Hamas; uniting families since 1987’ was the concluding statement of a comical video produced in Israel last week. The clip shows a family of four, each minding their own business in their own room. Suddenly the sirens sound, causing them to congregate in the miklat (safe room). Once there, they realise ‘hey we’re all together!’ They get excited, take a ‘family selfie’ (self portrait on camera), have a little dance and even play some games. The screen then flashed, ‘Hamas, bringing families…’
Along those lines, I caught up with a shul member who recently made aliya. I asked him what the atmosphere was like where he lives. He told me ‘It’s amazing, there is a great sense of community; everyone is united. In fact I met a neighbour who I’ve never even spoken to before’. He continued jokingly ‘I’ve sent a letter to Hamas saying thank you for bringing us all together, it’s because of you!’…
The Jews, especially in Israel, have been very much divided recently over various political and social issues. However, as described above, the events of the past few weeks have changed the scene. Irrespective of one’s views on Yeshiva students being exempt from army duty or any other matter, everyone is in the same boat, fighting a common enemy.
Many have suggested that perhaps G-d is trying to tell us something. This is very much in line with the events of the nine days and Tisha Ba’av when the focus is to get along with each other as the Sages have told us that ‘baseless hatred caused the destruction of our temple’. Thus the message rings from all sides; come back together, love and accept each other!
With this in mind it is appropriate to consider the striking headline ‘Shameful! Local Jews back Hamas’ which featured in the Jewish papers last week. People were shocked to see pictures of what our Rabbi called ‘misguided Jews’ preaching against Israel on the streets of Manchester. These images have flared a lot of anger and drawn a great lot of attention to their activities.
But one could ask, is it correct to display these Jews’ activities in such a public forum?
Surely, on the one hand, the paper was printed in the week of Tisha Ba’av, which as mentioned above is a time dedicated to tolerance and unity. On the other hand these images, perhaps only stand to further divide the Jewish people, cause a chilul Hashem and blow up the beliefs of the public that this tiny fringe group appear to be a mainstream Orthodox view. Do we really need all this extra strife and hard feelings at the very time when G-d is reminding us to be more tolerant and understand each other?
Or perhaps this is different. These individuals are (according to many) wicked, and it is generally an obligation to expose and condemn such actions. Irrespective of the mainstream feeling of unity these people have gone too far, they don’t deserve to belong to our community. Thus their schemes deserve only the best publicity to ensure they are denounced completely.
Do you have an opinion?