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Israel: The Battle Over a Mezuzah in a School


The plan to affix a mezuzah in the Meva’ot I’ron School near Kibbutz Ein Shemmer should be cause for celebration, but instead, it has resulted in a bitter conflict, with some students and parents yelling “religious coercion”.

What started the conflict was an innocent request from a number of students, who simply believed it would be nice to see a mezuzah, and perhaps even kiss it once in a while, as they see in homes and so forth.

It appears that when a number of students invited Chief Rabbi Yonah Metzger Shlita to come and affix a mezuzah, the students from Ein Shemmer, which identifies with Shomer HaTza’ir, expressed their adamant disapproval, unwilling to accept the “religious coercion”. The older students explained that while it may be in line with Jewish tradition, it is offensive to the doctrine and ideology of Hashomer HaTza’ir. They went as far as to say the “mezuzot bother many of us”, insisting they cannot tolerate seeking them on the doorposts.

The Chief Rabbi did affix the mezuzah as planned, amid a small protest, and the incident gained nationwide notoriety in the mainstream media, with proponents and opponents expressing their opinions. This just fed the ongoing dispute which seems to obsess the media, for and against chareidism.

(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)



7 Responses

  1. wake up call for all people who call themselves ‘chareidi’ ‘frum’ or yeshivish’ and engage in behavior that is against SEICHEL (not halacha because anybody can find a posek for anything these days; the problem is asee lcha RAV[singular not plural!]) someone should explain to them that what is written inside is what their zeide shouted be for he was murdered!!!!! SHMA YISROEL!!!! they REALLY think it says ‘burn garbage’ ‘and women in the back’ inside those innocent boxes. The hint that the chareidim have lost it is the word chariedisim its indeed a new religion! another hint is that video YWN posted of the thousands that went to PRAY!? at kever shmuel hanavi. i dont know about you but if i was a secular jew all i would be able to think of is – ‘is this part of the regular preparations before prayer?’

  2. So some do not like it, if they do not like paying taxes will the refuse to do so?

    They say “it is offensive to the doctrine and ideology of Hashomer HaTza’ir.” what is this doctrine and idiology and why should anyone care about it?

    They cannot say “their religion is being violated” so in my opinion, they have no right to complain.

  3. What is wrong with these people. There are plenty of NON FRUM people who have Mezuzahs. They just want to make trouble. We can be our own worst enemy. Any wonder why others hate us?

  4. One cannot be unduly harsh on these Jewish brethren of ours. The chareide world in Israel is very different than ours here in the states. There is much animosity both ways that is born out of “great logic”. The chareidim do not like the non-religious because they are basically “muktsa machmas meius”. They will only corrupt the religious. The nonreligious resent the chareide because they take billions of shekalim every year of the non-religious (tax money), they let the children of the non-religious die in wars protecting them, they know that the religious despise them and try to force their religious beliefs upon them, and the only gratitude they seem to show is to burn the Israeli flag, ignore the Memorial Day of the youth that died protecting them, they call the police and medina “Nazis” and go on living their own happy lives at everyone else’s expense.

    If you did not know what Torah was, if you only knew what they knew, how many of you would feel any different? It is a rachmanus. We are the bearers of the Torah, we are the bearers of “kol dirochecha darchei noam v’kol niseyvoseha shalom”. We should be showing them ahavas yisroel, even if they are not frum, and they would respond after awhile likewise.

  5. #6 From the fact that most of the things you have the Cheredi saying against the Seculars, in quotes as if to indicate “this is just what they are saying not that it’s true” and most of the things you repeat from the secular anti Cheredi side are not in quotes as if to indicate you agree with the seculars and the things they say against the Cheredim seem to indicate you have a pro Secular, anti Cheredi bias?

    If not, could you please clearify that?

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