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17 Cheshvan 5760 - October 27, 1999 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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IN-DEPTH FEATURES

The Struggle for Shabbos 50 Years Ago -- On Rosh Chodesh Cheshvan, They Got up from Shiva
by N. Ze'evi

Part II

The first part explained the early stages of the confrontations between the religious community of Yerushalayim in the early days of the State (5709-1949, only a few months after the fighting stopped and the new life started), as it tried to establish the parameters of Shabbos Kodesh in its environment.

The police and the army drove through religious neighborhoods in those days on Shabbos, in a deliberately provocative way, and peaceful demonstrations mounted by the chareidi community were met with police violence.

The first demonstration was on Shabbos parshas Bamidbor, just before Shavuos. It was organized and attended by all segments of the religious community, including the Chief Rabbi. However, it was met with brutal police violence. The chareidi community was shocked, and did its best to protest and complain. This was not what they expected from a Jewish State when merely trying peacefully to defend Shabbos kodesh.

It was to no avail. The leading figures of Mapai and Mapam, the secular establishment of the Jewish state, issued a public statement effectively supporting the police violence against what they called "the attempts of the black powers in the yishuv to impose a reign of terror on us, under the guise of the preservation of religious values." This is clearly not an approach that fostered a meaningful dialogue.

And it was only the beginning of a long summer of demonstrations and violence that ended in tragedy.

@BIG LET BODY = The public storm which erupted, resulted in a number of calm weeks until the next outburst which occurred on Shabbos, the 5th of Tammuz 5709.

On that Shabbos, military vehicles once more launched a provocative campaign in the chareidi neighborhoods. When they saw that the chareidim were remaining silent over the passage of cars in their neighborhoods on Shabbos, they intensified their negative behavior in an original manner. As they passed by the shuls they began to honk their horns deafeningly .

In the afternoon, a jeep passed by the Kehal Yereim shul in Mea Shearim. A number of children outside shouted, "Shabbos! Shabbos" at the Shabbos desecraters.

The reaction of the soldiers was not late in coming. They got out of their jeep, and placed a bomb on the threshold of the shul. The tremendous explosion shook the street, which teemed with people. By a miracle no one was hurt.

This was an additional phase in the abandoning of the blood of chareidi Jewry. The residents of the chareidi neighborhoods began to sense a genuine war atmosphere. Children clutched their mothers and burst into tears whenever a soldier in uniform passed by. The tension and the fear was so thick that it could have been cut with a knife.

Many expressed the fear that the throwing of the bomb had been planned. The soldiers had sought to do something drastic in order to teach the chareidim a lesson, and all Shabbos, they searched for an opportune time.

The immensity of impact of the emotional shock of this violent conflict is manifested by the editorial which appeared in Hamevaser (the daily newspaper of the central Agudas Yisroel) the day after the explosion.

The paper used the language and the style generally found in the leaflets of the extremists in Yerushalayim (referring to the opponents as Nazis), and decided that the perpetrators of the crime were not of Jewish stock.

"The hands trembles. The mind cannot grasp. My body seems paralyzed. A shocking event occurred in Yerushalayim, Ir Hakodesh. Jewish soldiers exploded a bomb beside a shul.

"Woe to us. Is that possible? Is that thinkable? Is it conceivable that an extreme secularist would dare lift his hand, take a bomb and lay it beside a shul? No! It is impossible to believe that a Jew has perpetrated this deed. Jews who serve in the Israeli army would not dare commit so base a deed.

"And if so shocking a deed as the placing of a bomb on the doorstep of a shul was indeed perpetrated, it is certain that the soldiers involved are not of Jewish stock. They belong to the erev rav, who made aliya to Israel by chance. Such soldiers are the scum of the earth. They have no link to Judaism -- neither to the Jewish religion, nor to the Jewish homeland. They belong among the base German Nazis who burned synagogues.

"But if, to our great dismay, such base people are nonetheless members of the Jewish army, and wear the badge of the Israeli Defense Force, and use the vehicles of the State of Israel, responsibility for their deeds rests on the government and on the heads of the army.

"The heads of the government and the army cannot wash their hands and say they did not lay the bomb beside the shul -- the bomb which by a miracle did not claim human lives or property. We sternly demand that the heads of the government punish those soldiers and mete out full justice.

