Hungary: Jewish Journalist, “Proudly Anti-Semitic” Writing March 28, 2008

So yeah this is disgusting.

Zsolt Bayer, a journalist of self-described Jewish descent, has published a piece Hungary’s Free Democrats party describes as “proudly anti-Semitic” in the conservative Hungarian daily newspaper Magyar Hirlap, saying that Hungarian Jewish journalists “are vilifying the Arabs and [main opposition] Fidesz, and us all. Because they hate us more than we hate them… their mere existence justifies anti-Semitism.”

I hate Islamophobia wholeheartedly, as all observant Jews should — as it is written, “can one love the Creator and not love His creations?” The Mishnah in Sanhedrin (4:5) clearly forbids all forms of racial and ethnic hatred for Jews, and the Ramba”m and his son R’ Avraham both speak of Islam as being non-idolatrous and a kosher form of non-Jewish worship. To say that vilification of Arabs is wrong is a good call by all accounts.

But to say Jewish journalists are “urinating into the national swimming pool,” and “sully the reputation of Hungary”? When he says Jewish journalists are vilifying “us all” — he clearly shows: his Jewish ancestry is no bar to his making inflammatory statements which could have far-reaching ramifications for all Jews in the media industry in Hungary.

The leader of Hungary’s Conservative Party called Bayer’s statements “bewildering, revolting and scandalous” and condemned the article, saying:

“Magyar Hirlap has stepped beyond a line which no one should cross.”

Mr. Bayer also reportedly “openly declares himself an anti-Semite” according to Hungary’s MTI.

Magyar Hirlap has now, G-d willing, justifiedly lost a “senior contributor”. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

Dutch Jewish Producer: “Geert Wilders Is A Bigot” March 24, 2008

I feel like a broken record but I had to chronicle this little piece of Jewish-Muslim unity, from the Monthly Review Foundation’s MR Zine.

Jewish TV producer Harry De Winter has blasted Geert Wilders’ anti-Islam film aspirations with a provocative advertisement on the front page of the Dutch de Volkskrant:

TV Producer Harry de Winter, President of the board of the foundation Een Ander Joods Geluid [Another Jewish Voice], today placed a remarkable advertisement on the front page of the newspaper Volkskrant. De Winter puts Geert Wilders’s criticism of Muslims in the same category as anti-Semitism…

What is your message?

[De Winter:] “We Jews know better than anyone else what this sort of discrimination can lead to. Wilders claims that the Muslims must be dealt with and that the Koran is a fascist book. That’s how the persecution of Jews once started, by generalization. Therefore, it is time for a sharper criticism from the Jewish community. If you say the same thing about the Jews or Israel, you are considered an anti-Semite and ostracized. It is good that this feeling of justice is so strong, but, for me, there is no difference between the yarmulke and the headscarf.”

The ad reads:

“If Wilders had said the same thing about Jews (and the Old Testament) as he does about Muslims (and the Koran), he would have been ostracized a long time ago and accused of anti-Semitism.”

Anti-religious prejudice — whether Islamophobia or anti-Semitism — is never OK and baruch Hashem Mr. De Winter has come out publicly to say so. He says he hopes to “get support from the whole Jewish community” — he already has mine.

Geert Wilders and Islamophobic Incitement

Geert Wilders, the Islamophobic (not, he says, to be confused with anti-Muslim, which would be wrong) right-wing Dutch MP who everyone loves to hate has decided to go full-speed ahead with releasing his anti-Islam film, Fitna — which has already begun to spark outrage throughout the European Union and the Muslim world:

Already, 15,000 people have protested in Afghanistan against the film, burning Dutch flags.

Nato commanders say that the Taliban could use it to whip up more anger and the Dutch ambassador in Malaysia said protests could lead to “dozens of deaths”. Indonesia, the most populous Muslim nation, said the film would threaten peace.

In a speech to the European parliament in Strasbourg this year, the Grand Mufti of Syria warned of global consequences. “If there is unrest, bloodshed and violence after the broadcast of the Koran film, Wilders will be responsible,” he said.

