The Armonot Chen wedding hall in the heavily haredi Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem has set up a so-called mehadrin elevator with a mechitza – in this case, a curtain – down the middle of the car to gender-segregate women from men.
Haredi Wedding Hall Installs Mechitza In Elevator To Gender Segregate Passengers
Shmarya Rosenberg • FailedMessiah.com
The Armonot Chen wedding hall in the heavily haredi Givat Shaul neighborhood of Jerusalem has set up a so-called mehadrin elevator with a mechitza – in this case, a curtain – down the middle of the car to gender-segregate women from men, Yeshiva World reported based on a report on the Israeli news website Walla! News.
The hall’s owner, Yosef Cohen – who sees nothing wrong with the offering this “service” – says use of the elevator mechitza is optional and is only used at the request of the person renting the hall.
Cohen also said that on their wedding days, many people try to be especially careful in guarding their eyes from seeing things they should not see, and this is just a way of assisting them with that.
He noted that a Bnei Brak wedding hall has two elevators, one designated for men only and the other designated for women. But when Cohen purchased the Givat Shaul hall, it only had one elevator, and he though installing an optional mechitza was a reasonable solution.
Israel’s High Court of Justice has already prohibited similar gender segregation on public buses and sidewalks.
However, it is unclear how the court would view gender segregation in the wedding hall’s elevator.