Ugh. Fundie madness. 7-year-old Jewish Girl is "Immodest"

[MerryHappy]

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/ne ... l-1.403396

Petition to protest ultra-Orthodox discrimination against 7-year-old Beit Shemesh girl

Na'ama, who lives with her religiously observant family in Beit Shemesh, is afraid to walk the 300 meters between home and school because of the violence she has faced from Haredi men who say her clothes are too revealing.

More than 4,000 people say they will attend a march in Beit Shemesh this week to protest the exclusion of women and girls from the public sphere and the increasing Haredization of the city. The day, time and venue of the event have yet to be announced.

A number of times in recent weeks girls and women in Beit Shemesh have been been cursed and spit at, and even had rocks thrown at them, by members of the city's ultra-Orthodox community who claimed their dress was immodest.

A sign put up in the city center under the aegis of the municipality instructs women to use separate sidewalks and "walk quickly, without drawing a crowd and without talking to each other."

But it is the tears of a 7-year-old girl, broadcast on Channel 2's Friday-night news magazine this weekend, that is galvanizing thousands; only two days were needed for those 4,000 people to confirm their attendance at the march. Na'ama, who lives with her religiously observant family in Beit Shemesh, is afraid to walk the 300 meters between home and school because of the violence she has faced from Haredi men who say her clothes are too revealing.

After the broadcast, Beit Lessin Theater actor Tsviki Levin started a Hebrew-language Facebook group - "1,000 Israelis are going to Beit Shemesh to protect little Na'ama." He was overwhelmed by the response.

"I started the group in Na'ama's name, but she's just a symbol of something much greater and more dangerous to all of Israeli society," Levin said last night. "There are hundreds of girls and women like her, who pay the price of exclusion, threats and humiliation from extremist Haredi factions that are dangerous to the State of Israel."

Levin said the marchers do not intend to enter the city's Haredi neighborhoods or cause a provocation; rather, thousands of people will probably walk through the streets, holding lit candles "to illuminate the darkness" that is plaguing Israeli society, he says.

According to Levin, the aim of the protest is to mobilize Israel's "sane and democratic majority."

"No one is deluding himself into thinking that this protest, whatever its size, can stop the next Haredi from spitting on a girl tomorrow; instead, the purpose is to raise the consciousness of Israel's moderate and democratic majority," Levin said.

According to Levin, this majority "includes religious, secular and even Haredi people who believe that the principle of democracy is sacred above all and that we must protect freedom and the hope that we still have a democratic state that wants to remain so for many more years."

Levin added: "We're spitting distance from an existential threat to the state. It starts with spitting at a 7-year-old girl and continues with laws of darkness and silencing in the Knesset."

[RR88]

I've blogged about this before. I think religious fanatics are, in some ways, a greater threat to Israel than "the situation" is.

[Sunnichick31]

If men have a problem with what a 7 year old is wearing, it means he's a pedophile!!!!!! It does not (usually) mean that she is dressed inappropriately (the only exception is the girls on Toddlers and Tiaras. I"m not pedophile, those clothes are just tnot appropriate for a kid. I mean, really? Stripper costumes on a toddler?)

As long as the kid is wearing clothing which is appropriate for her age, if anyone says it's immodest, then they are PEDOPHILES!! But of course, the fundies aren't going to admit that.

[RR88]

If men have a problem with what a 7 year old is wearing, it means he's a pedophile!!!!!! It does not (usually) mean that she is dressed inappropriately (the only exception is the girls on Toddlers and Tiaras. I"m not pedophile, those clothes are just tnot appropriate for a kid. I mean, really? Stripper costumes on a toddler?)

As long as the kid is wearing clothing which is appropriate for her age, if anyone says it's immodest, then they are PEDOPHILES!! But of course, the fundies aren't going to admit that.

I think TLC produces Toddlers and Tiaras not as a reality TV show, but as an exposé on sad suburban moms (and dads) who'd like to live vicariously through their daughters. The costumes are nauseating at times.

[Dinorah]

I agree that the ultra-Orthodox are potentially a bigger threat to Israel than the conflict with the Arabs. Anyway it's nice to see there seem to be some reaction, also for instance with the "Rosa Parks" type of women refusing to sit in the back of busses.

[gardenvarietycitizen]

I agree with others that it's good to see this "come to a head" so to speak, where people will need to confront this contradiction and the polarization going on right now with the superfundamentalists and the "more pious than you" one-upmanship. And yeah, "it's not everybody in favor of it" even in those very insular places but people who disagree aren't empowered to speak up in those places and that TOO is a problem.

People, even very religious people, managed to live without segregated buses and split sidewalks and bulletproof stockings not all that long ago, as much as they may deny the reality of those photographs now.

[RR88]

People, even very religious people, managed to live without segregated buses and split sidewalks and bulletproof stockings not all that long ago, as much as they may deny the reality of those photographs now.

Thank you for bringing this up. Ultra-orthodoxy, as it exists today, has only been around for a few decades. In high school, there was a discussion about some famous portraits we'd seen of European rabbis with their wives...whose hair was pinned up modestly, but uncovered nonetheless. I was told that these women were actually wearing wigs, even though realistic, non-obvious hairpieces have only been around for a few years. There is a lot of revisionism and denial when it comes to the longevity/authenticity of Orthodox Judaism.

[Lainey]

Why do so many men hate women so very, very much? :(

[emmiedahl]

Thank you for bringing this up. Ultra-orthodoxy, as it exists today, has only been around for a few decades. In high school, there was a discussion about some famous portraits we'd seen of European rabbis with their wives...whose hair was pinned up modestly, but uncovered nonetheless. I was told that these women were actually wearing wigs, even though realistic, non-obvious hairpieces have only been around for a few years. There is a lot of revisionism and denial when it comes to the longevity/authenticity of Orthodox Judaism.

The wig excuse is probably incorrect because for quite a while, the Hassidim considered wigs *not good enough*. Women had to put a kerchief or hat over their wigs, but the most accepted thing was to wear a scarf over their completely shaven head. At least, this is the way it was in my stepfather's ultra-orthodox neighborhood growing up. He said you could tell the Hassidic women from the merely Orthodox by the hair factor.