Yes!! So important!! Such great comments on here!!

Absolutely!!

Wow!! Whoever this is, speak up more, some Mechanichim really need to hear this, it’s scary

Cannot understand how they even landed as Mechachim in the first place

There should be like a check that you have to pass in order to step into a school or classroom – like are you a nice person who has good middos and healthy, and will properly deal with bullying

Couldn’t agree more with this comment

This should be read and read again by every teacher, parent and leader of kids organizations

Yes — bullies often are in terrific pain themselves and desperate to let it out. Many years after I was bullied in public school, where I was the only Jew, I realized that the bully’s mother had gotten divorced and had remarried — a Jewish man. The bully must’ve been incredibly unhappy about the divorce and took out that pain on me, the Jewish kid. Takeaway: teachers, and adults, need to be aware of kids in pain and address their issues, or get someone to help such kids. (Another reason to stop intermarriages!)

I feel your pain.

“Standing up for what’s right” means calling out harmful behavior or holding people accountable for genuine wrongdoing.

Mocking someone for loving cats isn’t standing up for anything. What principle was being defended? What harm was being addressed? It was just mean-spirited ridicule over a harmless interest.

You can’t tell children that bullying is wrong while adults in influential positions model the exact behavior you’re condemning.

It’s so interesting that I see it’s all about boy bullying another boy and 100% it’s terrible and should be stopped at all costs however i personally think and possibly others may too what’s even worse is the Hanhalla protecting the bullies and not only that join in and make as if the victim is the one who’s messed up to these Hanallah with all due respect you may know a lot of Torah you may know a lot of Chassidus but unfortunately if you treat bullying like a “I know it all” then you will never know how to properly sympathise with the victim you will not know how to show the victim love and care assuming you will just treat it like a case in חושן משפט there’s 2 sides to the story! And I understand that at times (but rarely) that could be the case however Imagine how the victim feels when hearing that?! Like he’s lying saying a half truth the next time he’s being bullied he won’t go over to you he will keep it inside and it could ח״ו have lasting negative effects because he feels like he has nobody protecting and providing him safety .
Worse unfortunately they may smirk at you like your probably messed up for speaking up against the popular bullies looking at you as different because you are extremely sensitive …
Sorry but when it comes to bullying there’s no 2 sides there’s evil and it’s your responsibility to stop it – ובערת הרע מקרבך
The only 2 sides to keep in mind:
1. When a victim goes over to you show and provide him a sense of safety and sympathy so the victim feels like he is heard don’t look around the room making yourself uninterested show that you care your with him that he knows he has someone who is providing him a sense of safety .
2. You need to stop bullying at all costs .

Sorry,
Speakers dont have immunity.
They carry a big achrayus, and when they’re actions are missleading and can cause harm – there is no choice but to call them out.
That has nothing to do eith bullying.

Many times children who bully are very good boys, they’re just desperate to let out their pain (on others). There needs to be authority in place to stop bullying.
With that said, I think that teaching Ahavas Yisroel and empathy are definitely very important factors.

I think you’re bullying rabbi dalfin by calling him out in the comments like this… maybe you should call him privately

There’s bullying and there’s standing up for what’s right and the distinction is quite clear and if standing up for what’s right is called bullying then I guess you can say that this comment is bullying to the highest degree.

Good point.

How is publicly ridiculing someone for a harmless interest any different from the bullying behavior you’re now speaking out against?

Last week, bullying was apparently acceptable when it came from one adult speaker targeting another. This week, we’re being told to be hyper-vigilant about bullying among children. But children learn what is and isn’t okay by watching adults. If we model and platform this behavior among adults, we’re teaching kids that mockery and public ridicule are acceptable—we’re just telling them not to do what we do.

If we’re going to take bullying awareness seriously, it needs to start with the content we choose to publish and promote. We can’t champion kindness and respect while simultaneously amplifying voices that tear others down.

An apology article is in order!