City inspectors backed by police on Wednesday, removed a sign from the Nachla U’Menucah neighborhood in Beit Shemesh. The sign requests that women refrain from congregating on a sidewalk that is used as a passageway for a shul. Other signs calling for gender segregation on community sidewalks were removed as well, Chadrei Chareidim reports.
The city inspectors arrived late, perhaps to avoid a confrontation. They removed the signs at about 22:00, under the watchful eye of police. These signs were removed last summer as well but the community replaced them.
Dozens of area residents began gathering to inquire as to why the signs were being removed. City workers and police left the area and a possible confrontation was averted.
Community activists opposed to the signs applauded the city’s actions, pointing out the signs are bothersome and viewed as offensive to many community residents.
Beit Shemesh has been the site of heightened tensions between extremists who are trying to impose their rule on other residents of the community.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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15 Responses
doing it durring the day the show them this will not be tolerated
In no time, the Signs will be replaced
The signs are obviously reasonable and the objections to them can only be explained as a deliberate war against the whole foundation of yiddishkeit; let’s hear no more about “sin’as chinom” when this is going on. If this is not sin’as chinom then nothing is.
The signs will be back within 24 hours.
The only way the zionists can prevent it, is to station full-time officers stationed at every place the signs appear. They can start hiring dozens of full time officers for this vital purpose.
The women(en-masse)should simply ignore the signs. Oh, I forgot, a womens place is in the home and they dont even belong in the street.
I guess you need reminding that the sidewalk is public property, and it has nothing to do with Zionism. This is, of course, besides the fact that there is nothing halacically wrong with men and women walking on the same sidewalk. If you think there is, then produce a source; please name the sefer, the chapter, and page that says so.
No. 3 regards this insanity as an attack on the foundation of yiddeshkeit. Perhaps his misguided notions of daas torah require some thoughtful reconsideration. These are public streets, not some private estate where the owners can post signs saying who can walk on the pathways and under what conditions. If the sign said no Sephardeshe yidden allowed, would that also be OK? They can post all the signs they want, but they will be largely ignored by the secular jews who may happen to need to pass through this area.
what sdoes zionism have to do with this? Never in our history has the vilifiation of women reached the level that goes on now in some quarters. it is not part of torah, it is not part of frumkeit, it is just pure bigotry.
The Nachal Umenucha area is in the “Kiryah Chareidis” of Beit Shemesh, with an almost completely Chareidi population. It is hard to imagine that any of the residents of that particular community find these signs “offensive”.
Most of the “extremists” involved in the recent confrontations live at the edge of Ramat Beit Shemesh B, where it borders the Dati Leumi areas of Sheinfeld and Nofei Aviv.
Your last paragraph implying that these signs (that have been up in this neighborhood for years without incident) are somehow connected to the extremist crazies reflect at best a complete ignorance of the geography and politics of the area.
women from the outside should enter these areas the way jews enter dangerous palestinian areas: rarely, only if necessary and carrying a weapon. If they come under attack by stoning or anything similarly lethal they should do what they do in arab areas and shoot to kill.
I LIVE IN RAMAT BEIT SHEMESH—
the area where the sign is, is in a STRICTLY hard core chariedi area where NO ONE will be offended..they want to live a certain way LET THEM!!! — there is NO NEED for BORED people to instigate trouble when there is NONE!>>.
if they come to shienfeld and tell u how to dress thats one thing– if they are living the way THEY WANT in THEIR neighborhood then LEAVE THEM ALONE
#3 Milhouse:
I must congratulate you, there’s not even one word of your comment that is true. The signs are not even remotely reasonable. It is NOT the place of these people to post signs telling other people where they should or should not walk on PUBLIC property. In fact, they are not allowed to post ANY signs on public property without permission from the municipality.
Most importantly, this is NOT at all “the whole foundation of yiddishkeit.” I’m appalled that you can even make such a ludicrous statement – A sign that “calls for gender segregation” on a sidewalk is “THE WHOLE FOUNDATION OF YIDDISHKEIT”!??! …REALLY!?!?! I remember learning many things but never that one. I recall some guy named Shimon HaTzadik saying that the world stands on תורה, עבודה, וגמילות חסדים. I also remember learning אל תרבה שיחה אם האשה – that means don’t talk EXCESSIVELY with your wife (and the commentators say that קל וחומר with someone else’s wife. It does NOT say don’t allow women and men to walk on the same sidewalk! Oh, did you ever learn this one? לא תספו על הדבר אשר אנכי מצוה אתכם – that means we’re not allowed to add (or subtract) to the Torah & Mitzvot that Hashem gave us. There’s a great warning & d’var Torah on this with regards to Adam & Chava with the Eitz Hada’as. Let me know if you need me to post it.
Finally, Sinas Chinam is when people hate their fellow Jews. The removal of illegal signs that should never have been put up b/c they are illegal, AGAINST halacha, and just plain nasty is NOT sinas chinam. It’s simply taking corrective action that was long overdue. For those who have posted that these signs have been up for a while & will be back soon – that’s b/c these are people who refuse to follow basic law & order. Oh, right – they don’t have to follow that halacha of obeying the law of the land b/c they’ve decided that the law is against their religion (not sure which religion, b/c it ‘aint Judaism. Why do I say that? b/c despite the ridiculous contentions of some commenters here, none of the gedolay yisroel say that you are not required to follow the law of the land in general or the specific laws of allowing people to walk where they want to on PUBLIC land).
Can I just add – if you are that close minded of a person that women walking on the sidewalk offends you – perhaps YOU should not be allowed out of your house. Perhaps you can build your own PRIVATE & EXCLUSIVE town in the Negev where you can set the rules. In the meantime, just note a very important point – just b/c a lot of chareidim (or dati leumi or mesorati or any other group) happen to live in an area, that does NOT mean it is “their neighborhood.” Beit Shemesh (and most towns in Israel) are “open” cities that are public access. The streets are NOT owned by the people who happen to buy the apartment on the street.
Mully, putting up a sign like that is a sign of extremism, in and of itself. As others noted the property is public. Regardless of the demographics, the street is a public place. Geography and politics don’t add value to the case.
Don’t feed the troll.
ignore Millhouse, you will only egg him on; if he really believed what he said, would he be commenting on the assur internet?
These signs are no more offensive than a stop sign at an intersection. They are halacha’s stop signs. Tear them down? Has the city gone crazy?