"Shabbos Kodesh isn't a free-for-all, and the honor of a synagogue cannot be desecrated by people who have no feelings of respect for the sacred values of our faith.

"As long as those responsible for these base acts do not receive a heavy punishment, the entire government and army, with all their ministers and commanders, bear the responsibility for this deed."

That same week, the issue was raised in the Knesset by means of an urgent parliamentary question presented by Agudas Yisroel's representative, Rabbi M. D. Levenstein. "This past Shabbos Kodesh, men in army uniform placed a bomb on the threshold of a synagogue on Mea Shearim Street in Yerushalayim. They did this after some of the worshipers cried out `Shabbos,' in protest of an army jeep which rode back and forth in front of the synagogue, and honked its horn unnecessarily, in order to offend the feelings of the people inside the shul. When military police patrols were stationed in Mea Shearim to stop cars which pass through for no purpose, there were no incidents in the neighborhood. Last Shabbos, the patrols were not present, and the residents of the street were once more abandoned to the whims of the Shabbos desecraters."

Further on in his speech, Rabbi Levenstein demanded the establishment of a parliamentary investigating committee which would examine the circumstances of this "crime, unprecedented in the annals of Jewish history since the days of the Greeks," and which would bring the bomb throwers to justice.

"The State of Israel, which so meticulously guards the honor and welfare of the holy sites of others, cannot forsake its own holy sites, because no one else in the entire world will demand that they be respected."

The chairman, N. Nir evaded deliberating on this parliamentary question for formal reasons.

@SUB TITLE = It Was Not Over

It is perhaps only symbolic that on the week the assaults on the chareidim of Yerushalayim reached a peak, the chareidi press devoted a special section to the 85th anniversary of the murder of Dr. Yaakov DeHaan Hy"d (the 29th of Sivan 5688). No one imagined that during those weeks, the seeds of the next murder of a chareidi by Jewish hands, would be sown. Whoever regarded the events with a shrewd eye, could discern that it was only a matter of time until the worst occurred. The well-greased incitement machine was working non- stop. The press and the secular representatives warned against the "black powers," which had to be halted in every manner possible. The air was loaded with dynamite. No one dared speak about the ensuing stage which was expected to follow the laying of the bomb near the shul. All dreaded the next explosive incident.

It occurred three months later. This time, the Kehal Yereim shul in Mea Shearim -- that very shul into which the soldiers had burst on Shabbos, the 7th of Sivan 5709, beating all of the worshipers and breaking its window panes, that very shul, on whose threshold a bomb was placed a month later -- served as the target for an additional attack, a murderous one. A malicious hand snuffed out the life of one of the shul's members.

In the beginning of 5709, two mysterious fires which terrified the chareidi community had taken place. During aseres yemei teshuva, an entire synagogue in the Shenkin neighborhood of Givatayim (a suburb of Tel Aviv), went up in flames. Late at night, Givatayim's firemen were summoned to the site. But all of their efforts to extinguish it were in vain. In a matter of moments, the fire consumed the entire synagogue, including seven sifrei Torah, an aron kodesh, and all of its religious artifacts, siddurim and sifrei kodesh.

This was the only synagogue in the region. The shammesh of the synagogue related that when he left the building that evening, no candles had remained lit, and that he had not seen any suspicious object which could have caused a fire. The investigations of the police yielded no results. The neighbors, however, related that during that period, a number of unsuccessful arson attempts had been made

The arson was forgotten, until the ensuing one.

@SUB TITLE = A Provocative Succos "Celebration"

On erev Succos, Yerushalayim's municipality announced that on chol hamoed it would sponsor a Simchas Beis Shoeva. When the chareidi public learned about the nature of this Simchas Beis Shoeva, it was startled and shocked. Indecent performances and mixed folk-dancing would take place in the streets of Ir Hakodesh.

Yom Tov Succos fell, that year, on Shabbos. That Shabbos, a huge throng gathered in the Kehal Yereim shul to hear the protest speeches delivered by HaRav Dovid Yungreis, a member of the Badatz of the Eida HaChareidis, and by HaRav Yeshaya Sheinberger. Afterward, a protest march set out toward the municipality building, where HaRav Amram Blau delivered a scathing speech about chilul Shabbos in Yerushalayim.

