According to a Ladaat report, a meeting between Israel Railway officials and representatives of the chareidi public was a first, with the nation’s train service provider looking at opening a channel of dialogue to service the chareidi public, one that relies heavily on public transportation.
During a tour of various areas, railway officials and the chareidi delegates agreed that it is time to begin considering accommodating the chareidi commuter, with the understanding that until today, railway development has focused on bringing service between major cities and periphery communities, and now, for a first time, there is talk of providing lines that would bring residents of different communities to each other’s doorstep.
A decision was made to expand railway service to reach any community with 50,000 residents or more, and during the past decade, enormous sums of money have been invested towards achieving this goal, to make railway service a viable alternative for commuters.
Taking part in this unprecedented tour with railway officials were representatives of many a chareidi community, including Bnei Brak, Elad, Modi’in Illit, Beit Shemesh, Ashdod and Betar, as well as professionals such as engineers and planning experts.
Senior Israel Railway officials took part as well, along with Transportation Ministry representatives and bus company officials including Dan and Super Bus. The tour began at the northern Bnei Brak train depot, a location that most chareidi residents are not familiar with since it does not service lines of interest. There was also discussion of making train travel more affordable.
The continued to Petach Tikvah, and discussed bringing train service to Elad, then visiting the new Modi’in train station, which provides express service to Tel Aviv via Ben-Gurion International Airport. They spoke of expanding the service to cater to the needs of residents of Modi’in Illit.
There is already talk of providing service to the chareidi community within the existing infrastructure, such as express service to Meron on Lag B’Omer from Ashdod, Kiryat Gat, Rechovot and other cities.
Railway officials are optimistic and seem committed to taking the necessary steps towards bringing in this viable growing commuter market, realizing if service meets the needs of the community and is provided at a competitive price, the railway will only benefit.
A decision was made to establish a steering committee composed of representatives of Israel Railway, the chareidi community, the Knesset Chareidi Lobby, and a number of professionals, towards advancing the concept of rail service for the chareidi community.
(Yechiel Spira – YWN Israel)
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7 Responses
The first things they must do to attract the chareidim is to:
1) put a stop to the chilonim’s pritzus dress-code,
2) ban the disgusting music they listen to out loud,
3) stop the handing out of those repulsive free tabloids such as the Yisrael Hayom, that sadly even the religious people read on the train.
The Edah has called for the public to refrain from using Israel Railways because they do a lot of maintenance work on shabbos.
I myself am a big train fan, and would certainly use the trains more if they would not work on shabbos.
Reply to post #1—
hey great idea! To ride the train, everyone must conform to a chareidi dress code. We can replace the security guards with women with tape measures, so that they can make sure that women passengers can not ride with sleeves above the elbow. This will have the added benefit that these women can support their husbands in kollel. All women will have to show their ID cards–if their marital status is “married” then their hair must be covered.
Music–tapes approved by the Eida Hareidit musical committee will be allowed. Except, of course for the 3 weeks and sfira.
No newspapers allowed–period. Well, OK–the Yated Ne’eman will be allowed.
Alternatively, people like you can continue to use your private car for transportation. Or take the bus, where others will be reading those tabloids, and dressed in a manner that you may not approve of. Or you could hitchhike, and hope that someone like me stops. Of course, I could have the radio on.
So #1, what you’re basically saying is that the chareidim won’t come, because you know there is no way that any of your list is going to happen.
starwolf & mamashtakah: While I realize that now is Elul and not Adar, but still, it’s “עבדו את ה’ בשמחה” – take a little joke!
Of course the Israeli Rail Authority will never make the trains be mehadrin, but what I said are just general complaints by, and deterrents to, the Chareidi public.
In America, it is unheard of to dress in such a provocative manner, regardless of who your “audience” is. In a normal society, etiquette dictates that you listen to music in public with earphones, not blaring out loud. It is deemed impolite.
The third point was made to the religious customers of the train. Why drown your neshama with such trash? If your views don’t match those of the Yated, then bring along a sefer – “ודברת בם… ובלכתך בדרך”. Because believe it or not, even if you personally believe that there’s nothing wrong with reading Yisrael Hayom and looking at all the immodest pictures of women there, you’re still being machshil all the other people around you, whose eyes will undoubtedly catch a glimpse of those pages.
Daniel Breslauer: Thank you very much for your informative post, I didn’t know that. It will help me decide if I should continue on the train, or opt for a bus.
kitzur_dot_net,
I do not know where you live, but Israeli secular society copise American society. I have not seen any mode of dress in Israel (male or female) that I have not seen in the US.
This of course does not make it right. I am merely pointing out that dress styles are a universal Western phenomenon, distributed by the media. The way to combat them is by education, not prohibition. If you do not wish to see people dressed like that, you can bring (as you say) a sefer or computer on the train to occupy your time.
And of course, sadly, I have been exposed to loud music numerous times on public transportation–In Israel and the US. It is simple lack of courtesy, and prevalent in all segments of society, including religious society in Israel. (Have you never seen/heard a Chabad or Breslov van drive through a quiet neighborhood?)
starwolf,
Thanks for your comments. And I reiterate my point, that I never meant that anyone should ban or “asser” any music/dress/newspapers, but rather that it is a major deterrent to the Chareidi crowd to ride those trains.
Another quick example: Normally the train’s ads are basically about cell phones, and nothing’s particularly bad about them. But lately they’ve been having ads with female models. So today, when one of those ads was right in front of your face during davening, and it was probably very “ossur” to daven there, I stuck an old newspaper to cover the ad.