Don't Share the Video with the Woman and "Herzl" at the Western Wall. She Could Be Your Mother Too

In the past day, the internet was abuzz over a sensational video dubbed 'The Herzl Video.' In the clip, a woman accidentally stepped into the frame of a Swedish journalist filming in front of the Western Wall.

The unfortunate woman didn't know she was being filmed at that moment; her only 'sin' was calling out loudly for someone named Herzl, causing the video's producers to break into raucous laughter.

Of course, this could have been shelved as a private joke among the production team, but in a generation that thrives on viral content, who can be surprised that the team thought it fitting to spread the video online?

It started in one WhatsApp group, but soon it spread to all possible platforms, showing the woman in the most disrespectful way against the backdrop of the image of the visionary of the state, with one of his eyes 'glancing' at her embarrassingly.

If the absurdity of this wasn't enough on its own, imagine the saga that unfolded in the following hours, as every internet site in the mainstream media hurried to exploit the momentum to gain a few more enjoyable moments of rating at the expense of a woman who could be the mother, grandmother, sister, and aunt of any of us.

And truly, how would we feel if this woman was our family, our flesh and blood?

Would we also laugh out loud, watch the video repeatedly portraying her in the least flattering and respectful manner, and of course ensure it circulates to as many people as possible?

Even Herzl Could Not Have Foreseen What the State Would Look Like

The intolerable ease with which we allow ourselves, as a society, to transgress again and again commandments that are virtually 'die and not transgress'—in the name of freedom of expression—is nothing but dangerous misery casting a large shadow over our collective morality.

Not for nothing did the sacred Torah, which shows us the way and according to which everything should be judged, forbid such laughter. For precisely such laughter, the Torah wrote 'whoever humiliates his friend in public, it is as if he shed blood.'

The Swedish reporter caught laughing at the incident

And even if we assume we are completely unblemished and only watched the video without sharing it—perhaps at that moment we even thought to ourselves: 'What a terrible act, how can one humiliate a woman like that?' Yet it's not unlikely that at the same time a slight smile crossed our face given the unusual situation.

It's somewhat frightening to see how virality has taken over here. Even over the sane voice still screaming from within us, begging us to set aside the ratings for a moment, and concentrate on values whose boundaries have somewhat blurred.

I really don't want to think about how this woman feels now, after she went from being an anonymous woman to becoming 'public property' in an instant—not by choice.

I don't want to imagine how her children might feel, if she has any, knowing that all of Israel saw their mother in her most unflattering form. Or how the woman's own mother might feel, assuming she is still alive.

And Now to the Real Absurdity in This Whole Story

How is it that this video, which was actually published in 2013 (yes, you heard right), continues to make waves on the internet, stealing headlines and drawing our attention once again?

How have we not learned the lesson the first time?

How do we fall into the viral trap again, allowing ourselves to continue mocking a woman whose only 'sin' was being filmed at the wrong time and place?! Where has the finger wagging 'tut-tut-tut' disappeared that we are very good at using when someone else commits unacceptable acts?

How is it that we're no longer eager to shout our values outward, to remind the world and ourselves that we are not like everyone else, that there is still a unit pride beating within us with something to be proud of?

So the woman entered the wrong frame. So what? Why dance on her humiliation, and keep making more and more Facebook parodies with words like 'haha', 'epic', and 'I rolled with laughter'? Is her blood permissible just because our fingers have an intolerable lightness on the keyboard that allows it?

No, we don't want to be in her shoes now, but we do want, and even must, ask her forgiveness, without waiting for Yom Kippur for that.

Sorry that we are a generation so opaque, confused, not really knowing where to look for ourselves or our happiness, and often thinking the answer lies in videos like these.

Sorry that we don't really know how to take ourselves out of the viral frame, how not to be part of this 'celebration' created around, how to dare to be a bit different, within the herd so absent of truth.

And how did Herzl from the video respond? Click here to hear his painful words