Featured Post

Free The Hostages! Bring Them Home!

(this is a featured post and will stay at the top for the foreseeable future.. scroll down for new posts) -------------------------------...

Feb 5, 2012

Changing Realities in Bet Shemesh

I went to the melave malka in Bet Shemesh last night, It was actually at the edge of RBS B, in the caravan of a small Litvishe shul surrounded by hassidic shuls, including the one that many of the extremists daven in. Of course it ran on Jewish time, which is something I almost never consider, meaning I actually got there on time and we waited around, and helped set up the room...

It was a really nice, albeit simple event. It was much smaller than what I had expected, and the organizer had told me he was going to be keeping this one small. There were a few of us from RBS A, someone from Sheinfeld, a number of haredi fellows, both Litvishe and hassidic, both from the immediate area and from Yefe Nof, and there was a group of Bnei Akiva madrichim from Sheinfeld and other parts of Bet Shemesh.

There were some speeches, some food, some music singing and dancing, and overall it was very nice.

Will anything come of it? I do not know. Personally I am skeptical about the efficacy of these types of events. I would not have gone at all had I seen someone announce it - I only went because the organizer called me about it.

That being said, it was nice we could all sit together, chat with people we would normally never cross paths with. And, it cant hurt to do nice things with nice people and change our own perceptions, even if just slightly, as well as other people's perceptions of us.

6 comments:

  1. Is that an alternate spelling for Bet Shemesh in the title (possibly with the use of a Spanish "j", or some other linguistic technique with which I am unfamiliar)?
    :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nice. If this continues, it can only do good, and personal friendships are made. I imagine they won't want to come to our territory, as it won't be kosher enough, but still, all big steps start with small ones

    ReplyDelete
  3. thanks Catriel.
    Meir - though often the people who go to these things are already the people who are tolerant, accepting and respectful of others... but still..

    ReplyDelete
  4. The problem is NOT the average haredi. The average Haredi is 100% full of ahavat yisrael. The average haredi is struggling to feed his family with no marketable skills - his kids eat no less than ours do and he loves his kids no less than we do. The average haredi is no problem whatsoever. The problem is the Israeli haredi leadership and the Israeli haredi press which incite against the non-haredi population and happily 'reaps the fruits' of the extremists - i.e. scaring away non-haredi population to have an 'open field.'

    ReplyDelete
  5. The problem is NOT the average haredi. The average Haredi is 100% full of ahavat yisrael. The average haredi is struggling to feed his family with no marketable skills - his kids eat no less than ours do and he loves his kids no less than we do. The average haredi is no problem whatsoever. The problem is the Israeli haredi leadership and the Israeli haredi press which incite against the non-haredi population and happily 'reaps the fruits' of the extremists - i.e. scaring away non-haredi population to have an 'open field.'

    ReplyDelete
  6. to Anonymous:
    It is so painful to read your posts filled with hate.

    They are Jews. See their good. Even if you don't think they are all good. Find the points that are good and just focus on that and love them dearly.

    ReplyDelete

Related Posts

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...