The High Court of Justice on Thursday ruled in favor of allowing ‘kosher’ bus lines, in which women and men sit separately, to serve Charedi areas.
The court said it would adopt recommendations made by the Transportation Ministry, according to which the segregation will occur only on condition that the passengers agree to sit separately without being coerced, and under tight ministry supervision.
The court ordered the Transportation Ministry to place signs in all ‘kosher’ buses saying that passengers are free to sit wherever they choose. “Harassing a passenger on this matter may constitute a criminal violation,” the signs must say. The ministry must also instruct drivers to make sure the orders are respected.
The court ruling in effect maintains the status-quo currently in existence, in which women do not sit at the front of the bus. It came in response to a petition filed by a group of women and the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) in 2007.
Justice Elyakim Rubinstein wrote in the court ruling, “We hope that this verdict will assist, finally, in creating a more proper society which maintains the respect of all its members. We do not know what will be the immediate and long-term effects of this ruling, but we know we cannot accept coerced discrimination against women.”
Justice Salim Joubran added, “We hope our verdict will usher in unity, tolerance, and friendship rather than a separation and deepening of rifts in Israeli society.”
The judges stressed that no transportation company can force or even ask women to sit in the back, just as it cannot order them to dress a certain way.
The judge also warned against oppression on the bus lines, recounting incidents in which women who were asked to move to the back of the bus did so in order to refrain from angering the other passengers.
Apparently skeptical about the public’s ability to maintain their decision in full, the judges ordered a trial period of 30 days after the Egged bus company had hung the prescribed signs.
During the period, the Transportation Ministry must hold covert inspections to make sure the rules are being followed. In addition, it will have to establish complaint centers for women who feel they have been wronged.
In conclusion, the judges also provide Egged and the Transportation Ministry with another solution. “A central argument raised in support of segregated bus lines is the overcrowding on buses, which leads to congestion and physical proximity,” the verdict says. “The bus company and the ministry would be well-advised to pay attention this matter as well.”
(Source: Ynet)
Join the official YWN WhatsApp status
19 Responses
While we must value tznius and encourage behavior that promotes Torah, we must question whether institutions such as ‘kosher buses’ are too extreme, are halachically unnecessary and will ultimately backfire…
If we are living in the delusion that yidden respect women, then women should be seated automatically in the front of the bus. This will solve the whole mehadrin problem. I doubt many men will complain about sitting in the back of the bus as the men do not feel oppressed like the women do.
Read what the verdict was – NO mehadrin lines, same as the NY public bus system.
#2: Per Shulchan Aruch, men cannot be behind women.
B”H for the Gedolim shlit”a who instituted this.
#4: Isn’t that halachah only referring to walking behind women, not necessarily sitting behind them?
TMB…
That halacha refers to walking directly behind a woman, NOT to sitting in a section of the bus that is behind the section that is for women.
In my humble opinion, instituting this chumra will only have a negative effect, and cause more divisiveness and ill will between the frum and not (yet) frum.
To those that hold that there MUST be seperate seating on the buses I ask the following question…
No chareidi person would say, “Oh, I can’t find a kosher restaurant, so I’ll eat at a traif restaurant”. So, -if “mehadrin” buses are an absolute necessity (like kosher food IS), then why DO chareidim ride on non-mehadrin buses at times and places where there are no mehadrin buses???
I’ll take the “humble opinon” of the Gedolim shlit”a who instituted this, over any of us here.
So what happens with two (male and female) hilonim decide they want to take the bus wearing their bathing suits? Do the police say “separate seating is allowed but can’t be coerced” or do they say “these peoples are deliberately trying to provoke a fight”?
And we wonder why we companies do not want to hire charedim…
I am a chareidi woman living in Yerusalayim and am very grateful for the mehadrin bus lines. I feel more comfortable being seated separately even when the bus is not jam-packed, at which time it is an absolute necessity. #6, just because something is not assur does not make it lechatchila. The root of Mehadrin it hiddur – above and beyond the minimal level that is permitted. Do you add a candle each night of Chanuka or light only one per night as is the minimum requirement? And do you carefully inspect your esrog to make sure that it is mehudar? We prefer buses that are mehadrin when they are available. And when they are not, we do our best with what we have. Why should mehadrin lines backfire? These lines run exclusively through chareidi neighborhoods whose population desires separate seating. Even super-chareidi areas in Ramot only have one mehadrin line – the #40 – which serves the chareidi Ramot area exclusively. The rest of the Ramot buses are not mehadrin because they run through areas of Ramot are not chareidi. So no one is forced into it. It is the will of the people served by these lines.
Baruch Dayan Haemes.
Our biggest fears are coming true. Ahmadinajad has sworn that Israel will one day be part of Iran. Here was the first step towards making that true.
As a woman who gets nauseas on the back of the bus, if I ever encounter a mehadrin line, I will be sitting or standing in the front.
It would make more sense to have a curtained area in the back of the bus for men only.
this is a total distortion of Judaism, there is absolutely no need for “mehadrin” bus lines at all. this will only cause more anger and grief amongst fellow jews. this is a sad moment for klal yisrael
#11shev143 How you dare to compare the oppression and brutality that women suffer in Iran with a measure that is enacted extrictly for issues of tzniyus. Judaism acknowledges the importance and difficulty of guarding our eyes. You know is tough, don’t you? If it wouldn’t be so difficult why would you spend so much time in front of the Internet watching that which you shouldn’t be watching, uh?
All these people saying that there is no need for mehadrin busses were obviously never in Israel.The busses are very often jammed packed and people are literally on top of each other. I myself have been in very uncomfortable situations on busses in Israel because of this. B”h we have askonim that are looking out for the Kedusha of klal yisroel!
I’m sorry this is a step to far! If a man has a problem that’s his issue! He should gaurd his eyes! It is unfair to make others sit in the back of a bus which is harder for some just because some ppl can’t keep theyr eyes to themselves! What’s going to b next buhrkas?? Half the women in mea shiarim walk around wrapped in black (looking like nuns) and after that? R u gonna start making the b9 and b11 kosher too? Enough is enough! Women are equal to men they do not have to b pushed down for tznius that is not what the torah asked! If it was then y r there so many women mentioned in tanach?? If women r supposed to b hidden and pushed to the back y wld the torah mention them so explicitly??
Bagatz ‘allowed’ women to sit in the back of the bus – if they want. What a decision. The truth is most Israelis use public transportation and in frum communities many women have babies. It’s beneficial to the women to have privacy – without men – so they can feed their crying babies. And besides, who said women like dirty, smelly or offensive men sitting next to them? Is that some sort of constitutional “right” women must expose themselves to?
The whole complaint about mehadrin lines is “much ado about nothing” — the IRAC just likes making trouble. Bottom line is that mehadrin buses are simply responding to a desire of the neighborhoods they serve. I have been on them numerous times and have never seen women treated inappropriately even when accidentally sitting in the front. Usually they are simply ignored — it is understood that even on a mehadrin line occasionally there will be those who don’t realize or don’t want to follow the request. I once traveled on an inter-city bus line that I was not familiar with, and sat in the front and only found out a few days later that it was a mehadrin bus. And as many of these buses are extremely crowded, this “mehudar” certainly makes sense to anyone who values tzniyus, as the residents of these neighborhoods (including the women!) do.
#11/#13 — You don’t seem to have understood the article. This ruling was NOT in favor of the mehadrin buses — it was against them! It only stopped short of forcing individuals who want to sit separately from sitting together! What the ruling said was that buses that until now were understood to be mehadrin must now post signs clearly stating that anyone can sit where they want — i.e. the separate seating is voluntary, and it calls for inspectors to ensure that no one is forced or even asked to sit separately. I do agree that this is a sad moment for Klal Yisrael. . .
Kosher buses are allowed, as long as anyone can sit where they want??? High court of Chelm…