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| Re: ARTICLE: Jerusalem Light Rail Could Have Gender-Segregated Cars (973801) | |||
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Re: ARTICLE: Jerusalem Light Rail Could Have Gender-Segregated Cars |
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Posted by WMATAGMOAGH on Wed Sep 1 09:58:04 2010, in response to Re: ARTICLE: Jerusalem Light Rail Could Have Gender-Segregated Cars, posted by Railman718 on Wed Sep 1 09:47:01 2010. To be honest, I'm not sure. I'm not an expert on Israeli law, but as far as I know, there is no legalization of gender separated public services. That said, there are routes where it happens unofficially because everyone riding wants it to be that way, and generally people who don't hold these beliefs don't travel where these routes go. For example, the bus from the Western Wall to Mea Shearim is one of the routes that, from what I've heard, is unofficially gender separated. I rarely to go Mea Shearim, and never go from the Western Wall, so I've never taken the bus in question. If I were to violate the "rules", there is no legal basis on which I could get in trouble from what I understand, but there have been incidents of men abusing women who don't move to the back of the bus and the driver condoning the incident. I have less of an issue if it happens unofficially as opposed to the policy being endorsed by the government. Living in a Jewish state does not mean living in a state where the (Orthodox) rabbinate sets all the laws, religious or otherwise.I'm also not sure what the implications would be in the case of the light rail since it will be operated and managed by this private consortium, called CityPass, and the CityPass CEO is the one who said this idea was under consideration. I suppose CityPass manages this project at the pleasure of the municipality and the Israeli government, and the current Jerusalem mayor is "secular" by Jerusalem standards (he isn't overly religious, I've seen him in public and I'm pretty sure he did not have his head covered). The religious right is trying to make other grabs as well, including the passage of a law that will effectively render any conversion performed by anyone other than a "certified" (meaning Orthodox to their pleasing/standard) rabbi null and void, and such people and their descendants would be unable to emigrate to Israel under the Law of Return. In other words, people born to converted, Jewish mothers who have lived as Jews their entire lives would no longer be considered Jewish in the eyes of the Israeli rabbinate and by extension, the Israeli government. The ultra-orthodox have also effectively turned the plaza at the Western Wall, which is a "national historical site", into an open air, ultra-orthodox synagogue where men and women must be separated, pathways exist on the plaza so men do not come in contact with women, and even throw items at women who pray too loudly or read from the Torah scroll in the women's section. Get the idea? |
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