Underground Independence Day

-
Charedim are anti Zionist, right? I mean everyone knows that.

So how come black hats have been spotted, near picnic tables and grilling meat?! This on Yom Ha'azmaut itself, no less. Perhaps they got the date mixed up with Lag Ba'omer? Let us be Dan LeKaf Zchus.

Casual investigation amongst friends turns up the fact that the majority of us celebrated Y.A this Wednesday, with the traditional family BBQ.

Me: "So, we had this party, well actually a BBQ, everyone's on vacation you see.."

Her: "Oh, us too. We do every year. Just because of it being a vacation, of course.."

This year we even invited the neighbors, him a black hatted Kollel Avreich and all. We were a trifle scared of ruining my Shidduch reputation, but decided to risk it. They were keen on the idea, and promised to still say I'm Charedi, the next time someone calls to "find out" about me.

I wonder if this is going on in the heart of Bnai Brak too? It's certainly happening in the best neighborhoods in Jerusalem (minus Meah Shearim that is)

In fact, not even the Shtarkest of Seminaries is safe from this scourge. I remember when I climbed onto the roof of my Seminary on the Eve of Y.A, in Shana Aleph, after hearing lectures against Hertzl and his buddies all day. (No, I had no plans to jump, I just wanted to see the fireworks better.) There I found a group of Shana Bet girls, no less. (For the unitiated, Shana Bet is when you become genuinely hardcore vs. the first year's lightly brainwashed.) They were holidng little paper Magen Dovid flags, and were in the midst of cool Y.A rooftop picnic...

I have a great idea for next Yom Ha'Atzmaut, for all the poor genuine anti-Zionist Charedim, who haven't been invited to any BBQs. They can go on BBQ hunts, with the cry of "burn the infidels". This kind of travesty really shouldn't be permitted in our midst.

Comments

  1. RealistMay 3, 2009 at 8:58 AM

    As a chareidi father who regularly makes a BBQ on Yom Ha'atzmaut with his family - but does NOT consider himself to be "celebrating" the day - allow me a word of exlanation:

    We anglo-chareidim in Israel have precious little time for this sort of thing - which we were used to, love and need.

    In chutz-la'aretz there were Sundays - every single week - for visiting family and friends, for hanging out with the kids, fun day trips to parks and museums together...

    In Israel we have Fridays instead - and the kids are at school half day anyway. The day gets spent shopping or cooking for Shabbos. And then on Shabbos of course you can only see friends or family who are walking distance away - or who you have rooom to put up for Shabbos.

    So once a year this day comes along which everyone calls "chag" but you're allowed to cook and drive!!! The boys stay in yeshiva of course - but since the girls' schools are government-funded they have to close. So the girls are all home!!!

    Like - wouldn't it be stupid NOT to take advantage of it?

    ReplyDelete
  2. chevronerMay 7, 2009 at 3:18 AM

    Oh come on! Apart from the real neturei karta (yerushalmi&some chassidish groups), the general charedi oylom came to turns with the state, and has also not held itself back from benefitting from it. This whole "of course I dont celebrate xxx, i'm just taking advantage of the day" is tzavua (what's the word in english again?) And, interstingly, I find that this phenomenon is more common in Anglo-Saxon charedi communities (which often have a fair share of flip-outs who have to justify themselves in just that way, anxious that they would otherwise loose the oh-so-flattering term 'charedi'). In the educated israeli charedi world (i'm talking about the ivy-league yeshivos), people have a much more relaxed and sensible approach. Many of them (the yeshivos) eg don't say tachnun on Y.A. I have also seen Yeshiva Bochurim who are from VERY yeshivish background, masmidim and lamdanim, who went to solidarise with the poor guys from gush katif etc.
    My dear Frum n Flipped, just because you have joined a new communty, which has a lot of good in it, it doesn't mean that you have to loose your mind.
    Be Well
    A chevroner

    ReplyDelete
  3. Frum N' FlippingMay 9, 2009 at 11:48 PM

    By the ivy league yeshivas, I take it you mean chevron? Everyone knows chevron is a world unto itself. Exactly which black yeshivas don't say tachanun on Y.A?

    Solidarity with the Gush Katif Jews who were thrown out of their homes has nothing to do with zionism, it's basic menshlichkeit.

    BTW my dear Chevroner,what makes you think I've joined a new community?

    ps. tzavua= hypocritical

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Connection over Kiruv

-
I asked a girl for directions today, and we ended up chatting through the rest of our shared ten minute walk from the train station. I felt happy. Not because I saved a soul, not because I helped a secular Jew see the light, but because I made a friend. Just like Yeshivish Harry says perfectly in his post on being friends with secular Jews , relating to other Jews shouldn't be all about Kiruv, it should be about conection, and caring. Hopefully, the next time that my ten-minute-friend thinks of Chareidim, she won't think of the men throwing stones in the Meah Shearim, but of a girl who's a lot like her inside, even if she is dressed a bit differently. And you know what, even if that doesn't happen, even if our conversation changes nothing about the way she views religious Jews, it doesn't matter. Because for a few minutes, two Jewish girls were friends. And I bet that when we were smiling, God was too.
Read more

Mikvah Madness

-
It was too late. I was naked when I found out the truth. I clutched the towel around me and stared at her in horror. I was trapped. Only I could make such a stupid mistake. I missed all the clues- the sandy path that was longer than I remembered; the sign post for the Mikvah Keilim I didn't recall; the type of women inside- I should have known something was wrong when I saw the women. Nine of them, lined up in a row, one empty chair in the middle that they seemed to have saved for me, ready to interrogate me; the questions- how long I'd been married, how many times I'd been here before; the blessings that I wouldn't need to be back the next month. "I've been married six years and this is my fifth time at the Mikvah" one woman proudly told me. I tried to do the math in my head, while the other women congratulated her. The woman sitting behind the till wore a thick turban. She wasn't Simcha, the Mikvah attendant I'd come back here for. I'd ...
Read more

A Girl's Guide to Tznius Shopping in Jerusalem

-
Warning: Men should stop reading this right about now. So you're in Jerusalem, the holy city. And you want to be holy, and dress modestly. But you don't want to look holy . You want to look good . Never fear. I'm a secret Shopaholic. And arriving home loaded with shopping bags tonight, I suddenly felt like sharing my accrued wisdom with the world. This is going to be an exceedingly shallow post. 100% Chitzoniyus and Gashmiyut. My only defence is that a girl in Shidduchim has got to be well dressed! Frum stores I'm not so into shopping at Frum stores. Something about the idea of being dressed exactly the same as every girl in Bnai Brak and Sanhedria Murchevet gives me the shivers. But if you're aiming for a Frum-yet-classy look for a Simcha, where you want Tante Baila to approve of you and suggest a fine Bochur for a Shidduch, then check out One-of-a-Kind (Location: Go down Rechov Haturim, which is off Malchei Yisroel, and then turn either left or right, I...
Read more