IF WE ARE TO BE “a light unto the nations” (Isaiah Chapter 49 יְשַׁעְיָהוּ), what the hasidim (the “pious”) are doing in New York is hillul ha shem.
(Image source: Mechon-Mamre.org, https://tinyurl.com/y43kujvt )
Jewish man blasted as ‘snitch’ badly beaten during Borough Park protests screams a NY Post headline (https://tinyurl.com/yyfm9crz). The UK’s Mail, putting the leedcq paragraph in the hedcq as Jewish man is left critically injured after being branded a 'snitch' by ultra-Orthodox rioters in Brooklyn who attacked him and a photographer for recording COVID-19 violations amid spike in coronavirus cases (https://tinyurl.com/y69rtw2v)
Why’s everybody always pickin’ on me?
The “pious” Jews of Borough Park have been targeted by New York politicians for flagrantly violating face mask and distancing rules. (Sounds like Jerusalem and Bnei Brak.)
If these “pious” Jews were confined to Borough Park, with their freedom restricted a la the ghettos of Europe and the mellahs of the Muslim world, perhaps ignoring the mask and distancing rules could be tolerated.
If these “pious” Jews financed and managed their health care on their own, they could ignore the rules for public safety.
But neither is the case.
Still, the “pious” Jews of Borough Park have a legitimate grievance.
New York’s “leadership” seems to ignore non-hasidim who do the same thing.
As with most things Jewish (and most things Israel), there is a blatant double standard.
Is New York a part of Europe with its Jew hatred then and now?
Is New York’s general population European? Latino? Asian? Middle eastern?
Why these Jews?
Why, because they are “different.”
The dress differently.
They put their rabbis above the law of the land despite דִּינָא דְּמַלְכוּתָא דִּינָא. (Jeremiah 29:7; cited by Mar Samuel (bar Abba) in Talmud Bavil)
This, obviously, is a generalization, but it is — based on images captured in places where “pious” Jews dominate — a fact for many.
Be fair
I don’t know if the attacks on Jews — while ignoring non-Jews doing the same thing — is politically motivated.
It seems everything today is “politically motivated.”
Are these politicians anti-Semites? Possibly. (Even a Jew can be self-hating; there are far too many of those around the world.)
Are these politicians simply stupid.? (Rhetorical question.)
Don’t the “pious” Jews vote? Don’t they have allies in the “regular” observant Jewish community?
If the politicians are going to attack the “pious” Jews for endangering themselves and those with whom they associate, then the same politicians should attack all citizens for the same violations.
Jews, “pious” and otherwise, are not above the law. Ignorant, non-observant Jews may think they are above they law. They are not, at least not Jewish law..
Rabbi Akiva Eger, (right) in the midst of a 19th-century global cholera pandemic, advocated social distancing, abbreviated services, reduced singing, and absolute transparency regarding one’s health prior to entering a synagogue.
He worked in concert with medical experts and local governmental authorities.
R. Eger’s edict likely prevented thousands of deaths, embodying the biblical principle of “v’chai bahem,” that Jewish law demands vitality. (https://tinyurl.com/y5uksoef)
I realize that the “pious” Jews follow their own rabbis and typically ignore any authority outside their circle.
Cliches, but ...
Boged or “snitch” makes no difference. The behavior is the “pious” Jews is unacceptable.
They are “drilling a hole” in our boat; we all are in it together.
To use another cliche, we (Jews) all will be “tarred by the same brush” in the hands of anti-Semites.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
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