The website for the film - fitnathemovie.com - was taken offline by its Internet Service Provider, Network Solutions, for the flagrant violation of its acceptable use policy which bans such inciting speech.

Of course, like minds flock together — the Czech far-right National Party has offered to step up and broadcast the movie, offering Wilders asylum and protection in the Czech Republic in an “undisclosed location” should any attempts be made on his life.

And all this for what? To continue to give a voice to this man’s racist diatribe? This is someone who has called Islamic society “retarded” and inferior, and who has called the Qur’an a “fascist text”? Where is the heter, who gave this man permission, to just patently diss 1/6 of humanity like this?

Would he honestly be able to stomach an equivalent diss against his own faith, his own background, his own culture? And the National Party will be equally responsible if they take the disastrous step of broadcasting Fitna in lieu of Network Solutions.

Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard told the Dutch De Volksrant in an exclusive interview that:

Dutch politician Geert Wilders should definitely air his anti-Quranfilm, Danish cartoonist Kurt Westergaard says Monday in an exclusive interview in the Dutch newspaper ‘de Volkskrant’.

Westergaard says he does not understand Dutch politicians who say that Wilders should not air his film. ‘There is not a single politician in Denmark that would state a similar thing. That would mean political suicide for him. Every Danish politician knows you should never limit the freedom of speech.’

Westergaard does not regret his caricatures of the prophet Muhammad ‘at all’. ‘It started out as and still is a matter of freedom of speech.’ Westergaard considers starting this debate as a ‘duty’ of newspapers and cartoonists. ‘Muslims are to accept that.’

Muslims are to “accept that”? Freedom of speech, as the Egyptian ambassador to Indonesia already said, is circumscribed by a sense of responsibility which must likewise never be compromised — the International Human Rights Law makes provisions for hate speech and related things.

How is Westergaard living, by the way?

Death threats have forced Westergaard to live in safe houses. He will soon be moving to a new shelter for the sixth time.

He was first criticized after he had drawn a picture of the prophet Muhammed wearing a bomb-shaped turban for the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten. His caricatures were recently republished by several newspapers in Denmark. Three men plotting an attack on his life were arrested mid February….More than 200 thousand people demonstrated against the Danish cartoons and the Dutch film of Wilders in the Afghan city of Jalalabad on Sunday. ‘Death to Denmark, death to the Nederlands’, the crowd shouted.

So Wilders is willing to go through this, put Dutch troops on the frontlines in danger, cause millions of euros in losses for Dutch businesses, potentially cause hundreds of murders, and cause a worldwide furor by insulting the faith of 1/6 of humanity — for what? What could possibly be worth it?

Obama on Wright: “Outrageously Wrong” March 23, 2008

And I agree.

Rev. Jeremiah Wright’s decision to publish a Hamas manifesto in his church bulletin — perhaps one of the most abrasive things one could print in one’s church newsletter — seems to be part of his now increasingly indefensible MO. Obama has called the decision “outrageously wrong” and told the JTA:

“I have already condemned my former pastor’s views on Israel in the strongest possible terms, and I certainly wasn’t in church when that outrageously wrong Los Angeles Times piece was re-printed in the bulletin,” Obama said in a statement e-mailed to JTA late Thursday.

“Hamas is a terrorist organization, responsible for the deaths of many innocents, and dedicated to Israel’s destruction, as evidenced by their bombarding of Sderot in recent months. I support requiring Hamas to meet the international community’s conditions of recognizing Israel, renouncing violence, and abiding by past agreements before they are treated as a legitimate actor.”

Obama needs to keep this guy as far away as possible.

Y-Love at SXSW 2008: The Revolution Begins March 18, 2008

Those of you who are avid readers of This is Babylon know that I haven’t been blogging for a few days.

This year, I was part of the South by Southwest Festival in Austin, Texas, the music-fest which draws thousands of bands from all over the world, vying to be noticed in perhaps the most influential music conference of the season.

Some bands are content to go there to promote their music, sell some CDs, and leave as quietly as they entered. Y-LOVE, on the other hand, has a bigger agenda, one of interfaith and intercultural unity, and to this end, on Saturday night, after cries of “last call” were ringing at every bar, I decided to spread my message of “peace, love, unity and respect” in the streets.

