The funeral of Rabbi Edelstein (Walla system!)
Angel owner Yaron Engel and chairman of the company's board of directors Omer Bar Lev arrived on Sunday to console mourners with the family of Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, the leader of the Lithuanian-ultra-Orthodox sector who passed away last week. Engel and Bar-Lev's visit to comfort the mourners is a kind of apology for what happened. In a letter sent by Engel to the Edelstein family and his students, it was stated: "The chairman of the board of directors participated as a private person and not as part of his role in the demonstration in Bnei Brak, we were supposed to clarify this immediately after the demonstration took place and express sorrow on our behalf."
The letter added: "We repudiate the things attributed to us, we apologize for remaining silent until now, the goal was the opposite and was not intended to be 'silence as a confession.'"
The condolence visit of Omer Bar Lev and Yaron Engel, June 4, 2023 (Photo: documentation on social networks according to section 27A of the Copyright Law)
The uproar that erupted on the ultra-Orthodox street against Angel began a few weeks ago after a group of "Brothers in Arms" demonstrated near Rabbi Edelstein's home as part of the demonstrations against the legal revolution. Among the demonstrators was the chairman of the board of directors, former minister Bar Lev. The act sparked outrage in the ultra-Orthodox street, and many Haredim launched a boycott against the company for what they called "offending the rabbis."
The ultra-Orthodox boycott grew out of social networks and did not receive official backing from rabbis or party newspapers. However, a long list of ultra-Orthodox educational institutions canceled their contracts with the company and asked to stop supplying them with products altogether. Later, at least three bakeries operating in ultra-Orthodox communities such as Ashdod and Bnei Brak canceled their franchises with Angel or changed their names. The company claimed that its profits had only increased since the ultra-Orthodox boycott and that it had not been harmed, but now, the company's owners and the chairman of the board of directors have arrived in advance at the rabbi's house where his seven sons are sitting and delivered to them the apology that was made public by Rabbi Edelstein's staff.
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Yaron Engel's letter of apology (photo: documentation on social networks according to section 27A of the Copyright Law)
The protest against the company was also shared by political figures, including MK Moshe Gafni and MK Aryeh Deri. Gafni tweeted: "Omer Bar Lev and Angel have no respect for the Torah. You have to seriously consider whether you can trust their kashrut. Bar Lev does not understand what Torah is and what is great in the Torah, and everyone has to consider whether it is possible to buy eating products from them. I despise him! And I hope everyone understands what and who it's about."
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- Angel Bakery
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- Haredim