Ultra-Orthodox
citizens who sit and watch the Knesset sessions while dressed in yeshiva
student’s cloths are a disgrace to Jewish values, as they are not engaged in
Torah study, Yesh Atid party MK Ruth Calderon said in a bewildering speech
Monday.
During the closing comments of her speech at the Knesset podium,
Calderon seemed distressed as she demanded that the yeshiva students leave the
parliament building at once.
“The last thing I want to talk about is the daily blasphemy by the people
dressed as scholars, sitting here in the plenum, idle, without a book, hour
after hour,” Calderon said.
“It’s driving me crazy,” she replied to a bewildered MK Tamar
Rozin (Meretz), who voiced her disdain over Calderon’s unusual comments.
“It insults the attire of a scholar, it is a disgrace to the
value of Torah study, and I’m asking you to either bring books or to go study
and learn,” the Yesh Atid MK charged, raising her eyes at the ultra-Orthodox
spectators.
In their seats above the Knesset plenum, the ultra-Orthodox
yeshiva students were visibly amused while Meretz and Labor MKs vocally
defended ultra-Orthodox community members’ right to attend Knesset discussions.
“Why does it interest you?” MK Ilan Gilon (Meretz) asked
Calderon.
Calderon did not back down, as she was being urged back to her
seat by fellow party members, and once again lashed out at the yeshiva student
audience.
“It’s a disgrace,” she said, shaking her hand at the observant
viewers. “I’m not cursing. Shame for the Torah! Take off those clothes!”
Yitzhak Vaknin (Shas) who lead the session, criticized Calderon,
but called on the Knesset Members to let the incident pass.
“Gentlemen, gentlemen, there is no doubt that what MK Ruth
Calderon said was out of order, no doubt,” he said. ”Sitting here and watching
are so many citizens, and this is their legitimate right.”
Calderon was lauded by many Israelis for a moving inaugural
address which included a call for the widespread study of
Jewish and Hebrew texts as the basis for a new Hebrew culture, but has since
attracted media attention mostly for her Facebook gaffes, not unlike other figures in her party.
Get back and learn Torah says the woman wearing trousers!
ReplyDeleteWhy? What's wrong with wearing trousers? I wear them. You wear them. Over 75% of the world's population wear them.
ReplyDeleteHaving said that I can't see how it is any of Ms. Calderton's business what yeshiva bochurim do. Presumably they all have parents and mashgichim etc.
It's rather rich preaching about Torah ethics when you are a woman and wear trousers a practice forbidden by Torah and not permitted for modern fashion reasons or any other reason by even one Rabbi who is an accepted Godol b'Yisrael.
DeleteWomen wearing trousers is not forbidden by the Torah.
DeleteIt is nowadays common women's wear. Look in the street anywhere in Europe or USA and you will see over 90% of the women wearing trousers of one form or another.
If what you say is true, how do you explain the verse in Deuteronomy 22:5 which explicitly forbids a Jewish woman from wearing a man's clothing?!!!
DeleteThe fact that many Jewish women on the street today wear trousers is a very sad reflection of the times we live in!
The argument that many people do something will never justify transgression of a Torah prohibition.
Men used to wear skirts. Look at our Scottish friends. Trousers are a relatively new innovation.
ReplyDelete