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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
In the city of Rechovot is a neighborhood called Oshayot. A
mixed bag of people can be seen walking around outside on a
typical day, mostly not-so-new immigrants living at the
neighborhood's large absorption center. Some Russians, a lot
of Ethiopians -- but the Yemenites stand out most of all in
their traditional attire and the "simonim"
(payos) in plain sight on the men and boys.
When I came here ten years ago, I was attacked by the
absorption center staff who also made a point of inciting the
new immigrants against me. Shortly before the visit I had
uncovered an affair that had the chareidi world in Eretz
Yisroel and abroad up in arms.
I went back to see what took place over the past ten years
and whether anything remains of this large group of Jews who
came to Eretz Yisroel yirei'im ushleimim, with their
forefathers' tradition intact. When they came they were Jews
who kept mitzvos to the finest detail, Jews whose dress and
appearance attested to their inner purity.
The sight that met me was enough to draw tears. Netzach
Yisroel lo yishaker. The efforts of the immigration
authorities to rob these immigrants of their religious
tradition and faith -- like their brethren before them who
came as part of the Magic Carpet Operation some 50 years ago -
- proved a failure. (Editor's Note: This visit took place
around nine months ago.)
There were little boys with curly payos learning with
the mori from the Taj, adults in their
traditional attire, men with simonim praying
Minchah and listening to a shiur. For the Yomim
Noraim the community arranged a temporary place for the
tefillos, that was large enough to allow the women to
come hear the shofar.
The vast majority of the children are enrolled in Torah-based
educational institutions. The older children learn in
yeshivas and seminaries and many young couples have already
set up exemplary Jewish homes in chareidi neighborhoods in
Eretz Yisroel and abroad.
I went back to the people I spoke with ten years ago,
especially Salaam Zarev. He was not easy to find, but
eventually I came across a group of boys near one of the
buildings who might tell me. When asked why they were
gathered there they, replied that they were waiting for the
mori to teach them parshas hashovua.
Keeping the Faith
While waiting for the mori to arrive, an informal
survey of the children revealed that all of them study in
Torah institutions. An older boy named Yosef Kafri rode up on
a bicycle, and during the course of a brief inquiry he
explained that most of the children study at the Chinuch
Atzmai talmud Torah in Yavneh, taking the bus every
day.
Meanwhile, adults filed one by one into the little beis
knesses built among the pillars of the building. There is
another beis knesses like it in the neighborhood, and
a third one built in somebody's yard.
The most prominent figure in the beis knesses was
HaRav Yaakov Oved, who has served as rov of the Yemenite
kehilloh for the past ten years. In the morning, he
learns at a Lev L'Achim kollel, and he dedicates his
afternoon hours to the Yemenite immigrants.
HaRav Oved does not try to hide his gratification over the
fabulous work over the years to keep the immigrants from
Yemen unchanged. The vast majority of the adults remain
faithful to their tradition. Many of them even learn in a
kollel that provided stipends for 40 men until
recently. Now, due to budget cuts , only a few receive
stipends, but all of them continue to come.
Dedication Pays Off
HaRav Oved says children who came to Rechovot when they were
older did not all remain true to their heritage, whereas the
younger children did, for the most part. "We have been
particularly successful with the girls," he reports. "Almost
all of them study in chareidi institutions. And most of the
boys learn in yeshivas and Torah-based institutions. It was
not easy, but if dedicated efforts are invested, real success
can be seen."
HaRav Oved once had a high-ranking military post and later
became one of the top employees at the high-tech firm El Op,
working as a mechanical engineer. Twenty- five years ago,
thanks to Lev L'Achim's widespread work in the city headed by
HaRav Tzvi Schwartz, he became much more religious, and
eventually became an avreich kollel.
Ten years ago, he was sent to become the rov of the Yemenite
community in the Oshayot neighborhood, and ever since then he
has devoted himself heart and soul to preserving and
strengthening the kehilloh members.
When asked to compare the period back then to the present he
says, "Beyond any doubt, if they had gone to live in a
chareidi place the situation would have been much better.
