An open letter FROM the chess players of Arad

To the Religious Council of Arad,

To Rabbis: Bentsion Lipsker

Yosef Albo

Mordechai Volkovich

We turn to you in hope that your intervention will change the dangerous situation in Arad sooner and more radically, than that of the police will.

On the 20^th of June, around 10 am, before the very eyes of the people passing by, three bearded hooligans in black clothes burst into the chess club – a place rented by a US citizen Eddie Beckford and situated near Arad’s market. The hooligans broke the furniture and threw and trampled down religious books, including the Torah.

On Fridays, when Eddie provides small charitable dinners for the needy, two-three dozens of “haredim” come and perform wild dances accompanied by loud cries. The same “men in black” threatened Eddie, his wife and friends with death and tried to convince a four-year-old girl to leave her “dirty” mother and move to them, the “haredim.”

“Unknown” (!) persons caused damage to Eddie’s car many times, leading to traffic accidents. “Unknown” persons broke the club’s windows, damaged the padlocks on its door, hanged leaflets with the photos of Eddie and his wife on the streets of Arad, stating that they are dangerous people for Jews and mentioning their home address. What was the purpose of all that?

When the elderly people play chess at the club, “haredim” are there beside them, hoping, it seems, to see how Eddie converts these chess players to Christianity.

And finally!!! On the night between the 3^rd and the 4rth of August the “unknown” persons set the club on fire. Religious books were burnt, as well as the furniture and the chess players’ equipment. Involuntary historical analogies come to one’s mind. Who burned “wrong” books? Who called to pogroms? Talmud acknowledges the influence of religious people’s behavior on the attitude of others to G-d and Judaism. These aforementioned actions of the “Haredim” and of the “unknown” persons desecrate G-d’s name. Hilul Ha-Shem’ is a sin, which Judaism considers unpardonable.

Dear wise rabbis! We hope that you will say you Word in the synagogues, yeshivas and the press. Please do!

The chairman of the public council of the chess club, Roman Pinus

A member of Arad’s chess team from 1990, German Gurevich

11.08.2005