After the Heat of the Moment

OK. So in the slap debate, in the end, who was right and who was wrong?

In case you've missed it, essentially, the attorney for the Justice Ministry in Israel slapped Chareidi MK Cohen after Cohen pronounced, when attorney Amnon De Hartog denied Chareidi schools funds because they don't meet state requirements to receive government funding, that De Hartog was worse than the Nazis because the Nazis only went after the bodies (to kill Jews physically, like Haman), while De Hartog is destroying Jews' souls (by denying the Chareidi schools money and thus denying Chareidi children a Chareidi education, if you can call what they get an education). This pronouncement was made after De Hartog told Cohen to stop acting like a Behaima (apparently Cohen started making lots of noise when De Hartog said the Chareidim wouldn't get funding). De Hartog warned Cohen to hush up or he (De Hartog) would smack hiim (Cohen). Cohen dared him, and De Hartog smacked away.

Was De Hartog correct in hitting? No. Did I cheer him on? Yes. Was I right in cheering? Probably not.

Other side: Was Cohen right in calling De Hartog a Nazi (and don't protest by saying he said Germans; he meant Nazis, end of story)? NO. That is a line, as I've mentioned before, one simply does not cross. Ever.

Now, should there have been apologies FROM BOTH SIDES? A resounding YES! ABSOLUTELY! Was there? NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!!

Well, then, who apologized? One would think, Cohen, such a "frum" person with so much Torah knowledge might have apologized for his slur, maybe even trying to excuse it by saying he had gotten caught up in the heat of the moment, right? WRONG! All he did was cry about how much the smack hurt and that his father had never even hit him that hard when disciplining him.

On the other hand, De Hartog DID APOLOGIZE to Cohen. Publicly. Before the press. And the world. Sorry, but the article is in Hebrew. And here's an article in English.

So, to review real quick: Were both wrong? Probably. Would I have done what De Hartog did? Probably, though now knowing the incident, I'd probably have better control of myself. Has a Chilul Hashem been committed by BOTH PARTIES? Yes. Did Cohen apologize? No. Did De Hartog? Yes.

You'll notice in the English article, De Hartog mentions he never raises his hand against anyone. This shows how incredibly frustrated he was and raises an interesting question:

Did anyone stop to think that maybe De Hartog was frustrated because he WANTED to provide the funds, but couldn't because it would be against the law, and that calling him a worse than the Nazis finally brought that frustration to the surface? Did anyone stop to ask that maybe, behind closed doors, De Hartog begged his superiors to provide funding, and the answer his superiors gave was no? Did anyone stop to think that he was frustrated because he had to take the brunt of Cohen's attacks where he should have received some Hakaras Hatov instead?

I'm not saying this all happened, but De Hartog is a FRUM JEW, not a secular one!! How do you know he DIDN'T fight for the Chareidi schools? You don't. But it's OK to say he's worse than a Nazi because he had to obey the law...

And never mind, also, that the Chareidi press has been demonizing him for ages. Even though he's an equal-opportunity funds denier (he denies funds to secular and RZ institutions as well if they don't meet state criteria...).

And yet, De Hartog, with all this probably going through his mind, DID IN FACT APOLOGIZE. Cohen did not.

Perhaps more later.

Good Shabbos!