They still live in the Oshayot neighborhood among immigrants
from different parts of the Diaspora whose lifestyles are
bad, yerachem Hashem, and their situation here is
terrible, which is why many of them went wrong. I estimate
that about 30 percent are beyond our control. Some of them
cut their simonim and don't come to learn. They wear
inappropriate clothing in the streets.
"But boruch Hashem we succeeded in retaining about 70
percent of the adult community along with a staff of
rabbonim, morim and women teachers who do the day-to-
day field work. We have five morim. Three are Yemenite
immigrants and two are avreichim from our ranks.
Besiyata deShmaya we managed to have most of the boys
and girls educated in Torah-based institutions.
In addition there are day-to-day problems that are not just
in ruchniyus, but also financial. The parnossoh
situation is really dismal. Most of the immigrants don't
work. The social situation is also abominable; the streets
there are so full of terrible disregard for the bounds of
tznius that you can't walk around.
"We made a major effort to get as many families as possible
out of here and into chareidi areas, and they were even
willing to give a special grant of $10,000- $20,000 to every
family that agreed to move to a chareidi area. But many did
not take up the offer then. Now that they realize the mistake
they made, there is no money for this.
"Tzedokoh organizations once gave help to young
couples renting in chareidi areas and today there are a
number of couples living in Bnei Brak and Elad, but now the
financial situation is extremely tough and we no longer have
the large assistance we once received. Therefore, for
example, the number of people who learn in the kollel
who receive a special stipend has been reduced from 40 to 15,
but most still come to learn without money. This is a big
miracle, that they come to learn without getting paid."
Following all these remarks -- that point to a few
disappointments, but mostly impressive successes -- I asked
HaRav Oved how, despite the secular free-for-all prevailing
in the neighborhood, a considerable portion of the community
members continue to wear traditional attire and
simonim. HaRav Oved's pleasure is obvious.
"Their perfect innocence and purity is simply unbelievable.
To hold onto tradition is a fabulous and special thing here.
I told them the simonim are part of our attire and
cannot be left behind. The vast majority of the little boys
also continue to wear simonim."
Lev L'Achim
HaRav Oved, echoing HaRav Schwartz of Lev L'Achim, says that
if the needed funding materializes in the future it will be
possible to continue strengthening the community in keeping
its age-old heritage. Readers who would like to assist him in
his efforts can call HaRav Oved at 050-5656822. Any donations
would be very welcome.
Following the conversation with HaRav Oved, I went to see the
little boys learning with the mori.
What a moving sight! The young boys sat and learned
Chumash while the very little boys learned the Alef-
Beis. The mori, reading perfectly upside-down of
course, used a long pointer to help the children find the
right place. One of the ladies who came to pick up her son
would not allow us to photograph him, fearing ayin
hora.
The classrooms and the learning conditions are horrendous.
HaRav Oved prepared me for this in advance, saying it was
simply miraculous that studies could continue under such
circumstances.
"We're maintaining them by the skin of our teeth because the
conditions are totally inadequate, as you can see for
yourself. Now we're looking for a normal place to serve as a
beis knesses for the Yomim Noraim because in the
existing place the conditions are terrible. If you manage to
rouse the public in Eretz Yisroel to support what we're doing
here it would be of great benefit."
From Yated Ne'eman
Later I went to the home of Salaam Zarev across the street
from the absorption center. He recognized me as soon as I
stepped in. "You're from Yated Ne'eman," he said, to
my great surprise. At first I asked him whether any families
went back to Yemen. He says there are two such families, one
from Rechovot and one from Ashkelon.
Zarev says that since coming to Eretz Yisroel three more
children were born to him, in addition to the five he came
with. His oldest daughter married a Yemenite and now lives in
Monsey, New York.
Salaam says that other young couples moved to the US and are
living in Monroe and other Jewish areas, after a Satmar
chossid working in outreach came with large sums to help the
Yemenite community of Rechovot.
Salaam says his other children are attending Torah-based
institutions. His oldest unmarried daughter, for example, is
studying at the seminary in Be'er Yaakov.
At the same time, he is filled with remorse over the older
generation who were victims of the State's immigrant
absorption system. "Among the adults some were harmed by
absorption, but among the young people and the little
children this was not the case."
