Bnei Barak – A long-running quarrel within the famed Ponovezeh Yeshiva in Bnei Barak has burst once again into bouts of violence and brawling among the two feuding sides loyal to two separate rabbis who both claim to head the institution.
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On Sunday night, dozens of yeshiva students were involved in a fierce melee apparently over who which faction had the rights to lead the evening prayers. Some twenty students were reportedly injured during the fighting during which a prayer stand was thrown into a crowd of students and one of the yeshiva deans central to the conflict, Rabbi Shmuel Markowitz, was struck.
A student thought to be responsible for striking Rabbi Markowitz was arrested on Monday.
The latest skirmish follows a series of fights that have taken place in recent days and weeks which led last Thursday to a massive police operation in which several dozen yeshiva students were arrested for their part in the violence.
Most of those arrested were loyal to Rabbi Markowitz and his faction, known as “the terrorists.”
Those loyal to the faction of yeshiva president Rabbi Eliezer Kehanaman, son of Ponevezh founder Rabbi Avraham Kehanaman, along with Rabbis Gershon Edelstein and Baruch Dov Poborski are known as “the haters.”
Violence broke out again on Sunday night between the two factions over who would have the right to lead the evening prayers. The skirmish grew within the yeshiva halls during which Markowitz was hurt, allegedly by Rabbi Yossi Kehanaman, son of Preident Rabbi Eliezer Kehanaman.
Markowitz has now filed a complaint against the younger Kehanaman with the Bnei Brak police, although he has denied the charge and was released.
This led members of “the terrorists” faction to violently vandalize a dormitory belonging to “the haters.”
The dispute over the leadership of the yeshiva started back in 2001, with the death of Rabbi Elazar Menachem Shach, the undisputed dean of the Ponevezh Yeshiva and the spiritual head of the non-hassidic haredi community.
A power struggle for control over the yeshiva, its institutions and its valuable real estate ensued between one of the co-yeshiva deans Markovitz and yeshiva president Kahneman, along with rabbis and co-deans Edelstein Poborski.
Former leader of the non-hassidic haredi world the late Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv expressed his support for Markovitz, while most of the other leading rabbis in the haredi stronghold of Bnei Brak,have publicly supported Kahneman, who also has the backing of the veteran teaching staff of the yeshiva.
Content provided as courtesy of the Jerusalem Post
Good thing that bochurim are not enlisting in the IDF. We wouldn’t chas v’shalom want them involved in fighting.
what was the under/over?
Those guys belong to the IDF. They will learn discipline.
If we cannot control ourselves and love each other…why get upset when terrorists strike us? Are the ‘non-Jews’ more pious than us? We had similar things happen here at ‘770’ in Crown Heights, over saying ‘Yechi.’ I say ‘Yechi’ but wouldn’t raise my hand to hit a Jew…even though one might get extremely angry with righteous indignation…this is ‘ussur,’ solves NOTHING, and just strengthens ‘the yezter.’ Better sit down and weep if another is on a low spiritual ‘madrega’ and hope for the best. Love can solve a lot of problems…B”H we have problems…we’re each unique and special…’Made in ‘Tzelem Eloquim.’ NY. Let’s not forget…with today’s media we end up ‘hanging our dirty wash’ outside…so extra inner strength is required not to create a ‘chillul HaShem.’ boruch hoffinger, Crown Heights, Bklyn,
good practice for them to fight in the army.
let them hire a professional chain -no more arguments.
Chillel Hashem!!!You keep talking on the Chasidem,What does your behavior show?
כל תורה שאין עימה מלאכה, סופה בטלה, וגוררת עוון
What a chilul hashem!
And we wonder why Mosiach isn’t coming!?
Hashem yerachaim ulaeinu…
We don’t have manhigim, rosh yeshives, Rebbes etc that will be marbeh sholom,Instead they only know how to be marbeh machlokes!
Oy Vey!
reb tuvya goldstein zastal once told us
it says in toldos the words yikrevu yrmay avel ochi veahargo es yakov ochie. we will fight to be the bal tifelow and then i will kill my brother. its a mitzvah
The yeshiva founder is turning over in his grave!
The next time my litvish friends tell me how chassidim fight, I will know where to point him to.
Give them a football, for heavens sake!! Let them play a few games and whoever wins the most games, takes control of the yeshivah until the next season.
shame on all of them!This is not the way frum people should act. as a matter of fact, no one should. For shame
Of what value does their davening have under those circumstances, or their learning for that matter? They should either split or close the yeshiva. What a Chillul Hashem.
As long as they’re fighting for what they believe is right, it’s OK.
Rav Shach didn’t either hold back from fighting for his Shitohs.
