ISRAELS' ULTRA ORTHODOX - Wednesday 18th October, 2007
George Negus: It seems that the unending conflict between the
Israelis and the Palestinians is never out of the news, but there is
another battle in the Jewish state that is far less obvious to
outsiders. Most Israeli Jews consider themselves to be more secular
than religious, but apparently the number of strict ultra-orthodox Jews
in Israel is growing. Today they make up about 10% of
Israel’s population and their high birth rate will mean that
within five years around a third of all Israeli Jewish children will be
enrolled in ultra-orthodox schools.
The neighbourhood of Meah Shearim is the heart of Jerusalem's
ultra-orthodox community. Life here revolves around prayer, study and
ritual, not much has changed since the suburb was built in the 19th
century. Its devout residents don't welcome outsiders who must observe
a strict dress code. People here don't like to be photographed or
filmed. But Rabbi Israel Gellis considers himself a fairly modern kind
of ultra-orthodox Jew, so he's offered to show me around.
Ultra-orthodox Jews have traditionally had an aversion to technology
and most families around here don't have televisions. As the Rabbi
explains, many get their news from these posters instead.
RABBI ISRAEL GELLIS, (Translation): It’s the way the
ultra-orthodox communicate, like they have their own local internal
newspapers, they have posters about what is happening now, current
events.
But the Rabbi doesn't think his community is old-fashioned and
he's
keen to show me round the local DVD store.
RABBI ISRAEL GELLIS, (Translation): These are the movies, they
are all
Jewish. For the ultra-orthodox community. Come see the films,
it’s in English. Films in English. To accuse the
ultra-orthodox community of being out of touch with the secular, is
ignorance.
bBut the rapid growth of this community has recently led to a series of
confrontations with secular Jews.
MAN, (Translation): We want to be a Jewish state, pork should
be
forbidden here.
In September, a delicatessen near Tel Aviv that sold pork was
firebombed.
SPEAKER, (Translation): The man who breeds pigs will be
cursed.
A few months earlier, a planned gay pride parade in Jerusalem
sparked
violence by the ultra-orthodox, as reported by Israeli television.
REPORTER, (Translation): For two hours the police were being
hit, trying very hard not to retaliate.
In the meantime more police arrived.
Recently, news broke that Israel's first crematorium had been
firebombed.
REPORT, (Translation): The crematorium’s secret
location was
published in an orthodox paper. That evening it was torched.
ULTRA-ORTHODOX MAN, (Translation): We are against illegal actions but I
am glad of the result.
It may seem like an unusual target but Jewish law stipulates
burial for
the dead and the ultra-orthodox believe cremation is sacrilegious.
ULTRA-ORTHODOX MAN, (Translation): To build a crematorium is
to
desecrate Israel.
ALON NATIV, CREMATORIUM OWNER: Cremation is not against the law.
Crematorium owner Alon Nativ is convinced ultra-orthodox Jews
were
behind the arson attack.
ALON NATIV: So they are taking a lot of force and trying to
enforce
their way of life upon others. And it's something unacceptable. In any
case we are going to fix it or bring a new one. And we are going to
continue. We are not going to let orthodox terror stop us.
Like many secular Israelis, Alon Nativ also resents what he
sees as
special treatment that the orthodox community receives. Most
ultra-orthodox men are exempt from army service because it interferes
with their religious studies and many orthodox families rely on
government handouts.
ALON NATIV: They do not serve in the army. They almost pay
nothing as
taxes. They take from the other hand endless amount. I think it's a
sign for the people of Israel that has to consider which type of
country we want to live in. Do we want to live in a democracy or a
theocracy?
MAN, (Translation): This criticism stems from the fact that I have a
beard, a yarmulke and a black suit. And when I go to a non-religious
area they stare as if I am from the moon and ask why I don’t
serve. The non-religious never look at themselves to see how many of
them avoid army service and are non-productive, a much higher
percentage than in the religious sector.
Local TV reporter Efrat Iris Ben-Oz is one of thousands of
Israelis who
are turning back to their religion.
EFRAT IRIS BEN-OZ, REPORTER, (Translation): It is Efrat from
Hot News,
how are you? We would like to come and do a shoot for a story about
Hitler’s secret archives.
Raised as a secular Jew, Efrat now considers herself
ultra-orthodox.
She says recent protests are not evidence that her community is
becoming more extreme just more vocal.
EFRAT IRIS BEN-OZ, (Translation): The Jewish book of law says
one can
not sit still, one must protest. In their case the protest was extreme,
in some cases even violent, but they had to go ahead with the protest.
