Showing posts with label ultra-orthodox Jewish community. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ultra-orthodox Jewish community. Show all posts
Sunday, February 03, 2013
Monday, January 11, 2010
BBC: "The kids, that's the highest cost," says Ido Lev, 30, who hasn't seen his two children for five years.
It's hard to imagine the software engineering student, now wearing jeans and a checked shirt, in the black hat and suit of the ultra-orthodox Jew he used to be.
It is seven years since he walked out of his home, cut off his curly side locks in a public toilet and slept in a shopping mall for a week.
Israel's ultra-orthodox Jews, also known as Haredim, make up roughly 10% of the population. Most live their lives in voluntary isolation from the secular world.
Men tend to spend their days studying the Jewish scriptures, which are the primary focus of education for both genders.
Posters on the walls of ultra-orthodox areas pass on community news, as many residents shield themselves from what they see as the secular influence of television and radio.
Images of women are banned, and anyone driving on the Jewish Sabbath is likely to have stones thrown at their car.
Every detail of life is determined by religious observance, says Mr Lev, "even how you put on your shoes". >>> Heather Sharp, BBC News, Jerusalem | Monday, January 11, 2010
Monday, October 06, 2008
YNET NEWS: Zealots accused of beating Jerusalem woman for allegedly consorting with men, torching store selling MP4 players, fearing devout Jews would use them to download pornography. 'It's very similar to what you hear about in countries like Iran,' says novelist Naomi Ragen
In Israel's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, where the rule of law sometimes takes a back seat to the rule of God, zealots are on a campaign to stamp out behavior they consider unchaste. They hurl stones at women for such "sins" as wearing a red blouse, and attack stores selling devices that can access the internet.
In recent weeks, self-styled "modesty patrols" have been accused of breaking into the apartment of a Jerusalem woman and beating her for allegedly consorting with men. They have torched a store that sells MP4 players, fearing devout Jews would use them to download pornography.
"These breaches of purity and modesty endanger our community," said 38-year-old Elchanan Blau, defending the bearded, black-robed zealots. "If it takes fire to get them to stop, then so be it."
Many ultra-Orthodox Jews are dismayed by the violence, but the enforcers often enjoy quiet approval from rabbis eager to protect their own reputations as guardians of the faith, community members say. And while some welcome anything that keeps secular culture out of their cloistered world, others feel terrorized, knowing that the mere perception of impropriety could ruin their lives.
"There are eyes and ears all over the place, very similar to what you hear about in countries like Iran," says Israeli-American novelist Naomi Ragen, an observant Jew who has chronicled the troubles that confront some women living in the ultra-Orthodox world.
The violence has already deepened the antagonism between the 600,000 haredim, or God-fearing, and the secular majority, which resents having religious rules dictated to them. Jewish 'Modesty Patrols' Sow Fear in Israel >>> AP | October 6, 2008
YNET NEWS:
Wrong Kind of Modesty: Growing Modesty Requirements in Religious World Have Nothing to Do with religious Law >>> Uri Orbach | January 14, 2008
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Paperback (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
The Dawning of a New Dark Age – Hardcover (US) Barnes & Noble >>>
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