The planned visit by R' Steinman and the Gerrer Rebbe to Montreal has been cancelled due to fears of protests by Satmar, etc. This is being reported all over the press (Haaretz Hasidic protest in Montreal scares off UTJ rabbis' visit, the Jerusalem Post Orthodox in US to protest rabbi's visit, etc.)
What exactly are they protesting?
They are protesting against R' Steinman, a 93 year old Rosh Yeshiva whose whole life is Torah.
His strong support for the Tal Law and the Nahal Haredi [a special army unit for haredi soldiers] made him a lot of enemies," said a source in Degel Hatorah, the Lithuanian faction of United Torah Judaism.
"The zealots express themselves in an unbridled way," added the source. "But their basic argument is accepted by a lot of people in the haredi community."
Unfortunately, the cancellation just gives more power to the extremists. The trip was cancelled to avoid a chillul hashem, however, all this publicity has created a chillul hashem in any case and exposed the huge problem in Charedi society today, no one is willing to take on the extremists. Basically, everyone is cowed by Satmar, Eidah Chareidis, etc. This phenomenon explains why it is so difficult to change anything in Charedi society and how it is so easy to ban books.
