Haaretz Describes Tishrei: Haredi paparazzi season

Really a shame how things that have to be Avodas Hakodesh, became photo-ops. The Haaretz today have a long article on the recent photo craze. Here is the opening paragraph:

Starting over a week ago, when Ashkenazi Jews joined their Sephardic counterparts in their pre-Rosh Hashana selihot (penitential prayers ), the whistle blew to open the so-called Haredi paparazzi season. The season will go on for an entire month, until the end of Sukkot, providing photographers in this sphere countless opportunities to document rabbinical sages in action, as they undertake various High Holy Day-related rituals, including selihot, examining citrons and visiting the courts of other rabbis. The pictures get printed in the community's photographic magazines and papers, and uploaded to its websites. A leading figure in the Haredi paparazzi industry states that, "if we could, we would photograph the holiday prayers themselves."

The long piece also glimpses in the politics behind which magazine prints which pictures. Here is an excerpt:

For instance, the split that occurred in recent years in the Satmar stream, the largest in the Hasidic world, between the brothers Rabbi Zalman Teitelbaum and Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, was splashed all over the local press; media outlets signed exclusivity agreements with one side or the other, and those agreements generated tens of thousands of dollars in revenue. The Whole World advances the side of Rabbi Zalman (who recently published a letter to newspaper editors, asking that photos of him not be published), whereas The Haredi World relates to Rabbi Aaron as the true Satmar leader. And each such arrangement costs a pretty penny.

What a shame! The holy month should be exchanged to the paparazzi season. Time to stop it!