An impromptu anti-prejudice rally ensued, and as you can see, the results were beautiful.

Just Deal With It, Gerri March 12, 2008

Geraldine Ferraro messed up. Bad. And refuses to admit it.

After making the now famous faux pas in Torrance, California’s Daily Breeze where she implied that the only reason Obama was in such a prominent position was because he happened to be black:

When the subject turned to Obama, Clinton’s rival for the Democratic Party nomination, Ferraro’s comments took on a decidedly bitter edge.

“I think what America feels about a woman becoming president takes a very secondary place to Obama’s campaign - to a kind of campaign that it would be hard for anyone to run against,” she said. “For one thing, you have the press, which has been uniquely hard on her. It’s been a very sexist media. Some just don’t like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign.

“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position,” she continued. “And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”

Obviously anyone with a shred of dignity would feel patronized by such an implication — “the only reason you’re even in here is because you’re black” — and Obama was no exception, telling the Today show:

“Part of what I think Geraldine Ferraro is doing, and I respect the fact that she was a trailblazer, is to participate in the kind of slice and dice politics that’s about race and about gender and about this and that, and that’s what Americans are tired of because they recognize that when we divide ourselves in that way we can’t solve problems.”

Obama’s campaign manager David Axelrod said that Ms. Ferraro should “be removed” from her responsibilities on the Clinton campaign, to which Clinton responded that she did “not agree” with Ms. Ferraro’s ever-so-enlightened assessment of the situation.

Marc Ambinder from The Atlantic rightfully notes, not only did Hillary not fire Ms. Ferraro, she did not denounce her statements or even “feel as if she has to apologize for Ferraro’s comments; after all, they are Ferraro’s, not her own”, according to her aides. Far worse than the “monster” comment from the Obama camp, Obama’s campaign manager David Axelrod said that for Hillary at this point, other than firing Ferraro, “there’s no other way to send a serious signal that you want to police the tone of this campaign.”

At this point, perhaps Ms. Ferraro should perhaps shut up for a while. Go below the media radar and work behind the scenes for a bit. Maybe take a strategically-timed “vacation”.

Or, she could try to make a huge stink, and try to turn the tables on Obama’s camp, claiming racism and discrimination herself and “vigorously” defending her statements:

‘Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let’s address reality and the problems we’re facing in this world, you’re accused of being racist, so you have to shut up,’ Ferraro said. ‘Racism works in two different directions. I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white. How’s that?’…

Ferraro said she was simply stating an obvious truth, as seen in exit polls that show Obama taking as much as 80 percent of the black vote in the Democratic primaries.

” ‘In all honesty, do you think that if he were a white male, there would be a reason for the black community to get excited for a historic first?’ Ferraro said. ‘Am I pointing out something that doesn’t exist?’ …”

She says her comments were not racist, but a fact, and as far as Hillary is concerned, the New York Times says there is “no indication” that Ms. Ferraro will step down from her duties. And her attempts to throw gender into the mix and cry “sexist media” and portray herself as the dual victim of patriarchy and anti-white racism caused Feministing.com to respond simply, “F you, Geraldine Ferraro.”
(more…)

“The Redneck Shop”: The KKK Superstore March 11, 2008

Introducing “The Redneck Shop”.

Serving racists in Laurens, South Carolina since 1996.
(more…)

Jewish-Muslim Unity… in Kuwait’s Al-Watan!

It’s about damn time. Baruch Hashem and AlhamduliLl-h for Abdallah Al-Hadlaq.

Writing for the Kuwaiti Al-Watan newspaper, Mr. Al-Hadlaq wrote a scathing opinion piece (Arabic) condemning the “terrorism” of Hamas and Hezbollah in last week’s massacre at Yeshivat Merkaz HaRav in Jerusalem. Mr. Al-Hadlaq, among other things, calls the attack “a barbaric murder of eight children who were engaged in religious study” and says that the “odious and inhuman terror attack exemplifies the extremist and inhuman path of the terror organizations Hamas and Hizbullah.”

