Opinion: Rationalizing Riots

By Dr. Michael Salamon Unfortunately, the charadi response to the case — wide-scale riots— was anything but dignified. There were charedi riots two weeks prior to the arrest, starting on June 26, because of a parking garage being open on Shabbat. There were no public statements by any influential rabbis to cease and desist the violence until July 16, at least two weeks after the riots began. And despite that, the rioting has continued every Shabbat since. Personally, I would greatly prefer less vehicular traffic on Shabbat but I am a strong opponent of riots. Indeed, this type of rioting seems to occur with some regularity, primarily in, but not limited to, Jerusalem. When I was a yeshiva student in the early 1970’s there was rioting and stone throwing because buses began their routes before Shabbat ended. I was never in a charedi yeshiva so rioting was never on the agenda. I was, however, once caught in one of these melees and my wife had stones thrown at her as well. I assure you, neither one of us were driving on Shabbat. For those who excuse the behavior by saying that only a handful of people are violent while the majority of the protesters stand quietly on the side, having been there, I can firmly say I beg to differ. I have never condemned anyone who was not involved in the riots, but having been in yeshivot when such things happened, I have not heard much in the way of protest against the riots. There is a sad history of this type of behavior going back to the early 1950’s. Professor Menachem Friedman of Bar-Ilan University writes in his article titled, “Charedi violence in contemporary Israeli society,” that even the Chazon Ish issued a public declaration against such violence; apparently to no avail. In 1972, following the riots sparked by the arrest of two young charedi men who set fire to a so called “sex shop,” a fire which could have killed several people, only Mr. Moshe Sheinfeld, the leader of Agudat Yisroel’s youth movement, spoke out against the violence. In an article Sheinfeld wrote, he described three primary reasons why the hooliganism persists. There was no student discipline by the rabbis, and rabbis in general, remained silent to acts of violence if there seemed to be a religious or ideological underpinning. Exacerbating this, charedi society consists of young men who, along with their ideology, have not yet taken on a set of mature responsibilities. To Sheinfeld’s reasons I would add two more. The time of year seems to have a great deal to do with public acts of violence. I would daresay that if this unfortunate case of possible child abuse had occurred at another time of year there might not have been such a public reaction. This is the time of year that the weather is conducive to outside gatherings and the yeshivot are on vacation. The second reason I would suggest is that not only is there no clear condemnation from the religious leaders about these rioters but there is often an attempt to rationalize the behaviors. Take for instance this situation of the charedi mother. The condemnation one hears is of the police for arresting the woman. In my work I, unfortunately, have had to deal with a few abusive parents. Whenever the police are involved, the accused parent is always detained if the child cannot be easily removed. This is a universal reaction designed to protect the child until an investigation and hearing can be completed. Yet, the charedi street condemned the police for doing what standard protocol requires. Rationalizing negative behaviors takes many forms. I was asked recently to review a self-help book dealing with stress and anxiety, written for the charedi community. I read the book and it appeared that some sections were plagiarized from a text which been written some 20 years earlier by a very well-known behavioral therapist. When I informed the person who asked me to write the review, he simply said “forget it.” He went on to say that, “I am bringing something to people who need it but would never have access to it in any other way.” A poor excuse but it is one that is often heard.  Simply put: it is easy to rationalize away any discomfort by saying that you are doing it for the greater good regardless of who may be affected. There are mistakes made that need to be addressed regarding Shabbat and perhaps dealing with parents of hospitalized children. But that does not excuse hooliganism and violence. It is high time that thuggery, in all of its forms, be addressed by the proper leaders. It is a shame that over the years only one man, Moshe Sheinfeld, not a rabbi, publicly and directly addressed the issue. Someone in the charedi world needs to end the rationalizing that goes on and clearly say that protesting is essential to a democracy, rioting is not. Dr. Salamon, a Fellow of the American Psychological Association, is the founder and director of the Adult Developmental Center in Hewlett, NY. He is the author of numerous articles and several psychological tests. His recent books include, The Shidduch Crisis: Causes and Cures, published by Urim Publications and Every Pot Has a Cover: A Proven Guide to Finding, Keeping and Enhancing the Ideal Relationship, published by Rowman & Littlefield.