RELIGION
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The Mitnick Families
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Randy, Barry, Halye and Robyn
Marsha, Ronald, Scott and Rachel
FRIDAY, • SEPT ' 25, 1987
and this right is not limited
to the neighborhoods in
which they live. They have
the right to go into other
neighborhoods and yell
"Shabbos, Shabbos," without
interference from the police
or other citizens provided, of
course, that they are acting
peaceably.
This basic right has been
infringed as the Jerusalem
police have confined them to
Orthodox areas. And this is
not the most serious of the ef-
forts Of Jerusalem officials to
ghettoize the Orthodox.
Our brethren who are so
earnest in defense of the right
of Nazis to march in Skokie,
with its large Jewish popula-
tion, have yet to be heard
from on this one.
In dealing with the demon-
strations, which essentially
were peaceful, the Jerusalem
police engaged in violent and
deplorable conduct of the sort
which we would strongly pro-
test against if it were directed
against fellow Jews living in
the United States. "Over-
reaction" is far too mild a
term to describe the clubbing
of demonstrators, • such as I
have seen in television
reports. The sadistic glee with
which police beat persons
who weren't resisting is a
sight that I will not forget.
"Police riot" is,an apprdpriate
description of what happened.
News reports tell of the
police using high-pressure
water cannons to disperse the
crowds, with the aid of charg-
ing horses. I wonder how we
would regard such actions if
they occurred in our
neighborhoods.
In addition, the cannons
were filled not with ordinary ,
water but with some yellow
concoction which stains
garments and is not easy to
remove. Here are people
dressed in their Sabbath
clothing — in many cases the
only decent clothing they
have — and, by and large,
they are peaceful demonstra-
tors or bystanders, and the
_police have no better ap-
proach than a tactic that has
nothing to do with keeping
the peace and a lot to do with
gratuitous sadism.
So • far as I know, there
haven't been any protests
against the excesses of the
Jerusalem police.
Nor, so far as I know, have
there been any protests — or,
for that matter, even ques-
-tions — regarding the official
policy of Jerusalem to at-
tempt to confine the growth of
Orthodox population to their
own' neighborhoods or to
designated Orthodox areas
and to take affirmative action
to deter the Orthodox from
settling in parts of Jerusalem
where secularists pre-
dominate.
This apartheid policy, so
violative of basic civil liber-'
ties and so inherently repug-
nant, has been welcomed by
ersatz civil libertarians of a
secularist mold as an en-
lightened way of preventing
the further deterioration of
Jerusalem into a holy city.
The Jerusalem Post, with its
skewed view of civil rights
when it is an Orthodox ox
that is being gored, has
repeatedly reported on the
ghetto concept. Its resident
expert on the subject is
Abraham Rabinovich and he
has just contributed a piece to
The
--New Republic
(September 14 and 21) which
bears some examation.
It has the remarkable title
of "Jerusalem's Rampaging
Rabbis," though there isn't a
The Law of Return
figures
prominently in
secularist-religious
conflict.
single line in the article
which mentions or even- sug-
gests the notion of "rampag-
ing - rabbis" — not in Jeru-
salem or anywhere else.
In his article, Rabinovich
describes how the secularists
are organizing to "divert the
seemingly organic growth of
the haredim" or ultra Or-
thodox by "blocking rezoning
that would permit the hare-
dim to build extra syna-
gogues, ritual baths, - and
yeshivoth in the non-haredi
quarters of Ramot — facilities
essential to haredi communal
organization. At the same
time, they are seeking to pro-
vide these areas with pools,
tennis courts, horseback
riding, and other facilities,
not only as an attraction for
seculars but as a turnoff for
the haredim."
Elsewhere, Rabinovich tells
us that "city officials have
been urging that the haredim
be dire'cted to a new develop-
ment to be constructed in Ras
Amar in northeast Jeru-
salem."
The Law of Return figures
prominently in secularist-
religious conflict. We know
that many of the Orthodox
would like to amend the law.
We also know that - a large
share of those who avail
themselves of the privilege to
return under the law are Or-
thodox. What we apparently
do not know is that the
secularists would also like to
amend the law by limiting
the right of Orthodox Jews to
choose where they may live in
Israel.