After an urgent consultation of askonim, it was decided to dispatch a manifesto to the municipality. It read:

"In honor of the Administration of the Yerushalayim Municipality:

"We the undersigned protest and warn the Yerushalayim Municipality about its plan to hold mixed folk dancing in the midst of Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh, and inform it that such behavior violates the Torah and the mussar of our Nation, and constitutes a terrible and appalling breach in the modesty and holiness of Am Yisroel, corrupting the souls and the purity of our sons and daughters.

"Therefore we demand and warn that if the Municipality does not revoke this evil plot and remove this disgrace from our Nation and our sacred city, and continues to trample on our sacred people and to mock their religious sentiments by means of such schemes, we will stop cooperating with it, and not pay taxes."

The gaavad of the Eida HaChareidis, HaRav Reuven Zelig Bengis, ruled that it was a mitzvah to sign this protest even on chol hamoed, and within a few hours, many signatures were secured.

On Tuesday, the third day of chol hamoed, a delegation of the Eida HaChareidis appeared before the mayor, Daniel Oster, and presented the manifesto to him. They pleaded with him to cancel the performances. But the mayor mocked the members of the delegation, and spoke crassly and crudely to them. Before leaving, the members the delegation gave him a letter of the gaavad of the Eida HaChareidis and of the members of the Badatz, which said:

"To the esteemed administration of the Yerushalayim Municipality:

"The chareidi community of Yerushalayim was shocked to read the announcements posted by the municipality, about the mixed, public folk dancing, and indecent performances, which are beneath all ethical and moral standards, and are totally forbidden by the sacred Torah and all of our halachic works. Our mussar writings are replete with exhortations against this heinous sin. According to the Rambam and the Shulchan Oruch, hilchos Yom Tov, Chapter Ten, halocho 21, during festivals a beis din is obligated to station police to guarantee that men and women do not mingle during simchas, and do not drink wine together, so that they will not come to transgress (Chapter Six, halocho 21).

"This is the first time in the history of the city of Yerushalayim that its municipality has taken advantage of its public authority to hold events which corrupt the hearts of the youth, stimulate the basest inclinations, and desecrate the glory of Shomayim, the glory of Ir Hakodesh and the glory of Am Yisroel.

"We are certain that the administration of the municipality is interested in maintaining the purity of the city and its glory. We therefore request, in the name of the chareidi community, that these dances be canceled prior to the holiday, and that this disgraceful stain be removed from our sacred city.

"If the municipality doesn't comply, and doesn't cancel the indecent performances, we will draw far-reaching conclusions."

Oster mocked this letter too, and announced that he was firm in his view on this issue, and woe to whoever tried to protest the municipality's activities. That day, the Badatz of the Eida HaChareidis published a sharp protest declaration, and the residents were called upon to assemble for an additional protest rally in the Kehal Yereim beis medrash that Wednesday.

@SUB TITLE = Across the Board Protest

The protest rally encompassed all circles of chareidi Jewry. Hakol devoted an editorial to it on chol hamoed Succos, which said:

"Public and massive mixed dancing will be held in the streets of Yerushalayim Ir Hakodesh. Where is a Jewish heart which still contains Jewish sentiments and the Jewish spark, which is not shocked by the fact that we are evicting the kedusha of our lives from our homes, and expelling kedusha and Jewish modesty from its final fortress with a mighty arm?

"This must serve as a warning sign for chareidi Jewry. The wave of liberation from religion (chofshi'ut) is rising and is threatening to inundate our sacred land from one end to the other. Let us arise as one man to halt it. Let us clearly declare: This will not be, if not in the entire country, then at least not in Yerushalayim, Ir Hakodesh the palace of the King."

That very Wednesday, a protest rally was held, and when it ended the entire throng went out to the streets to demonstrate. The police began to cruelly suppress the demonstration by dealing murderous blows and shooting in the air without discernment. The events received a major spread in Hakol, under the headline, "The Police Conduct a Pogrom in Mea Shearim."

That day, Hakol also published an article warning against the worsening of the situation in Yerushalayim. The writer warned against the deepening rift, and the imminent kulturkampf. He expressed his fear that the main purpose of the initiators of the indecent events was to provoke the community and to get them excited.

"Do the directors of the city believe that chareidi Jewry will suppress its pain and remain silent in the face of the obvious aim of transforming kiryah ne'emono lezonah? Or perhaps they don't want us to remain silent. They want chareidi Jewry to openly express its protest, in order to justify their removing the sword from its scabbard, and waving it over the heads of chareidi Jewry.

