Tel-Chai Nation

Rikki Sitton, director of the Havruta Project, wrote on YnetNews about the Haredi teens who threw stones at a girl they thought was a lesbian last week in Ganei Tikva, and says:

I have no idea if the stone-throwers from last week could be defined as haredim, but their behavior proves that they do not act according to the laws of the Torah. The teenagers acted they way they did despite the education they received, not because of it.

He's right they weren't acting according to Torah beliefs. The problem is, when you have a lot of different Haredi sects, some of which are so insular they can resort to questionable education about "outsiders", one can raise a legitimate argument that the scholars aren't teaching according to the laws of Torah. And if they don't follow or interpret the beliefs correctly, then it shouldn't come as any surprise the Haredi education system is failing. And when some Haredis who realize hostility to women is wrong stand by silently regardless, they too are guilty of something not unlike Kitty Genovese syndrome.

Sitton argues that secular education has its faults, and he's right. But anyone who says religious education is literally better in every way, shape and form without checking in on every movement's inner MO - including how their spiritual leaders speak - is deluding themselves. I think that's why some inspection has to be done to see if they're stooping to the kind of reprehensible behavior the spiritual leader of the Satmar sect was during the Weberman trial.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Judaism, misogyny, Moonbattery