Anti-Charedi Police Activity: Arrested For Blowing Shofar at the Kotel?
What Arutz Sheva reported (and its subsequent update) is just a shame. 20-year-old Eliyahu Kleinman was arrested at the Kotel (Western Wall) on Rosh Hashanah for blowing the shofar, the ram's horn observant Jews blow in a series of tones to evoke repentance for the New Year.
While Arutz Sheva is known to have a right-wing spin on Israeli current events, who else could one quote for a story like this? Most news outlets in Israel, sadly, omit many of these types of stories from their pages:
The incident occurred around 7:30 in the morning, at the northern-most section of the accessible Western Wall - a little-known area called the Kotel HaKatan, the Small Wall. It is considered to have extra sanctity, as it stands opposite the presumed spot of the Holy of Holies of the Beit HaMikdash.Yesterday morning (Sunday), a group of some 10 men and two women gathered at the site, as they have done for several years on Rosh HaShanah, for early-morning prayers. The holiday prayers feature the blowing of the shofar (ram's horn) at several different times. Towards the end of the first shofar sounding, a Border Guard policeman came in, made an unclear motion with his hand as if to ask what was going on, and then left. He said nothing.
Shortly afterwards, Eliyahu K., the 20-year-old prayer leader, blew the shofar a second time, in the midst of his silent prayer (in accordance with Sephardic custom).
A peaceful silent prayer going on at the Kotel ha'Katan, a few meters into the Old City, parallel to the Temple Mount (not, Heaven forbid/chas v'shalom, on the Mount itself).
What happened next should NEVER happen in anywhere that bills itself as a Jewish anything.
Policemen came in once again and began trying to pull him away. However, Eliyahu was in the midst of reciting the Amidah - a long passage during which one must stand in one place without moving - and he therefore did not move.The policemen informed their supervisors by radio that he was praying and refused to move, and reinforcements were soon sent - no fewer than 20 policemen, according to several witnesses.
One man engaged in silent prayer. Twenty cops. What happened next?
They then started dragging him out, and when they stopped for a moment, he got up and resumed his prayers. They then began to drag him away again, and shortly afterwards again stopped for a moment - and again he resumed his prayers. At this point, the policemen allowed him to complete his prayers.
What else was going on with the rest of the people in the prayer group?
In the meanwhile, the other members of the prayer group came out and tried to prevent the policemen from taking Eliyahu away.
In the officers' defense, we as readers have no idea what "tried to prevent" means. This could have been violent. However:
At this point, the policemen started swinging their clubs violently; no one was hospitalized, but "it was a big brawl," in the words of one witness, with many people being dragged around and beaten while wearing their prayer-shawls and Sabbath suits.One witness related, "It's not only that they stopped him from blowing the shofar, but rather the fact that the police beat us up very harshly. I was on my way to the Wall for prayers when I saw 5-7 policemen going with Eliyahu and protecting him very closely. I walked after them, and then a few of his friends came, and then the violence started. We asked the policemen to return the shofar, and they started kicking us and punching us."
Why did the cops come in the first place?
The worshipers said that the police had apparently been called by an Arab woman who said the sound of the ram's horn disturbed her children.
Let's say that that is the case. THIS is how you respond? Kicking and punching penitents praying at a holy site? This should have been conducted with much more finesse. Charedi people are often prompted to compromise certain hours of peace and quiet, as can be attested to by any resident of Jerusalem without the luxury of a Sabbath road block. Perhaps this Palestinian mother could have been persuaded to perhaps hold off for an hour, and the prayer group could have been informed "be out of here in 90 minutes".
Instead, it's straight to the violence. The thuggery. The great equalizer.
The police response?
The police response to the events of Rosh HaShanah at the Kotel HaKatan (Small Wall, pictured above) in the Old City of Jerusalem is: They didn't happen.Jerusalem Police spokesman Shmulik Ben-Ruby told Arutz-7 that the shofar-blower was not in the middle of prayers and "had already blown long enough" when he was ordered to stop. When confronted with the fact that many eye-witnesses say he was clearly in the middle of prayers when he was stopped and dragged away, Ben-Ruby insisted that his version was the correct one - but agreed to "check again."
