Blog 3: Intrafaith Relations Improve in Israeli Community?

          Continuing from last week to visit Israel, this week the stories are focused on divisions within the Jewish faith rather than between Jews and other residents of the country. First, some terminology: a “haredi” or “chasid” is an Orthodox Jewish person; they tend to be very conservative and hold tighter to tradition (as a general rule). A Modern Orthodox Jew is, as their nomenclature would indicate, more willing to change with the times but sometimes at the expense of the older ways (again, a generalization). A secular person in Israel could mean someone who is an atheist but still participates in the cultural Jewish traditions or someone who does not participate at all, but that does not necessarily mean that person is not still tied or invested somehow in the Jewish faith.

          With all that in mind…

          Beit Shemesh is a somewhat large community outside of Jerusalem that in 2011 received some very negative international attention when some extremist haredi Jews spat upon a little girl on her way to school. This was, unfortunately, not an isolated incident and has been viewed by some as a “microcosm” of the larger intrafaith problems in Israel. Secular and Modern Orthodox Jews fear that the haredi population is not only exponentially increasing but also becoming more and more extreme, while haredi Jews contend that the extremists are “a tiny minority comprising a few hundred people at most.”

          There has been a concentrated effort to improve relations between the sects as well as the religious and the secular. Roundtables, boys and a future girls clubs, women from all three groups making documentaries about Jewish women’s issues – all of these have taken place since the worst of the violence at Beit Shemesh. Some are very optimistic, such as Yehuda Schain, a haredi in charge of a boys’ group, but a Modern Orthodox woman named Brenda Ganot is not so sure and wonders what will happen when Beit Shemesh becomes majority haredi, which could happen soon.

          The real danger is when municipal elections are held later on this year. Sectarian violence is still just under the surface and all it would take is a contentious race for mayor for the whole cycle to begin again. Also unaccounted for in this article are groups such as Reform Jews, who are minority group within Israel but constitute a large population of American Jewry and whose presence is growing, and other more modern sects of Judaism that are not Modern Orthodox. As with any old faith, there are numerous divisions; sometimes this causes friendly discussion, sometimes this leads to quite literally violent disagreement.

          What also seems to have been hidden from view is the key role that women play within the schisms between the various Jewish denominations. Though they have been highly visible in this peace process, one of the deepest divides within Judaism is the role that women play. Some like Ganot are aware that a few council discussions cannot erase thousands of years of gender tension that will play into any Jewish conflict, especially one where girls go to school and where some are pulling for gender equality while others would like to maintain the status quo.

          Although the situation may, hopefully, be improving for Beit Shemesh, they will have to pass the test of time in the next few months, the election, and the succeeding few years to see if this peace is really lasting or if the bad relations will resume once the dialogue stops being so friendly.

Religious conflict in Beit Shemesh yields to fragile peace amid coexistence efforts

http://www.jta.org/news/article/2013/02/14/3118731/religious-conflict-in-beit-shemesh-gives-way-to-tenuous-calm

The definitions in the first paragraph are my own.

Maureen Fischer, 02/14/2013

5:08 PM