"Mea She’arim - A bookstore in the ultra-Orthodox neighborhood of Mea She’arim, which has been struggling with violence from a mafia-style “Purity Committee” that objects to their English and Zionist (Israeli) books, was attacked once again early on Wednesday morning.
"At Or Hachaim, the Sikrikim’s demands include putting up a sign asking customers to dress modestly and removing all English-language and Zionist books. Two weeks ago, owners of the store met with Sikrikim representatives to try to stop the violence, but no solution was found. “Their list is too long, they want every English book out, they want the store, that’s the bottom line,”
"The Sikrikim are a most extremist splinter sect and are estimated to be no larger than 60-100 people, but their thug tactics reverberate throughout the neighborhood. “They attack charedim in their own neighborhood,” said David, an employee at Or Hachaim. The name “Sikrikim” comes from the Latin “Sicarii,” a term applied, in the decades immediately preceding the destruction of Yerushalayim in 70 CE, to an extremist splinter group of the zealots who tried to expel the Romans and their partisans from Judea using concealed daggers."
While modesty is sorely needed on the streets of Jerusalem (Israel), the Mafia like tactics of these gangsters are ultimately detrimental to Judaism. Modesty is a concept that must come from an appreciation for what it means. The Neshoma can be sensitized to its innate Jewish Holiness. You cannot and should not force anyone to go against their will. That only brings scorn and hatred.
The same way shouting, cursing to and in front of children on their way to school, and demonstrating in the fashion that they do in Beit Shemesh is abominable.
Jonathan Rosenblum wrote an article about this zealotry, and can be read at Life in Israel with commentary.
Another read on this is Rational Judaism.
HaShem wants our hearts and minds,
not just adherence by coercion.
*at the time of the First Beis HaMikdash, the Sicarii persevered in their ways and ultimately brought destruction upon the Jewish Nation. Their tactics were extreme. Was it right to bring starvation upon the Jewish people? Are these the reincarnated souls we have today in Meah Shearim's "Sikrikim"?
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