, a very popular costume in normal times.<\/p>\r\n
This Haredi-secular conflict received a lot of coverage in the secular media, a coverage that was of course accompanied by a lot of aggression against the Haredi, with the statement that the Haredi oppose the army, service in it, or even see it as an enemy (and this despite the fact that thousands of Haredi soldiers serve in the army, both regular and reserve).<\/p>\r\n
And now, surprisingly (for those who don't really know the Haredim), from the moment the news of the kidnapping of the three young men became known, the Haredim mobilized en masse, from all strata of the Haredi public and its rabbis, to help, to assist the families, and especially to pray and study Torah more intensively.<\/p>\r\n
In all synagogues, special prayers and the recitation of Psalms were added, and yeshiva students and kollel elders added study hours, at the end of which special prayers were said for the release of the kidnapped.<\/p>\r\n
And the atmosphere of reinforcement only intensified from the moment the missiles began flying all over the country, and the Air Force began attacking Gaza, and intensified sevenfold from the moment the first 8 reserve soldiers began to enlist in the army.<\/p>\r\n
But, from the moment Operation Protective Edge became a real ground war, it became like a flood.<\/p>\r\n
Prayer vigils are held in all Haredi centers and yeshivot. Men and women have each "adopted" the name of a soldier, and they pray for his success and safe return (and there are many more interested in praying than in the names of soldiers).<\/p>\r\n
Individuals and ultra-Orthodox organizations buy food, drinks, coffee, sweets, tzitzits, tefillin, siddurim, clothing, underwear, socks, wipes, and many other personal items, worth hundreds of thousands of shekels, and take them down south to be distributed to soldiers.<\/p>\r\n
Entire groups come to make the soldiers happy, to sing with them, to talk with them, and of course to study and pray with them.<\/p>\r\n
Families of reserve soldiers, who live with an ultra-Orthodox parent, receive assistance, both financial and physical, with housework, shopping, and child care and employment, and it makes no difference whether the reservist is secular, wears a knitted kippah, or Haredi (and, as mentioned, there are thousands of Haredi reserve soldiers).<\/p>\r\n
The Haredi WhatsApp groups are "exploding" with requests and offers for volunteering, prayers, donations, help with shopping and transportation, assistance to families, hosting families from the bombed-out south, and many more initiatives. There is no initiative that is not accepted and no request that is not "hijacked" as soon as it goes up in the group's "air" (and let's not forget that this is the poorest community in the country!).<\/p>\r\n
But, surprisingly and sadly, all this volunteer activity finds no expression in the various media.<\/p>\r\n
Not a word is written about it in the newspapers and news websites. Not a word is said about it on the radio and television channels. And not a single volunteer or organization member is interviewed. Nothing. Nada. Yuck!<\/p>\r\n
One can only hope that after the fighting subsides, when the soldiers return home or to their base in peace, each of them will be an "ambassador" of information, of conveying feelings and of the goodwill they felt and received from the Haredi public in a time of need. This will lead to the continuation of the dialogue and the all-important and vital connection between the parts of the people.<\/p>\r\n
Because we are brothers!<\/p>\r\n
The writer is an educator, a combat soldier in the reserves, and a member of the "Plugata" and "Hashlomo" forums, which aim to create and increase dialogue between ultra-Orthodox, secular, and religious people.<\/b><\/b><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The media's usual weekday rant against the Haredi public, which supposedly opposes the army, may take a 180-degree turn with the unprecedented Haredi mobilization for the benefit of the soldiers, the people, and the country.","protected":false},"author":53,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[138],"tags":[2684,32315,1289,368,6481],"class_list":["post-56890","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-138","tag-2684","tag-32315","tag-1289","tag-368","tag-6481"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n