Indeed, as the Jerusalem Post notes:

The writer goes on to assert that “the terror attack must prompt the free world to comprehend the magnitude of terrorism and its threats and to realize that a clear and unequivocal stance must be assumed against it. There can be no negotiations with terrorism that indiscriminately aims itself at students, women and babies without any consideration for the means and the targets.”

Contrasting the terror attack with the IDF’s operations in the Gaza Strip, the writer explains that “there is no link between a murderous terrorist act and the inadvertent killing of civilians in response to the firing of rockets by Hamas.”

The piece presented a stark contrast to the main current in the Arab press, which presented almost sweeping praise for the “heroic operation.”

The Google-translated version (which I’m sure does not do the original Arabic piece justice) shows Mr. Al-Hadlaq referring numerous times to Hamas as a terrorist organization, and speaking of the incident as ” الهجوم الارهابي /al’hajoum al’irhabi” — the terrorist attack carried out by the “evil Alliance” of Hamas and Hezbollah.

(On the other hand, here’s a contrasting opinion on Hamas from a local chapter of an American organization.)

Scathing criticism of Hamas — هجمات الارهابي (hajmaat al’irhabi), the terrorist organization — and calling terrorism for what it is — in defense of murdered innocent Jews engaged in the service of G-d. At least one person is standing up for human life — indiscriminately — in the face of a pro-Hamas media deluge.

A brilliant display of unity. Well done, Mr. Al-Hadlaq, and well done, Al-Watan. Kudos. May the anti-terrorist voices only multiply exponentially throughout the Arabic-speaking world, and the world as a whole.

Awakening the “Media Beast”

New York Magazine’s Daily Intelligencer today features a story from columnist John Heilemann, “Can Obama Handle the Awakened Media Beast?” which speaks about the transition from the media’s having dealt with Obama with “kid gloves” to now, where Obama is being caught up in a journalistic flood:

By now, of course, it’s clear to anyone with two eyes in his head that the kid-gloves days are over for Obama. Suddenly, the press is treating him more like it has handled Clinton since, er, day one.

As a front-runner, in other words.

The shift in tone and temper is coming as something of a shock to Obamaland, and not least to the candidate himself. In a post a few days ago, I remarked on the somewhat contentious news conference that Obama held last Monday in San Antonio, the one that ended with reporters annoyed at its brevity and Obama saying, plaintively, “C’mon, guys, I just answered, like, eight questions.”

Last night at dinner with two of the savviest political analysts I know, one of them maintained that this was an utterance infinitely revealing about Obama — the equivalent of “It depends on what the meaning of ‘is’ is” for WJC or “No controlling legal authority” for Al Gore. I’m not sure I’d go quite that far, but I do believe that it speaks volumes about BHO’s mind-set and expectations regarding the national media…It also gives off the distinct whiff of arrogance and entitlement that’s lately been emanating from him. “Eight questions! OMG! That’s, like, three more than I usually answer — and five more than I should have to answer!”

First of all, the “arrogance” and “entitlement” crack was a low blow, especially in light of the fact that at least a few people are saying that Hillary Clinton’s offering the more-popular and better-liked number-one rated Obama her number two spot in light of number clearly not in her favor looks a lot like entitlement. Were Obama less intelligent, I’d say he doesn’t know how to spell the word “arrogance.” Nothing in his media dealings reflects anything haughty.

However, perhaps we could say that Obama may have bordered on naivete with the statement. One of his campaign bigwigs did just call Hillary a “monster” (with an explicit “ugh”), and perhaps Obama simply underestimated precisely how much pressure is behind a full-on media deluge. Eight questions in a row? Granted, not much for any person to deal with. Eight questions in under 60 seconds from four different reporters on minute details of the same topic? Yes, it can be a bit stressful — as I know from personal experience.

However, this is the world of Web2.0/3.0, where everyone with hands and a cell phone is a media outlet scrambling for a unique angle. Even today’s “press corps”, once reserved for the Sam Donaldsons and Walter Cronkites of the world, is now much more populous, and the candidate which may have had to answer 30-50 questions in a weekend now has to answer 200-500, and Obama may not have expected this.

