Chochmei Lev recently moved into its new premises, in the Bayit Vegan neighborhood of Jerusalem, just a few short blocks away from their previous location.
To celebrate, the yeshiva made a "chanukas habayis" party to thank those who helped them along the way - philanthropists, politicians, activists, etc.. They kept it quiet and did not announce the party, and it was not open to the public. The students had their own ceremony when they initially moved in and were not invited to this party, nor was the parent body invited.I only found out about it because of the news reports. The news media only found out about from a tweet by one of the attendees.
The current "storm" is over the fact that MK Rachel Azaria (Kulanu) was invited to, and spoke at, the event. Critics right away called out Chochmei Lev for this. Having a woman speak, and specifically Rachel Azaria, is proof, as they say, that Chochmei Lev is not a Haredi institution.
Azaria, for whatever reason, is considered antagonistic to the Haredi community. She is religious, or so she describes herself, and I don't know anything about her level of observance beyond that. She has been an anti-Rabbanut activist, while promoting Hashgacha pratit and womens rights, specifically in the context of fighting for agunot against the Rabbanut mainstream. I am not overly familiar with her work and I do not know if she ever fought Haredi positions specifically, though I am not aware that she did. Either way, when she was a Jerusalem City Councilwoman, before she was a Member of Knesset, she helped Chochmei Lev get established, and that is why she was invited to the event, and to speak at the event.
Haredi askanim, as soon as they found out, began attacking Chochmei Lev, saying thing like "how can they call themselves a yeshiva? for an institution to portray themselves as Haredi to allow a woman to speak in the beis medrash in front of the students?".. (again, the students were not present, but facts are often unimportant). One accused Rav Betzalel Cohen, the Rosh Yeshiva, of actually having the intention of making people less Haredi, rather than being concerned with their education and future ability to work for a living, all because of this event which showed his true colors. This askan even used nivul peh to get his message across, and a screenshot of the Whatsapp message he sent is publicly available for all to see..Rav Cohen, with his dry humor, took the opportunity to be proud of the fact that he gives so many on a regular basis the opportunity to perform the mitzva of "hocheiach tocheiach"..
sources: Kikar and Kikar
I would just point out that when the leadership and those in power refuse to help when approached, even by a constituent, and even work against the person, they should not be surprised when that person goes to other people who are willing to help. Saying things like "you are proving you are not Haredi" is meaningless, because the Haredi leadership refused to help and worked against. Others helped, and he is thanking them for that help. That is all it was, and it should not surprise the people who opposed him all along. This "proved" nothing about being or not being Haredi or his intentions with the school.
Also, if the attack is specifically on Rachel Azaria, rather than it just being because she is female, it does not make much sense either. If she is so anti-haredi that inviting her is bad, why would they sit in the government with her as coalition members. The Haredi leadership is allowed to work with her but other people are not? And if it is because she is a woman and it is inappropriate to invite a woman in front of the students, we know how ridiculous that is - having a woman come speak does not turn an institution into non-Haredi, along with the fact that the students were not even there.
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