One morning in early August, members of the Yaar Ramot Community in Jerusalem woke up to find fliers with the words 'Do not be silent!' hung in the area surrounding their synagogue, Kehilat Yaar Ramot
These posters, addressed directly to Haredi members of the neighborhood, call for protests against the establishment of a conservative synagogue[…]These protesters are banding together to remove a ‘threat’ from the neighborhood, saying that the Haredi community must do everything possible to ‘dissuade them from this path’
“A few years ago, there was some noise that eventually died down.” Gadi Perl, who has been leading the community in this struggle, told[…]Gadi recalled a conflict between the two communities during the COVID-19 pandemic when a group of Haredis attempted to claim that the synagogue was their own because it wasn’t in use
“Because, unlike them, we followed the rules”
According to Gadi, these fliers were put up early in August, along with their daily ‘protest prayers’[…]though he noted that they initially could barely make a minyan most days
“On Sunday, it seems they realized they needed to make some noise, and they invaded the synagogue courtyard.” Gadi went on. “On Monday, they invaded again, and it escalated into a confrontation, leading to the police being called”
On Tuesday, the community set up a lock in an attempt to prevent further escalation, but when Haredis broke it with a cutter, police stood by and allowed them to enter
“On Wednesday, there was already a police presence, and we put on a serious lock. So, they prayed outside. But after the police left, we caught a man on the security cameras pouring contact adhesive on our lock”
By this point[…]the two groups went to court
“They stood in court this morning and told a bunch of lies.” one member said, “We call them Teflon because they've got protection in the area”[…]
“They’re saying we're, you know, treif, and god knows what else,” a member posted in[…]Whatsapp group