Obama, however, is intelligent, adapts to situations well, and has the judgment to navigate through any media Charybdis any network can conjure up. There is no doubt in my mind that Obama has learned from any mistakes he has made, and is much more prepared now than he was before.

Jewish Women of the Hijab and Burqa II March 10, 2008

“Muslim women are imitating Jews” — “M” of Beit Shemesh, follower of the new ultra-modest “sal” style

I was walking down 13th Avenue in Brooklyn’s Hasidic neighborhood of Boro Park a few weeks ago, and I saw a woman walking down the street decked out in a hijab and an abaya.

My first thought was that she was an observant Muslim woman — there is no shortage of hijabi women in Brooklyn — but her Hasidic female walking companion and her shopping bags made me realize she was Jewish. My realization of her Jewishness was followed soon by a sense of anxiety.

“Please tell me this woman is Persian, please let this woman be Persian”, I muttered under my breath as the woman approached. Many Iranian Jews in America continue to wear the clothing of their homeland, with some older Jewish women retaining the chadors they had worn in Iran. As she approached, I could tell by her accent — the woman was Hasidic and she was apparently a follower of the hijab and abaya-advocating movement of ultra-Orthodox women taking hold in Israel.

“They’re here,” I thought to myself. “They’re here in Boro Park.”

Friday’s Times Online featured a story about the Jewish women of the veil, and profiled “Sarah” and “M”, two of now 100 women in Beit Shemesh who have begun to go about fully veiled. “M” tells of how her first encounter with a woman in a hijab sal was at the Western Wall in Jerusalem:

“I saw a woman who looked like an Arab and I was scared. I got near her, to try to determine why she was there, and saw that she was praying in Hebrew. I began to talk to her and became curious and then attended her classes,” she said.

The woman M met that day was a religious instructor in Beit Shemesh, and the founder of the sal style. “We have been criticised by so many in the community who see what we are doing as the opposite of Jewish law. Many women have stopped wearing the sal because of pressure from their husbands or rabbis,” said M, who adds that her family persuaded her to stop wearing the garment.

“Muslim women are imitating Jews to try to gain God’s favour with modesty. The truth is that the women of Israel are lessening in God’s eyes because the Arabs are more modest in dress. If the Jews want to conquer the Arabs in this land they must enhance their modesty,” added M, who covered her face for over a year, but currently wears just a loose cloak over her garments.

One hijab-wearing self-described “Conservative Jew” talks about how she has endured difficulties since taking on hijab and jilbab.

I can’t think that this is happening in a vacuum. One commenter on the charedi newswire Vos Iz Neias implied that the same person who had rocks thrown on 13th Avenue at an “immodest store” in January was behind the recent concert ban.

Are we really witnessing the beginning of the ultra-radicalization of Orthodox Judaism? And if we are, what effect will this have on already-fragmented American Jewry? How will this impact those of us who have never had such a phenomenon impact them directly? The concert ban, as was shown, was just a recycled one from the charedi community in Jerusalem — how many more things will be imported from Meah Shearim and Beit Shemesh?

Moshiach. Now.

“The floors are littered with holy books covered in blood” March 7, 2008

Only the most accomplished linguist could properly strike a phrase to accurately describe the carnage which occurred in Jerusalem’s Merkaz HaRav yeshiva today. Two Hezbollah-affiliated terrorists from the “Galilee Freedom Battalion” dressed as charedi Orthodox Jews, entered the yeshiva and one opened fire, showering the library with 500-600 bullets.
“The whole building looked like a slaughterhouse. The floor was covered in blood. The students were in class at the time of the attack…”
“The floors are littered with holy books covered in blood.”
– Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, ZAK”A rescue service
When it was over, 8 yeshiva students would be dead, another minyan of ten injured, and the two terrorists dead at the hands of a well-prepared yeshiva student, Yitzchak Dadon, armed with nothing but a rifle and a good vantage point.

Here’s why this story is so particularly disturbing to me — to the point of hysteria — a murder in a place of Torah scholarship says something more horrifying than anything which could happen on a bus.

