Sometimes, in the anger, protest, and defensiveness of people, the victim is forgotten.
Take what’s going on in Israel today. After years of observation from social welfare and medical professionals, a woman is arrested on suspicion of child abuse. Her child, aged 3, weighs 15 pounds. Think about that – it’s just a little over twice the size of an average newborn baby. In normal circumstances, the instinctual protective nature of humans would kick in, calling for the immediate medical treatment of the child and thorough investigation into why a three year old is starving.
In this case, not so.
The catch: the woman is a charedi Jew.
So, following a pattern that includes supporting and defending alleged molesters, drug dealers and money launderers, parts of Jerusalem’s charedi community are now engaged in violent protest against the police.
Why? Because how dare the outside, secular community cast any judgment on the holier-than-thou charedis? This despite the significant majority of this same community living off social welfare provided by the same secular government.
And what about the victim? Why aren’t these same firebombing Jews showing even an ounce of concern for a starving, seemingly abused, child?
It has happened time and again with rebbes accused of sexually molesting young yeshiva students. Instead of getting up in arms in defense of the hapless innocents, it’s the alleged perpetrators that receive this communities sympathies.
Nevermind the fact that this child is nearly starved to death. Whether or not his mother is responsible, a child is starving to death. Mea Shearim’s response: threaten the very people that are trying to medically treat this child. Threaten doctors, nurses, hospitals, social workers.
Something is seriously defective with this community’s values when its fear of admitting any wrongdoing supersedes a human instinct to protect children.
