Esau or Jacob? (Pride and Protests, Part 2)

I've been thinking more about the upcoming parade in Jerusalem. Actually, I heard that a Haredi rabbi called this a "war" in Jerusalem, and he publicly cursed the head of the Israeli Supreme Court, saying the man should die of a heart attack. And he said that the head of the Jerusalem police should die by choking on a piece of treif meat. (Great kiruv scheme right there. I'm sure the non-religious would love to hear that one.)

All the talk of reacting violently to the parade is sickening. The last person I've heard to publicly wish for Jews to die -- the president of Iran. Is this who the Haredim want to emulate? Is this who they want to become?

In a few weeks, we'll be reading about those famous twins, Esau and Jacob. Every second-grader knows the story: that while Esau battles with his hands and with violence, Jacob's power is with his voice, with the power of prayer. On my first post on the issue, I said that we should pray that the parading transgressors should see the Light and do tshuva. I haven't heard anything like that from the Haredim. All I hear is "war."

I saw a great editorial on Ynet regarding this matter. The guy makes a lot of sense, though I wouldn't go as far as he does. I wouldn't say I support the parade - I'm against it, but I'm also against any Chilul Hashem from the other side.

And I agree with Jak Black's take on this one - the Haredim should take a cue from Gandhi, not from Ahmadinejad.