It is written in Jewish tradition that the Melaveh Malkah meal, eaten by observant Jews at the conclusion of Shabbat, is done in honor of King David, who died on Saturday night, Jewish tradition teaches. It is written that King David knew that he had been decreed to have a short life span (only 70 years, borrowed from Adam’s life, who was supposed to live 1000 years), and that he would die at the conclusion of Shabbat, and it was for this reason that every Saturday night he would celebrate G-d’s keeping him alive by honoring the Shabbat one last time.

However, during the Shabbat, he would still take his own spiritual precautions just to be safe. He would engage exclusively in the study of Torah — because he knew the Torah would protect him from Death. Once, the angel sent to take King David’s soul was exasperated — he knew that he could do nothing while King David was engaged in the study of Torah — and decided to make a noise outside to catch King David off guard. The interruption of study was long enough for him to be able to take King David’s soul, and it was then that he died.

Torah is supposed to protect people. People aren’t supposed to die while holding their volumes of Talmud in their hands. “Holy books covered in blood”? How does this happen? Why isn’t the Torah protecting us?

Stories like this shake me to my core — things like this are supposed to be metaphysical impossibilities. In yeshiva they would tell us stories of how during Gulf War I, one of the most righteous heads of yeshivas would sit on the roof of the yeshiva and learn Torah continuously in hopes that the merit of their learning would protect the students, and those students would be proudly telling these stories, alive at Shabbos tables all over Brooklyn.

Forget the security — metaphysically, how could a terrorist walk into a room full of volumes and volumes of Torah and shoot down 8 people who dedicated a year of their lives to learning them? On the spiritual plane, what breach in our collective soul’s “security fence” was exploited to facilitate such death?

Israel is not Canada, is not Switzerland, is not Taiwan. Its security is not solely in the hands of its military and paramilitary forces, as it is written in Deuteronomy 11, Israel is “a land which the L-rd, your G-d, looks after; His eyes are upon it continually”. When something like this happens in a place of Torah scholarship in the holy city of Jerusalem, when yeshiva guys dedicated to Torah learning spill their lifeblood over the text of Gemara they were just learning, when a room full of prayers requesting life go so pungently replied to with a sharp “no” (on the physical plane) — then one who believes in G-d takes pause.

Hezbollah can not be the only reason this happened — though their murderous evil will be paid back to them by G-d eventually (Mishnah). We must put our minds, hearts, and souls into the spiritual reconnaissance mission we have been called upon — to find out where our “security breach” is, repair it, and come back united in tikkun, because apparently we are in dire straits.

“The Torah, Israel, and the Holy One, Blessed be He are One.” If the Torah is not protecting members of the nation of Israel IN Israel, what does that say?

We must ask ourselves “how did this happen” and prevent, both physically and spiritually, such carnage from ever happening again.

“The Battle for the Future of Orthodox Judaism” March 5, 2008

Life of Rubin, the Orthodox blog whose fan I have been for quite some time now, has been vocal in his opposition to the recent ban on concerts which has been legislated in the Orthodox community, in reaction to the “Big Event” which was scheduled for March 9th. LOR says, basically, that this is not about Lipa, or Shlomie, or Sheya — this is far bigger, and with far more gravity:

This is no longer about Lipa Schmeltzer or Jewish Music. This is about the future of Frum Yidden everywhere. This is not just a topic of the week it’s a battle for the next generation.

It has now been revealed that at least some of the rabbis who signed the ban were lied to — indeed, Rav Shmuel Kamenetzky shlit”a, BloginDm explains, had already previously said he was not opposed to “all concerts”. Some $700,000 originally earmarked for orphans in Israel will now not reach the intended recipients as a result of the concert’s cancellation.

In the Jewish Week, one Flatbush resident, identified only as “Mendy”, voiced his disgust with the controversial ban, saying that he could not believe that Jewish concerts were worthy of so much rabbinical scrutiny. “With all the problems our community is grappling with — teens leaving in unprecedented numbers, prominent yeshivas accused of knowingly employing pedophile teachers, chasidim rioting in the streets of Borough Park…I am astonished that this is the issue these 33 illustrious rabbis have chosen to tackle…Our children need an outlet, and what could be better than a frum concert? Riots are OK, concerts are ossur [forbidden]?”

