Rabbi Michi. I think this goes far beyond one MK or another. In my opinion it represents a general approach that really fits the columns you wrote.

Yes, but why focus on this example when the world is full of examples?

What does Uman have to do with Balfour?!
Gamzu too has proven to everyone that with corona nobody has the faintest clue how to handle things. Apparently we’re just going to live with it, and the elderly and people with underlying conditions will have to protect themselves until a vaccine is found.
Any restriction on the cultural way of life of any group is a failure, and each group in turn will cry out about it. One time it’s culture-lovers and another time it’s lovers of Tikkun HaKlali. The only difference between here on the site and elsewhere, where people criticize only the Haredim of all shades, is not because of corona; corona just serves as the trigger.

Tam, I’m attaching an article from a Haredi site. Read the letter Gamzu sent to the Ukrainians and say honestly whether this is incitement. It hurts to see a dear person who is worried about the citizens of the state being accused of inciting against Haredim, and Rabbi Michi wrote at length about this at the time.
https://www.bhol.co.il/news/1130588

I didn’t claim that Gamzu is inciting!! I only claimed that it’s easier to organize against a cultural desire that wears a religious hat, like traveling to Uman and like the wedding of the grandson of the Belz Rebbe, while on the other hand nobody says a word when there are demonstrations of tens of thousands at Balfour every evening. There I didn’t see Gamzu sending a letter to Bogie Ya’alon and to the media that covers the demonstrations so warmly.

Dear Tam, look at the numbers — the Haredim are infecting more, deal with it.

In my opinion we should just kill all the Haredim — what do you say, Benyomin Goyroylayn? The reason is simple: the society they come out of leaves them frustrated all their lives, isn’t that right, Benjamin Goyrline?! Besides the diseases they spread.

I’m not on board with Gurlin’s language. And I also don’t like the expression “Hareidim.” But what pains me is something else. It really bothers me that they’re turning a person who wants to eradicate corona into some kind of hater of Haredim. Maybe I’m exaggerating, but in my opinion there’s even a desecration of God’s name here when outsiders read the headlines and see those Knesset members presenting Gamzu as an inciter, while any objective reader can see that Gamzu didn’t say a single anti-Haredi thing. Just a shame.

David, do you have an explanation for why Roni Gamzu isn’t acting against the demonstrations at Balfour too?

Yes. Demonstrations aren’t under his authority; there’s a Supreme Court ruling.

OK, so basically you’re arguing that right now there are crazy infection hotspots of tens of thousands every week and Roni Gamzu is powerless to do anything about it, and therefore he’s investing his strength in stopping the Breslovers from leaving, as a kind of effort. Do you understand how insane that is? It’s like if the Supreme Court forbade firefighters from using the tools at their disposal, the forest was going up in flames, and they busied themselves with some old woman at the edge of the village who lights her fireplace to warm herself a bit, and prevented her from doing so out of fear of losing control over the little fire she has.
If Gamzu understands that as long as the Supreme Court allows anarchy that endangers and drags us all into an endless health and economic abyss, then he should let go and say it’s beyond me, it’s hopeless — either me or the Supreme Court. But to come and tinker with an event of one group as if everything stands or falls on that — it doesn’t look like a clean and rational judgment.

