JERUSALEM — In Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where the rule of law sometimes takes a back seat to the rule of God, zealots are on a campaign to stamp out behavior they consider unchaste.
They hurl stones at women for such "sins" as wearing a red blouse and attack stores selling devices that can access the Internet.
In recent weeks, self-styled "modesty patrols" have been accused of breaking into the apartment of a Jerusalem woman and beating her for allegedly consorting with men. They have torched a store that sells MP4 players, fearing devout Jews would use them to download pornography.
"These breaches of purity and modesty endanger our community," said 38-year-old Elchanan Blau, defending the bearded, black-robed zealots. "If it takes fire to get them to stop, then so be it."
Many ultra-Orthodox Jews are dismayed by the violence, but the enforcers often enjoy quiet approval from rabbis eager to protect their own reputations as guardians of the faith, community members say. And while some welcome anything that keeps secular culture out of their cloistered world, others feel terrorized, knowing that the mere perception of impropriety could ruin their lives.
"There are eyes and ears all over the place, very similar to what you hear about in countries like Iran," says Israeli-American novelist Naomi Ragen, an observant Jew who has chronicled the troubles that confront some women living in the ultra-Orthodox world.
The violence has already deepened the antagonism between the 600,000 haredim, or God-fearing, and the secular majority, which resents having religious rules dictated to them.
Religious vigilantes operate in a society that has granted their community influence well beyond its numbers — partly out of a commitment to revive the great centers of Jewish scholarship destroyed in the Holocaust, but also because the Orthodox are perennial king-makers in Israeli coalition politics.
Thus public transport is grounded for the Jewish Sabbath each Saturday, and the rabbis control all Jewish marriage and divorce in Israel.
In recent years, however, the haredim have eased up on their long campaign to impose their rules on secular areas, and nowadays many restaurants and suburban shopping centers are open on the Sabbath.
These days, most vigilante attacks take place in the zealots' own neighborhoods.
Israel police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said the modesty police are not an organized phenomenon, just rogue enforcers carrying out isolated attacks. But Israel's Justice Ministry used the term "modesty patrols" in an indictment against a man accused of assaulting the Jerusalem woman.
The unidentified, 31-year-old woman had left the ultra-Orthodox fold after getting divorced, according to the indictment filed by the Jerusalem district attorney's office. The indictment said her assailant tried to get her to leave her apartment in a haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem by gagging, beating and threatening to kill her. He was paid $2,000 for the attack, it said.
A 17-year-old who moved to Israel from New York five years ago said she was hospitalized after being attacked with pepper spray by a crowd of men outraged that she was walking down a Jerusalem street with boys.
"They can burn in hell," said the girl, who would identify herself only as Rivka.
She lives in Beit Shemesh, a town outside Jerusalem where the vigilantism has been particularly violent. Zealots there have thrown rocks and spat at women, and set fire to trash bins to protest impiety. Walls of the neighborhood are plastered with signs exhorting women to dress modestly — spelled out as closed-necked, long-sleeved blouses and long skirts.
I cannot even begin to describe how many things that are wrong in this story. While the basis for this story is true and I have not doubt that the witnesses are true and that these things did happen, they are isolated inciddents. For Naomi Regan to suggest that living in these neighborhoods is like living in Iran is absurd. The incident that sparked this story happened so long ago, I don't even remember it. I have been to these neighborhoods and I live in one of these neighborhoods. These things that are happening are isolated events. First I will say that I do not condone these happenings or the people who carry them out. Nor do I know anyone who does. That these things happen is an embarrasement to all Jewish people. I understand so much that these people want to preserve a precious way of life, but this is not the way to do it. It only causes harm to our selves and to others. Someone once explained it to me like this; "Imagine you are a settled in wild west and you and your wagon train have been repeatedly attacked by Native Americans. Now it is you and a few small number left of your party from the large number you started with. Now imagine that a Native American is coming toward you, do you invite him in or just kill him on site no questions asked?" That is what these people see themselves as, those last few settlers holding their land. They do not want to invite the Native American in lest he destroy what is left of their party. It does not excuse what these people do, but it does make us understand the intention.
