The Katz Family Protests (Article # 64) 11/15/2007

On Sunday I headed back to work, dreading the inevitable pile of work that had accumulated in my absence. My work life is a little like a never ending sprint. I am always a couple of weeks behind in something or other and when I catch up – that is exactly when I disappear on an overseas trip for a week or more.

On my way into the office, I stopped at the YU building in Yerushalayim to meet with the Dean of Admissions regarding both Yeshiva business and getting Chaim enrolled for the September semester.

It is tough to think that we will be sending a 17 year old off to college (as a sophomore no less – having earned a full year’s credit this year). Next year he was supposed to be entering twelfth grade, not college, and then there would have been a year in Israel to follow.

I think that one of our regrets is the shortening of Chaim’s youth. He’s missed a lot of the High School experience by being in Israel and essentially skipping 2 grades. He has probably also missed out on refining some of his skills at that level, such as writing and math, that he might need later on in life.

Chaim is of course ecstatic at how things have turned out. He was always a motivated student and excelled as he went through school. He had mapped out his life’s goals in fourth grade and approached them with a great focus and commitment.

Getting into college early has encouraged him to do even more. He is talking about getting two graduate degrees (one in law and one in business) since he has the extra time (and since he thinks I am paying anyway). He has no concerns about his age or inexperience being a problem, just another issue that will fade with time.

It is a good attitude but we are worried that his confidence will become overconfidence. Not much we can do but try to keep him grounded and hope and pray.

Monday evening was looked forward to by our whole family. In response to recent hooliganism by our “friendly neighborhood Chassidic chareidim” (one woman was slapped around for not moving to the back of the bus and sitting in the “men’s section”, others are spit upon as they walk through the Chassidic neighborhood and the construction site for the new home of Mordechai’s school was graffitied), the Religious Zionist leaders in city hall called for a nonviolent demonstration of those opposed to acts of violence.

Although I write about them (hooligan chareidim) on occasion, the city of Beit Shemesh is in the news on a rapidly increasing basis. You might have even read about the hooligans in a recent front page article in the NY Times.

The biggest problem is that these people plopped themselves down in a neighborhood right in between the mixed Yeshivish/Religious Zionist neighborhood in RBSA and the Religious Zionist and (further away) non religious parts of Beit Shemesh. There is simply no way for them to shut themselves in or for us to avoid them.

They also have a huge chip on their shoulders because they cannot live in Bnei Brak, Meah Shearim or even Ashdod. So instead, they have to prove to (themselves and) the rest of the country how religious they can be by being cretins and violent hooligans intent on causing physical harm to those who stand in their path.

The whole story is a lot more involved (politically) than what I am describing, but I am sure you don’t really want a detailed description of the giant chess game the chareidim (and our community) are conducting in order to influence the politicians in Beit Shemesh to accede to their wishes.

The intrigue is amazing. Mordechai’s school built mobile classrooms (literally in the middle of the night) on a site (located between the chareidi and dati leumi neighborhoods) that was designated for school construction so that they could have a “claim” on the site. They were subsequently awarded the site and now the chareidim are all atwitter that it was done.

So they defaced the building sign with spray paint. It’s what you or I would do, right?

Their objections run the gamut: from “the land was stolen from us” to “their teachers do not adhere to the level of tzniut (modesty) we require in our neighborhood.” Yet their tactics always remain the same. Violence or threats.

So we went to a protest, along with 1,500 or so of our neighbors. It wasn’t far for us to go since it was just outside our backyard (literally). The local Rav spoke, the Deputy Mayor spoke, a representative of the school spoke as well as a couple of people whose function at the demonstration I didn’t hear.

Since it was specifically sold as our way of showing the city government that we could also turn out large numbers of people (and with elections only a year away, the politicians are necessarily concerned about the elections and getting voters) and that we were not apathetic to the violence and buffoonery that has been going on, the event should be considered a success. We had a nice amount of people, everyone behaved and we made our point (we hope).

We had a Bar Mitzva to go to that night as well and we felt bad for the hosts. They had scheduled the event to take place at the exact same time as the demonstration. Of course, when they scheduled the Bar Mitzva, they had no idea that there would be a demonstration, but we were sure that many people would be coming late to the simcha and hoped that it would not be too discouraging.

Goldie wasn’t feeling well that night (I got sick myself 2 days later) and didn’t really want to go. However, I knew that the hosts, new Olim (immigrants) themselves – would appreciate each and every guest so I kinda forced her to go.

We pulled up to the address on the invitation (the house) and it seemed eerily quiet. There wasn’t a single car parked in the street and no noise at all coming from the house. I was sure that Goldie had gotten the address wrong and that we should have gone to the shul; Goldie was just as adamant that we should just get out of the car and enter the house.

So we called our house and had the kids check the invitation. Sure enough, Goldie was right and the Bar Mitzva was at the house. As she was about to hang up I said, “Ask them what day.” She paused and then started to laugh.

“Thursday!”

I went on a tiyul (tour) with the Yeshiva on Wednesday. Basically a walking tour of ancient shuls of the Jewish Quarter as well as “the” windmill and the house of Rav Kook.

I get more of a kick being with the students than I do on the actual tour, since I really enjoy spending time with them out of the Yeshiva’s walls. The longer I work with them, the more comfortable I am getting with the students and I have also seen that it was a lot easier to get excited about seeing the alumni now that I know some of the from their time in Yeshiva.

This was also a great week for bonding with students since 3 of our Rabbis are in the USA on recruiting tours nationwide. With the short handed staff we each pitch in and shoulder more of the workload, increasing our interaction with the guys.

I traveled back ten years on Friday as I rejuvenated my little league coaching career with the start of Batya’s little league. I had coached Chaim in little league for 6 years in the USA and I could not say no when Goldie asked me to do the same for Batya.

Mordechai also wanted to play (as he would have had we been in the USA) but the little league in Israel goes by age – not grade – and he is 3 months short. Of course, I play with him on the side and he is definitely better than 60% of my existing team, he is dying to play and it is killing me that he can’t play. But that’s life.

Lately, by the time Shabbat rolls around I am beginning to feel quite exhausted. It didn’t used to be this way, but with the 6 day school week and my late hours working with overseas people, I can’t seem to get enough sleep. It really makes me appreciate having Shabbat as a time out from the busy week.