Dozens of ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem residents demonstrated in the capital Friday, for the second day in a row, to protest the arrest of an ultra-Orthodox man suspected of killing his baby son, Israel Radio reported.Lest you think they are protesting the arrest of an innocent man...
Protesters on Friday set trash cans ablaze on Thursday and Friday, blocking roads in the ultra-Orthodox (Haredi) Meah Shearim neighborhood. They also threw garbage and rocks at passing cars and screamed "Nazis" at police officers.
Yisrael Vales, 19, has admitted to slamming his 3-month-old son Rephael against a wall and attacking him numerous times, saying the baby wouldn't let him sleep. Rephael died Monday.Disgusting, plain and simple. Dave and Gavriel put it more eloquently than I could, so check them out.
* Mobius spent much of the post bashing the Orthodox J-bloggers for not writing about this and condemning it. As the others noted, and as S. (On the Main Line) and Chaim (Life-of-Rubin) noted in the comments, many blogs simply don't discuss everything - and most simply didn't see the story. I didn't hear about it until last night, primarily because I haven't read much of anything since Monday - and that would likely be the case for most Orthodox bloggers.
the reason there even was a protest I think is because Chareidim will join a protest even without knowing what it is about.
ReplyDeleteMany don’t watch TV and so this is a way of getting some excitement.
That's an interesting theory! I'm not sure that not having a TV makes a difference, though. I think people who are bored and near a protest who are of that type will join in without bothering to learn what it's about, no matter what type they are.
ReplyDeleteThat is so true. Some Maoists were having an anti-imperialist protest in Kathmandu, Nepal, and tourists from Europe and U.S> joined in, without a clue as to the point of the protest!
ReplyDeleteEzzie: The only other excitement for Chareidi kids besides a good hafgana is when an ambulance shows up. You want scary? I can tell you some freaky MDA stories about how the flashers have to go off or they attract kids like the piper of Hamlin.
ReplyDeleteAlso - its really chaval that Mobius spent much of the post bashing the Orthodox J-bloggers for not writing about this and condemning it. Thats almost as bad as the riot itself, and doesn't do much to promote serious and honest dialogue. My wife and I had a whole conversation about this today with our kids...
But I'm hardly blogging at all during chol hamoed...but to accuse OrthoBloggers of covering this up?
Chaval.
Irina - Great example, and - exactly.
ReplyDeleteJameel - Chaval, indeed. I didn't want to do the same thing and focus the post on that aspect in return, but I agree it's a shame.
I discussed my anger and rage on this topic over first days at my folks. My media-savy father hadn't even heard of it.
ReplyDeleteA Shanda. I hope the father gets what is coming to him. I also would like to know where his wife was.
mordechai, it seems his wife is defending him saying he wouldn't do that. Denial it seems takes strong hold.
ReplyDeleteI posted earlier on my site how I can't understand why the municipality just keeps giving them more garbage bins to burn. Let the local try to figure out where to put all their trash when they have no more bins.
Mordechai - Your father doesn't know something?! :)
ReplyDeleteJPT - I can hear why a spouse would want to believe such a thing. Imagine marrying someone who turns out is accused of something terrible... you wouldn't believe it either.
Good point about the trash bins, though the argument the other way is collective punishment is unwarranted here. In this case, for once, the leaders spoke out against it, and in such a large community, the actions of a few hundred pale against the needs of the tens of thousands - particularly in a poorer neighborhood.
Apparently the young father is from a very macherdik family in the chareidi world. The young couple is very young, and if the father was that brutal to his baby, who knows how he treats the poor young wife. And we don't know what she's like either. There's abuse in the chareidi world, just like all over. And it doesn't help to marry them off when they're so young. It's not easy.
ReplyDeleteI didn't blog about it, because it's not my usual topic, and I only got the extra info this morning.
Must get back to the kitchen.
Ezzie, it's not even about denial for the wife. The husband, if you can call him that, has a history of domestic abuse. I.E. beating on his wife and kid. The record is very clear about that, but she's defending him now. I would think she probably has BWS, Battered Wife Syndrom. She's afraid he'll come back and come after her if she doesn't protect him. Either that, or she truly loves her husband and, as many battered women do, blames herself for the violence. I wouldn't be surprised to find out that she blames herself for her child's death. Chag Sameach!
ReplyDelete-OC
The family of the father is big in the Eidah Charadit and is a main supplier of tzitziot. That is the reason.
ReplyDeleteOops, forgot: the main reason the Rabbis are asking for him to be let out on bail is that he's not dangerous - after all, they have no more children and what other infant can he kill? That's a quote from an interview I heard.
ReplyDeleteEzzie-The not TV thing has a bigger impact that you might want to believe, you should see the excitement of Chassidic kids when the mailman passes son the street.
ReplyDeleteI didn't comment on this because I didn't comment on ANY blog over all Pesach. Now, I don't see anything to say that hasn't been said elsewhere except to say that I am horrified that a Jewish community would excuse any form of child abuse or neglect. What does this make us look like to our non-religious fellow Jews?
ReplyDelete