To claim that there’s religious coercion is really deceptive.
If there is coercion, it’s secular. I can say the following,
as a religious, ultra-orthodox person today, I feel secular coercion.
Why? All the streets are full of publicity about immodest things,
whether I like it or not I have to walk in a mixed street.
I’d like my street not to look like that.
Efrat has invited me to watch her prepare a special meal for
the Jewish
new year.
REPORTER: So it's like a beef stew?
EFRAT IRIS BEN-OZ: Beef stew, but the part of the head of the
cow. Why
the head? We bless that we will be ahead and not a tail, OK.
For religious Jews, the new year is special because God or
'Hashem'
gives everyone a new chance at life.
EFRAT IRIS BEN-OZ: All the bad things that we did will go away
and
Hashem don't remember it, forgive us and we take a bite. You know, in
the Judaism when you eat and bless this is the spiritual act.
Efrat worries about the influence that secular Israeli culture
is
having on her teenage daughter.
EFRAT IRIS BEN-OZ: You can see in Meah Shearim many girls get
out of
the house getting off the skirts, putting jeans and went to
discotheque. There is a disease.
DAUGHTER: It's difficult because I have to give up a lot of things that
I see teenagers, others do. And they look fun and I want too, but I
can't because I'm religious.
EFRAT IRIS BEN-OZ: I don't force her to do nothing. She has to choose.
Because God don't force us. He says to us, choose the good. There is a
good and a bad and my advice to you is choose the good.
But increasingly, many secular Israelis feel they're losing
the freedom
to choose. One recent flashpoint is Jerusalem's public transport
system. I'm taking a ride on the number 56 bus and due to pressure from
the ultra-orthodox community, this is one of the buses where men and
women are now separated. Men at the front, and women have to sit at the
back. When I sit in the men's section all I get are suspicious looks
and a few hints that I should move. But for other women, there have
been more serious consequences.
ORLI EREZ-LEHOVSKY, ATTORNEY: She was beaten she was spat
upon, she was
pushed and shoved.
Orli Erez-Lehovsky is an attorney with the Israel Religious
Action
centre. She's filed a petition with the High Court on behalf of women
who say they were abused for defying the segregation.
ORLI EREZ-LEHOVSKY: If they refused then basically the whole
bus comes
and start yelling at you "Move to the back you are not acting according
to the rules." We also stress the fact that women in fact sit in the
back of the bus. This of course conveys a message of inferiority, it
brings to mind discrimination against blacks in America in the '50s.
EFRAT IRIS BEN-OZ, (Translation): As an ultra-orthodox person,
I
don’t want to be among men. I prefer to enter at the back, to
wait with the other women, to be crowded together with and jostled by
other women, so I can uphold the ‘no touching
rule’.
ALON NATIV: This is Ben Gurion, he is the founder of the Israel state,
he was the first prime minister.
Meanwhile, crematorium owner Alon Nativ has taken his struggle
to the
Israeli parliament, the Knesset.
ALON NATIV: When he established Israeli state he did not
separate
between state and religion and this is the only thing I think he failed
in.
Amid new threats by conservative politicians to ban cremation,
Alon is
today giving evidence to the Knesset's secular lobby. Knesset member
Yossi Bellin is a member of the left-leaning Meretz party. He wants to
stop ultra-orthodox politicians from passing any more religious-based
laws.
YOSSI BELLIN, KNESSET MEMBER: There is no question that they
are
preventing us for having the private life we would like. There is no
civil marriage in Israel, and in many other areas they are having their
veto. Now they also want to interfere in our death and that is a little
bit too much for us to accept.
This is a growing community in Israel, don't their values need
to be
listened to, don't their opinions need to be taken into consideration
here? I mean, it is officially a Jewish state.
YOSSI BELLIN: It is a Jewish not a religious Jewish state but
a
cultural Jewish state. I mean I don't go to a synagogue even on Yom
Kippur, so am I not Jewish? The question is whether Judaism is a
religion or a nation is a very important question of which the extreme
Jews would say no it is only a religion and somebody like me would say
this is why we have a state, we are a nation.
ALON NATIV: What they care is that everybody will live according to
their beliefs. But they don't provide an answer of how we can live
according to their beliefs? How can we have a country without an army,
how can we have a country without an economy?
Secular Israelis continue to worry about the future direction
of their
state. But for the ultra-orthodox, the future looks bright.
EFRAT IRIS BEN-OZ, (Translation): If we are a democratic country in the
end we will be the majority. In the end we will be the majority, in the
end