The embarrassment experienced by Mayor Nir Barkat and his staff couldn't have come at a worse moment. Barkat's policy has always been to be mayor for all sectors of the city, but balancing the needs of the haredi sector with his pledge to the secular and general public can seem a mission impossible. Particularly since he has gone public with his intention to move – albeit nobody knows exactly when – to the national ground of politics, a good relationship with all sectors, including the haredim, has become a must. Hence the anxiety caused recently by a protest against the municipal financing of an event in the haredi sector discouraging academic education for girls. In a public venue that belongs to the city, about 2,000 girls from haredi seminaries across the city heard a series of ardent speeches calling on the girls to strengthen their commitment to the haredi way of life – with more than one allusion to the so-called disaster and dangers of secular academic education. It didn't take long for prominent figures in the ongoing struggle between the secular and haredi sectors to express outrage at the misuse of taxpayer money for such a blatant attack on the values of academic education, freedom from bigotry, etc. In the quest for order in this tumultuous scenario, it is important to note that nuances in the meaning of words and expressions vary from one sector to another. Phrases like “save your precious Jewish soul from the danger of secular education” may sound to most of us like a clear and open call to boycott academic education, but in the haredi framework it may be a reminder that our roots need to be protected when haredi girls step into the academic field. “The language we haredim speak includes dramatic declarations. Celebrating Hanukka is, for instance, about being in the shoes of the Maccabees again, ready to be devoted to the cause of Judaism. Everything is a drama, every decision or act is part of the saga to survive and save our Jewish souls,” explained Deputy Mayor Itzhak Pindrus (United Torah Judaism), trying to put things in proportion. According to him, this manner of expression is not a clarion call for immediate dramatic action. Inside haredi society, the growing number of men and women getting an academic education, mostly to make a better livelihood, is considered a threat to the traditional haredi way of life, although, Pindrus and prominent scholars concede that the trend is so significant that nothing will stop it. “The rabbis understand that, but the need to continue to use the same dramatic style of language hasn't changed. This is our means of expression. We don't say a word about the topics of presentations in the secular academic world, so why should they be so quick to denounce ours?” added Pindrus. He may be right (or pretending to be innocent), but damage has been done. A request of council member Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz (Yerushalmim) to check on the outrageous misuse of public money for such a scandalous purpose has already reached Barkat's office. The Women's Lobby in Israel sent an urgent letter reminding Barkat that it is against the law to use public money for a conference that aims to put pressure on women not to get an education. In addition, Yossi Havilio, chair of the Tzahor non-profit association (and a likely candidate to replace Barkat in the next elections) submitted an appeal at the district court against the municipality and the company that sponsored the conference. A more moderate reaction came from Rabbi Uri Regev, chairman of Hiddush, a non-profit association for freedom, religion and equality, who wrote to Barkat that “the municipality could not prevent such a meeting, but did it have to finance it also?” People protested vociferously against the event that they thought might convince young haredi girls to eschew an academic education. Yet they did not protest when a request by religious female students for a small mehitza (separation) at a university event (an end-of-the-year ball at the law faculty at the Hebrew University) was denied. This is certainly not the way to encourage young haredim, men and women, to get academic education where they are so badly treated. The students wished to be able to dance apart from men, according to their values. And the mayor? Officially, the municipality is checking how the conference secured financing of NIS 200,000 of public money. We await an official explanation on this matter.
Deputy Mayor Itzhak Pindrus(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM)