What does it say about a religion when its adherents tell six-year-old girls that they are "prostitutes" because their shirt sleeves only go to their elbows and their skirts only go to their knees? What does such behavior tell us about how that religion defines the status and worth of women generally?
Nothing good, that's for sure, but it's precisely what we're seeing from Jewish fanatics in Israel.
Jewish girls as young as six, wearing a conservative uniform of skirts below the knee and shirts to the elbow, are being targeted by the Haredi, called ''pritzas'' (prostitutes) for being ''immodestly dressed'' as they walk into Orot girls school, a state-funded religious-nationalist school. The Haredi are demanding the girls cover up.
And, it doesn't end there. Fresh from their fight last month to segregate an entire street in the ultra-Orthodox Jerusalem neighbourhood of Mea Sharim during the religious celebration of Sukkot - the Haredi have set their sights on billboards and other advertising material that feature images of women.
So far the ultra-Orthodox have managed to ensure a public health campaign to attract organ donors only uses pictures of men, while an insurance company has removed images of girls from its child health promotional material.
Speaking to Israel's Army Radio about his company's organ donor advertisements, Ohad Gibli, deputy director of marketing for the Canaan advertising agency, said: ''We have learned that an ad campaign in Jerusalem and Bnei Brak that includes pictures of women will remain up for hours at best, and in other cases, will lead to the vandalisation and torching of buses.''...
As the symbolic battle over women and the public display of their image continues, a new report from the World Economic Forum indicates women's status in Israel is deteriorating year by year.
Source: The Sydney Morning Herald
These Haredi call themselves a "society of scholars," but these aren't the behavior of scholars and it's not the product of scholarship. These are the behavior of bullies at best, but in many cases "terrorists" would be a more apt label. There's little to distinguish these Haredi from the most barbaric of the Muslim Taliban in Afghanistan.
Even worse, Haredi communities are growing faster than any other group in Israel -- 30% of newborns are in Haredi families and by 2025 Haredi will constitute 15% of the population. Now they are only 9% of the population and look at how many problems they are causing already. How much worse will it get?
Fortunately the beliefs and behavior of the Haredi are not popular with other Jews in Israel; unfortunately there seems to be little that anyone can or will do about it. On the contrary, the Israeli state is actively supporting the ability of the Haredi to devote all their time to bullying and terrorism while the Haredi do little to nothing to support the economy, community, or defense in Israel:
Tensions are also exacerbated by the fact that, in a country that has compulsory military service for men and women, most Haredi do not serve in the military.
And because of their focus on religious study, most Haredi men do not work, relying instead on social welfare provided by the government, or the income earned by their wives, who also give birth to large numbers of children, often up to eight or nine per family.
Meanwhile, many extreme Haredi do not recognise the authority of the government, the police or the courts, and describe themselves as ''anti-Zionist'' - they are against anything that is privileged over the Torah. ...
The rise of the Haredim has been disastrous for the country's economy, according to Gershom Gorenberg, author of The Unmaking of Israel. Gorenberg writes that Israel's ultra-Orthodox community is becoming ever more dependent on the state and, through it, on other people's labour.
''By exempting the ultra-Orthodox from basic general educational requirements, the democratic state fosters a burgeoning sector of society that neither understands nor values democracy. And to protect their own growing settlements, Haredi parties are now essential partners in the pro-settlement coalitions of the right,'' he warns.
Despite the really awful historical connotations where Jews are concerned, I find it impossible to not have the label "parasites" come to mind every time I read the above. Even though I'm sure there must be Haredi who aren't actively engaged in the bullying and terrorism, they are part of a system which makes such behavior acceptable and they should seriously consider what they can do to change that.
Gorenberg's statement is key: "the democratic state fosters a burgeoning sector of society that neither understands nor values democracy." The Haredi discussed above are part of that sector and it's something that threatens the future of the democratic state. It's also a problem that exists elsewhere, including the United States with all the kids being educated by homeschooling conservative Christian parents.
Israel already has enough trouble maintaining some sort of balance between being a "Jewish" state but also a "democratic" state. The two aren't completely compatible because a democracy cannot be defined by anyone one religion while remaining free. But Israel does try and some Israelis recognize the inherent tension. The rise of Haredi bullies and terrorists, however, will make the balancing act harder to maintain because they don't value the "democratic" part of the equation.
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