With elections less than two weeks away, the issue of mehadrin bus lines in back in the news, albeit not in a good light.
In the latest mehadrin bus line news a woman on board a 555 mehadrin line to Arad claims she was spat upon, ridiculed and targeted with verbal insults because she refused to move to the designated ezras noshim on the bus.
According to the complainant, 22-year-old Miri Bleicher, it began before boarding the bus as the driver hesitated to open the doors to permit her on the bus. Finally, after chasing after the bus he did permit her to board as she explains the events, after the driver realized she was not giving up.
She took a seat in the rear, explaining “I was surrounded by women and crying children. To the surprise of many, I decided to act and I got up and stood, at the seam, between the men’s and women’s areas on the bus. I stood closer to the men’s area, quietly, not moving and not uttering a word. The men around me began making noises, a gagging noise and they began conversing between themselves in Yiddish. One shouted at me to respect his rights”.
“The women in the rear then began searching for a seat for me while I heard shouts from the men ‘you aren’t a Jewess’, with some telling their children ‘she is doing this intentionally and it is very sad that she lacks respect.’ I politely declined the gesture to return to a seat in the rear with the women and continued standing, staring straight ahead while tears streamed down my eyes.
“During the trip the men continued speaking amongst themselves in Yiddish while shouting names at me, some in Yiddish and others in Hebrew. To my sorry, I understood most of them. After a few moments of silence they resumed and the verbal assaults continued. They accused me of not respecting them and that I have ‘chutzpah’ and I am creating the problem.
“As I was nearing the end of my journey one of the men spat at my legs and cursed me in Yiddish.”
In line with court rulings, Egged has posted signs in buses that one may request gender separation on buses, including mehadrin, but one may not compel separate seating for doing so is a violation of the law.
Egged spokesman Ron Ratner denies the driver did not wish to permit her to board. He added that the driver was not aware of the events taking place and had she told him, he would have stopped the bus and taken care of the matter as the law demands.
(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)
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10 Responses
According to your account she had the option of sitting in the back and insisted on not doing so. It also appears she was seeking out a frum bus in ordre to make an any-Jewish protest. The only thing newsworthy is her intolerance and bigotry.
The sad reality is that the hilonim in Israel regard the hareidim as mortal enemies.
#1 maybe because the hareidim treat them as second class citizens.
It doesn’t matter how it appears. You weren’t there, so you should refrain from commenting.
However it came about and went down is not the point.
The real point is that these turd men who call themselves “FRUM” most respect the rights of others, men or women.
Last I heard was that women’s rights in Israel were free and equal.
If they din’t like where she stood they could have gotten off the bus and either walked or waited for the next bus.
According to the article, she didn’t want to sit amidst the crying babies. It wasn’t that an equally good seat was available to her in the back, rather it may have been an uncomfortable setting – there are buses that are terribly noisy, smelly etc. perhaps that was why she was standing. Either way, their sensitivity is their choice to be machmir but it doesn’t give them a right to be meikil bein Adam lechavero
#1 it takes a big man to spit on a woman eh? Very tough guy…of course had someone stood up to him he would of course be labeled anti-charedi…double standered? i think so..
1 and 2- both irrelevant. She’s religious- a former Gerer chosid, and obvoiusly disenchanted with the whole Gerer force- frumkeit thing. So she’s quite aware of the ruckus she’s making and enjoying it. And a few Gerer slobs happy to supply the goods. Changes the picture, doesn’t it?
#3
And the writer of this article wasn’t there either – so we have one person’s word to verify the story. Did it even happen?
“He added that the driver was not aware of the events taking place and had she told him, he would have stopped the bus and taken care of the matter as the law demands.”
The law actually demands that he not get involved.
#1 you are off the beam. In Israel it is the law that anyone can sit where ever they please. Yesterday on the mehedrin 36 bus in Jerusalem, I saw a few women sit in the front section and no one bothered them. Even a man (not too religious) sat down next to a woman and no one bothered him either.
Things are changing here. Compelling someone to keep ‘mehedrin’ standards are against the law. Harassing some one can land you in jail.
I can believe what happened did in deed happen and it is sad. It makes no friends only enemies. If some one does not act according to your expectations or your level, best is to speak nicely to them and if you can’t do that ignore them. If you can not do either of these two options, get a book on musar and read it over and over again.
Who cares why she was standing, personally I stand to allow other people to sit-even when there are many open seats. To assume she was doing this on purpose is ridiculous. The only thing that was done on purpose-was the disgusting display of name calling and spitting! Having been through the yeshiva system, and learned in very well known American Yeshivos in Israel for 6 years post high school, I can tell you these people are not frum Jews-not chareidim. They are insane zealots who have a perverted sense of who they are and what they stand for. No Rebbi of mine would ever spit at that girl-they would probably go over and ask why she was crying!