What are they celebrating?!

Zeh haYom Osoh Hashem...

You may have the pictures and videos of the singing and the dancing. The smiles all around, the high-fives, the hugs and kisses. The wine and the L'chaim being said in the streets. Not something you expect from Eydele Slonimer Chasidim.. The "Emanuel 22" or 33, I'm not sure how many there are, were finally released from Prison, after spending 10 days there. They say it was no picnic there; the mosquitoes were biting away, and being away from your wife and kids is not all it's cooked up to be, even if it was all expenses paid... There are so many angles and subjects to discuss here, and so little time. Now, don't get me wrong here, I have - or had, maybe? - a very soft spot in my heart for Slonim, especially Veise Slonim, but I'm really scratching my head here, trying to stay in the Charedi loop and go along with this, but having a difficult time understanding what happened here and what was accomplished! Why any of the jail was necessary and how they come out the winners if they're all gonna be together in one school for three days this week anyway, something they promised would never happen...

Let's see if I have this straight: The Chinuch Atzma'i Bais Yaakov in Emanuel, West Bank decided that some of the students there no longer met their high standards. It seems to me that they decided this mid-year, otherwise they could've just asked those students that they didn't want not to come back to school. I could be wrong, however. They kept on repeating a set of rules laid down by Rav Wosner that the ones they would not accept did not keep or would not. Yes, there were lots of people that complained that they weren't accepted, but there were kids in school that became treyf overnight, once already in school. That part is the one I don't get. "You can't change the rules in the middle of the game," is what I learned in the schoolyard. But it seems like in the mean streets of Emanuel they do things differently; they do change the rules. Either that or they put up walls in the school corridor so that they not defile their eyes and ears by seeing and hearing the dark ones. OK, not all dark ones, only some of them. I know, I know, they have Sefardi girls in their school too. Who thought of this crass, tactless way of dividing Jews? What kind of education did they get? These are heroes?!

So they mixed in the BaGatz and that's where they lost. Most Jews don't like a bunch of elitist Leftists telling them what to do, no matter what it is, especially frum people. Unless you're an elitist leftist yourself... I'm sure there were lots of Rabbonim that would've taken their (Laloum & Co.) side, they even insist that had the Slonimer Rebbe known what his people in Emanuel were up to he would've brought an end to it immediately! Which shows you that they chose not to besmirch even their greatest adversary in this case. So they learned from the Kanoyim how to make a production and got everybody involved in a very short period of time. Hundreds of thousands (of Ashkenazim) came and sanctified Hashem's name. They - the parents - promised that they'd never back down, even if they were threatened with death by firing squad - as the Slonimer Rebbe put it - and even if it was only for a few days. We see how that promise was kept... So what was the point of these fathers and mothes in jail anyway, just to prove a point, to send a message to BaGatz? what about all the innocent kids who were blacklisted, was the point made on their backs?

Then there was the Thursday night cholent and melava malka at the prison... I realize Israelis don't work or do much else, but where do people find the time to do all this? Oh, right. they don't work. Then came the non-stop celebration and the victory laps and parades. Hello? anybody home? You compromised your so-called values here, even if ony for 3 days, why are you so happy, just because they were released? This wasn't the Rubashkin Trial, we all knew it was only for 2 weeks in the first place. Whatever. And they all take credit for this great victory! everybody from Meir Porush to Yankel Litzman to Eli Yishai to Rav Ovadia, for whom this may have been a vendetta against his "disobedient" son Reb Yaakov, may he have a refuah sheleimoh. Shas did nothing the whole time when this was going through the Court, they allowed Laloum to do their dirty work for them, since they too complain that they're shut out of the Ashkenazi mosdos. And now they take the credit... There's lots more to discuss, and I know I had more on my mind, but it's way past my bedtime. I'm sure they'll all come up in the comments section. I know I'd like to know why the Slonimer's first stop was to Rechov Chanan 10.... They always did have that lack of chassidishe shtoltz - well, not always, only the last 2 generations.


A visit to Rav Elyashiv...