Q&A: Guests Who Tell Stories…
Guests Who Tell Stories…
Question
How is one supposed to relate to information like this?
Relatives from abroad stayed with us over the holiday and said that where they live, everyone is careful to separate garbage for environmental reasons.
And inspectors check the bins, and if they catch improperly sorted trash, the person gets such a fine that he remembers it for many long years, and from then on never forgets and never gets confused again.
Everyone except for a clearly Hasidic area, where this “decree” does not actually apply, because all the inspectors know not to come near…
He sees this as a sign of some kind of success and honor for the community operators…
I saw it as a great disgrace and a desecration of God’s name, because any decent person who sees this will be completely convinced — and rightly so — that these are not the ones who bear God’s name and goodness in the world.
Who is right?
Answer
You are.
Discussion on Answer
If the authorities act disproportionately as you wrote [“the person gets such a fine that he remembers it for many long years and from then on never forgets and never gets confused again” “people get hit with fines for improper parking left and right with no consideration whatsoever”], is it not justified to act so that they can get around the harsh law that shows no consideration??
The question is specifically about Hasidic behavior as opposed to the behavior of the other people living there.
If there are people who try to park legally, and people who try to separate waste for the sake of sustainability, and there are those who do not.
And this is on a group level.
Is this the people whom God has chosen?
Is this a light unto the nations?
Or does every upright person recoil from their deeds?
If the question is a specific one, then when there is a disproportionate law [that is, excessive strictness in enforcing the law in a disproportionate way (incidentally, according to the claim of the rest of the population as well)] everyone has the right, if he can, to see to it that they ease up a bit, especially during certain periods when there is congestion and the like (holidays).
The fact that Jewish community operators look after the citizens should not express disgust but caring,
and what connection is there to the statement that this is the people whom God has chosen?
I was happy with the short and clear answer.
They also said that people get hit with fines for improper parking left and right.
With no consideration whatsoever.
And the same goes on the non-Jewish holidays,
except maybe for a day or two that are really the main holiday for the non-Jews, and then they take that into account and everyone can park however and wherever he wants.
But the community operators arranged it so that for all 30 days of Tishrei and all 30 days of Nisan there are no parking fines, and everyone does whatever he wants.
Again, in his view:
honor and success for the community operators, and let the non-Jews burst.
In my opinion, it is disgraceful behavior that shows before the eyes of the nations that these are not the ones who bear God’s name and goodness in the world.
Does the Rabbi also think that here too I am right and not the guests?