Neta, I agree with you in the sense of finding more peaceful ways to register one's protest without diluting the message that wilful and public breaking of the shabbat is not something that the sensitive non-dormant can tolerate through acquiescence. At the same time, if your recipe for peace on shabbat does not also exhort those who break the shabbat while ignoring the particular sensitivities of a neighbourhood from finding ways to avoid confrontation, then your cholent has little meat, and is questionably tasteless.

Nobody trusts Sela. Now he is trying to institutionalize Shabbat desecration & brainwash good Jews into submission.

I submitted a talkback to a previous article on the subject of demonstrations, that was never published. It complements what you have just written. I know the Jerusalem haredi community well, and maintain that the violent element are simply the haredi version of vandals hiding behind a haredi facade. The people organising the demos are a different kettle of fish, with much more complicated calculations, some of which you alluded to, some of which would require a much longer article to fathom. However, there is another factor that riles secular spectators: the violence is rarely one-sided, and is the historical result of several generations of extreme violence against the haredi community at a time when demos were not covered by television, or even reported at all. In a community stuck in a time-warp (like most of the Middle East, actually) even the best policing tactics will take a long time to diffuse the tension that exists on an everyday level in that area. However, the fact that the official reps of the original haredi community, the Eida Haredith, are prepared to sit down and talk with the city municipality is a step in the right direction that will take a long time to nurture to maturity.

Unfortunately, it is the hoodlums who take to the streets, giving everyone else a bad name

Their mantra of "tradition trumps torah" is born of the same disease that inflicts other religious extremists (i.e. Islamists who overlook the fact that the Quran says Israel belongs to the Jews) and dysfunctional corporate executives who ran the global economy into the ground. And like those fool$, they do it in part to justify being funded despite being less than productive.

Rabbi S. R. Hirsch was castigated with a similar argument regarding his demand for the right to break away from the Reform-controlled Jewish community of Frankfort. He explained that peace is dependent on truth. A dishonest peace is not peace. So whether we are talking about not demonstrating against the bad faith shown by politicians vis-a-vis the status quo, or the pseudo-'peace' plans proposed by the Palestinians, the element of honesty is missing. As a result, real peace is not attainable.

You might spend your time more efficiently by trying to sell refrigerators to Eskimos

Rabbi Kahane used to lament that when he started the JDL all sorts of crazies joined not because they loved being Jewish but because they wanted to hit people. He said that unfortunately the same thing happened with Kach: people joined not because they loved the Torah but because they hated Arabs. Sometimes a movement with good intentions can spiral out of control, attract all the nuts and undermine the movement itself. The solution: leadership needs to make it very very clear over and over again that it will distance itself from violence in any form.

Michael, they are called Inuit- this is their name- not Eskimos....LOL but I agree with what you are trying to say: talking to people like the H. is for the birds....

Rav Hirsch, in his greatness, knew that he should not capitulate to the Reform movement under any circumstances but he did not do so violently. There is nothing wrong with strongly disagreeing and protesting against something you disagree with and it is another thing to oppose something you don't like with violence. In truth: I have been to haredi protests in Israel and 99% of the time it is non-violent (except the cops who are very violent) but the 1% of the time a small sect of Haredim rampage violently it ruins the entire legitimate protest of the Hareidi community in Israel.

ONESIDE OF THE STORY IS THE SAME AS SAYING A LIE DONT INSULT SOME SMART PEOPLE OUT HERE WITH YOUR ONE SIDED RECITATION OF ONE HALF OF THE HALACHA AND HASHGAFA DACON9.