Tuesday, March 15, 2011

What does the Yeshiva World Editor have against Dov Hikind?

There is an article on YWN about the Westboro Baptist Church protests against Jewish institutions and how the protesters left after no one showed up to counter protest. Careful readers will remember that when Dov Hikind counter-protested a Westoboro demonstration few months ago the esteemed YWE judged Hikind's behavior a "Chilul Hashem", an assessment repeated in the new article. I quote:


TV cameras were rolling, and yarmulka-wearing Jews made a Chillul Hashem by lowering themselves to the level of the protesters.
Oddly enough, in this same article, the YWN writer, someone called "Chaim Shapiro" or more likely the YWN editor himself, strongly criticizes those who publicized the demonstration, while in almost the same breath boasting that YWN was the first to publicize the event. Here's the whiplash-inducing paragraph:

Today’s demonstration was different because no one knew about them. Last time, Westboro protested in front of Yeshiva Torah Temimah and Yeshiva Chaim Berlin. In those protests, YWN had been the first to publicize the schedule in advance, and was even the first to inform the local politicians – including NYC Councilman David Greenfield, and NYS Assemblyman Dov Hikind who differed on what action should be taken. Greenfield suggesting ignoring the crazies out of concern that publicity was exactly what they were seeking. Hikind took the opposite view and led a counter-protest.

Naturally, following the publicity of these events, and the counter-protest led by Assemblyman Hikind who went as far as jumping a police barricade and ripping a hate-filled sign from a church-member’s hands a large crowd ensured. Along with the crowd came lots of foul language directed at the church by members of the frum community. TV cameras were rolling, and yarmulka-wearing Jews made a Chillul Hashem by lowering themselves to the level of the protesters... It turns out Greenfield was right.
As you can see, YWN shines the accusatory spotlight on Huikin for leading a counter-demonstration, but not on themselves for being "the first to publicize the schedule in advance" (A lie, by the way: They weren't the first. They merely picked up a Westboro press release that had already "publicize[d] the schedule in advance.")

But the crusade against Hikind is also interesting. What exactly does the editor of YWN have against Dov Hikind? See, this is not the first time that Hikind has been attacked on YWN. In fact the editor himself has made extremely negative comments about Hikind on numerous occasions. For example:
  • http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=41601#comment-155721 ; and
  • the many, many comments YWE wrote himself on this article: http://www.theyeshivaworld.com/article.php?p=41092
In a laugh-out-loud inducing sentence, YWN tells the gullible that a posek was consulted regarding the YWN coverage of Hikind. Does it follow that a posek has also approved the YWN ragging on Hikind? And what about YWE's other activities? Are we to assume they've all been blessed by a posek? Can we have this Rabbi's name? There are some things we'd like to ask him...

REPORTING by RENA
EDITED by DovBear


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