By COLlive reporter
A group of chareidi extremists in Israel broke into the home of a Chabad rabbi in the city of Beitar Illit, attacking his family on Sunday.
Tear gas was sprayed at Rabbi Binyomin Lehrer and his children as their home was wrecked by a group associated with the organization “Asra Kaddisha.”
Accoring to chareidi website bhol.co.il, the rogue group is targeting the Africa Israel investment company for collaborating with a competing organization on clearing a construction site from Jewish graves.
Lehrer is the rabbinical consultant of the publicly traded company owned and run by Lev Leviev, a major Chabad philanthropist.
Africa Israel was said to have worked with the “Association to Prevent the Desecration of Graves” on a building site in a city of Yahud after Asra Kaddisha refused to move forward on the project.
Asra Kaddisha’s people demonstrated a few weeks ago at Rabbi Lehrer’s home hoping he would sway the company’s decision to work with them again.
On Sunday, they went further by barging into his home and creating what was described as a pogrom.
Members of the Chabad community in Beitar’s Hadekel neighborhood, which Lehrer leads, met Sunday to discuss the incident.
Security footage was transferred to Israeli police and security guards were hired to protect the rabbi’s home.
“We will not stand silent until the last of these thugs are locked up,” one community member said.
Rabbi Lehrer himself was quoted as saying, “They think it is in my power to change such a decision. With this Chilul Hashem, non religious people understand that Jewish graves is not their real concern.”
He added that Asra Kaddisha initially dragged their feet on the project as a result of an ongoing feud with the Israel Antiquities Authority.
Where was A.K. when the graves pf Gush Katif were evacuated????
Branding and labeling is an easy way to sway the reader of your biased remarks. I am not condoning criminal violence. But I wish to point out that labeling someone extremist is a way of sweeping the real issues under the carpet. UNPACK the word and describe WHAT they are so “extremist” about. What are their concerns? WHY would a person act this way?
I would like to know who did what to whom and why and what was involved and how many graves and where. The article is lacking so much information and seems to be very biased. Who is Asra Kaddisha and what do they represent? What was their contention? Why did they resort to criminal behavior? Is it their usual behavior? Have they done this in the past? Were they pushed to extreme behavior due to the strong violation of others? Whose graves are involved? Why? Why? Why? Please show a lot more professionalism with the reporting.
Can someone explain the difference between “rogue chareidi extremists” and stam chareidi extremists? Is it the violence that puts them in this category, or is it that they have no leadership, and are acting on their own?
If you disagree with a psak, is that a legitamate reason to launch a physical attack on people and their property? I have not found that anywhere in Shulchan Aruch.
Are you for real?
First of all, the article clearly says that a different group that deal with graves said that it”s okay and there are no graves.
Second, does that give them a right to break into someone’s home?
Wake up, man.
This article seems to indirectly imply that Africa Israel is in the right and these people are thugs. Since when do we Jews go about moving graves (something done by soinei yisroel throughout the generations)? And even if Africa Israel received a Heter, why should it be expected that Asra Kaddisha should agree with this Heter?
he is not a consultant, he is the official rabbi emplyed by Africa Israel and as such is involved in advising leviev and the company on all halocho matters, this people are maniacs, it goes to show you that anything that is extreem is bad, we have some of our own, some of the biggest crimes have been done in the name of g-d