Mea She’arim – Residents of the Mea She’arim neighborhood in Jerusalem fear the violence that has erupted between two ultra-Orthodox sects will grow and complain the police are not protecting them.
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On Tuesday night a group of Hasidim brutally attacked Avraham Hirschman, 36, a father of six, with clubs, kicks and blows. Hirschman was hospitalized with fractures and other serious injuries.
“They said we’ll murder you,” Hirschman told Haaretz. “The police knew in advance they were planning the attack but didn’t lift a finger.”
The assault was part of a violent dispute between members of the large Hasidic Gerrer dynasty and the fanatic Sikrikim group (named after the Sicarii sect in 70 C.E. ) in Mea She’arim.
Thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews demonstrated in the neighborhood following the attack and many prayed for Hirschman’s recovery. Many protesters condemned the Gerrer Hasids for the attack, but the ultra-Orthodox newspapers of all the factions are ignoring the affair and some ultra-Orthodox figures have even expressed sympathy for the perpetrators rather than the victim.
Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, head of the voluntary emergency response organization Zaka, came out openly against Hirschman and his colleagues. “They must be beaten up. The Sikrikim understand only force. They can’t employ violence all the time and then shed crocodile tears,” he said.
The Batei Warsaw quarter in Mea She’arim was built in the Ottoman period as a hostel for yeshiva students from Poland. Their families receive tiny apartments for key money or low rent. The Polish Gerrer dynasty, which always had people in the neighborhood committee, has gained almost complete control of it in recent years and is now planning to expand the quarter.
Although they do not recognize the state or its institutions, the Batei Warsaw tenants, most of whom belong to other ultra-Orthodox factions, have filed a court suit to stop the Gerrer Hasids’ expansion. This move is believed to have sparked the recent hostilities.
Nobody was surprised by the attack this week. A week and a half ago vandals spread glue on Gerrer Rabbi David Alter’s door, preventing him from going out to Hoshana Rabbah prayers. Everyone knew the Gerrer Hasids were out for revenge.
Gerrer Hasids visited Mea She’arim twice in recent days, looking for the perpetrators who had glued Alter’s door. The police did not stop them from entering the neighborhood, although the residents warned them in advance of the Gerrer people’s intentions. Failing to find the glue vandals, they chose Hirschman, a major anti-Ger activist, as their victim.
Six months ago an angry crowd burst into Hirschman’s house and set it on fire. His wife and baby daughter were rescued in the nick of time.
On Tuesday night he was heading home from the synagogue when a group of 10 or 15 Gerrer Hasids, some of them wearing masks, attacked him, he said. They beat him brutally even after he lay bleeding on the road. He recognized at least one of them and gave his name to the police, but they did not arrest anyone, he said.
Several suspects of violence in the Batei Warsaw dispute have been arrested in recent months, none of them a Gerrer Hasid. A police source said a Gerrer man was questioned about the arson in Hirschman’s house, but was not arrested.
“We’re optimistic of finding the attackers,” the source said.
My goodness! Such violence amongst brothers! (:-o
Does anyone know anymore details about the two factions, than what this article here was able to give out? I don’t know much about the Gerr & Sicarri dynasties.
Thanks!
Perhaps the police don’t come as they don’t want to be pelted with lead bricks.
these sikrikim are the same animals who set fire & threw feces at the Mea Shiarim sforim store. they are Mafia who realy don’t care about yahadus ,all they want is pay off money. thank you Gerrers.
My granddaughter’s friend, all of 8 years old, was attacked by these “Chassidim” (not the fanatics…) while playing jump rope. She just happened to be there, and ended up with a good bruise on her face.
Sick, just sick, hashem is crying in shamayim, how did this dispute come to all this vicious brutal violence?
noch yom tov ,,zaier shyn…… this is the same thing that went on b/4 curban bais sheni,,,,,, evry one thinks ,,,only leman hashem ……….yea the torah was writen for us only when it doesnt interfer with power in politecs and $$$$$$$$
wake up and start acting like a true yid
Amazing! All in the name of religion. Krumkiet nisht Frumkeit. These same people have the women modesty sign hanging , will not look at women, (maybe)???
HILLUL HASHEM!!! These people think they are righteous and will merit to see Moshiach?
Nebach that klal yisrael is acting violently amongst each other the same way the fanatical Taliban terrorize their Muslim brothers who don’t follow their way. It’s a matter of time before the world starts seeing us in the same light. How sad (and dangerous).
The Arabs started suicide bombings against Jews and now they blow each other up with such regularity they might as well be popcorn kernels in boiling oil … Some Chassidim started using violence against Shabbos, Tznius, the police … and so nobody should be surprised that it has turned against itself. That is the way of the world. All you can do is keep away from them. Protect yourself from violent Chassidim as from wild animals.
The Sicarii stone people. They run protection rackets. They destroy stores that won’t pay them off. They attack the police. But they whine like spoiled children when they are on the receiving end. Let them get treated like the terrorists they are. Throw them in jail. Shoot them if they attack innocent people or the police. Tear down their homes. Don’t coddle and finance them.
