Monday, June 25, 2007

Intimidation

Guest Post by Akiva of Mystical Paths

I was honored to be asked to guest blog at The Muqata. I mean, after all, how often does one receive an invitation from a pseudo world leader to stop by and inhabit his chair. Thank you Mr. Arafish. Of course, Arab invitations have a strict sense of honor, no concerns over safety while traveling to the famous Muqata or during the stay. Although, declining such an invitation does have certain...umm...unpleasant possibilities. So, here I am... (fortunately since the proprietor isn't home, I didn't actually have to bring an offering of waffles)

Last Wednesday a friend of mine was walking from yeshiva in Jerusalem down the street a bit to a seforim store (Jewish religious book store). Now last Wednesday was the day before the planned Gay Pride parade in Jerusalem, which is the antithesis of everything Jerusalem stands for.

Now my friend lives out near Jameel, though he is 'charedi' (black hat, long black coat, beard, payos, etc.) As he and his chavrusa (learning partner) are walking down the block, 2 Yassamniks (black-uniformed anonymous riot police trained in breaking heads) step in front of them, shouting "where do you think you are going?", and the one in front grabs my friend's arm.

It's worth mentioning my friend is a former US marine, expert marksman and self defense consultant, though he's got quite a bit of grey in his beard since those days.

He slowing looks at the 'policeman', begins slowly adjusting the position of his arm which reverses the pressure angle (in other words, the policeman's grip is turned back on him), and says to him calmly, "achi (my brother), we're just going down the block to the seforim store, no trouble here." The 'policeman' is beginning to lose control of his grip, screams at him "you're not going anywhere!" and reaches over with his other hand to pull his steel billy club.

My friend calmly, with his other hand, pulls back his long black coat. You'll remember I mentioned he lived not to far from Jameel, there's a large firearm on his side (perfectly legal and licensed). He looks at the 'policeman' and says, "achi (my brother), are you ready to meet at the beis din lamala (the heavenly court), are you clean?" The 'policeman', seeing the large firearm, freezes and says, "What?".

Slowly and calmly, he says, "Achi (my brother), are you ready to go together to the heavenly beis din? Are you clean and ready right now, because I am. You're not going to hit me with that club for no reason, if you try I'm going to shoot you in the head (the policeman was wearing a vest). Then your partner is going to shoot me. Achi (my brother), shall we go to the beis din shel shamayim together?"

The 'policeman' lowered his arm, looking at the firearm, and asked, "Do all charedim carry guns?" My friend answered, "not all, but some, yes." You could see the look in the policemen's eyes change as they looked around at the neighborhood they were in... He let go of my friends arm and asked, "what do mean am I clean?", at which point they got into a conversation about Teshuva and connecting with Hashem.

They walked away with a handshake, and the policeman with several Torah brochures and a Torah CD in his hand.

The Yassamnikim are trained for violence and intimidation, but every Jewish heart can be reached.





Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael

12 comments:

Jack Steiner said...

I didn't actually have to bring an offering of waffles

You like to live dangerously.

Ye'he Sh'mey Raba Mevorach said...

Akiva this is an AMAZING story. Thanks for sharing.

Unknown said...

I would very much like to meet this person or at least be a be able to e-mail him

Unknown said...

too bad it is only a story

Anonymous said...

So basically it takes an imminent threat on his life to stop a Yassamnik from beating a fellow Jew for no reason.

'Jewish heart'?

Anonymous said...

This daughter of an Irish-American cop is still reeling. This guy threatened a murder and a suicide by cop, for no better reason than that a riot police wanted him to leave the area? And walked away with his firearm still on him?

Anonymous said...

Good grief, is it now American ethics that cops should be able to freely harass, threaten, [try to] intimidate peaceful law-abiding citizens who are minding their own business? [Such is the impression one might get from the reeling daughter of an Irish-American cop.] If so, all the more reason to thank G^d I'm here in our homeland, and no longer in the (American branch of the) Diaspora!

-- MAOZ

Scraps said...

Awesome story! Only in Israel...

Akiva said...

joshua - it's not "just a story", there were witnesses.

balabusta in blue jeans - Israel is not the US, the Yassam are not your law enforcing type of cops, this is more similar to a southern African American facing the southern small town sheriff's of the 50's.

I actually don't believe the Yassam have the authority to arrest, ONLY to beat anonymously.

Anonymous said...

Akiva, This just got me grinning from ear to ear.
This was awesome. Why aren't more men prepared in this manner. Did this guy have the initials A.F.?

Anonymous said...

Whoa. It takes serious guts to pull off something like that. Your friend sounds like quite the individual.

Unknown said...

If it is inded true I would like to speak the person

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