Q&A: The Prohibition on Setting Up Tefillin Stands
The Prohibition on Setting Up Tefillin Stands
Question
Hello Rabbi,
What is your opinion about the Tel Aviv municipality's decision to forbid setting up tefillin stands near schools?
https://www.srugim.co.il/418988-%D7%A2%D7%99%D7%A8%D7%99%D7%99%D7%AA-%D7%AA%D7%90-%D7%90%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%A8%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A6%D7%91%D7%AA-%D7%93%D7%95%D7%9B%D7%A0%D7%99-%D7%AA%D7%A4%D7%99%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%9F-%D7%9C%D7%99%D7%93-%D7%91
Is there room for such a decision since these are children who still do not have sufficient judgment, and there is no place for influences of this kind on them?
Is this similar to placing advertisements for non-kosher food near a Haredi room?
Answer
I completely agree with this decision. It is definitely similar.
Discussion on Answer
The question is not the motivation of the people but an equal policy in a democratic state. Every parent has the right to send his child to the education he desires, and that no one should preach to him near or within the school framework. Exactly as you would not want Reform preaching near your children's school. And Reform Judaism too is Judaism according to many people.
Does the Rabbi agree with the statement that this really is the trend of the people there? That the State of Israel should be like every other country in the world?
I agree, but not with the conspiratorial wording. These are indeed people who, according to their worldview, attach no importance to Judaism, and therefore the state as they want it is secular in character. They are not wicked people plotting to persecute anyone; that is simply their worldview.
I didn't understand why the Rabbi agrees with this decision.
Don't you see the desperate attempt of those people there to turn the State of the Jews into a state like all other nations? This decision is just one expression among many of that trend.
Every Jewish symbol shakes them up. They are willing to accept and “contain” everything in the name of pluralism and freedom, but when it comes to our basic values as a people, their true fanatical face is exposed.
And all this in order to bring Europe and the U.S. here. To blur our identity. So נכון those children “still do not have judgment,” but why are you giving a hand to disconnecting them from their roots?? You try to be consistent and systematic, but sometimes you ignore the secondary damage this causes.
I mean that even if, on the merits, setting up the stands is an act that influences the minds of the children and there is no justice in that, I still think that since this decision is part of an entire system whose aim is to uproot every Jewish symbol in our state, with the intention of deliberately erasing any connection to our Jewish identity, this requires a broader response, and to support the decision detached from the general context is not right.