Haredi writers return fire to A.B. Yehoshua

Last weekend, Israeli writer A.B. Yehoshua incited sharply against the haredi public. "The haredi terrorism endangers our lives and our existence here," he said in an interview with Yedioth Ashdod.

Today (Sunday) some haredi writers and journalists join forces to respond to A.B. Joshua.

Rabbi Moshe Grilak, editor of the Mishpacha magazine and writer, suggests in a conversation with Behadrey Haredim how to calm things down. Tomorrow Grilack is planning to devote a newspaper column which will deal with the words of the Israeli writer.

"This is a serious expression," he says at the start of the discussion. "such which imposes on him a great stain. Every person in the world knows how to behave and act against terrorism. The significance of the Israeli writer is that not Hezbollah, Hamas or Iran have to act against the haredim, but the Israeli public itself."

"A leftist Yigal Amir will rise up and do something," says Rabbi Grilack to the question what such a statement might cause. "Terrorism has one and unequivocal answer. Rightists who spoke against the Oslo Agreements is nothing compared to what people are saying in our time against the haredi public. If we take for example the Palestinian incitement against Israel and replace the word Israel with the word 'haredi' we will get an almost complete match."

During the conversation, Rabbi Grilack recalled another unfortunate statement from the mouth of A. B. Yehoshua. "In a debate a few years ago," he says. "in the center of which stood the settlers, the writer said, 'No harm will be done by a small civil war which will cleanse the area. It seems that this time we are on target for this extreme person in his thoughts."

Finally he states that one can change the atmosphere. "If we limit the incitement by way of dialogue, we will have a better chance to pass the message. A writer such as him could say he is angry with the haredim - and we will have the means to explain to him that the opposite is true."

Ruderman: barrier of ignorance, we have mekarev him

Zalman Ruderman, journalist and author, thinks that Yehoshua's serious expression "there are those who would say that one should relate to it with complete disregard or contempt" At the same time, he said that "disregard and contempt are not a 'comment' and if they ask for a response, it should be factual."

"The voices made by the writer are conditioned reflexes of fear and aversion from the different and unknown, reflexes which normally A.B. Yehoshua himself warns against, as they relate to the Arabs and other minorities. There he actually calls to break the barrier of fear and alienation by dialogue and familiarity. But this approach, it turns out, is not valid when the different and the other is - Haredi".

Ruderman believes that if the author was familiar with the Haredi world and its culture, he would not have expressed himself this way. "The man lives in a bubble, in a one-shade world, hence his fear of us. To this must be added the fear of the constant growth of the haredi community, naturally, thanks to the return of broad audiences to the sources".

Ruderman says that Yehoshua's words did not "cross the lines" because the haredi public is satiated with offensive expressions, which are insulting and arrogant."

In light of all this and the fact that "this is a person who is for many in the Israeli public a figure, and his statement has an impact, Ruderman believes that "even with AB Yehoshua one should use the attitude of "yemin mekarevet" (bringing close). If he's not brave enough to do it alone, we can help him overthrow the walls of fear of the haredi community, the by making a closer acquaintance with our way of life and cultural and vast intellectual charge from which we derive our existence."

Haim Walder: demonstrates how the Holocaust began

Author Chaim Walder chooses a stronger line than the others, "in a country in which a spoiled child is finance minister - no wonder that Yehoshua who does not know ABC is an appreciated writer", he says. "Based on what does Yehoshua determine are we are some kind of threat? The Haredi community is the most gentle, scholarly, non-militant and non-violent in there country and even the world."

"This is the only public which does not want to join the army, to take up arms and create a deterrent force against enemies who see him as kind of an existential threat to the peace-loving writer AB Yehoshua. Arabs do not constitute an existential threat according to Yehoshua and friends. To them one should reach out for peace, take care of their rights, and understand the bursts of their murderous violence. Yet the Hareidim? Ho ho, they are the real threat to existence. "

He also describes why their existence is a danger. "They're taking over 'the city of Ashdod," which as we all know was until the arrival of the haredim a city of professors and academics with a zero crime rate and as soon as they arrived ....

"I try to defend AB Yehoshua who said it in an interview published close to the Holocaust Day, and tried to explain in an original way to the young readers struggling to understand how it started then ... if that's what he meant he deserves a "yashar koach", because he could illustrate this in an excellent way! "

'בחדרי' גם ברשתות החברתיות - הצטרפו!