Salaam Zarev visited Yemen not long ago. There are another 20
families still there, primarily in Rida, which is near
Tzana'a, and he reports that all of them, without exception,
get along fine and remain religious "better than I." Though
he is pleased with his children's education, he is distressed
by the financial hardships the Yemenite immigrants face.
Later I had a conversation with the elderly Dovid Faiz, who
overflows with praise for HaKodosh Boruch Hu. He has
no complaints. He answers every question comparing past and
present with the words, "Boruch Hashem we have our
health, good children, thank G-d."
If R' Dovid Faiz, whom we know from his troubles ten years
ago, is satisfied, who are we to differ?
The Initial Expose
To understand the great miracle that took place in that the
schemes of the authorities were not realized, we must go ten
years back. The pages of the Yated Ne'eman in those
days, Hebrew and English, were filled with harsh stories
about the goings-on at absorption centers and the way the
Yemenite immigrants were received. These incidents started in
Rechovot, but later they also reached Ashkelon and Kiryat
Gat.
The first media coverage was on 6 Nisan 5753 (March 28,
1993). The front-page banner headline in Yated Ne'eman
read, "Campaign of Religious Persecution Against New
Immigrants from a Certain Country Currently Being Waged in
the Streets." At that time, the fact that the immigrants were
from Yemen was a closely guarded secret since, the
authorities claimed, premature publicity would likely have
caused the Yemenite authorities to put a stop to all
immigration. Notwithstanding the legitimate reasons, the
immigration authorities were using the freedom given them by
the secrecy to advance their own goals.
According to the report, "chareidi activists are accusing the
Absorption Ministry of waging a campaign of spiritual
destruction and secularization of new immigrants who arrived
in Eretz Yisroel from a certain country, and although the
immigrants keep Torah and mitzvos and throughout the years
[of exile] they preserved their age-old Jewish appearance and
are adorned with payos, they have been housed in an
absorption center in Rechovot together with secular
immigrants and are subjected to critical comments by secular
guidance staffers that can have a decisive [spiritual]
effect."
Government censors placed a ban on publishing the immigrants'
country of origin, but the phrase "adorned with payos"
made it clear to most readers they were from Yemen.
The Blank Space in the Newspaper
The exclusive report in Yated about the "welcome" the
Yemenite immigrants received in Eretz Hakodesh sent shock
waves far and wide, irritating old scars among Sephardim who
had been the victims of the establishment and the left-wing
parties who once dominated the political scene. As part of
their attempt to shape the Yishuv in Eretz Yisroel in the
early years of the State, they had tried to systematically
strip Sephardic immigrants of their religious practices and
tradition.
"An unequivocal demand should be made of the various
authorities," concluded the article. "The immigrants should
live in a chareidi environment in keeping with their way of
life, and their children must be placed in Torah
institutions. Under no circumstances can we allow the
terrible wrong of 5713 (1953) [i.e. the mass immigration from
Yemen] to repeat itself in Israel in 5753 (1993)."
Unfortunately the demand to bring the immigrants to chareidi
population centers was not realized, which led directly to
woeful results especially among the older youths, some of
whom stopped following in their forefathers' ways.
The next day, in a dramatic departure, Yated Ne'eman's
editorial column was left mostly blank, under the headline
"Violent Suppression." A brief explanation read, "Scandal! We
have been prevented from reporting on it! Our mouth has been
shut with a violent political fist! An issue of major
interest to the chareidi public that has received wide media
coverage in reports that are partly false and tendentious,
appears in Yated Ne'eman today in curtailed form.
Political figures with vested interests -- including chareidi
figures who felt personally responsible for the scandal --
intervened and our newspaper received a directive tantamount
to shutting our mouths in order to prevent an outcry. The 50s
are back in a revised form. Hard to believe, but it's a fact!
What we wanted to write in this space we will not write. We
will leave the space for our readers to fill in the blank and
act according to the needs of the hour!"
Secular Atmosphere
On the front page was a report about the demeaning treatment
of residents at the Rechovot Absorption Center, where
immodestly dressed counselors directed all of the center's
social activities, instilling an overwhelmingly secular
atmosphere. Another article raised strong suspicions that the
IDF Censor who suppressed the information about the country
of origin was acting under political pressure from above.
