Jerusalem Haredi Sign Orders Women To Wait For Their Husbands Where Men Won't See Them

A request and demand: Wait for your husband behind the white van and such places so that you won't serve as an obstacle to those praying!

A sign posted by haredim ordering women to "wait for their husbands in a concealed area" has reportedly reignited the controversy in Israel over forced haredi gender segregation in public places like buses and sidewalks.

The sign, pictured above, is reportedly posted outside a synagogue. It reads:

A request and demand

Wait for your husband behind the white van and such places so that you won't serve as an obstacle to those praying!

Women waiting for their husbands are requested to strictly obey! Wait only in secluded spaces such as behind the white van and not opposite the entrance to the synagogue, so that there won't be any mishaps or obstacles, God forbid, to those praying inside and to students of the Beit Midrash.

Similar signs ordering women to walk on different sidewalks then men, along with illegal forced gender segregation on public buses and attacks by haredim against pre-teen Modern Orthodox school girls and against women in Beit Shemesh have resulted in several High Court of Justice petitions and rulings, and in increased pressure on the government of Benjamin Netanyahu from the court and from the public to stop coddling his haredi political allies.

Comments

[A. Nuran]

This is worse than Iran or Saudi Arabia.

[Avi]

Jerusalem Haredi Sign Orders Women To Wait For Their Husbands Where Men Won't See Them

A variation of something called a mechitza. This is practiced in all orthodox shuls. Men and women pray with a partition between them. We also see this phenomenon at the kotel.

[Rebitzman]

. We also see this phenomenon at the kotel.

Yeah, but not on public street.

[SkepticalYid]

Posted by: Avi | December 07, 2012 at 02:57 PM

This is on a public street. It is not comparable to a mechitzah in a private house of worship.

[David]

The Talibanization of the Charedim is almost complete.

[David]

so that there won't be any mishaps

I am curious as to what type of "mishap" may occur if the women don't seclude themselves...

[Alter Kocker]

Dear Females
Please ignore the sign as it was written by misogynistic chauvinistic neanderthals who barely know how to wipe their own backsides and believe it is acceptable to wash once weekly in the filthy water of their mikvah.

They are not the ones in charge. They set boundaries, when there are no such thing. Why dirty yourselves with pieces of filth that have little or no regard for you and only view your worth as a baby making machine and chicken soup vendor.

[Runner1983]

These Haredim are not practicing Judaism, but something else. Slowly, over time, the haredi rabbis, accountable to no one and only interested in furthering their own power over their followers, have established customs and practices that fit the perfect definition of a cult.

They don't educate their children so it is very difficult for them to leave, they marginalize women, the most extreme sects protect child molesters, etc. Many don't work, and many don't serve in the military.
They take welfare payments from the government, provided by those that do work. In nearly every society on this planet, men strive to financially support their families. It is a source of pride and accomplishment. Not with Haredim.

As their population grows, they are becoming a larger and larger proportion of the Israeli society. This presents a real threat to Israel, in that the ability of the country to defend itself economically and militarily will decline.

[Apostate]

These "rules" mean bupkes if they're simply ignored. Those who laid down the law don't have any real power.

Speaking of which... while in a store I saw several frummie shopping for DVDs and other doodads in the Five Towns today. I'm okay with this, but I thought they go to hell for such behavior. Is this an open secret?

[gopjew]

>> provided by those that do work

and all orthodox teach in yeshivas that if you don't practice the religion you aren't jewish so the secular Israeli public who funds the yeshivas "aren't jews."

[dd]

the muslims don't show their wives, either and some are mandated to wear burquas so that men cannot see women faces .

i have to conclude that haredi are muslims . same religion , same phylosophy .

[Avi]

. We also see this phenomenon at the kotel.

Yeah, but not on public street.

Posted by: Rebitzman | December 07, 2012 at 03:13 PM

Posted by: Avi | December 07, 2012 at 02:57 PM

This is on a public street. It is not comparable to a mechitzah in a private house of worship.

Posted by: SkepticalYid | December 07, 2012 at 03:25 PM

I was not aware that the origins of the need of the mechitza was to be applied only to private property.

[ruthie]

this is not yiddishkeit.
happy chanukah everyone.

[Rebitzman]

@Avi

Well, since the purpose of it is to keep men from being distracted while praying, and we do not traditionally pray "out behind the van".......

The rabbis of the Talmud tell us that if there is a strict way, and a more lenient way to apply hallachah, we are commanded to apply the more lenient way. Outside your community - that's how hallachah is applied.

[Yochanan Lavie]

Apologies to Carly Simon (Anticipation):

We can never know about olam haba
But we think about it anyway
And I wonder if I'm really going there now
Or just chasing after some frummer way.

Emancipation, Emancipation
Is making me enraged
I'm tired of waiting

And I tell you how hard it is to be a Jewess
And how the right wing marginalized me.
But I rehearsed those words one Friday night
When I was thinking about how my Shabbos plight might be.

Emancipation, Emancipation
Is making me enraged
I'm tired of waiting

And tomorrow we might not be together
I'm no prophet, I don't know Hashem's way
So I'll not be invisible anymore
And flee from here, 'cause it's just like the bad old days.

[DBSesq]

Is there a maker in Shas for this? If there isn't, there is no real Halachik basis for this idea. Barring a sitting beth din enacting this as a takanah to address a pressing social need, there is no reason to adhere to this nonsense. Moreover, I highly doubt that in Second Commonwealth Jeeusalem, men and women were separates to this extent.

[Pokey Man]

Oh please. Have you seen some of these women? How much of one could actually be obscured by a van?

[wake up]

What the Jewish world fails to realise is that the Haredi Taliban phenomena is beyond the law. Their increasing popularity will translate into mainstream Judaism if the trends continue. While we sit and watch with amusement and bewilderment what escapes our attention is the creeping fundamentalism in all facets of the Jewish world which is fast tracking to the extreme right. This is also true of Israeli politics which pander to the far right parties. Not to mention the hijacking of the Israeli State Rabbinate which is already fallen into the hands of extremists who have no connection or understanding of the secular society in Israel. As a woman just try and get a get in Israel! There is no communal organisation that I am aware of that is publicly standing up against this trend.
Oy vavoy lanu

[Eli, what me messiah?]

YL, thanks for that. Remember back when (I think Heinz) uses the song in their TV ad?

Anyway, the sign makes no sense. It suggests they are letting women actually leave their homes and walk on the streets. WTF?

[Bench Kvetcher]

Behind van is code words for this is a little hidey spot to find women to start illicit relationship with.

[jewjitsu]

"I am curious as to what type of "mishap" may occur if the women don't seclude themselves..."

trip out comes your tool, and oops into a crevice.....hehe

[Yochanan Lavie]

Eli: I sure do!

[Pagan]

But, good my brother,
Do not, as some ungracious pastors do,
Show me the steep and thorny way to heaven;
Whiles, like a puff'd and reckless libertine,
Himself the primrose path of dalliance treads,
And recks not his own rede.

[Hamlet, Act I scene iii]

[Rochel]

"Why extremists always focus on women remains a mystery to me. But they all seem to. It doesn't matter what country they're in or what religion they claim. They want to control women. They want to control how we dress, they want to control how we act, they even want to control the decisions we make about our own health and bodies."

-Hilary Clinton, 2012