Jerusalem – From A NY Neturei Kartunic To The IDF Military: Israeli Policeman Shares His Personal Journey

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    Zalman SchwartzJerusalem – He actively demonstrated against the State of Israel as a child, burning Israeli flags and criticizing the IDF, but today Zalman Schwartz is a 22 year old member of the Israel Border Police who has successfully foiled a terror attack.

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    In an interview with Yediot Aharonot (http://bit.ly/2KlUk3c), the 22 year old Schwartz said that he grew up in Monsey as a member of the Neturei Karta community. He and his friends were educated to be anti-Israel, and told that it was forbidden to Jews to live in Israel or for the IDF to even exist.

    While Schwartz said that he had a happy childhood, he felt that like a stranger in his own community. By age 14 he took his first steps towards the outside world, eventually abandoning his religiosity as well. Five years later, Schwartz moved to Israel, ultimately enlisting with the Israeli police.

    “I had been raised to hate Israel but when I came here I realized that everything they had told me about the country was far from the truth,” said Schwartz. “I came to the Kotel and saw how they soldiers stood there and how Jews of every type flocked to the holy site and I wanted to be a part of it.”

    Having personally disarmed a knife-wielding terrorist just moments before a planned attack, Schwartz said that his most trying moments as a member of the Border Police have come during demonstrations staged by the Charedi community.

    “They spit at me, scream at me and curse me and sometimes I think that I was one of them and any one of them could by my younger brother or nephew,” said Schwartz. “It hurts so much to realize that people are living with hatred for others who bear them no ill will at all.”

    Schwartz said that he never dreamed that he would one day become a member of the Israeli military, a role that fills him with tremendous satisfaction.

    “I know so many others who left the community with me and their lives are very different than mine,” said Schwartz. “I wake up every day and instead of putting on my uniform of black and white, I proudly wear my police attire. With everything that happens in Jerusalem, I am proud to be the person who provides the security that allows others to walk around freely. It is the best feeling in the world.”
    Schwartz in his teenage years in Monsey
    Schwartz hopes that his story will enlighten others and make them realize that even those who have vociferously opposed Israel can still be welcomed home and even find their place in the Israeli military.

    “I want them to know that they will be accepted here,” said Schwartz. “They have no reason to be afraid and should follow their hearts.”

    Click to read the full story, in Hebrew, http://bit.ly/2KlUk3c


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    43 Comments
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    4 years ago

    How sad.

    Glorifying someone who has abandoned Yiddishkeit.

    There are many people who could have been profiled who are frum.

    But VIN and it’s writers glorify the abandonment of a Jewish lifestyle.

    Just as they glorify those in alternative lifestyles. Feh

    joseph
    joseph
    4 years ago

    For every OTD like him, there are five baalei teshuva former Zionists who are not frum Bnei Torah in the Chareidi community.

    4 years ago

    Feh! Theres a certain gleam to follow these lost bitter souls. WhileI dont identify with NK, there’s tens if thousands if Jews that sint identify with the State of Israel.
    Hes just a backstabber at its best. There’s loads of place in the middle of not being a NK until joining the heretic IDF.
    Give him all the publicity he yearns for. G d forbid any Jewish soul being intrigued and following him.
    Save UR soul before u save someone’s life.

    shortie
    shortie
    4 years ago

    Stam TZIFRASKET!
    From one extreme to the other…

    4 years ago

    עבירה גוררת עבירה first he started by going to the kotel than everything else follows
    This according to the שיטה הקדושה

    Liepa
    Liepa
    4 years ago

    Kol hakavod, Mr. Schwartz !!!

    Bsyata-dshmaya
    Bsyata-dshmaya
    4 years ago

    Therapy can help you

    ercsd
    ercsd
    4 years ago

    Good for him. He is happy. It’s good to see that some people can’t be brainwashed.