Now, why I am annoyed at Fox News. What irritates me as that A) They make this look like an everyday occurence. I can assure it is not. It is not even weekly. Once again, these are isolated incidences. B) They dug up some story from way back when and then made it look recent, even in the story it says things have changed. Why are they digging up the past then? C) Why the !@#$ can't someone print something good about Israel. Every race, color, religion, social group, etc. and so on.........has its outsiders. Why is it such a shock that they should exist in Israel too?! Why can't they talk to people who stand out against this, I know they are there, just as I am against I know there are many more who feel the same way. Why can't they write about the people who go out of their way to make people who are different feel comfortable. Those who do outreach, those who do amazing acts of kindness no matter what the religious affiliation. Why do they have to dig up the few to make the whole look bad? D) Do they ever mention that in some of these neighborhoods there are signs well marked explaining the rules of dress and behavior. There are many streets in Israel one can go if they do not want to dress in a modest fashion. There is no need to visit these well marked neighborhoods. It is matter of simple respect. No matter where a person goes they should always dress respectfully so as not offend the host. Whether it is someone's home or a large event. In this case, these neighborhoods are their homes and when we enter, we are the guest. It is not so much to ask to respect the host. The other thing that bothers me about this story is the mention that it is the religious who have caused the restriction of travel on Shabbat and the insistance of closed stores and restaraunts. That maybe so, but WE ARE A JEWISH NATION. We are not muslim, or catholic or hindu. Shabbat is a Jewish observance, why wouldn't it stand for these things to be closed. It is a National Law! I believe in religious tolerance for all, but I also believe that people should have religious tolerance for those who choose to practice their faith in a strong and traditional manner too.
No one complains when things are closed in America because it is Sunday and the traditional day of worship. No one writes scathing articles about the religious control in Iran, Iraq or Egypt. For sure there are things that crop up, but everyone just accepts that they are a muslim regime and that is what goes on there, save a few activits for women and childrens' rights. We are the only country in the middle east to allow any and all religions to worshipped freely here. How dare we be compared to Iran. Jews have fled from Iran thanks to religious persecution. But we continue to open our borders to all who come here and allow them to worship freely and again and again we pay for it with the few nuggets of slander the media can muster.
And in the end what really gets me is the fact that in America we preach tolerance and liberalism as the new religion. We must support any and all people despite race, creed, sex, sexual orientation, and so on and so forth. And I do. I have friends of many religions, friends who are straight, who are gay, who are divorced, who are married, or re-married with step kids. Couples who are inter-race, interfaith, and so on. And these are my friends and I love that each person has a right to live their life as they feel they are called to do with out fear of persecution and that there are laws that will protect them if they should come to harm for their beliefs. But what bothers me is that in all this rush to embrace those who are considered, " outsiders, or underdogs, or persecuted, people are no longer allowed to be devout in their faith anymore. Not just religious Jews, but those of any faith. The same people who embrace and rejoice in those living alternative life styles are harshly negative towards someone who is devout in their religious beliefs. I know a story of someone who grew up in a rough neighborhood, it took some time and work, but she and her daughter made it out. She practiced her religion faithfully and got her niece to start going with her to services. This woman was sure her niece would make it out, until the girls parents ridiculed her for going and teasing her. Instead of turning her life around, this young girl wound up pregnant at 16. I am sure her parents were not laughing then. That is a story that happened in modern day America. It may seem an extreme case, but I don't think those stories are uncommon at all. I have heard too many jokes or seen too many eye rolls when someone talks about the person who turned their life around and became religious. Why are we so ready to take on the bold and daring, the cutting edge, but we are so afraid of G-d and religion. I don't think that everyone should got out now and give up their liberal ways and find G-d and practice relgion in the way that my family does. But what I would like to see is that those who are so ready embrace the "alternate" also embrace those who are traditional and are just trying to do the same thing they are, which is to raise their family in the way that they best see fit. Why must it be so important to search deep for the few that are extreme to make sure that the many look bad. Instead of highlighting the good that comes from the many.
1 comment:
I understand what you are saying. It is so disappointing not that the media report these things, but that they report them as though they were the norm. Meanwhile, the terror in Iran and other Muslim nations is ignored. It is similar when the media deal with communism. All of a sudden the repression of rights, the lack of freedom of the press, of religion, the imprisoning (and worse) of opposition, or dissidents, of h0m0s*xuals, the general poverty, the destruction of cultural sites, religious shrines, not to mention the environment, all those get ignored by the press.
It's the same here, I get to be identified with those people who bomb clinics or threaten doctors because I am pro-life, even though there have been literally only a few incidents like that, and I don't believe any life has been lost, and the vast majority of people who are pro-life, and the movement itself, are actively against such things. Likewise, because I hold to the traditional s*xual morality of just about every religion and culture in the known world, somehow I get to be seen as hateful in the same way that those people from Westboro Baptist in KS are. Even though their church's stance is so outside the norm of Christianity, somehow they are the spokespeople for all Christians everywhere.
It is frustrating and I am sorry you are having to deal with this.
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