Mea Shearim, Israel – His office is in a dark and musty basement, the shelves laden with religious and legal texts and boxes of files. Two white shirts are slung over hangers in the corner and Yoelish Krausz is sitting at his desk. Here he works as the operations officer of his deeply religious, ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, the Neturei Karta.
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Posters on the walls attest to years of campaigning and his files are stuffed with the many thousands of letters, rulings and pamphlets issued in challenge to secularism in Israel. In recent years Mr Krausz, 35, who is married with 10 children, has campaigned against Jerusalem’s gay community, roads dug near ancient Jewish graves, shops, restaurants, cinemas and even airlines which operate on the sabbath, and against buses that do not segregate male and female passengers.
“Jerusalem is becoming a lot less religious on a daily basis,” says Mr Krausz. “We are really fighting for the truth… Sometimes it seems they are trying to uproot our faith.”
Its heartland is in Mea Shearim, where Mr Krausz has his home and office. On the walls in the area are posters, many in English, stating: “Zionists are not Jews, only racists,” or “We pray to God for an immediate end to Zionism and their occupation.”
Read extend article. [the guardian]
can we all pray for masiach to come quickly.
If he acted in the ways of Ahavas Yisroel as exemplified by his namesake Reb Yoilish ZYA and his supposed mentor Reb Amram Bloy ZYA it would be one thing. However, I have a feeling that this Krausz, who was also interviewed briefly by Mishpacha, is more of the nochgemachte Hirsch-Weiss-Friedman wannabe NK sort.
Yerushalyim is not becoming Charedi \ Frum only cause of Neturie Karta thats wrong to say.
Yerushayim is becoming more frum cause of the many frum Jews from Brooklyn and all of New York who are making Aliyah from America.
In response to “Mark Levine’s” posting at 3:03 am…
Mark Levine your not that great…
Your ‘Rov’ should understand his limits, because he has Smichah does not mean he’s got a degree in History, Political Science, Middle Eastern Studies nor Israel Studies.
The requirement to consult Da’as Torah should not grant Rabbanim the liberty to pontificate on topics where they are wholly un-familiar and largely recipients of third source information.
How logical would it be for an individual to post a scientific ‘fact’ that the individual merely heard from a third party source, especially where that third party source was not a scientist nor did he have scientific data to back him up?
we need them to fight against zionist
thats what r’ shach said.
of course we need NK, Chilonim, Goyim, everyone, they are tzlaim elokim…
Today’s Jerusalem/Beis Shemesh “Neturei Karta” are like yesterday’s Agudists. People like Yoel Krausz are not interested in the elimination of the Zionist state. They prefer having a Zionist state that lets the “kanayim” live comfortably by eliminating “evil decrees” and nothing else! As I always say, today’s NK are like the Eyda of 30 years ago. Today’s Eyda is like Agudah of 30 years ago. Today’s Agudah is like Mizrachi of 30 years ago, and today’s Mizrachi are like the chalutzim of 30 years ago. Get the idea?!
rav shach zt’l said that even though i don’t hold of n”k but we still need them.
CHANGE THE HEADING FAST!!!!
we ultr-orthodox have nothing to do with this guy and his non-torahdik fashion of bringing kedusha to Yerushayalim. We know kedusha from our years of learning and mingling with rabbanim. He’s a yachid, and he is on the wrong side of the Torah world.
maybe if his approach to theese issues would have been in a mentchlicha and toradika way, and not make religious people look like fanatic terorists,( by riots ,burning tires, throwing stones, “going to iran” etc.) then yerushalaim would be more religious…
just heard a recent shiur where the rov mentioned that ben gurion yemach sh’mo felt that by “giving in” to the frum people about shabbos etc., the frum would only be a handful within 20 years.
ROSHA! YOU WERE BH WRONG!