Article about heterodox response to Meron tragedy

Alternative

Tue, May 04 2021, 9:48 pm

The Rebbitzen wrote:

Seriously the fact that it happened at a Chareidi venue, to begin with, is because the government couldn't care less about the infrastructure or the way it's built. At secular venues, the government pours in money in the millions!! So did you really think the secular CARE what happened in Meron it was "only" chareidim!

Seriously?????????
The government pours MILLIONS into Har Meron every single year. Just the arrangements for the transportation on the mountain (you can't get there by car on Lag Ba'omer) cost tens of millions.

Every year they renovate another area.

The government couldn't make rules about the area because Charedi askanim refused to let them!! That is not an area meant for so many people, no matter how many millions of shekels you pour in. But the Charedi leaders would not hear of limiting people allowed in. (Of course, the government is guilty for allowing fear of extremist riots to stop them. They turned a blind eye for years because it was easier than dealing with extremist opposition.)

At secular events, entrance is limited according to fire department guidelines. You can't just throw a private concert and expect to allow entrance to five times the capacity.

Also, it is unclear to whom Meron belongs. Several of the chassidic groups have claimed ownership of different areas there. It's unclear if it's government or private property. If the chassidic groups are right, and a certain area belongs to them, then the government has no duty to invest money there, just like the government isn't going to give me money to renovate my backyard for a party. (The government DID invest tons of money regardless, but it's a very complicated issue).

And the government declared a day of mourning on Sunday. And 95% of everyone in Israel was shocked and horrified and devastated. Yes you have 5% who will say, 'who cares, the charedim are parasites and deserve this'. They don't reflect on all the secular population. Just like hopefully you don't think the extremist minority in Meron who was yelling Nazis at policemen, hurling objects at them, and heckling female soldiers reflect all the Charedim.

Last edited by Alternative on Tue, May 04 2021, 9:55 pm; edited 2 times in total

DrMom

Tue, May 04 2021, 9:51 pm

southernbubby wrote:

I saw an article about a frum person who checked out Reform and Conservative websites to see what they had to say about the horrible tragedy and he couldn't find any reference to it at all. No thoughts and prayers or offers of help of the type that came their way from the frum community during the Tree of Life massacre.
I am sure that they don't approve of what frum people do but shouldn't they have at least offered condolences?

I have heard concern expressed by many of my non-Orthodox Jewish friends in the US. No idea about non-frum movement's websites, etc.

Out of curiosity, I did look at the Tree of Life Synagogue's website and did not see anything there, not even in the blog section. The blog seems to be updated every Thursday, so perhaps it will be mentioned this week.

https://www.treeoflifepgh.org/
https://www.treeoflifepgh.org/blog

etky

Tue, May 04 2021, 10:20 pm

Alternative wrote:

This, exactly.
Not to mention that fact that the government sued for control over the site in 2013 in order to create some sort of regulatory coherence there - a bid which was shot down by the Supreme Court which ruled that there should be some sort of 'arrangement' hammered out between the government and the four Hekdeshim (2 Ashkenazi and 2 Sephardi), each with their own particular fiefdom on the mountain.
This of course never happened.
The annual pilgrimage to Har Meron is the largest and most intricate and costly open air event in Israel that commands gargantuan government resources in terms of funds and also police manpower.
The various government ministries that are involved (Health, Public Security, Religious Affairs etc.) as well as the entire police force (policemen/women from the entire country are moved to the North to bolster forces there) do their best but tensions with the various religious organizations and political parties involved in the festivities hamper their efforts to put it mildly. To be clear, I'm not absolving any of the agencies involved of responsibility. Obviously part of the problem is also the יהיה בסדר mentality that unfortunately still reigns in too many quarters of officialdom and hopefully this terrible tragedy will work to uproot this type of complacency.

shabbatiscoming

Tue, May 04 2021, 11:39 pm

The Rebbitzen wrote:

Seriously? Why the need to say this? Have we not learned that achdut is what is missing in the jewish people?
I think you should think a bit more before posting like this, especially when the sorrow is still so fresh, at least here in Israel.
And what you are saying is definitely not true. And Im sure you know that as well.

SixOfWands

Wed, May 05 2021, 10:30 am

southernbubby wrote:

.

I think that he was looking at individual shul websites and not at large organizations. AFAIK, they didn't say anything nasty.

Not every synagogue has a website that includes news or information of that nature.

Someone mentioned Tree of Life. They appear to publish a blog that is largely the rabbi's drasha, not commentary on news or tragedies.

Out of curiosity, I wanted to see what Orthodox shuls had posted. So I googled "Brooklyn shuls"

The first (sponsored) link was Nosson's Shul in Crown Heights. https://www.nossonsshul.com/about Nothing.

The Prospect Heights Shul. https://www.phs.nyc/ Nothing.

Cong Bnai Jacob of Park Slope. http://www.cbjparkslope.org/ Nothing.

Chabad of Park Slope. https://www.chabadparkslope.com/ It COULD be on a video, but otherwise, nothing.

In fact, I checked the website of a shul that had been in the news for having been vandalized in the past couple of weeks. Not only did its website not mention Meron, it didn't mention the vandalism.

Not because they don't care, but because that's not what their websites are used for.

southernbubby

Wed, May 05 2021, 12:36 pm

SixOfWands wrote:

I think that he watched replays of Zoom services where there were no references to the tragedy. Some of these shuls have Facebook accounts where they address current events. Chabad has several websites but some are not official Chabad websites and they have Chabad news but nobody can blame Chabad if they don't like the content. The websites did report on what was happening, even if individual shuls didn't.