"The facts tend to the second assumption. One newspaper relates that "the police surrounded Mea Shearim." Another says that they searched for pretexts, and waited for provocations. It seems as if the anonymous proclamations against Neturei Karta have borne fruit.

"Indeed something has occurred in Yerushalayim which is liable to yield serious results. Will wise people, who know how to stamp out the danger embedded in the development of this situation, be found?"

Underneath this article, the editor of Hakol added the following assessment: "Editorial note: This article was prepared prior to tonight's events." Perhaps the inserters of the editorial note were intimating that fears expressed by the writer on Wednesday morning that "something has occurred which is liable to yield serious results," had already materialized in the form of the pogrom which the police conducted that very Wednesday evening.

However, it seems as if the worst of all was yet to come. The incitement led to a murder, which occurred three days later, on Simchas Torah.

@SUB TITLE = Escalating Police Violence

The behavior of the police that Wednesday, chol hamoed, managed to shock even national religious circles. Before then, Hatzofeh criticized the protesters and the demonstrators, noting that "among them are talmidei chachomim who out of blindness still haven't seen the light of the establishment of the State. They don't want to see the positive, and yearn davka to see the negative."

However a week afterward, Hatzofeh published a letter written by Moshe Kalcheim, Hapoel Hamizrachi's representative to the Yerushalayim City Council. In it he sharply decried the behavior of the police, and brought shocking testimony which he had heard from primary sources. The title of the article was: "To the Ears of the Minister of Police." It read:

<%-3>"At a meeting of Hapoel Hamizrachi, held on the night of the 19th of Tishrei, a Jew approached and told us the following:

<%-3>`I, Tzvi Kampinski, a new immigrant, have been living in Israel for 10 weeks, and reside at 8 Shmuel Hanovi Street. On my way home from friends, a police van suddenly came toward me. A policeman jumped out and, without asking a thing, began to beat me indiscriminately. I asked him why he was hitting me, but he did not reply. A second officer approached, and began beating me too. This occurred in a lane near the Berman bakery. In each lane there were 2-3 people.'

"Mr. Kampinski asked us to intervene. I called the main police station, and asked to speak with the on duty officer, but was told that he was very busy. I reported the incident, and they referred me to the southern police station. I went with Mr. <%-3>Kampinski to the southern branch, and spoke with Sergeant Wilder. I asked him to investigate the incident, and he wrote down whatever he wrote. At the station, I found three other Jews who had come to complain about similar incidents. Among them were two members of Hapoel Hamizrachi. I recorded those incidents, and here are the details:

<%-3>Mr. Yaakov Mandel, who lives at 78 Batei Ungarin, is a former soldier who took part in the battles on the Kastel, Jaffa Gate and Musrara. He participated in the military campaign of the Palmach at the time of the attack through Jaffa Gate. He was injured four times. At about nine o'clock, he neared Berman Lane. Suddenly, some policemen jumped out of their van, and one of them beat him with a club. When he asked why the police were beating him, he received more beatings. He turned to the officer in charge who was in the group, but the officer did not reply. The police continued to beat him, in the presence of the officer. With a bleeding heart, Mandel said: `I, who gave of my very blood, and sacrificed my well-being and life for the sake of the homeland and Yerushalayim, was hit by a Jewish policemen for no reason, and have come to demand justice. I will not remain still or silent until those wicked police are punished.'

<%-3>"Mr. Binyomin Stern, who lives with his friend, Mr. Mandel, is also a member of Hapoel Hamizrachi. He is a former soldier who participated in the battles. He was walking down the street innocently, along with Mandel, and was struck in the face with clubs. He was injured, and filed a complaint with Sergeant Wilder. At the police station, both of them, Mandel and Stern, identified, one of the policemen who had hit them. The policeman denied the charge.

<%-3>"Mr. Hausman, who is also a member of Hapoel Hamizrachi, appeared at the police station. He was waiting for the number 11 bus on Geula Street, along with two small children. The police accosted him too. He went to the police station, and they told him to return the next day to file his complaint.

<%-3>"Eye witnesses relate that the police attacked elderly Jews in the street, but not all of them came to the police station to file complaints.