Yet apparently, even these abbreviated articles had an
effect, for on 13 Nisan another large, front-page headline
told of, "Some Improvement in Spiritual Condition of
Immigrants at Rechovot Absorption Center."
The article quoted Rabbi Aryeh Gamliel, then a Shas MK and
himself of Yemenite ancestry, in a meeting he had called in
the Knesset three years earlier on the possibility of a
Yemenite aliyah. "I am very doubtful whether we can absorb
them and keep them in the same condition of cleaving to Torah
and mitzvos as they do today," he said in response to
previous statements by Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz, who had been one
of the central activists working toward the spiritual success
of Sephardic immigrants in the State's early years. "Some of
those involved in the absorption of the [Yemenite] aliyah at
the time acted with callousness, stupidity and a lack of
understanding, handling this aliyah in a shameful way. We
must remember these things in order to know how to attend to
. . . Jewry." (Due to government censorship the ellipsis was
used to replace the word "Yemenite." --B.R.)
Censorship at Work
Although at first the entire affair was strictly off-limits
for publication, after Yated Ne'eman's expose the
government censor's office had to permit covering the story,
with certain limitations.
Later there was much more to print, such as a letter sent to
rabbonim and public figures in the US by two Yemenite
chareidi activists who managed to spend an entire day at the
Rechovot Absorption Center. They provided detailed,
eyewitness testimony on what was taking place there.
Meanwhile, in Bnei Brak, activists held an emergency meeting
at which they blamed the Absorption Ministry and the Jewish
Agency for waging a sophisticated, methodical campaign to
secularize the Yemenite immigrants. In reporting on the
meeting, once again Yated Ne'eman had to write about
the Yemenites in vague terms, referring to them as "Torah-
true immigrants who kept their rooted Jewish appearance
throughout the years and are adorned with payos."
In an interview, Rabbi Gamliel claimed, "All of the children,
without exception, are being cared for in a religious
framework. The allegations and claims that the youths were
taken to overwhelmingly secular areas and that their
spiritual absorption is not being handled properly are
totally false . . . All of the remonstrations alleging that
the government is acting to uproot religion and spread
heathenism are merely attempts to denounce the successful
absorption work. The claims that the children are not
receiving a chareidi education are being spread by
individuals whose ideology distorts their thinking. Both the
children and the adults study in yeshivas," insisted Rabbi
Gamliel, who was serving as Deputy Ministry of Construction
and Housing under Minister Yair Tzaban (Meretz) in the anti-
religious administration whose infamy will not be forgotten,
that included both Shas and Meretz. That government signed
the original Oslo accords, but its anti-religious activities
were very important and destructive. Meretz no longer
exists.
Rabbi Gamliel's statement came in reaction to serious
accusations by chareidi activists who held him directly and
indirectly responsible for what was taking place in Rechovot.
"It tears the heart to see that a chareidi representative is
willing, because of political considerations, to cover up
serious misdeeds and to blur the bitter and distressing
reality, and to silence the chareidi public's denunciation in
general and the avreichim from his own background in
particular. The time has come for him to consider
transferring all of the [absorption] center residents to a
place with a concentrated chareidi population, which is the
only way to preserve their spiritual and religious
heritage."
A New Scandal
The censorship scandal was overshadowed by an incident
unfolding at the time at the Beit Canada Absorption Center in
Ashkelon. Upon their arrival in Eretz Yisroel three months
after the first group, eight Yemenite families placed there
refused to enter the rooms given to them after seeing the
terrible pritzus on the part of the absorption center
staff, which included several young army women, other
immigrants residing there and offensive presentations shown
them.
Eventually they capitulated, following threats to deny them
new immigrants' rights altogether, but the next day the
families left the absorption center abruptly, leaving all of
their belongings behind.
HaRav Y. C. Blau, the rov of the city, HaRav Reisman, who
heads the kollel and the yeshiva ketanoh, and
Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz made haste to visit the absorption
center together with this reporter.
