street fights on wekends (shabbat) mobs of religious extremists attacking others, beating them mercilessly, sending dozens of people to hospital. , stealing fur hats .... what ever next, is this the light unto all nations they want to promote? This is the life style they are trying to inflict upon others, is this the example of how to behave? Well what should we expect from someone that walks around with a dead fox on their head in 30 degree heat in July, hadly surprising is it. Good old religious values at it again, prehaps they havent heard the one about thou shalt not steal. They should be deported to Afghanistan where they belong.

Somebody tell me that we do not have these kind of idiots between us.

a Rabbi - unless he's reform or conservative, where he’s anyhow no rabbi but a pope or reverent or bishop or whatever. Even if Brackman just approved to this article which was written by some gossiper, he has still committed the grave sin of lashon hara and he's no rabbi but a shmook and should be ashamed of himself.

This whole article sounds pretty exaggerated. I am not associated with Vizhnitz myself, but I know a few people who are, including one of the elders of my neighborhood (in Jerusalem). He himself even denied the existence of any conflict in Vizhnitz or this being of any signifance, when I asked him. For him, it is completely irrelevant. As for this article: I think somebody is trying to write sensational articles by blowing up a small conflict and calling it a 'world war'. Always sells, right? Shame on the writer for writing such slanderous articles about things which probably never happened. I find it hard to believe that this actually happened.

nations? Will the last person out, please turn off the lights. :-)

For one who exposes shamefully his sexuality for anyone to see,without any sense of nothing moral and nothing ethic and nothing clean,it is a bit TOOOOOO much to lecture religious. YOU,AND ONLY YOU ,ARE TRYING TO INFLICT A SHAMEFULL,SICK LIFESTYLE UPON OTHERS! Can't you see?!?

First the Lubavitcher Rebbe died and left two camps one claiming he was Mashiach and the other claiming he wasn't after so many rears of his death and his bones still at the Ohel in NY some still have a dead Messiah in their minds. The the Satmar Rebbe gave his younger son the reins of Rebbehood and fights broke out in Williamsburg and Monsei. Now the Vitznits are doing the same thing! Why can these people see that their actions are unbecoming of Torah followers! Do they not know what the word "HASSID" means? Israel needs true hassidim, ones whose loving heart bring about a true Or L'Goyim shining from Bnei Israel. Please grow up guys!

if you believe every silly thing Ynet writes. There are plenty of articles on Ynet that's made up like this one, especially articles on chareidim. I'm surprised you didn't realize it yet - or maybe you did and you prefer to believe these stupidities.

Get a life ShtrYnet

Expresses my sexuality? Oh i see so walking in the streets of Jerusalem in a pair of jeans and a tshirt is called expossing my sexuality is it now. Yes i am who i am and you know what i dont give a damm , its my life not yours. As usual your only arguement is to quote your bible verses and inflict your so called morals and life style on others. Naturally you didnt even address the issue of the news article but then you are in denial as usual, and instead go to your usual level of attacking others who you consider are fair game to judge and slander based on your so called religious values. Gee i havent attacked anyone today , or thrown acid in to a young girls face for wearing jeans, or vandalised someones shop for selling MPV4 Players, is this the religious morals you speak of ? it seems you people should learn to behave like human beings first, get a job , pay taxes and serve in the army and then we shall talk values.

if like you suggest this article is a total lie and fabrication as you so claim, please provide us with the proof. Will the Rabbis in quesiton be suing Ynet for slander? We await your proof.

As far as I'm concerned, they may think they are Torah scholars, but I don't think I would ask some of them for an opinion. Actions speak louder than words. As one Orthodox rabbi from Israel once told me, "(On non central issues) ask 72 Rabbis, get 72 opinions. Personally, if I want to watch a good fight, I'd rather go to a hockey game. There is something about a bunch of guys in Polish aristocratic garb who can't even find the commandment about minimally keeping their bodies in shape, duking it out over fur hats (like it would not have been better to use the money for something else or charity) ... that just doesn't apeal to me. As far a Lahashon Hora is concerned. I'd like to know if a Rabbi I asked an opinion of was often grabing hats as part of a dispute. I don't think I could trust his opinion on a number of things. Anyone who told me this would be offering me information for my own protection. This is not the same thing as gossip. P.S. WHEN ARE THESE GUYS GOING TO DO THEIR ARMY SERVICE? I'm sure they are not all coming back in body bags. (Would you trust some of this guys on the front?) I'm sure there are going to be plent of Orthodox rabbis and Yeshiva students left in Israel and throughout the world even if they do.