<%-3>"According to the information conveyed to me by the police officer, these events occurred after Neturei Karta's demonstrations. However, despite the tension, there is no excuse to beat civilians, even if they are members of Neturei Karta, and there is surely no justification to hit quiet citizens indiscriminately.

<%-3>"I ask the Police Minister, to conduct an immediate investigation, and punish the guilty policemen, so that others will learn from this incident. The job of the police is to maintain order."

<%-3>That is what Mr. Kalcheim wrote. The facts speak for themselves.

<%-3>The day after the demonstration, the police arrested five Neturei Karta members, among them their leaders, Rav Amram Blau and Rav Aharon Katznelenbogen. Rav Amram Blau was arrested when he was returning home from shul with the arba minim in his hand. He was interrogated and released with his friend on bail, on Friday, Hoshanna Rabbah.

<%-3>

@SUB TITLE = The Secular Press

<%-3>Throughout that period, the secular press fanned the fire by means of an incitement campaign. Declarations in the style of "A Plot to Set Fire to the Central Public Park" appeared daily.

Al Hamishmar published a provocative article in obvious Sturmer-style under the title, "The Middle Ages are Drawing Near." Among other things, it said:

"They are increasing the terror. All means are kosher, and they hope that the yishuv will become accustomed to this form of rule, and in the end surrender. They would eat an apikorus alive even on Yom Kippur, and leave no trace of him.

"They devoted chol hamoed Succos to a propaganda excursion throughout the entire country. This gave us some sort of a glimpse into the recesses of the future. The public will see and be shown how the country will look after Neturei Karta becomes a stable majority.

"Tel Aviv merited to witness this glorious and remarkable scene. At the head of the throng was a parade of cars, filled with children and infants, whose payos flowed down their cheeks. Their eyes were rolled upward; their mouths issued zemiros and pesukim; they clapped their hands to the beat of chassidic jazz; they tapped their feet nonstop. The children and their counselors wore streimels, and a dybbuk-like atmosphere prevailed in the street. It seemed as if very shortly, a massive roll call of spirits and transmigrated souls, which float about in the void, not finding a tikun, would begin.

"And lo, young Tel Aviv stood face to face with museum exhibits from the Middle Ages, whose cars were decorated with placards bearing the title, `Yeshivas Hamasmidim.'

"Hundreds of tender souls trapped in a dancing cage, chanted verses of Scripture. They looked like babes in captivity in an obsolescent world, who were trying to flee the land of the spooks, and gain control over living reality.

"The roshei yeshiva went all out, dancing, and grunting holy incantations, urging and inspiring the infants who were recruited for this milchemes mitzvah.

"The democratic street regarded them as a filmstrip from antiquated, obsolete and forgotten times. Freedom of conscience celebrates its victory. They are permitted to destroy, to shatter ribs, to damage and to wreak havoc. According to these democratic laws, we are allowed to be injured, robbed and destroyed. But this freedom has already overstepped its bounds. Their chutzpah grows greater from day to day. There seems to be a force behind them -- one to which the government will yield. They don the streimels of traitors to the homeland, and proudly declare this both orally and in writing.

"We stand in the streets, watching this scene, and our eyes beheld the scenes from the Middle Ages which are drawing near."

This inflammatory atmosphere had an impact far from Yerushalayim, too. On the fourth day of chol hamoed, an additional mysterious fire broke out in the Gerrer shul in Bnei Brak. The aron kodesh was burned to a cinder along with the four sifrei Torah. That same day, A.V., who lives near the shul, was arrested on the suspicion of arson. He was a discharged soldier who had, in the past, threatened the members of the shul, a grenade in his hand.

Immediately after Succos, the levaya of the sifrei Torah was held. The Chazon Ish strode at its head. That same week, the levaya of the sifrei Torah consumed in the Shenkin shul was also held.

This close-spacing of the events indicated that a common objective was involved. Perhaps the felons were different, but both had apparently been goaded by the same inducements and provocation which raged in the streets.

Hatzofeh published an editorial under the heading "Mysterious Fires," in which it questioned the silencing of the investigations on this issue.

"Two fires occurred, one after the other, in the same region. Is there a link between them? Did one hand set fire to both synagogues and the sifrei Torah? Did the same maniac act in the Shenkin neighborhood and in Bnei Brak?