    4 years ago

    One day the IDF will be full of Satmars. It will be called IDF דרבינו יואל

    qazxc
    qazxc
    4 years ago

    Are reliable statistics of offspring leaving their charadi communities available on line?

    mo613
    Active Member
    mo613
    4 years ago

    guess what i live in monsey and know many of these nks and more extreme ones
    and many of them a not frum people they look frum and walk the walk,but sadly they are no shomeri torah .thise soldier may hashem help him when he reurns to derech hatorah will be a much better yid then they are

    ari-free
    ari-free
    4 years ago

    Don’t get upset. Offer tefilin. Invite him for shabbos meals. You can’t be too surprised when someone from one extreme goes the other..and it is certainly not all the way because believe me, many Jews end up throwing ANY connection to other Jews and here he is defending Jews in Israel.

    commonsense99
    commonsense99
    4 years ago

    come from a dysfunctional home, hey whatever floats his boat, you want to burn Israeli flags go ahead, you want to be a border patrolman go ahead

    Normandavid1
    Normandavid1
    4 years ago

    Know him personally he needs major help!

    Sholi-Katz
    Sholi-Katz
    4 years ago

    Hats off to him and a huge salute!!!
    However, not being a committed yid is heartbreaking. Look at it this way, in his old lifestyle he was not frum either. When a Satmar or NK comes up to the next world and Hashem says look here, I had pity on my people, I brought them back my land, where I gave them the ability to protect themselves – No more Gas chambers, No more Pogroms etc. and you go SPIT me right back in my face! To go out in public desecrating my land and my people. What good is your tifilen, davening etc. when you openly deny my kindness…. straight to Gehenim. It is like “tovel v’shertz b’yudo”, he is an aprkores that davens and learns. If he claims I followed my Rebbe blindly, that might not work – and if it did, what happens then to Reb Yolish?
    If he shed his non-religious previous life style, became frum and joined Hashem’s county while protecting his people – that would have made him a proud Jew. To trade one false idea for another, what did he really lose? but the full pride is also not there.
    He is still better off now, at least he is not a denier of the good Hashem did for us. Lets hope he can come to start leading a religious lifestyle soon.

    Justleftkolel
    Justleftkolel
    4 years ago

    Not sure why everyone is assuming he is no longer Orthodox. Thankfully this young mans extricated himself from that repressive Neturei Karta cult and became a functional and productive member of Israeli society.

    hmmmm
    hmmmm
    4 years ago

    To me it’s sad that a hiemishe boy went off the derech. I don’t sympathize with NK but I do sympathize with his parents pain. I guess the parents and child need major help.

    4 years ago

    Regarding the Neturei Karta, a number of years ago, they held several meetings with the ruler of Iran, whose name was Achmadinejad, who incidentally, was a Holocaust denier/revisionist. When they spoke Yiddish to him, he smiled, as if he understood every word. Actually, their Yiddish was translated into English, and then into Farsi. Not only did they shake his hand, but they hugged him and kissed him. When I asked them why they had to kiss Achmadinejad, and why a simple handshake would not have been sufficient, they refused to answer my questionever. Feh!

    4 years ago

    to me, he is a hero, just like the rest of his comrades are, and i applaud him for doing what he did. who is anyone to judge him? the chassidishe ones above, who barely write properly and who should not be on the internet, but are??
    this is not an otd child who assimilated into the goyisheh world, like many nk and satmar, who loathe ‘the medineh’ do. he is with our brothers and sisters, frum and not, in our heilige land risking his life for acheinu.
    better to be a stranger in our land, than be a stranger in our midst.
    may hkbh continue to protect tzahal and this brave and eloquent young man

    hashomer
    hashomer
    4 years ago

    Article is an amazing indictment against NK and the self-hating Satmarers. After 1925 years in exile and atrocity all Jews have a homeland protected by a JEWISH ARMY! So of course NK, Saint Mary-ers and other self haters hate Israel, just so their ‘gedolim’ can maintain power over their buchers in golus. Talk about FEH. They collaborate with our enemies! What more do you need to think about in our life & death situation? The man in the article is a MENSCH. Keep twirling your payiss and be jealous.