The Haradim are Jewish, not Afgani's. And I venture to suggest that if they went to Afganisatan they would still remain Jewish. You, I wouldn't put any money on.

It's bad enough these fanatics go around in public wearing that cringe-inducing garb, but do they have to slaughter all those poor innocent animals in the process? And, not only that, but a lot of people who just don't know any better actually think that most Israelis look like that, which is absolutely the last thing Israel needs.

Did our forefathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob wear them? Actually if our forefathers showed up today, the charedim wouldn't even consider them Jewish. They'd probably call them dirty Arabs.

Does the author even live within a Chareidi neighbourhood that he would know this? I bet this happened with two people, and in the end was exagerated to become this column.

How could the author have made up such a ridiculous story?? These guys have very few physical outlets: they don't go to gyms; they don't jog; they don't go dancing. So, this is their way of letting off some steam. Now, as to the hats. This to me is even worse than the fighting. Not that I'm a PETA supporter, but why should little foxes have to die just so these guys can imitate some Polish nobility?? There is nothing Jewish about these clothes!!!

t Let the old boys pick the crown prince before they kick the bucket.

you're both quite correct. if one is to wear a hat made of thirty dead foxes, why not a waistcoat of pigskin? both animals are just as "filthy" and "unclean". i completely understand simon's antipathy to religion, with cultists like these determining what it means to be "jewish" and "torah observant" for everyone else. i try to be torah observant myself but that does not include dressing in a certain way, but rather living with the torah as a light to guide my way (and not hating gays and non-jews!)

ha ha! Funny. We'll get that Farkashte person making money on this soon too, ho ho. Just watch, folks. Read J.Post online for quality, and Ynet for laughs.

eat. A pig is not Kosher, but very intelligent, and some make great pets although I prefer the loyal, intelligent dog. So maybe some Orthodox rabbi out there can tell me why it is OK to make a hat of Fox fur. You folks are the experts, and you are wearing the stuff. If figure it must be OK if you are doing it although kinda prefer a regular kipa or Chicago Cubs cap depending on the occasion.

The Torah commands Israel against causing "Tza'ar Ba'alei Chaim" (causing unnecessary suffering to living creatures). "If you see the ass of your enemy straining under his load, and you refrain from unloading it, go and unload with him" (Exodus / Shemot 23:5). This verse is one of the main sources for the prohibition against causing unnecessary suffering to animals, tzaar baalei chayim (Bava Metzia 32b). If the Torah forbids you to allow an animal to strain even when it's under the ownership of an *enemy*, how much more is a Jewish person forbidden to support or condone the "strain" of trapping and slaughtering animals (who are under the ownership of G-d) for any purpose not directly related to health - and even when necessary for health, the slaughter must be done according to strict laws of kashrut, not the cruel methods used to kill an animal and preserve its skin. Even if a person were going to freeze to death unless they had fur, which isn't likely - clothing made from fur is designed to be extravagantly "luxurious", not for the purpose of saving body heat, for example by staying warm inside an animal carcass during an actic blizzard. The "proud and noble" shtreimel made by skinning living animals for their fur (imitating the gentile nobles of East Europe in the Dark Ages), shows disrespect to Life and Torah. Keter Torah, the Crown of Torah, is removed when one places a tribute to vanity and pride on their head. G-d is the G-d of all the Living. (BeMidbar / Numbers 16:22). As a citizen of Israel, a Jewish state, I think these Vizhnitser Hasidim have a good idea: the law against causing suffering to animals should be enforced by police ***confiscating*** any authentic-fur clothing seen in public and arresting anybody selling or trading contraband authenitic fur in Israel. Let the Torah of Israel be a light to the nations by showing the vanity of killing animals for fur violates Jewish values. Enforce an equal prohibition against the shtreimels of the religious and the fur clothing of the non-religious. The Torah community of Israel must join together to actively guard this Mitzvah in the Land of Israel against Tza'ar Ba'alei Chaim.

So does this mean the Viznits Pride Parade is off for this year?

Of course haredim deny that it is going on. They deny a lot of things. However, it is just one of the many conflicts in the haredi communities, both hassidic and mitnagdic. $4000 for a shtreimel? A goyisher piece of pomp, whcih was forced on Jews by antisemites, cossacks, rapists, murderers! The solutiuon - do not donate to chassidic yeshivot, becasue this is where yoru money is going!

Perhaps you are not aware that a fur hat was the accepted rabbiniacl garb for hundreds of years in Eastern and Central Europe. I understand that you are trying to swipe at hasidim, but in doing so you are also defaming the greatest halachic authorities - hasidic and non-hasidic - of the past few hundred years.