Two haredi women in their 50s reportedly spent much of the first night
of Rosh Hashana harassing secular women who were celebrating the holiday
by attending New Years parties in downtown Jerusalem pubs.
The two haredi missionary women in action
Haredi Missionaries Chased Out Of Downtown Jerusalem After Harassing Secular Revelers
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
Two haredi women in their 50s reportedly spent much of the first night of Rosh Hashana harassing secular women who were celebrating the holiday by attending New Years parties in downtown Jerusalem pubs.
The two women arrived at about midnight and began to hand out haredi missionary literature to secular women and haranguing them, Ynet reported.
Eyewitnesses saw the two haredi women carrying bags filled with Psalms and haredi missionary leaflets, which they gave to young secular women. The two haredi women asked the secular women to go home and stop desecrating the holiday. The two haredi women also adjured the secular women to dress “modestly” in the future and extolled the ‘virtues’ of haredi religion, urging the secular women to ‘repent’ and become haredi.
The two haredi women were eventually driven out of downtown by partygoers after the pair tried to prevent secular girls from entering a pub.
At first the two haredi women stayed in Zion Square where they preached and reportedly attracted many people who listened or argued with them.
But their success faded quickly into failure when they approached young secular women at bar on Yoel Moshe Salomon Street and tried to talk to them. The young secular women ignored them, but the haredi women refused to stop preaching at them and, after some time of this harassment, several secular men demanded that the two haredi missionaries leave.
The two haredi women left the bar, followed by partygoers who reportedly started taking pictures and video of the haredi women.
The two haredi approached other secular women and tried to preach to them, and one of the haredi women even grabbed a secular woman by the hand, apparently to keep her from walking away.
At that point, onlookers intervened, with some throwing the haredi missionary leaflets at the two haredi women and demanding that they leave the area immediately.
The two haredi women refused, reportedly claiming that what they were doing is legal and threatening to call the police.
But then the two missionaries realized that people were taking pictures of them – a desecration of the holiday – and the two haredi women fled toward the haredi neighborhood of Mea Shearim followed in hot pursuit by a few secular youth who apparently continued to film them.
There were no reports of physical violence related to the incident and no one was reported injured.
"We don’t enter haredi neighborhoods and try to convince them to leave religion, so they shouldn't come to us," a young secular man told Ynet.
A similar incident happened at Jerusalem’s large open-air Mahane Yehuda Market about six months ago. A group of haredi women demanded that shoppers wear “modest” clothing and abide by haredi modesty rules.