Could the Rabbi explain why secular people’s behavior really causes a problem for Haredim, whereas Haredi behavior really does not cause a problem for secular people? I don’t understand the difference. Are Haredi complaints worth more than secular complaints? Are secular people lying / imagining things when it comes to the harmful impact Haredim have on them?

It’s a matter of impression. Secular people advocate open education, and Haredi dress certainly doesn’t bother them. They don’t have to be in contact with the school staff. But Haredim don’t want revealing clothing, mixing of boys and girls, crude and loud talk, etc. Therefore, I usually don’t buy secular people’s claims of being harmed. In my view, in many cases this is a kind of antisemitism.

The problem here is different. This yeshiva was set up in the middle of the night and without permits or according to the law. The neighbors’ anger is justified. As a Jerusalemite, I know this ugly phenomenon of takeover and attempts to undermine the local character. And unfortunately it comes only from the Haredi side (there may also be secular coercion, but it is less common). There were many mixed neighborhoods in Jerusalem where all sectors lived peacefully with one another, until a few extremist Haredim came and decided to change the neighborhood’s character by force—whether by blocking roads on the Sabbath on their own initiative, or demanding that stores open on the Sabbath be closed, or even pushing the Religious Zionist public out of the neighborhood synagogues (see the controversy over the synagogue in Givat HaMivtar). See the article: https://www.makorrishon.co.il/opinion/58021/

Those are different issues. If that’s the case, then the protests are justified (I didn’t read the above link).

In my opinion, generally speaking there should always be symmetry. If Yossi is bothered by me making noise in the middle of the night, then I’m not willing for him to make noise for me in the middle of the night either, even if I happen to be deaf. Why? First, because as a psychological fact, asymmetry is annoying even if there is no theoretical justification for it. Second, and more importantly, as quite a few people have already pointed out, otherwise nobody has any motivation to refrain from restricting others under the pretext of being harmed. Whoever departs from the baseline situation (which itself needs discussion) should bear the costs, and no one else. The harm is certainly real, but without incentives nothing ever moves, and the incentive can be either equal compensation or equal restriction.
That said, I think that in concrete cases the opposition of secular people and others is often just plain repulsive aversion to Haredim (and as a counterreaction I myself am, with God’s help, repelled by those opponents), but an improper motive does not invalidate the conclusion if there are other justifications for it.

Benjamin Goyerlyin,

Why aren’t you surprised, asking, and demanding answers about the behavior of the hilltop youth or the various settlers?

Why aren’t you surprised, asking, and demanding answers about the behavior of the far-left, or even those who aren’t far-left?

Why aren’t you surprised, asking, and demanding answers about the behavior of wild-police officers?

Why aren’t you surprised, asking, and demanding answers about soldiers who went astray and lost their human image?

Why are you fixated דווקא on Haredim????????????????

Benjamin,

I’d suggest you vary things a bit.

Instead of asking for the Rabbi’s response to every publication in “Kikar HaShabbat,” try asking for a response in “Kikar HaShabbat” to every post the Rabbi puts up here on the site.

What do you think?