"The police must remove the cloak of secrecy which shrouds the two fires, in the two synagogues, in the two settlements which are near each other. The public wants to know with absolute clarity: What is behind those arsons? Who set fire to synagogues and Torah scrolls."

Whatever, the handling of the affair was silenced. Even the case of the bad neighbor of the Gerrer shul in Bnei Brak, who decided to exact revenge from the members of the congregation for protesting the public Shabbos desecration, was shoved to a corner, with the claim that the man was "mentally disturbed."

@SUB TITLE = The Terrible Climax

And that Simchas Torah, the worst occurred.

As we have said, the Kehal Yereim beis medrash was the main object of police hatred. Policemen, soldiers and plain ordinary derelicts, who passed by would, as a matter of course, throw stones at the shul, while spewing derogatory remarks. On Simchas Torah during hakofos, someone threw a large stone into the beis medrash. The stone hit Reb Nesanel Turnheim in the head, seriously injuring him.

Rav Turnheim fell to the ground, and murmured, "The blood of the beaten is as pleasing as the blood of a sacrifice." His pain intensified. At the motzei Shabbos, melave malka, as he was about to observe his usual custom of studying Tana deVei Eliyahu, he collapsed, and returned his pure soul to its Maker.

Eyewitnesses in the Kehal Yereim beis medrash posted the following announcement:

"The rabid incitement and the incessant threats which the secular press has been directing at chareidi Jewry in Eretz Hakodesh for months, and which intensified after the dances in Yerushalayim, which chareidi Jewry adamantly protested, have borne fruit, and displayed their signs. Thugs, who are incited by the press, and know that they can safely hide behind the backs of those who sent them, vengefully felled one of our finest men -- an outstanding, pure, upright and G- d-fearing man, who scrupulously observed all of the mitzvos, both the light and the weighty -- a diligent man who lived his entire life in purity -- HaRav HaGaon, morenu HaRav Nesanel Hacohen Turnheim.

"On Simchas Torah night, as he was davening in the Kehal Yereim shul (where the protest rally over the folk-dancing was held), incited thugs threw a stone into the shul, and mortally wounded him.

"The cries of this clean blood, spilled in heichal Hashem, beis mikdash me'at, reach the Heavens, as did the blood of the prophet Zecharia.

"The scandalous provocation has reached a peak. The blood of the sons and daughters of the chareidi community has become a free-for-all. Permission is granted to goad the lusts of the thugs. The blood of chareidi Jewry is cheap due to its having pursued Hashem's way, and for its refusal to allow the sacred earth to be contaminated by debauchery and abomination.

"Shocking! Where are the secularist policies leading? We were like sheep to slaughter. Yet they continue to destroy the vestiges of our Nation, and secretly devise evil schemes to obliterate all that is precious and sacred to Am Yisroel. The horrifying murder must open our eyes, and show us where those thugs are headed.

"Jews of Eretz Yisroel and the Diaspora: This clean blood cries out to you from the earth. Don't be fooled. Look ahead to the future with open eyes."

R' Nesanel Hacohen Turnheim was one of Yerushalayim's finest. He studied in the Toras Chaim yeshiva, and merited to be very close with the Chazon Ish. In Yerushalayim, he was known for his outstanding avodas Hashem, and his pure faith. Even during the shellings, he refused to leave his home. His family moved the seforim shrank closer to him and, seated between the shrank and the closet, he immersed himself in Torah and tefillah. He was the grandson of the Admor, HaRav Yissochor Dov Berish Hachohen Turnheim, author of Avodas Yissochor. When the Admor's son was niftar, the community asked R' Nesanel to take his place. He firmly rejected the proposal.

The murder of R' Nesanel Turnheim was forgotten. The family did not want to turn to the authorities and demand an investigation. As a result, only a few knew that he was the first to be murdered in the State of Israel by Jews, due to his beliefs.

Precisely six months later, the following incident occurred:

On Shabbos, the 20th of Nisan 5710, Yaakov Geraffi was killed by a guard of the Ein Shemer immigrants' camp. The background for the murder: the riots which raged at the site over the demand to enable the immigrants to lead a religious lifestyle and to maintain the standards of tsnius to which they were accustomed in their native land.

Seven year later, the kadosh Segelov was killed in a Shabbos skirmish. The Zionists wanted to build Yehuda in their way, and along the lines of their secular identity. For that purpose they were willing to kill and to commit arson.


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