Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jews - not a monolithic group

By Jeff Abramowitz and Sara Lemel Feb 16, 2012, 2:06 GMT

Mea Shearim, Jerusalem - To outsiders, Jerusalem's Mea Shearim neighbourhood is a strange place - a time-warp in which life is totally at odds with the digital, high-tech 21st century.

Men flood the sidewalks dressed in black suits and hats or wearing robes with large fur caps. Women in floor-length skirts and long sleeves hurry past, wigs on their heads, shepherding large flocks of children.

Barring the vehicles of varying modernity and occasional crowds of gawping tourists, this could be an East European 'shtetl' - one of the little towns or villages in which Jews lived and flourished until World War II and the arrival of the invading German armies.

Several thousand people live in the neighborhood. They follow a strict interpretation of Jewish law, adhering in particular to Jewish dietary laws and strictly observing the Sabbath.

Relations between the sexes are strongly regulated, with close contact allowed only between married couples or family members. Marriages are arranged early, when couples are in their late teens, and are organized via a matchmaker.

A large sign at the edge of the quarter asks that women 'do not pass through the neighbourhood in immodest clothes,' stipulating that modest clothing includes 'closed blouse, with long sleeves, long skirt. No trousers, no tight-fitting clothes.'

Some Ultra-Orthodox Jews take these rules so seriously they physically attack women they consider immodestly dressed.

When these attacks make the headlines - as when zealots in the city of Beir Shemesh targeted a young religious school girl whose clothing did not pass their muster - it creates a furor in Israel, sparking frenzied and passionate public debate.

'A woman should be attractive to her husband or fiance,' says Rabbi Shimon Hurwitz. But, 'to attract other men is not healthy for society.'

He says, however, that the attacks against women on public transport or in the street are carried out by a small fringe group which does not represent the ultra-Orthodox community as a whole.

The Haridim (literally 'God-fearing'), as the ultra-Orthodox are known in Israel, are a rapidly-growing population group. They make up 8 per cent of Israel's 7.8 million citizens, and comprise 35 per cent of the population of Jerusalem.

One recent study said the number of strictly-religious Jews in Israel is expected to reach one million within ten years, and had in fact doubled since 1999.

Strictly religious men might appear to dress similarly - sober black suits, white shirts, hats - but there are subtle differences in style which reflect their various sects.

The two most prominent originate in eastern Europe - the Hassidim (pious) whose founder was born in what is now Ukraine and the Mitnagdim (opponents), who have their roots in Lithuania.

'The Hassidic movement emerged in the late 18th century as a backlash against the elitism of Lithuanian Jewry,' says Rabbi Jonathan Rosenblum, an ultra-Orthodox rabbi who is also a lawyer.

The Lithuanian Jews, for their part, rejected the spiritual and mystical elements of Hasidism, hence the name which has stuck to their stream - the mitnagdim.

A third ultra-Orthodox stream in Israel is made up of Jews who originated in Arab countries - the Sephardim. While their men dress more or less the same as the ultra-Orthodox of European origin, the women do not wear wigs, but instead adorn their heads with colourful scarves.

Some of the more militantly secular Israelis harbour a real hatred of the religious, feeling that they are trying to impose their way of life on the entire country.

Their feelings are bolstered by Israel's unique polity in which no party receives a majority of seats in parliament, meaning coalition cabinets are the norm and religious parties are able to demand funding and other favours in return for ensuring a government majority.

While secular Israelis grumble that the ultra-Orthodox have influence way out of proportion to their numbers, Rosenblum believes they are fulfilling the same function in Israel that Jews used to fulfil in Christian countries, namely that of the convenient scapegoat.

Moreover, he says the ultra-Orthodox are not a monolithic group who all think and act alike. To depict them as such is 'just as absurd as saying 'the Brits',' to refer to all people hailing from Great Britain, he argues.

'The ultra-Orthodox world consists of many small sub-groups,' he says. 'They are not people who are all identical - each is an individual.'