Continued and consistent behavior demonstrating civic propriety will speak louder than any words

The first story is that of the soap manufacturer who lamented to the rabbi that the people that he had seen studying Torah were not behaving in accordance with what should be expected of them. The rabbi points to a sandbox full of dirty children, and questioned why the manufacturer’s soap didn’t help keep the children clean. When the business man responded that the children had not used his soap yet, the Rabbi used this response as an analogy to explain why people ostensibly learn Torah, but are not inspired by their Torah study to become better people; i.e., they were not using the soap.

The second incident is a story involving– I believe– Rav Eliezer Silver ZT’L. When visiting a DP camp after WWII, he met a man who had a negative attitude towards Yiddishkeit because of an incident which he witnessed. This person told R’ Silver how one religious man had the only Siddur in the concentration camp, and he would demand a piece of bread to use it. Many people would give up part of their rations to this person to be able to pray. This, related the man to Rav Silver, caused him to view religion negatively. Rabbi Silver brilliantly responded, “instead of focusing on the one person who acted improperly, why not focus upon the many people who gave up their daily bread to daven” .

In this unfortunate incident as well, I think that we can see beyond the few rowdy youth which caught the media’s attention. I noticed two points which reflect well on our community, and which were quoted in the press; I believe that these reflect the attitude of the community on a whole who did not participate in the “riot”. Arthur Schick himself, although elderly and unfairly manhandled by the police, condemned the riotous behavior. Also, one of the observant community politicians, despite being outspoken on Jewish rights, was quoted as saying that “we don’t want [Joseph Esposito's] head. We want an apology”. These level-headed responses are not always found in other communities when responding to incidents with the police, and point to the fact that the Brooklyn Orthodox community has had a long and positive working-relationship with the NYPD. One hopes that once the unfortunate behavior of the few misguided individuals is condemned and totally ostracized from our midst, that there will be no need for these responses, nor the need to focus upon them.

You may be right, but please keep in mind that many of today’s gedolim likely did not grow their beards yet and, if they grew up families like mine, wore baseball hats when travelng out of town, especially the south

I second that. The boys I know from Yeshivat Hakotel are gentlemanly and urbane

I give your high school more credit than mine if you learned such a noble lesson. My grey hat high school was moderate. It understood the need for kids to go to rallies, so it let us pick one; either the Israel Day parade or the Soviet Jewry rally, but not both.

Had I written this line, Rav Menken would likely have screened it out for its over the top sarcasm

I don’t know the answer but someone check with Dr. Bernard Lander-who I believe was one of the coordinators of Jewish participation in the March on Washington for his impressions.

Joel Rich I agree with almost everything you say except that it wasn’t necessarily “the lack of protest” in the R. Avi Weiss sens that RYBS was opposed to-but the lack of Jewish unity in trying to save Jews which made any efforts comparatively ineffective. Thus RYBS was in favor of the Synagogue Council of America as a means of being able to protect Jews klapei chutz. Thus RYBS was certainly opposed to “mesorah of not participating in demonstrations organized by the non-Orthodox.” It doesn’t mean that he was in favor of any particular demonstration-it would be a factual call by experts.

In ancient Jewish history too, there were quite a few riots, many of which did turn violent. Both the mered hagadol & Bar Kochba’s war are believed to have been started sponateously because of rioting.

Of course, it is one thing to riot against a dictatorship b’shas hashmad, and quite another to riot in a malchus shel chessed. I just think that to say there is a mesora of silence is revisionary & incorrect.

Did these people have nothing better to do than rush to experience the thrill of a police action?
Why did the “teenage onlookers” and others stay out on the street? For the greater glory of Torah?
What did witnesses to the fire-setting do to stop it?
Which frum politicians on the scene tried to calm things down?

That *may* explain the initial confrontention, but the riot raged for hours afterwards.

“To be sure, this was not a riot. If you look closely at photographs of the crowds watching the fires, you will notice that many are standing around casually, and they are smiling, as if they were at a marshmallow roast. These are not rampaging masses requiring aggressive police response.”

(from today’s editorial in the New York Daily News)

What ever term one cares to use to describe what happened, the reaction was just wrong, and, as a frum Jew who lives in Brooklyn and works among cops, downright embarrassing.

I don’t think there was time, on Tuesday night, for the protesters to consult with the Chasidic leadership in Boro Park to see if the Mesorah of Silence was applicable in this case. The protests erupted immidiately, and I rather doubt any of them had the presence of mind to send a shaylah down the street to any of the local luminaries.

Also, I must note that the New York Times, alone among the NY papers, used the weasel-word “protest.” The others were straightforward in calling it what it was: a riot.

(I’ll leave it to the editors of Cross Currents to explain why it was the Times who demonstrated this restraint and not the papers more commonly thought to be friends of the Jewish people.)

People now realize that those Gedolim were wrong and we Jews will do what they think is correct, whether or not the Gedolim agree.