These insane demonstrations every week — nobody asks who will answer for all those who will die (and have already died) because of the so-sacred value of democracy, Haredim and non-Haredim, who keep on infecting others at an exponential rate? (They know what that means of course; we’re not talking here about illiterate Haredim.) What about the indirect damage from the hysteria created here together with the economic uncertainty? And what about the burden on the hospitals (the failure to flatten the curve) that was caused and will be caused by this scandalous conduct? Who will answer for reckless decisions involving matters of life and death, accepted with unbearable ease by judges a million times intelligent, out of a stupid worldview and disastrously foolishness? And who will answer for the terrible division in the nation (and justified this time) that has been created because of this? Who will answer for the miserable old folks shut in frightened in crowded nursing homes with no communication?
But the great wonder in my eyes is that self-reproach is not all that common in the liberal world itself. There are some buds of it, Lipskar and others, but self-examination of the roots of their worldview and way of life is hardly happening at all (though in my estimation there is also no chance of a blessed break in that world following these events, once we calm down a bit). It certainly is not happening in any public and orderly way. The mantras about “the values of democracy” keep being proclaimed in the streets of Tel Aviv and in all the media strongholds with the same infantile pathos as before. No wonder that on the margins of the road the anarchistic wild men from the State of Tel Aviv continue their rampage against the legal system (though among La Familia against it there does seem to be some moderation. Apparently even madness and extreme stupidity like theirs has some limits).
For example, here is what an upright and courageous journalist writes:
Menahem Mautner, “Haaretz,” Tuesday, 2020.9.31
It was impossible not to shudder (yes, literally so) at the sight of the television report, which showed how President Hayut, leader of the radical stream, decided not to limit the demonstrations at the start of the second wave. A young man approached her and said: “Madam, they are stealing our democracy. Give up sacred anarchy for the sake of our democratic soul’s deepest longing?” “No,” ruled the 74-year-old lady in less than a second. The young man turned around and passed on Mrs. Esther’s instruction, all the peace-seeking groups and black-flag protest groups began proudly. There are many problems with the process by which this fateful decision was made — yes, fateful. Quickly, without deliberating or hesitating, out of deep fanaticism embodied in belief in one value, democracy, and an inability to contain other values and take them into account. But the main problem with this decision is the lack of solidarity it embodies toward all the other citizens of the state. For because of the reckless behavior of the protesters, in the end they — who do not properly obey the Health Ministry instructions — will fill the hospitals in droves and clog them in a way that will prevent treatment for the Haredim who obeyed the instructions. In that there will be not only a lack of solidarity but also a lack of justice. Much has been written in recent decades about the lack of solidarity of the left, who do not enlist in the army; after all, pacifism is a value no less important than enlistment. That lack of solidarity is expressed through refraining, through omission. But leftists who do not keep the Health Ministry instructions and crowd together in masses display active lack of solidarity, in deed. Their active behavior endangers the lives of many others — Haredim and non-Haredim — not because of fear of infection, but because of the possible clogging of the hospitals. True, one must always beware of generalizations, and remember that the left, like every human group, is divided into many subgroups, and the vast majority of those subgroups did obey the isolation instructions. But one cannot avoid thinking about the reckless way in which the leader of the left, Mrs. Esther Hayut, acted, and of course with the full backing of former chiefs of staff and other learned people, and one also cannot help thinking about the subgroups among the leftists, even if they are minority groups, who even at this relatively late stage still continue to act in violation of the instructions — with the full backing of the media that embraces them and accompanies every violation as if it were a business.
Of course, these events will go on to harm the blessed processes of integrating Haredim into the institutions of civil society and politics. What can you do — it doesn’t project seriousness.
But the greatest absurdity is that Mr. Gamzu saw fit to place all his weight on saving us from a final loss of control, on a marginal group of Breslov Hasidim for whom the apple of their eye is the trip to Uman.

Just kidding. You think that was an article in Haaretz or some broadsheet? It’s a little parody of the criticism our Rabbi Michi directed at Haredi society during the first wave. I took a sample and switched the players. You can easily do this with all his columns in which he lashed out at his Haredi cousins. I hope the message got across, even in this small piece.

With God’s help, 5 Elul 5780

At a meeting between the leaders of the Breslov Hasidim and the Prime Minister, it was clarified to him that the compound in Uman is large and can accommodate many groups of worshippers with separation. An outline was presented to the Prime Minister according to which those flying would undergo a corona test before the flight, upon arriving in Ukraine, and upon returning to Israel. Occupancy in the synagogues would be 30% of normal occupancy, and the prayer compound would be completely separated from the rest of the city. A corona hotel would be set up where those required to isolate would be concentrated, and a religious court would be established to supervise that violators of the instructions would not be able to approach the gravesite. See the article: “Breslov Hasidim Left Encouraged,” on the Arutz 7 website.

Past experience teaches us that dialogue and cooperation can make it possible to maintain religious activity while preserving the necessary health boundaries.

With the blessing of “Gamzu for the good,” Shatz

With God’s help, 6 Elul 5780

In my humble opinion there’s a simple solution. Netanyahu should travel to Uman for Rosh Hashanah. Along with him, of course, thousands of demonstrators will travel too, with the full approval of the High Court of Justice and the corona czar, since the virus does not harm emissaries on a commandment who pursue justice.

Among the demonstrators, Breslov Hasidim could also slip in, assuming they aren’t afraid of getting beaten to death by the demonstrators. These will shout against Bibi, and those will shout “Tatte, Tatte,” and “at the end of the day” both sides will discover that the gap between them isn’t all that large. All in all, everyone is waiting for “the end of the right” 🙂

Awaiting the sight of the complete salvation, S. Shimshon Tzvi from Kochav HaShachar