My Call to Moshe Freidman

Read about the goings-on at Dovbear. Here is my email to him (DB posted it on his blog, as well):

Hi DB,

I called Rabbi Moshe Freidman (057-317-7844) at the number you posted. We spoke twice, and both conversations were in Hebrew. The first time, I told him that I am concerned, becuase I have heard about horrible things in Ramat Beit Shemesh.

He said, "what have you heard?"

I mentioned that I heard of a woman being beaten on a bus for not moving to her 'appropriate' seat. RMF replied at first that he knew nothing about this. I said, "oh, well I am glad, because from what I have heard, there is a big chillul hashem going on."

He then said, "who am I speaking with?" I answered that I am an Israeli presently in Los Angeles, and I am writing an article about what is going on. RMF then revealed that he knows far more than he first let on, by saying, "I will not speak with you from Los Angeles, but I will speak with you in Israel if you like."

I continued to ask questions about the details, and RMF hung up.

I called back and said that I want to get the opinion from the side of the 'pashkvellers' for my article. He again re-iterated that he knows all about the situation, and will only talk to me in Israel. I said, "I don't want to make anyone look bad, I just want the truth. Why can't you talk to me now over the phone, so I can write about it?"

He said he will only meet face to face, and he had a bad experience once with journalists, so he likes to meet face to face. I wonder why.

He also stated that "we don't care what you write about us." I thought the use of the plural first-person pronoun was quite revealing.

That was the end of the call. Who's next?

Regards
mevaseretzion