On Erev Shabbos, 20 Tammuz 5753 (1993), an in-depth report
under the headline, "Approved for Publication" related hair-
raising testimony on the events taking place at the
absorption center in Ashkelon. It described the director's
refusal to allow chareidim to visit the site and included
sharp criticism of chareidi figures who were constantly
trying to whitewash the bitter truth.
In an even more shocking development, the Yemenite immigrants
were brought to a party held at a community center in Ramat
Eshkol where indecent dancing took place in full view of the
chareidi immigrants. The incident drew sharp reactions and
led to emergency meetings and meetings of high-level
government officials. At a meeting held that week between
United Torah Jewry and then-prime minister Yitzhak Rabin to
review various policy and security issues, Rabbi Ravitz took
advantage of the opportunity to raise the issue of the
Yemenites' absorption.
The Central Demand
The chareidi activists objected most of all to the Absorption
Ministry efforts to disperse the Yemenites among various
absorption centers around the country in order to better
assimilate them into the secular population. Thus the
foremost demand was to concentrate all of the immigrants at a
single, chareidi absorption site, for it was already clear
that the eight families in Ashkelon were part of a wave
consisting of dozens of other families making their way to
Eretz Yisroel. Indeed, a short time later, several families
were brought to the absorption center in Kiryat Gat.
Time after time, Yated Ne'eman's editorials addressed
the painful issue and revealed that some of the immigrants
wanted to go back to Yemen. Dovid Faiz and his son were the
leaders of that group.
One day I got a message on my beeper to call a certain public
phone in Rechovot. The man on the other end of the line asked
me to come to his home right away. I set out without delay
and when I reached the building I saw someone up on the
fourth floor signaling for me to come.
The apartment was a shocking sight. I could barely squeeze my
way in. The living room and all of the bedrooms were filled
with beds arranged side by side. In the living room I counted
five beds. There amongst them was Dovid Faiz, his son Levy,
the elderly grandfather and Dovid's brother Shlomo, who had
arrived a short time earlier with his two wives and five
children.
"I Won't Stay in Ashkelon Any Longer"
Between the four families a total of 21 people were living
together in indescribably crowded conditions. The material
difficulty led to serious halachic and spiritual problems as
well. I already knew about this family and what it was going
through.
When Dovid's father came to Beit Canada together with his
family, upon stepping down from the bus with sifrei
Torah they had brought along from Yemen they encountered
very immodest sights, a far cry from what these chareidi
immigrants with dangling payos had hoped to see in
Eretz Hakodesh, the land they had prayed for as long as they
could remember. I had earlier sat down with them back in
Ashkelon and they told me of their plight. Mostly they
described the material difficulties they faced, but they were
also tied to very grave halachic problems.
Despite their difficulties and impoverishment, they suddenly
decided to move to the absorption center in Rechovot one
night. "My father saw there were Russian women dressed very
indecently," recounts Dovid Faiz, "so he said, `I won't stay
in Ashkelon any longer.'"
They expected to be given an apartment at the absorption
center in Rechovot to live in but the directors of the
absorption center decided to "teach them a lesson," adamantly
refusing to accommodate their request even though there were
vacant apartments at the center. Thus they decided to cram
themselves into Dovid Faiz' apartment.
Following the publication of the initial report in Yated
Ne'eman about the decision by the group of immigrants to
return to Yemen, reporters rushed to the Faiz family to hear
for themselves. Their spiritual problems were compounded by
material problems, but as Chazal tell us, "Godol
hamachti'o yoseir min hohorgo" ("Causing one to sin is
worse than killing him").
That week for the first time we were permitted to use the
word "Yemen" in print and to publish pictures taken at the
Rechovot Absorption Center. The reports in Yated
Ne'eman definitely had a positive effect.
Back to the Present
In today's Rechovot there are about 100 new immigrant
families from Yemen living in the Oshayot and Trumpeldor
neighborhoods. (Almost none remain in Ashkelon and Kiryat
Gat.)
At first, it was hard to gain entry to the buttressed homes.
