Executives of Angel Bakery Apologize to the Family of Hagaon Harav Edelstein, Zt’l

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Angel Bakery Omar Bar Lev, and Yaron Angel, the owner of the Angel Bakery, came Sunday afternoon to pay a shivah call and to apologize at the home of the Rosh Yeshivah Harav Gershon Edelstein, zt”l.

This is a dramatic step on the part of the company’s leadership, since many weeks have passed since the widespread consumer boycott against the bakery began, but its leaders have so far insisted on not condemning the demonstration by the chairman of the company’s board of directors, Omar Bar Lev, near the home of the Rosh Yeshivah, zt”l, as well as the slanderous words of a grandson of the founder of Angel against the chareidi sector were not dissuaded.

The move comes after the company’s management tried in recent weeks to convey to the public that the chareidi boycott does not harm it at all. Publications in the secular press heralded profits rising after the boycott and the leftwing even cracked an initiative to purchase the company’s products to help it. But in the end, it seems, the boycott that gained momentum in all concentrations of the chareidi public and even led to the closing of bakeries and a change in the brand of many branches, led the company’s management to realize that it had no choice but to take the right step and apologize for their actions.

Mr. Bar Lev and Mr. Angel both sent letters to the family of the Rosh Yeshiva on Sunday.

Mr. Angel apologized for not disavowing Mr. Bar Lev’s participation in the protest, and stressed that he was not acting on behalf of the company. “The director acted as a private individual and not as an associate of the company in the protest in Bnei Brak,” the letter said. “There was and has not been any offensive statement or act on behalf of the company or with the approval of any of the people associated with the company or its employees,” the letter continued. Mr. Angel went on to apologize for not disavowing Mr. Bar Lev’s actions sooner. “We disavow the things that have been attributed to us, we apologize for being silent until now, the goal was the opposite, and it was not intended to be “silence as a confession.” He wrote that the company had not given a response to the situation so as to not “involve the company in politics.” He wrote in closing that his apology is in line with the pasuk “One who admits and abandons[sin] will be granted mercy.”(Mishlei 28:13).

Mr. Bar Lev wrote: It is known to me how much Harav Edelstein was a great leader who devoted his life to establishing Torah life in Eretz Yisrael, with humility and pleasantness.

Regarding reports that the protest was in front of the Rosh Yeshiva’s home, he denied that it happened, and wrote that it was not his intention to “insult the honor of Torah,” and referred to the Rosh Yeshiva as the Gadol Hador. “If I had known from the outset of the situation…what offense would be felt…I certainly would have refrained from this, and on this I express my pain and apologize from the depths of my heart.

Mr. Bar Lev wrote that he considers Torah and those who learn it “an important value,” and “against this I was not protesting.”

Shas leader Rabbi Aryeh Deri responded to the apologies on social media. “The charedi public has proven as a group that it does not accept under any circumstances harming the Gedolei Hador,” Rabbi Deri wrote. “Those who want to enjoy the Orthodox consumer should also know how to respect the Gedolei Hador. Angel today proved it,’ Rabbi Deri concluded, quoting the same pasuk as Mr. Angel, as an acceptance of the apology.

Degel Hatorah MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni responded similarly, saying “The sad case known as the ‘Angel case’ – proved to the whole world that the charedi public is careful about honoring its leaders, guards their honor, the public’s honor and the Torah’s honor, and it does so quietly and in the most natural way.” Rabbi Gafni accepted the apology as well, but added that it was “better late than not at all.”