רַֽחֲצוּ֙ הִזַּכּ֔וּ הָסִ֛ירוּ רֹ֥עַ מַעַלְלֵיכֶ֖ם מִנֶּ֣גֶד עֵינָ֑י חִדְל֖וּ הָרֵֽעַ׃
שָׂרַ֣יִךְ סוֹרְרִ֗ים וְחַבְרֵי֙ גַּנָּבִ֔ים כֻּלּוֹ֙ אֹהֵ֣ב שֹׁ֔חַד וְרֹדֵ֖ף שַׁלְמֹנִ֑ים יָתוֹם֙ לֹ֣איִשְׁפֹּ֔טוּ וְרִ֥יב אַלְמָנָ֖ה לֹא־יָב֥וֹא אֲלֵיהֶֽם׃
THE FACT that Deri has been caught in criminal violations more than once and gone to jail has not stopped him. He brushes this off by presenting himself as a persecuted Dreyfus and wronged Demjanjuk rolled into one, and as a holy man whose concern for the poor will bring salvation to the downtrodden of Israel.
Deri, the father figure of living off the dole. He was central to the creation of the
all-encompassing government-support system for those studying in yeshiva
– a system so comprehensive that it simply does not pay for a kollel
student to step out into the working world.
He seditiously plays the ethnic card, with him being discriminated against as a franck (a poor, marginalized Sephardic Jew), this week again too. He has no problem cynically inflaming ethnic tensions in this way, even though it is of course ridiculous for Deri to claim marginalization. If anybody has been in the privileged political driver’s seat for the past 25 years, as opposed to being victimized, it is Arye Deri.
Arye Deri's staunch defiance against COVID restrictions
More recently, Deri led and defended the haredi community’s separatist and defiant response to the government’s coronavirus restrictions, fiercely objecting in the cabinet to application of the “red light” system of differential lockdowns. This is because hard-hit haredi communities would be most affected, and would constitute “persecution of haredi people,” he argued. As a result, Prime Minister Netanyahu repeatedly imposed country-wide lockdowns – unnecessarily, unfairly, and to great harm.
Deri also defended the fact that many haredi schools stayed open throughout the lockdowns, while the rest of the country’s children were forced to learn on Zoom.
His successful attempts to “soften plan after plan” of the Health Ministry relating to the coronavirus pandemic continued into planning for the Lag Ba’omer festivities in Meron in 2021.
According to Deri’s long-time personal aide, Yosef Schwinger, Deri “fought like a lion” to have the event go ahead, despite Health Ministry warnings that it could be a coronavirus super-spreader event. “Rabbi Deri deserves credit for saving the Lag Ba’omer celebration from a more limited format,” avowed Schwinger on the radio the day before the stampede tragedy in which 45 Israelis were killed.
Apparently, neither the righteous and long-deceased Rabbi Shimon nor the much less righteous and hard-kicking Arye Deri can be relied upon to protect the Israeli public (including the haredi public) from the rash and reckless mistakes made in recent decades, as described above.
THE ROOT cause of all these disasters lies in the aggressive assertion of autonomy by the haredi community – autonomy from the broader Israeli world in everything from education and national service to coronavirus lockdowns and safety regulations.
וְאָשִׁ֤יבָה שֹׁפְטַ֙יִךְ֙ כְּבָרִ֣אשֹׁנָ֔ה וְיֹעֲצַ֖יִךְ כְּבַתְּחִלָּ֑ה אַֽחֲרֵי־כֵ֗ן יִקָּ֤רֵא לָךְ֙ עִ֣יר הַצֶּ֔דֶק קִרְיָ֖ה נֶאֱמָנָֽה