A fear of foreigners still remains from the trying welcome
they received upon arrival in Eretz Yisroel by those seeking
to harm them spiritually. But after I showed them the decade-
old edition of Yated Ne'eman, the tension subsided and
the conversation became warmer as the expressions on their
faces became more revealing. When Salaam began to read the
articles again, I clicked my camera. Now I had a picture of
Salaam reading an edition of Yated Ne'eman containing
a picture of Salaam reading Yated Ne'eman.
The homes the immigrants live in are furnished with the same
simplicity and modesty they brought from Yemen. Their
furniture included the heavy, metal Jewish Agency beds most
people nowadays have not seen for decades. The air bore a
scent of gat, of course. They sit and chew the leaves,
holding Tehillim and Taj seforim in their
hands. When you step into their homes a spirit of bygone days
pervades.
But alongside the scenes reminiscent of ancient times is the
sight of a nine- year-old girl doing her limudei
kodesh homework, which was certainly not seen in the
past. This group of Yemenite immigrants underwent changes in
coming to Eretz Yisroel, but not the changes those who
brought them wanted to see. Unlike the machinations of the
50s, this time the boys with the simonim won the
battle!
Despite the government censor's attempts to silence public
protest, it was unable to keep a lid on the story. In fact
the widespread dissent caused a tremendous awakening that led
to the start of Torah-based activities at the Rechovot
Absorption Center, though the fact that the immigrants
continued to live in an overwhelmingly secular environment
hindered the efforts.
When another group of Yemenite immigrants that arrived three
months later was placed at the Beit Canada Absorption Center
in Ashkelon, again in the midst of completely secular
immigrants, a great outcry rose up against those obviously
determined efforts to take away the community's rooted faith
in Torah and mitzvos.
High Court Appeal
The report about the arrival of the immigrants to Ashkelon
was prepared a week earlier than it was actually published,
but it was at first rejected by the Government Censor.
Although all mention of the immigrants' country of origin was
deleted from the article -- even the description of them as
"adorned with payos" -- still it was not approved.
When it was learned that Eitan Haber, then director-general
of the Prime Minister's Office, was behind the rejection of
the article, Rabbi Avrohom Ravitz and this reporter met with
him at length to discuss changing the government's handling
of the immigrants. Although several decisions were reached,
Haber later announced to us that all of the agreements were
subject to the approval of the Deputy Minister of
Construction and Housing, Rabbi Gamliel. Two hours later,
Haber called to inform us that all of the agreements were
void.
This time there was no alternative other than to take an
extreme measure: filing a High Court appeal to force the
Censor and the Defense Minister to permit publication.
Extraordinary Circumstances
This step was taken only after I consulted with Maran HaRav
Shach zt"l, who determined that the situation called
for such a move, although under normal circumstances making
use of the state judicial system is unacceptable,
particularly in religious matters. Making the matter known to
the public was a crucial part of the battle to spare this
small wave of immigrants from the kind of disastrous
treatment their Yemenite brethren suffered in the 50s.
According to the appeal we filed, publishing the report would
pose no threat to security whatsoever, particularly since the
immigrants' country of origin was not mentioned. High Court
Judge Eliyahu Matza, who recognized the urgency of the
appeal, immediately issued a nisi order giving the
Censor and the Defense Minister five days to explain why they
would not allow its publication.
One day after Yated Ne'eman filed the case, the Censor
suddenly reversed its decision and permitted publication of
the article. The appeal was later withdrawn, but the Censor
still had to pay our legal expenses.
About three weeks ago the Israeli media were full of a modern
Yemenite "aliya" story. The Jewish Agency said it had
managed to "rescue" a mother and five of her 12 children from
the Satmar community of Kiryas Joel in Monroe, New York.
Jewish Agency spokespeople splashed the story throughout the
Jewish media, claiming that they had to work clandestinely
since the family was being held against its will.
Satmar spokesmen ridiculed the claim, saying that the mother
simply wanted to visit her own ailing mother in Israel and
could not afford the flight so she asked the Jewish Agency
for help. The Agency agreed only if she went as an immigrant.
They denied that any families are held against their will.
US law enforcement authorities said they were aware of the
press reports, but they were taking no action, suggesting
that the Satmar version of the events is true, as least with
regard to any criminal activity.
There were also no reports of any family difficulties between
the woman, her husband and the other seven children.
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