Can the same be said for the self-styled kanaim of our times? Has HaKadosh Baruch Hu announced a bris shalom with them? Or do they possess some kind of magical formula that can cleanse their hearts of the stains left by their violence? What about the zealot in Bnei Brak who decided to fight for tznius by hurling a burnt-out light bulb plucked from a nearby garbage bin at a pair of women who stood talking on the street? One of the women was not dressed in accordance with the laws of modesty; the other was a chareidi woman with a baby carriage in tow. The shattered glass fell on the baby who was certainly innocent of wrongdoing. Was this zealous tznius-fighter’s heart free of impure motives of anger or other bad midos? Yet he saw himself as a Pinchas fighting G-dly battles.

The first time I wrote about the light bulb incident which I had heard about from an eye-witness on the street I was rewarded with a barrage of angry phone calls from people who couldn’t forgive me for robbing that man of his zealot’s halo and promised to settle accounts with me.

During my tenure at Yated Neeman where I served as founding editor and continued several years after I once asked Rav Shach ztz”l what approach to take in writing about the demonstrations that were taking place in Yerushalayim every Shabbos on Bar Ilan Street and on the Ramot road which typically featured stone-throwing at passing cars. Rav Shach’s answer to me quoted from memory was “It’s quite possible that the real mechallelei Shabbos here are the demonstrators. First of all throwing stones is absolutely assur in and of itself in addition to the risk of killing someone. But aside from the stone-throwing they’re causing Shabbos desecration through the demonstrations. Instead they could vote in the municipal elections and shift the balance of power in the local government. With a religious majority a lot of this chillul Shabbos could be prevented. But they won’t listen to us…”

While I was speaking with Rav Shach I took the opportunity to tell him about a Yerushalmi Jew who was living in Ezras Torah which borders on the Ramot road the scene of those weekly demonstrations. One Shabbos when the atmosphere was heating up a sudden intuition made him cross the road and stand among the non-religious Jews who were looking on from the opposite side. Noticing one particular car that had just been hit by a large stone he memorized its license-plate number. On Sunday morning he called the licensing bureau and asked for the name and address of the car’s owner. He received the information and headed straight for the man’s house in Ramot. He knocked on the door and the child who came to open it called out to his father “Abba! There’s some religious guy at the door.”

“Tell him I gave at the office” the father replied.

But the Yerushalmi wouldn’t be deterred. “I really need to speak to your father” he insisted.

The father came to the door looking decidedly hostile.

The Yerushalmi took the plunge and said “On Shabbat I saw you driving on the road near my home. That pains me but what I came for is to apologize to you for the stone that was thrown at your car. I apologize to you in the name of the people of my neighborhood and I want you to know that the stone-throwers aren’t from our neighborhood; they come from elsewhere. You just moved here recently I understand so I’d also like to wish you a yishuv tov.”

They parted on good terms.

The following Friday the Jew from Ramot phoned the Yerushalmi and told him “My wife and I talked things over and we decided that this Shabbos we won’t drive on the road by your house; we’ll take another route.”

A week later he called again. This time he said “Kevod HaRav the fact is that we are a bit traditional. We keep kosher in our house. As you know we’re new in the area. Could you tell us where we can buy kosher meat?”

Of course the Yerushalmi directed him to the appropriate store. Together with his wife the man went to the butcher shop his new friend had recommended and thanked him warmly.

Not more than a few months later there was another phone call from Ramot. “Kevod HaRav” the caller said “in another half-year our son will be bar mitzvah. I’d like to get him a pair of tefillin and I’d also like him to learn something about Judaism…” Naturally “Kevod HaRav” kindly acquiesced. He took the father to a reliable sofer for the tefillin and he found a suitable tutor to prepare the boy for his bar mitzvah and give him a basic crash course in Judaism. Eventually the boy was enrolled in a yeshivah.

I told this story to Rav Shach ztz”l  and he was moved to tears.

Allow me to add two more stories here:

At one of the Arachim seminars where I had the privilege of lecturing one of the attendees confessed to me that he almost hadn’t come. He had made up his mind to explore Judaism and see what it had to offer him and he’d signed up for the seminar. But then while driving one Shabbos with his wife and their five-year-old son in the car they’d been attacked by a gang of young chareidim. The little boy screamed in terror as shouting black-clad assailants pummeled his father with their fists. Somehow he’d managed to escape and he was on the verge of canceling his plans to attend the seminar. But logic prevailed. He realized that the bad experience he’d had couldn’t exactly be called Judaism and he came to the seminar in spite of it. His little son though was still in therapy for the trauma he’d suffered that Shabbos….

A final story: One Shabbos I stayed at the Tamir Hotel located right off the Ramot road. In the afternoon I walked out to have a look at the demonstrators and I met a prominent mechanech there from the Eidah HaChareidis. Shaking his head sadly as he gazed at the youngsters — some of them mere children —  excitedly throwing stones onto the road he said “My heart sinks when I look at these hooligans of the next generation. growing up  here on the road.”

Yet I continue to be inspired by my friend the Yerushalmi and the not-yet-observant Ramot resident who became his protégé. From him I learned what genuine zealotry is the kind of zealotry that stems from ahavas Yisrael. He taught me how we are meant to fulfill the obligation of reproving our fellow Jew in a positive way. And after all in a generation like ours this is the only way that can possibly work. And it works without leaving irreparable damage because HaKadosh Baruch Hu has no bris shalom with those who relish violence.

Food for Thought

Fasting this week?