An ex-haredi woman has allegedly established a brothel in the heart of the Shmuel Hanavi
neighborhood of Jerusalem, a brothel which has reportedly become a hit among the area's youth.
The apartment building that allegedly contains a brothel
The original article is in Hebrew here. The translation below was made for FailedMessiah.com by Maskil:
A Haredi Neighborhood in Jerusalem
A House Of Prostitution That An Ex-Haredi Opened In Shmuel Hanavi Has Turned Into A Hit For The Sector's Marginal Youth.
Amichai Atali • Ma’ariv
An ex-haredi established a brothel in the heart of the Shmuel Hanavi neighborhood of Jerusalem, which has quickly become a hit among the sector's youth. Two years ago the first chapter in the story of M. was published in Maariv, then a haredi woman married and a mother to ten children. The husband wanted to work to support his children and in the framework of his job encountered A., a Palestinian from Nablus, and never imagined that his new friend would turn his life into a nightmare.
The husband, who was very occupied with his work, did not notice that A. became too close to his haredi wife. M. got so close to the Palestinian friend that at a certain stage she decided to leave home with him and seven of her children, and according to her husband's claims, made her income by transporting illegal Palestinians.
After a drawn out legal battle the couple divorced, and another legal struggle directed by the husband, with the assistance of lawyer Gila Naftalin of Jerusalem, led to the removal of the seven children from M. and their deposit in foster care.
However, it seems that M., who already crossed all boundaries accepted in the haredi society, decided to continue in her unconventional ways.
A Haven for Those Falling out of the Framework
A few months ago, after she had been living for quite a while with her Palestinian partner in Nablus, M. returned to reside in the house that belonged to her and her husband in the haredi neighborhood of Shmuel Hanavi in Jerusalem. Externally, M. appeared Haredi in every way, and despite her divorce she continued to wear a wig. However, soon rumors began spreading in the neighborhood, according to which the woman had turned [her home] into a social center for a group of male and female youths who had dropped out of the haredi society.
The group would meet nightly in M.'s apartment, and she would supply them with sexual services in exchange for payment.
"Suddenly all sorts of young riffraff, haredi boys and girls that dropped out of the framework," a haredi resident of the neighborhood told Maariv. "All the dropout girls and boys simply started to go to her house and have orgies. Within a short time two of the haredi girls became M.'s partners and began to serve as prostitutes themselves. The clientele at the apartment was diverse and included ex-haredim, haredi, Arab Israelis and illegal Palestinians."
The Haredi neighbors who understood what was going on nearby decided to hastily gouge out the filth that had sprung up under their noses. Customers that arrived at the apartment returned to their vehicles and found their tires slashed, and the tires of M.'s vehicle were also slashed many times.
When the neighbors saw that the tire-slashing was not helping, they started to hold shifts across from the apartment whose purpose was to prevent anyone not living in the vicinity to enter M.'s building.
The Neighborhood Was Coated In Pashkevilim
By now, two protests had been held adjacent to the apartment. The loaded subject caused the two protests to be especially stormy, and they both ended with the arrival of police to the area and with arrests.
Haredi rabbis then entered the picture as well, and the neighborhood was coated with pashkevilim [wall posters] which read:
"With great pain in our hearts we hereby cry out greatly over the evil murmurings that have reached our ears that amidst our holy neighborhood of Shmuel Hanavi a private home in a residential building has become a place of wanton lasciviousness that has destroyed many souls.” In the notice the rabbis warned: “The masses are hereby notified that it is forbidden by Da’at Torah [rabbinic instruction] and halakha [Jewish law] to come near the entrance of her house at all, and the parents shall carefully watch their children in order that they not find them in the middle of the lasciviousness."
"Never has it happened that those who have stopped being haredi bring their pernicious matters into a haredi neighborhood," a resident of the neighborhood said. "We intend to do everything in order to stop this abomination."