Chilul Hashem beyond words. The bonus was the burning of garbage cans in the streets of Yerushalayim today. Outright gazlanim and mazikim (possibly rodfim). These “yeshiva bochurim” are an embarrassment to the jewish people, since they have so much time on their hands, and are in proximity of a yeshiva, maybe they could look up the halacha of someone making a chillul hashem in public. They should hang up pictures of these people all over the streets, nothing but a bunch of hooligans with too much time on their hands.
Run from kavod, run from machloket.
If this weren’t so tragic it would be funny. These people have nothing over the average law abiding gentile. In fact, the law abiding gentile is SUPERIOR in many ways to these thugs. Nebech, indeed. This is how low some have sunk.
How sad that Jews should fight so bitter among themselves.
The moral of this sad saga,
all of those condemning Chasidim how they always have Machlokes, are not careful on Lashon Hara Chasidim are this Chasidim are that unfortunately the litivisha world is far from good.Just clean your own house and be quiet.
They should have R. Ari Waxman
Send them to the army!
Why not two minyanim?
They should close down the yeshiva till the fight is over and Rabbi Kehaneman And Markowits should make sholem and make a kiddush HASHEM!
These are no doubt current or future Adopt a Kollel candidates.
R SHACH
first it started with r shach fighting with chassidim and sefardim being poeisel everyone else
Now its coming back to the place it started
NOTHING GETS FORGOTTEN BY HASHEM
As the gemara syas kol hapoisel bemumi poisel
They should arrest the parents who send their sons to this Yeshiva
for child neglect.
I don’t understand why everyone is all anti the bochurim?
Its not them its there leaders!!!
If there leaders can say about other people not stam people from the biggest talmidei chachomim in the dor that he is a zaken mamre and is chayiv misa just because he holds different then you and he definitely is big enough to have his own opinion then of course this is how the bochurim will behave.
Btw its not the only crazy thing thay say thay keep on doing this to terrorize the other group just because that have there godel and want to listen to.
How dare anyone question their actions! You are all wrong, these bochurim are all Holy Bochurim.They must be, they’re all wearing white shirts, and black hats!
Not a single colored shirts.
looks like simchas torah in satmar
Send in the IDF recruiters!
Gemara is clear that Talmud Torah without a parnasah will turn in to this…this is beyond sad. These young men need to be drafted into Netzach Yehuda immediately. Of course, most of them are in Israel on Daddy’s hard earned dime, and have no loyalty to Israel nor to the US of A but only to their father in law’s pocketbook and their specific Rebbeim. A sad and pathetic situation. I am shocked at this hillul hashem.
This is about nothing but money…not halacha, not hashkafah, but mammon. Always follow the money…
Makes me sick.
The Chofetz Chaim Z”L said that Chassidim bought more seforim from him than the Litvishe and the trend by Chassidim now e.g. Viznits who live Beshulem and Bobov who settled through Din Torah and other smalller chassidus like Strikov and Shomrei Eminnim and Nadvorna, Lelov e.t.c. e.t.c. who all are Beshulem B”H
There is hope. Tonight the two sides had a joint Tfilas Mariv that when without incident, The compromise was reached by the Police Commander Shimon Lavi who meet with the Rabbonim of both sides and is trying to have cooler heads prevail. The police chief even came to Mariv to daven with the Yeshiva.
My friend ALTERG why are you so quiet???? Please provide some input on your wonderfull yeshiva bochrim. Oh i now the kanamen guys they are tzionim. Bec they are R shtienman chasidim. They are chazor treif!
There is no baby in that bathwater.
Is it any wonder why the youth no longer have any respect for elder roshei yeshiva after being exposed to in fighting by roshei yeshiva in an ivy league yeshiva like Ponovitch which is supposed to be the role model yeshiva of Torah & Mussar!
Anyone notice that in the past 10 years there’s almost no machlokes between different camps. Is that because so many machanos have their own internal machlokos?? just too many to count (even mizrachi and sfardim have joined the ranks…)
Why don’t they just go to a Din Torah? Or else, sit down over a couple of beers and work it out. There appear to be far more serious problems in the world to worry about.
Hire a chazzan – no more problem
To all those people suggesting simple, practical ways to avoid the arguments like having two minyonim etc are missing the point, it’s probably about Kovod of who dovens in the MAIN minyan. Suggesting they split it on different days still doesn’t solve the problem as they both probably want the kovod all the time, with no compromises.
I heartily agree with those who said that the average Goy behaves better than us, without having shluchan aruch, pirkie avos, chofetz chaim etc etc
To BoruchN, I suggest you go somewhere quiet without people and ask yourself, has Moshiach really come. If he hasn’t come, then saying Yechi is basically wrong, as you are saying that vadai, that the Rebbe is Moshiach. You are not saying that you hope the Rebbe will be Moshiach.