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Head Of Telzstone Council: “You’re A Dark And Primitive People”


About a month and a half ago, Yisrael Chofsheet, a liberal non-profit organization that advocates for “religious freedom,” sent a letter to the Kiryat Ye’arim (widely known as Telzstone) municipality.

In the letter, the organization requested information about “gender-segregated activities and events that took place under the auspices or with the cooperation of the municipality and were held in public places in the last seven years, as well as advertisements regarding such activities and the public institutions where they took place.”

The head of the council, Yitzchak Ravitz, chose to respond firmly to the letter and in the ruach of the month of Adar.

“We received your patronizing letter in which you try to impose a secular lifestyle on us, contrary to our faith,” he wrote. “Unfortunately, you are dark and primitive people who hold outdated worldviews and in your opinion, you are entitled to impose a way of life on others.”

“Kiryat Ye’arim is a yishuv in which 100% of its residents are Chareidi. Events on the yishuv are held with complete segregation and this will continue in the future as well. Your liberal terror won’t impress us. We’re firmly attached to our faith and will continue to observe the mitzvot of the Torah without concern or fear.”

“We are proud of our conservative lifestyle and the fact that we fulfill Hashem’s commandments. Your attempts at intimidation will not help you. And in the spirit of this time, we will note: ‘לא נכרע ולא נשתחווה’. We will valiantly continue to preserve the way of the Torah.”

Ravitz chose to end his letter by quoting the Prime Minister’s words at the Knesset debate last week: “A new generation of Israelis who are not afraid has arisen here. A new generation has arisen here that is not impressed by your displays of hypocrisy. This generation is determined to fight for the values that are important to them and for their place in the leadership of the country.”

“This generation is proud of who it is and I’m proud of it. This generation is gaining its stature, and it will no longer put up with patronage and exclusion.”

(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)



19 Responses

  1. Ahhh! So refreshing! So courageous! So determined! Klal Yisroel has reached a peak as a nation, one to be proud of. May we remain vigilant and strong! Chazak Chazak v’nischazeik! This is so beautiful

  2. Dark and “primitive” was not the best description. Dark and “decadent” would have been a more appropriate description. But maybe he meant to say that they live amoral lives like primates and not like higher order human beings.

  3. it is them who are primitive , going in the ways of sodom and amoraah

    it we who are advanced leading holy moral lives

  4. This incredible man speaks truth. Send all those who define his ways as harmful be removed. Bless all who walk with Hashem

  5. @mavenschoice
    nope, “primitive” is exactly what he meant.
    The coercion of one party to abide by the beliefs of another is considered an inherently ‘primitive’ concept. while ‘decadent’ would only apply if it was, in fact decadent, but is not inherent to the coercion itself.

  6. In deciding to have a “sovereign” state on a goyish model, the Jewish (meaning the “frum” community) paid a price. They had to let the secular persons of Jewish descent run the place and control the autonomy. Most gedolim favored limiting Jewish political activity to reinforcing being a self-governed, autonomous community within a larger non-Jewish state, but the zionists had their heart set on being an “Am Hofshi”, free from the yoke of Torah (and who cares if the zionists were always dependent on the political and economic support of goyim). We see the cost of what in English is referred to as a “deal with the devil” – anything that the Jews Israel vote for that weakens the zionist dream of a secular homeland free from Torah, will be rabidly opposed by those who have tremendous power to undermine the Yishuv. More and more, it shows the gedolim’s objections to the zionists going back well over 100 years, were correct.

  7. Excuse me, but for crying out loud, I totally can’t understand you guys! Have none of you read enough to realize that some of the innovative gedolim of the past would NEVER have responded in such a disrespectful, provocative way, but rather in a way which indicates Ahava toward one’s fellow Jew? They would not have used labels such as dark/primitive. They would have pointed out the error of the liberal HASHKAFA (and in a roundabout way, through the use of a mashal), but they would NEVER have derogated THEM PERSONALLY.

  8. judy, when someone with a Jewish mother rises to attack the Torah, they must be stricken down, not shown affection. We will all say in the seder in a few weeks: when your son will (dismissively) ask you what is this to you, “SMASH HIS TEETH”

  9. You guys =truly= are hopeless. And so very =literal=

    But come to think of it, perhaps you’re reincarnations of the ancient Karaites…

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