While one blogger said the ban was evidence of rabbinical authority being raised to an uncomfortably Divine level in the Orthodox world, my sentiments are more like those of Sheya Mendlowitz, who called the fatwa ban just two people going and obtaining signatures “in a very slimy and shady way, two very dangerous people” in the Jerusalem Post:

Mendlowitz says he is owed roughly $700,000. Initially [A. Friedman] offered to pay part of that sum, but under the condition that Mendlowitz sign off concerts forever. “Who’s he to tell me not to do concerts, this is absolutely ridiculous,” said Mendlowitz. “They want to shut down the Jewish concert business, because they don’t feel it’s the proper place for their followers.”

…Mendlowitz is confident concerts will continue as they have up till now. “There are many rabbis, and I respect all of them, but I have enough to rely on for what I’m doing.”

“We have now banned sporting events, concerts, amusement parks, the circus & malls among other things. Of course, I don’t argue…But what in heavens name do we want people to do realistically for recreation?”
–commenter on Yeshiva World.com
It was to this end that Jewish music heavyweight Mordechai Ben David sounded in with his still, small voice of protest on the charedi newswire VIN. He was reminded of how he, too, once wanted to take the “high road” Lipa Shmeltzer is now taking, to stop doing concerts, and was told something drastically different by his rabbis:

R’ Mordechai served as the Holy Ribnitzer Rebbe’s Zt”l gabbai for appox. 5years. But during those years—when concerts still had mixed seating audiences — he asked his Rebbe many times: “Es pas nisht…”, feeling strange serving as a Rebbe’s gabbai on the one hand and singing at such concerts at the other. Nevertheless, R’ Mordechai reports, the Rebbe never told him to stop but rather always encouraged him to continue with his success.

About 20 years ago, after a draining 10-concert/10-city world tour, MBD felt he didn’t have the energy to continue doing concerts, and thus decided to stop performing. But he kept receiving calls. Upon a visit to Israel he mentioned it to the the Lelover Rebbe, Rabbi Moshe Mordche Biderman Zt’L with whom he had a close relationship, of his decision. to which the Rebbe responded, “Who gave you permission to stop? Did you ask anyone? When you get a matana from Hashem, you can’t just stop. Continue singing and have great Hatzlocho.”

Ten years ago, before a major concert in Israel for the Zichron Menachem organization, two askanim tried to stop it, even meeting with the Amshinover Rebbe trying to get him to convince MBD not to appear. Nevertheless, the Rebbe told MBD not to stop, and even gave him chizuk to do the concert.

Indeed, as one commenter on the post notes, when asked if owning a radio was forbidden decades ago, the Satmar Rav, a revered head of a sect, said that he could not forbid it because to decree something that the population could not/would not uphold would decrease the esteem of rabbinical authorities in the eyes of the people. Seeing the big picture — that of rabbinical Judaism as a whole — and not the small picture with Lipa’s face in it.

BloginDm also asks his thought-provoking “20 Questions” about the ban, which also got me thinking — if we are talking about a fight for the holiness of the Jewish Nation, then why does said fight have to involve lying to Torah giants, physical violence (or threats thereof), and the depriving of $700,000 from poor orphans? Does G-d not say in the Torah, “You shall not wrong any widow or orphan. If ever you wrong them and they cry out to me, I will surely hear their cry, My wrath will flare up, and I will kill you” (Exodus 22:21-23)? Is a poor bride not supposed to cry when she can’t afford to pay for what is supposed to be the happiest day of her life?

What are we supposed to do for entertainment? Life of Rubin alluded to kids-at-risk being pushed further and further away from a kosher way of life by having their alternatives oppressively restricted — how many more drug addicts will be spawned for lack of a Hasidic outlet in which to socialize? How many more Hasidic girls will, unable to hang out with Rivky and Shaindy at the MBD show, will now meet Ruchie and Bracha at the club?

Poor orphans perhaps unable to marry. Kids going further off the path away from Judaism. Perhaps a blow to one of the cornerstones of the faith of Orthodox Judaism. I hope this askan is proud of himself for his lies and pseudo-zeal, he really does now have quite the resume attached to his soul.

Moshiach, again, if you’re reading this — please, save us now.