Tel-Chai Nation

Another incident with male leftists committing acts not all that different from Haredi men at the Western Wall took place in Jerusalem neighborhoods:

A number of men caused a commotion after entering an event held for haredi girls last night in order to disrupt its existence in protest of gender segregation.

At the event, films were screened for haredi women in the mixed neighborhoods of Jerusalem - Kiryat Menachem and Ir Ganim.

Haaretz reporter Yael Freidson wrote: "The men of the neighborhood came to the screening intended for women and girls and prevented the separate event from taking place. For those who did not understand from the events of the past few weeks, the contract has been reopened."

[...] Former IDF spokesman Avi Benyahu wrote that this was a mistake on the part of the protestors: "Protest activists who come to events in the segregation of religious women and break them up cause me to weep and worry. This is an ethical, moral, and human error and also stupidity that harms the protest and undermines the possibility that we will be able to live together here. If someone is looking for high-quality raw materials for a civil war, he will find them here much more than the reform."

One user wondered if the next step was to "break into the maternity ward", and another social media user suggested, "They should also go to the gym in Jaffa tomorrow, it's a day for women only. We'll see them be heroes".

This is similar to how Haredi vandals broke into the Bnot Orot school over a dozen years ago in Beit Shemesh. It was bad enough when you had Haredis doing that. Now we have leftist secular men doing the same.

In response to the event, the Hotem organization said: "The bullying of the far-left mobs does not stop. After desecrating the holiest day for the Jewish people and preventing prayer in a public space, they now continue and invade the private space of women who chose to screen a film for themselves. When women-only events were held in Tel Aviv, such as the women's marathon and various festivals did not alarm the "men of the protest" to prevent the discriminatory event, how hypocritical. I wonder if the women of the 'liberal' protest would have dared to enter the mosque and disturb the prayer of Muslim men in the name of 'liberalism'. The protests and demonstrations of a handful of violent and wild under the auspices of the protest. The prosecutor's office won't help; the people of Israel stick to their Judaism, and they will defeat the progressive trolls."

Yes, that's the hypocritical part. Many of the same leftist women who allegedly have an issue with the Haredi dress codes have no genuine qualms with the Religion of Peace, and that seriously damages the impact of their positions. A similar argument can be made about the Reform-led Women of the Wall. On which note, this is no different from the cowardice seen at the Old City. Though if the prosecution didn't indict Haredi vandals, you can't be surprised if they won't indict these leftists for the same reasons.

So now we've got leftists taking up where Haredis left off, and cowardly attacking girls rather than taking issue with men. This is a pure disgrace, and the way the left's going about this won't change anything about the Haredis. In fact, it could make things worse for non-Haredi women.

Of course, as this op-ed notes, the Haredis did bring some of this upon themselves, in a way:

The real crux of the issue is the rejection of one prescribed way to approach God and matters of faith. While the Orthodox have done it in a very specific way, for thousands of years, based on the opinion, by their sages, that there was only one proper formula, it turns out that in the year 2023, non-Orthodox Jews are not convinced that there really is just one set way to pray, to observe holidays or even to believe.

And why is that? It could be that their many years of being spectators of Orthodox Judaism has somehow repelled them on a number of levels. Everything from the way one is supposed to dress, to the way one is supposed to find their spouse, to the way one is supposed to be separated from their loved ones, while worshipping in a synagogue, has been more of a source of putting them off rather than attracting them.

While one can respect the right of these individuals to wear a heavy coat in sweltering summer temperatures, many of us question whether our favor with God really depends on sweating enough in order to please Him? So many of these arbitrary customs don’t seem to make sense to the unbelieving public, nor do they comport with the idea of a merciful and loving God who knows that our frame is but dust.

The same is true for gender separation, either during prayer or at a festive event, such as a wedding or bar mitzvah, where men and women must be cordoned off to dance separately without seeing one another. The reasoning behind the decision is to retain a sense of modesty and avoid men from looking upon a woman with lust.

This is the same logic behind why a woman cannot show her arms, her legs or her neck, for fear that she will be a temptation to other men. Despite all of these rigid rules, it’s common knowledge that adultery, fornication and rape are not foreign to the ultra-Orthodox but actually common occurrences within their community, so the idea that one can prevent these things by being completely covered up has no basis in reality. The lack of self-control might somehow come into play, but it’s easier to demand that women be totally covered up.

Yet, it’s not only the clothing which is problematic. For years, the secular population has been looked upon as heathens, in the full sense of the word. They have been ostracized, shunned, held up as tainted sinners who should be avoided at all costs – not to mention their music, their discussions or their life choices.

The strategy, of not being contaminated, has been to remain in an insular bubble where one is fully protected from the stains that could mark them, but without even thinking about it, this attitude of religious superiority has been responsible for the rejection of Orthodox Judaism by Israel’s secular. Look at it this way – if you tell a person over and over that they are inferior and morally bad, to the point that they are not willing to associate with you, the outcome is likely that you will not want to associate with them either.

So, does anyone wonder why this religious war has come to a head all of a sudden? It really wasn’t surrounding the subject about whether or not the religious had violated the ban by the municipality and High Court to erect partitions, which separate genders, on public property, even though that may have been the catalyst. It was far deeper!

Yes, this is clearly a consequence in part of shoving a supremely hysterical form of customs down everyone's throats, mainly at women's expense, and if only a woman must take responsibility, it shows how men don't recognize the vitality of doing so themselves, and makes clear they do have a severe lack of self-control. Which is hugely disappointing. If the ultra-Orthodox were to just abandon such a lifestyle, it'd benefit Orthodoxy far more. But who knows if this kind of crass leftist behavior we're seeing now will convince them?

Labels: anti-semitism, dhimmitude, islam, Israel, Jerusalem, Judaism, misogyny, Moonbattery