Shouting, curses and the yellow star: The Haredi protest against the Torah | Shlomo Shamir

The demonstration of yeshiva students that took place yesterday (Wednesday) was 'officially' defined as a protest against the arrest of a yeshiva student who did not enlist. Nonsense. This was a demonstration against the Torah, against Judaism, and against all the religious values of Israel.

Everyone who participated actively in this shameful demonstration was and is guilty of desecrating the name of Heaven. There is an opinion in the Gemara that for the sin of desecrating the name of Heaven, Yom Kippur does not provide atonement. This is not how Jews who observe the Torah and commandments behave, certainly not in public, in the city street.

It is permitted, necessary, and sometimes mandatory to protest and demonstrate. But religion, the values of Judaism, and the accepted rules of conduct anchored in the Torah require those who observe the commandments, and especially those who study Torah, to behave in a restrained, serious, and quiet manner — one that expresses both self-respect and respect for others. Such demonstrations by Haredim have taken place in Israel before.

Jews do not scream in the street. Jews, and certainly those whose external clothing represents the values of Judaism, do not curse Jews in public and do not scream derogatory and insulting expressions against government institutions, not even against the police. It is not just insolence — it is baseness, wickedness, and hardness of heart to revile and condemn the IDF.

What added disgrace to yesterday's demonstration was the yellow star symbol that the protesters, the desecrators of the name of Heaven, attached to their clothing. They not only insulted and disparaged the government and the IDF, but also trampled on the memory and dignity of the millions of Jews who perished in the Holocaust and humiliated Holocaust survivors, who do not forget the pain and suffering they experienced when the yellow star was sewn onto their clothing.

There was another thing that intensified the disgrace of yesterday's demonstration and exposed even more the hardness of heart and coarseness of the protesters: the timing. The eve of the first of the month of Elul — the month of mercy and forgiveness, a month entirely dedicated to prayers and supplications ahead of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

In the yeshivas where the author of these lines had the privilege of studying in the past, the days of the month of Elul were special and unique days. In addition to the regular lessons in the Gemara, during the month of Elul, the heads of the yeshivas would deliver moral sermons. The last thing in the world that yesterday's demonstration and the protesters, the yeshiva students, proved and reminded of was the arrival and validity of the month of Elul — the month of mercy and forgiveness.