From the Liveblog of
Thursday, October 24, 2024
Orthodox Jewish group parades through Tel Aviv for Simhat Torah, raising ire of anti-government protesters
Under heavy police presence, Orthodox Jewish group Rosh Yehudi launches its annual parade marking the end of Simhat Torah on Tel Aviv’s Dizengoff Street, to the dismay of some anti-government groups.
The “Hakafot Shniyot” (second rounds, in English) parade has angered some anti-government activists who argue celebrations should be muted on Simhat Torah, which marks one Hebrew year after Hamas’s October 7 massacre.
Rosh Yehudi organized this year’s parade in cooperation with the Gvura forum of rightwing families bereaved in the war. Far-right activist Shefi Paz is present at the 100-odd celebration.
Based in central Tel Aviv, Rosh Yehudi is the bane of secularist groups that oppose its gender-segregated public prayers. There is no firm gender divide at the Hakafot Shniyot, though men and women appear to be dancing in distinct circles, with only men holding Torah scrolls.
The holiday celebrates the completion of the annual reading cycle of the Five Books of Moses.
Earlier, about 100 pro-hostage deal protesters gathered on Dizengoff Square, and, under the banner “there is no joy and no Torah,” read the names of October 7 victims and recited Kaddish, the Jewish mourners’ prayer, after each one. Anti-government accounts on social media had urged supporters to stage a silent protest and prevent Rosh Yehudi from dancing on the square.
One protester wields a sign reading “Deplorables! Idolaters!” in front of the paraders and yells that they are destroying democracy as they march down King George Street on their way back to Dizengoff. Police tell him to back away, and someone running from the direction of the parade knocks the sign out of his hands.
Men dance with Torah scrolls in Tel Aviv, at National Religious group Rosh Yehudi's annual 'Second Rounds' of Simhat Torah dancing, which some anti-government, pro-hostage deal activists criticized, since it falls on the first Hebrew-calendar anniversary of the Oct. 7 onslaught. pic.twitter.com/Z8GVoNOvzG
— Noam Lehmann (@noamlehmann) October 24, 2024
Speaking before the parade set out, Rosh Yehudi head Israel Zeira, a disciple of anti-LGBTQ Rabbi Zvi Tau, thanked the Tel Aviv police for “surrounding us” against provocations.
“We came to dance not just for us, nor just because we want, but because it is our personal duty to our friends who aren’t here” — the hostages, soldiers at the front, those who were killed or injured, he said.
The Times of Israel Community.