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Wednesday 27 November 2013

Ruth Calderon of Yesh Atid lambastes yeshiva students who come to watch parliment sessions rather than study Torah



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.

6 comments:

  1. Get back and learn Torah says the woman wearing trousers!

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  2. Why? What's wrong with wearing trousers? I wear them. You wear them. Over 75% of the world's population wear them.
    Having 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.

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    1. 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.

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    2. Women wearing trousers is not forbidden by the Torah.
      It 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.

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    3. 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?!!!

      The 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.

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  3. Men used to wear skirts. Look at our Scottish friends. Trousers are a relatively new innovation.

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