Tel-Chai Nation

The cult leader who ran an anti-military campaign opposed to recruiting ultra-Orthodox followers appears to have met with divine retribution:

An ultra-Orthodox rabbi behind long-running demonstrations against the military draft of the haredi community died overnight Saturday.

Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach suffered a heart attack during Shabbat at his Jerusalem home. First responders tried to resuscitate Auerbach and he was taken to the city’s Shaare Zedek Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

Auerbach was 86. His funeral is set for Sunday morning.

Auerbach, who was one of the prominent Lithuanian (non-Hassidic) rabbis in the ultra-Orthodox community in Israel, was the leader of the so-called Jerusalem Faction, which has been at the forefront of protests against the conscription of members of the ultra-Orthodox community.

The demonstrations turned violent at times and featured young religious students blocking main streets in Jerusalem and other cities with large ultra-Orthodox populations.

Those demonstrations could've made it difficult to get hospital patients to medical facilities on time, among other terrible problems. Far as I'm concerned, Auerbach's not somebody whose loss should be mourned. His actions were nothing less than anti-Israelism. The cult is currently leaderless but looking for replacements:

The extremist Jerusalem Faction is now looking for a leader after Rabbi Shmuel Auerbach suddenly passed away on Saturday.

The Jerusalem Faction has been locked in a power struggle with the mainstream haredi community ever since the death of Torah Sage Rabbi Sholom Elyashiv in 2012.

The Jerusalem Faction considered Bnei Brak-based Rabbi Aharon Leib Shteinman to be an illegitimate leader, and revolted against his authority, splitting the hierarchical haredi world.

Now, after Auerbach's death, members of the community are searching for a new leader to helm the extremist group.

On Sunday, the movement's Hapeles magazine published an open letter signed by 12 rabbis who say that they will head the movement as a rabbinical council.

However, Rabbi Auerbach's brother, Rabbi Azriel Auerbach, is reportedly also interested in heading the faction. Rabbi Azriel Auerbach is considered more moderate than his brother on the issue of the haredi draft and does not condone violent riots and attacks on haredi soldiers.

Sorry, I don't buy. The cult, as I call it, should just dissolve into nothingness from whence it came. We don't need more terrible movements like these corrupting tons of young men and women.

Labels: haredi corruption, Israel, Jerusalem, military, Moonbattery