Tension between Jewish denominations in Israeli town

[meriwether]

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Ar...aspx?id=251169

I couldn't be exactly positive that the word 'denominations' is accurate in the thread title, but today, there was a rally in an Israeli town called Beit Shermes held to protest against what they see as Ultra Orthodox intolerance.

Reading the article, its difficult to see the scale of the problem - last week, it appears that an 8 year old school girl was spat at and verbally abused by Jewish religious fundamentalists for dressing 'immodestly'.

The counter rally attendance is estimated at a 'few hundred' by the newspaper.

The article does however quote some references to what appear to be resentment at the behaviour of ultra orthodox Jews in and around the area.

I know very little of the issue - is this a storm in a tea cup, or are there underlying issues coming to the fore here?

[former wesleyan]

http://www.jpost.com/NationalNews/Ar...aspx?id=251169

I couldn't be exactly positive that the word 'denominations' is accurate in the thread title, but today, there was a rally in an Israeli town called Beit Shermes held to protest against what they see as Ultra Orthodox intolerance.

Reading the article, its difficult to see the scale of the problem - last week, it appears that an 8 year old school girl was spat at and verbally abused by Jewish religious fundamentalists for dressing 'immodestly'.

The counter rally attendance is estimated at a 'few hundred' by the newspaper.

The article does however quote some references to what appear to be resentment at the behaviour of ultra orthodox Jews in and around the area.

I know very little of the issue - is this a storm in a tea cup, or are there underlying issues coming to the fore here?

Haaretz is a better source for " this kind of thing " .

http://www.haaretz.com/news/national...emesh-1.403916

You don't have to go to Israel to see Haredi intolerance ....Stamford Hill is a lot nearer.

[eskrimador]

They sound almost like.......erm..........ultra islamists!!

Sharia law in israel? Oh, the irony

[meriwether]

Thousands of Israelis protest gender segregation in Beit Shemesh - Haaretz Daily Newspaper | Israel News

Here's another article that puts a bit of meat on figures.

There appears to be an element of social disorder in this town (200 Haredi men, 300 Haredi men involved in separate incidents).

Is this an isolated incident? What are the extent of Utra Orthodox/non-ultra tensions in Israel?

[Glucose]

Most Israelis, about the 90% that aren't Orthodox have feck all time for the haredi.

As an Israeli friend of mine put it, All the Orthodox do is pray and make babies. She informed me that many of the orthodox do not work. A lot don't even accept the Existence of the state of Israel.

Sure Ireland wouldn't have any "ethnic" minorities that milk the system, would they? Not in Ireland, surely.............

[Analyzer]

Due to the differing birth rates between the secular, and the Ultra-religious, which is working in the favour of the more religious element, this will happen even more in future.

Israel was founded as a secular state. But within a generation it will become clear that the more Ultra-Orthodox community will take over.

There are other controversial issues, like army conscription. The more religious element have an opt out on military service, which is peculiar, considering they tend to prefer a more militant political line concerning Foreign Policy - with other people being stuck with the job of soldiering which gets more dangerous as a result.

[meriwether]

Most Israelis, about the 90% that aren't Orthodox have feck all time for the haredi.

As an Israeli friend of mine put it, All the Orthodox do is pray and make babies. She informed me that many of the orthodox do not work. A lot don't even accept the Existence of the state of Israel.

Sure Ireland wouldn't have any "ethnic" minorities that milk the system, would they? Not in Ireland, surely.............

Dunno.

It appears that this minority has a parlimentary presence in Israel however.

[drummed]

Why on earth is Israel so interesting? Asked before, never did find out.

[Glucose]

Of course they have, they make up just over 10% of the population. They only vote for extreme orthodox parties.

Sinn fein have circa 10% of support in the republic.

.......and shock horror sinn fein have 14 seats in the Dail.

[corporal punishment]

Where's L'chaim when you need him.