ChinuchAtHome

Every year the Beis HaMikdash is not rebuilt physically, we are the ones to blame. Our rabbis teach us that the sin that caused the destruction of the 2nd Beis HaMikdash is the sin of "Sinas Chinam" (Baseless Hatred). This problem hasn't been resolved yet since we still don't have the 3rd Beis HaMikdash. Each generation that has not been successful in rebuilding the Beis Hamikdash is responsible for it.

Today, this problem is so significant throughout Jewish communities, especially Israel. Having made aliyah this year, I've never been exposed to so much sinas chinam. I'll share with you my and other olim's experience, if you would care to listen....

Stories from olim who just made aliyah around the same time I did include the following:

I wear a kipah sruga and my wife insisted that we send my son to a chareidi school. The school accepted my son but the principal told me that I am not allowed to enter the school because of what I wear. I don't wear a black hat and white shirt and black pants.

We made aliyah from France. My kids are tormented by their fellow classmates and schoolmates, who call them "dogs" because we are from France. The local Israelis look down upon people from France. We teach our children to say that Rashi, the famous and beloved commentator was a Frenchman. That should shut them up. My youngest boy is constantly in fist fights with his classmates. The school administrator calls me about it. They don't do anything to punish the boys for fighting.

I interviewed at a Bais Yaakov for my daughters. The principal asked where my daughter's other siblings go to school. She said right out that since their siblings go to school XYZ, my daughters cannot be accepted. In addition, the principal asked if we have a local Rabbi. Since we just made aliyah, we don't yet have established a strong connection to a local Rabbi. The principal said that we must have a local Rabbi who can recommend our daughters to go to Bais Yaakov.

We have a Separdi sounding last name. Our daughters are not accepted into the local Bais Yaakov because of that.

In L-------d, students from out of town have the biggest problem being accepted into the local schools here, since they are not given preference at all. It takes the Vaad Horabonim to force the school to accept our children into the local schools.

My son who doesn't look "Jewish" gets physically and verbally abused by his classmates and schoolmates. The school doesn't do anything constructive. No meaningful punishment was given to the abusers. My son gets death threats from this abusers. We took the matter to the police since the school washed their hands of our case. The police doesn't want to get involved, because these boys are under 12. There's a law in Israel that forbids police involvement in schools if the attackers are under 12. Can you believe it? It's easy to get away with murder here.

Olim gets 2nd class treatment in Israel. We don't speak the language. We are harassed constantly in our dealings in society. The organization that brought us here wants us to be assimilated into Israeli society. For what? To be treated as 2nd class citizens?

The school system in Israel is such that each school has its own flavors and rules and denominations. If you don't like the school, you cannot change the school. It's better if you adapt to the school and be one with it.

These are only some of the quotes that we hear frequently from olim. There is a worldwide project to combat these problems, called "Ahavat Yisrael". However, there is a problem. These projects target the wrong population. Instead of targeting the perpetrators, i.e. the schools, the "people in charge", i.e. the government authorities, this project is targeting only the lay people, the women. It won't work as the organization in charge of "educating" our children are themselves leading by the wrong example through their faulty examples.

Good luck, Ahavas Yisrael project!

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