Earlier this month, a group of IDF soldiers were cursed and assaulted by "Chareidim" in Mea Shearim. The police had to escort the Soldiers out of the Shul in which they were praying.

The appropriate response would have been to let the soldiers pray and instead arrest the violent individuals. Physical and verbal assaults and the incitement of violence are criminal acts.

The fact that these criminals were dressed in Chareidi garb should not deceive us. Their acts of verbal and physical abuse constitute a grave violation of Torah Judaism and are a Chillul Hashem-a desecration of G-D's Holy Name.

The Vilna Gaon warned us to beware of false piety. He states that a person who appears religious and pious on the outside, but does not behave so, is like the wicked King Achashveirosh, wearing the clothing of the Kohen Gadol in the Megilla. Achashveirosh, an evil enemy of the Jewish people, masquerading in the garments of the Kohen Gadol, was certainly not the Kohen Gadol.

So too says the Vilna Gaon, a person who presents an outer image of faith and piety, yet does not live by those values he projects, does enormous damage to Torah Judaism.

People who dress as Chareidi Jews yet defy the Halacha's standard of ethical behavior, are truly not Chareidi. These people, dressed as Chareidim, who assaulted and verbally abused and degraded our holy IDF soldiers are according to the Vilna Gaon, like the evil Achashveirosh, dressed up in the clothes of the Kohen Gadol.

Any person who verbally or physically abuses and degrades another person cannot be called Chareidi. The severity of the sin of publicly humiliating someone is likened to murder, according to the Talmud (Baba Metsiya 58) and the perpetrator has no share in the World to Come.