These sikrikim act all the time against the law and the police do nothing. Why ? Hirschman should be rotting in jail a long time already… Instead, finally, ger did something… Maybe the police will finally wake up before someone dies chas vesholom.
The Gerrers are hardly ever violent, it is only that these Sikrikim dont understand any other language and are extremely violent themselves. Just for the record, the Gerres are right in this story over those houses and those Sikrikim are stubborn and wont give in, and their ONLY language is violence so please dont be quick to judge. It is crazy that the police dont get invloved though.
Rachmanah litzlan!!!!!!
This is such sinas chinam!
Nebech, nebech. Brothers fighting brothers. We are no better than the nations of the world.
We’re always saying that Arabs are thugs, yet these guys are no different. What a Chilul Hashem they are making.
Thank you for taming the sirikim. The are out of control and the police have not arrested anyone in the Mannys seforim store shakedown. They tell Feldheim what books are permissible to sell and Feldhem listens for fear of having their store destroyed. Gerrers, keep up the good work for klal yisroel
A shandah and chillu Hashem. But they want the police to protect them? is this the police they pelt with stones and other objects?
Sherry, just remember that Cain and Abel were brothers, too.
Sikrikim are gangsters.
These hoodlums should be dealt with by the law enforcement authorities, and by the Shin Bet, which is responsible for internal security. Those thugs are terrorizing neighborhoods. What is the difference between them terorizing an area, and Arabs who do the same thing? Those miscreants should not be above the law, becaus of their alleged piety. They ceased being pious, when they engaged in violent acts against other Jews.
Sicarii were called baryonim in gemara see gittin 56a ‘abba sikra reish baryoni d’yerushalaim’. See there and amud beis. And see brachos 10a and sanhedrin 37a. Would you name your group after them?
Maybe the new sikrikim should pull the same shtick as the old sicarii and head up to massada, as Josephus reports they did. We all know the ending to that story.
sort of like al capone asking for police protection, they hate the police spit on them call them nazis and so on. and now complaining the police are doing nothing, what chuzpha .
and where was the protesters when the when the Sikrikim used violence against the seferion store or the ice cream store.
it seems they have no problem with violence as long at they are the ones dishing it out
רבי חנניה סגן הכוהנים אומר, הוי מתפלל בשלומה של מלכות–שאלמלא מוראה, איש את ריעהו חיים בלעו.
is as true today as it was 2000 years ago.
Ger only did what the police should have done years ago,this animal was a leader of these savage gangsters called the Sikrikim,who have terrorized jewish neighborhoods in jerusalem bnei-brak and beith shemeshfor the last 20yrs,
when dealing with criminaly insane vicious gangsters,this is the only language they understand,Ger should not stop now,there are 4-5 more leaders,who need to be given the same beating
I tried looking up on google… I couldn’t find anything. For those who seem to be promoting using a search engine, please inform the general community what your search criteria are or what website you found. wikipedia doesn’t have much on it. thanks.
usually, i cringe at this. but the Gerrers are simply trying to break the will of a money-making Sicarii mafia. They might not be Zionists, but the Sicarii are two steps beyond Neturei Karta (lot of overlap, according to my friends in Israel).
There are consequences to crimes against your own people. In the old days, my grandfather (z”l) told me that local Jews took care of the criminal element in Ukraine. He was super-frum and it was the rabbis that people turned to in order to have peace. And they did not hesitate to give the worst over to the goyish authorities. It cleaned up the neighborhood. Just like these guys, from what i gather.
Aside from everything else, the incredible chutzpah and azzus of them complaining that the police are not protecting them is absolutely mind-blowing.
just think of some gangster druglord that was finaly given a good beating and the whole world is happy thats who this hirschman monster is
I am a Gerrer and not proud of this. However, I truly understand them. These sikrikim are scum, vandalize stores in Yerushalayim at will, shake down people, have no problem hitting men and women, and are vandals of the worst kind.
They did not glue the Rebbes son door closed on Hashana Raba – they cemented it closed.
So what did they expect in return? Ger did try with peaceful methods, but to no avail.
And it is not sinas chinam – this is property that is owned by the Polish Reb Mayer Baal Haness (run by some Gerrer) for decades. These sikrikim guys are ganovim.
So the sikrikim got only a small bit of what they truly deserve. All of Meah Shearim is quite happy about it.
The gerers don’t say that they have proof that hirshman did anything to the rebbe’s son’s door on hoshana rabba. When thei rep in kneset mr. Letzman was asked about the ger violence he just said that the residents of batei warsaw don’t recognize israel. That’d the best way they can justify their murderers acts.
This is no a sikrik and the fight started 3-4 years ago with the money hurey gerrers pulling almonos and yissomim out of houses bc they dicided bring from poland they get kollel poland wich is in charge of those houses for years b4 the gerrers got i to
Ger who gave up on tzniyus for the women a long time ago obviously became corrupted……time to refresh the term “chasid”