A wave of arson attacks has recently swept Jerusalem, mainly in the neighborhoods of Pisgat Ze’ev and Neve Yaakov, Kikar Hashabbat reported.
According to the report, those responsible for the fires have been found to be haredi children.
In addition to the nighttime arsons, some of the children harass the very firefighters risking their their lives to prevent the flames from spreading.
Following a special meeting between firefighting chiefs and neighborhood rabbis, one of the commanders, David Seror, commander of a Jerusalem firefighting team, penned an emotional letter to parents and children.
The letter, published by Kikar Hashabbat, read, "My brothers: I am writing these words after yet another fire. Another night of smoke in the forests around Jerusalem. Another call, another group of exhausted firefighters getting onto trucks while families sit down for dinner. Another life-threatening danger that no one sees because, thank G-d, most nights we come home alive. And once again we are told that it was haredi children."
"A fire is not a game; not nonsense; not ‘children being children,’ not ‘just a few burned bushes.’ When we arrive, we do not know what awaits us. The wind changes within seconds, the fire jumps across roads. A trapped child, a volunteer collapsing from smoke [inhalation], a driver who cannot see through the black air - one wrong move and a person is burned alive."
Describing the pain of arriving at arson scenes, he continued, "Every firefighter has stories he cannot forget - and still we come. And what do we encounter when we come? Stones, curses, children laughing as we drag hoses up the hill. Children cursing us while we put out a fire they themselves set."
"We came to save your forest, your homes, your mountain, your air - and your children treat us with contempt. Do you understand what that does to a person in a uniform soaked with sweat at two in the morning? Religious, traditional, secular, kibbutznik, Jerusalemite, right-wing, left-wing - no one asks those questions when the mountain is burning. We are standing together with hoses in our hands and trying to prevent Jerusalem from going up in flames - and your children throw things at us."
"As a traditional Jew, it breaks me to stand there beside secular firefighters while they quietly ask: ‘Again? Again haredi children?’ - and I have no answer. Because the community I come from is capable of unimaginable kindness. These are families that would give their last mattress to help another Jew. People who dedicate their lives to Torah study, visiting the sick, feeding strangers, and caring for widows and orphans.
"So where are the adults now? Where is the outrage, the responsibility, the voice crying out that this is a desecration of G-d’s Name? That the forests around Jerusalem are not ownerless? That firefighters are not a disposable product? That a 13-year-old child playing with fire can kill people? That the people who come to save your homes are not the enemy? Do you know what it is like to stand in smoke for hours and then hear people dismiss it as if it were nonsense? Do you know what the consequences could be when firefighters begin to fear calls to come to certain neighborhoods? Do you know the shame of hearing colleagues speak about ‘the haredim’ as if irresponsibility is part of a Torah life?
"And before anyone says, ‘They are just children’ - children do not educate themselves. Children do not throw stones at firefighters in a vacuum - they learn what the adults around them are willing to tolerate. If your son can quote Tosafot but does not understand responsibility for another person’s life, something has gone wrong. If he fears not learning Torah more than endangering lives, something has gone wrong. If he can explain every halakha (Jewish law) of Shabbat but treats the world outside his street as ownerless, something has gone wrong. If he sees a man in a firefighter’s helmet and reaches for a stone, something has gone wrong."
Concluding his letter, Seror emphasized, "I am not saying these things out of hatred for haredim - exactly the opposite. I am writing this because I love my nation. Because I refuse to accept that this is who we are. The Torah says: ‘You shall greatly guard your lives.’"
"Be careful and protect your lives - yours and those of others. The people who come when your mountain is burning are protecting your lives. Teach your children to distinguish between an enemy and a rescuer. Speak with your children - in schools, in yeshivas, at the Shabbat (Sabbath) table. Stop laughing about these things, stop defending what should shame us. Because one day, G-d forbid, a firefighter will not come home - and you will know why, and you will not say a word."