In an
article in the Huffington Post, by Amy Teibel, some of Israel's ultra-Orthodox
community are using intimidation and violence against non-Orthodox Jews. These zealot
vigilantes are attacking in their own neighborhoods. They come out of the ultra
Orthodox or haredi communities and have been called 'modesty patrol.' They have
been known to throw stones at women who bare too much, set fire to secular
business' selling secular goods, beat people up who engage in what they
consider lewd acts.
In recent
weeks, these modesty patrols have been accused of burning down a store for
selling MP4's, and breaking into an apartment of a Jerusalem woman to beat her
up for 'consorting with men.' In August, a Jerusalem man was arrested on
suspicion of setting fire to a store in the haredi district that sold MP4
players. Aaron Gold, a 31 yr old haredi worker at the store, recalls a group of
men coming into the store, threatening costumers, throwing merchandise on the
floor, and screaming "this store burns souls." He said that there
would be as many as 15 at a time. He mentions that on a particular Friday
night, just before Sabbath, they smashed the window, doused the store with
gasoline, and threw a match. Now no MP4s are sold there under orders of the Rabbis.
According to Rosenthal, Haredim in Jerusalem have a lot of political power.
Religious Jews make up the majority on the city council, and in 2003 had its
first haredi mayor (Rosenthal pg. 230). Yitzah Polack, a 50 yr old Jerusalem
teacher calls these modesty patrols "stupid troublemakers who bring shame
and disgrace to this holy community." Another community member, Yehuda
Meshi-Zahav says that the rabbis are afraid to condemn them. He feels that "the
militants set the tone."
There are
many stories of the modesty patrol's abuse in Beit Shemesh, an area outside of
Jerusalem. This area is known for its heavy ultra-Orthodox/haredi extremists.
Walls of the neighborhood have signs telling women to dress modestly. Zealots
in the area have attacked women for impiety. A 17 yr old woman who had moved
from New York to Israel was hospitalized after a crowd of men attacked her for
walking down the street with boys. A girl by the name of Esther said that zealots
threw rocks at her for wearing a red blouse which attracts too much attention.
The state subsidizes gender-segregated bus routes that service religious
neighborhoods. After an Orthodox Canadian woman in her 50's was beaten by men
for refusing to move to the back of the bus, Nami Ragen and several women
challenged the practice in Israel's Supreme Court. Ragen , an Israeli-American
novelist, has been chronicling the troubles of women living in an Orthodox
community. Three years ago, an Israeli Sephardi chief rabbi's son was jailed
for kidnapping a 17 yr old boy who had been seeking the attention of his
unchaperoned sister.
In
Rosenthal's chapter on The Non Orthodox, a
non-Orthodox girl named Sivan recalls her teenage experience growing up in a
haredi neighborhood. She says that haredi children would shout words in Yiddish
that meant 'slut.' When she was a teenager a haredi neighbor asked her to come
to her apartment and turn on the lights, since Jews were forbidden to do so on
the Sabbath. She mentions how upset she was by that. That somehow her being a
secular didn't make her a legitimate Jew in the eyes of religious Jews. That
they thought of themselves as 'holier' or 'having better values.' She mentions
that if not for nonreligious Zionists who brought Jews to Israel, many haredi's
would have lived in Europe and been slaughtered (Rosenthal pgs. 225-226). Another
woman named Mira, who runs an ecological educational center that tries to
create 'green' Arabs and Jews, says that most Israeli high school students read
the science magazine she edits but it wasn't allowed in ultra-Orthodox schools.
She says that "they think science is for the seculars and the Bible is for
them. I try to show my readers that the Bible belongs to all of us"
(Rosenthal pg. 226). Rabbi Azari, a Reform and Conservative rabbi, mentions
that "Israel is the only democracy in the Western world where Jews do not
have freedom of religion, the only place where Jews deny religious freedom to
Jews" (Rosenthal pg. 232). Even though most Jewish Israelis are non-Orthodox
(about 80 percent), 98 percent of more than ten thousand synagogues in Israel
are either Orthodox or ultra-Orthodox (Rosenthal pg. 232). It seems that
question for secular Jews is why should these ultra-Orthodox Jews who refuse to
join the army and refuse to work receive tax exemptions and live off the backs
of the very people that they are attacking.
In the
Huffington Post article, Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld says that
these modesty police are not organized, they are rogue enforcers doing isolated
attacks, but in an indictment filed by the Jerusalem district attorney's office
in a case involving a 31 yr old woman who's assailant tried to get her to leave
the apartment by gagging, beating, and threatening to kill her, the assailant was
paid $2,000 for the attack.
Within all
this turmoil there are slow steps being made for change. The article mentions
that in recent years the haredim have 'eased up' on imposing their rules in
secular areas. Many restaurants and shopping centers now stay open on the
Sabbath. According to Rabbi Azari, in 2003, the anti haredi Shinui became the
largest party in the government. This marked the first time in two decades there
were no ultra-Orthodox parties in the coalition. He claims that "This is
not Iran anymore" (Rosenthal pg. 236).
I feel that
the author of the Huffington Post article painted a clear picture of the terror
that these modesty patrols are doing. She gave good examples of their
intimidation and violence. She did a good job with quotes from both secular and
religious Jews. She even had quotes from a haredi store worker who was a victim
of the attack on the store selling the MP4's. I felt this was a good move in
showing that the modesty patrol are members within the haredi, not the haredi
as a whole. She also did a great job in showing the Israeli police spokesman's
opinion of the modesty police in comparison to the Jerusalem district
attorney's office. The police spokesman viewing it as unorganized random acts,
and the D.A.'s office viewing it as paid hitmen with a specific target.
Rosenthal's chapter did a good job in showing the resentment in secular Jews
regarding the ultra-Orthodox's refusal to join the army and work, but still getting
tax exemptions. This puts another layer of understanding that both of these
groups problems are also beyond just religion, it has to do with contribution.
I felt both the article and Rosenthal did a good job in sharing stories from
victims of abuse. Rosenthal goes further into showing progression and hope for
the future. She uses very optimistic examples like the 2003 anti-haredi Shinui,
and mentioning Rabbi Azari's quote, "a younger generation with tremendous thirst
for an authentic form of liberal Judaism" (Rosenthal pg. 231).
