Something is happening to the capital's young, secular population, it seems. With a tailwind from the election of a secular mayor, they are fighting back against years of haredi hegemony.
Secular families demonstrate in support of J'lem Mayor Nir Barkat over the opening of a parking lot on Shabbat.
Photo: Eyal Ackerman
When haredim turned out in numbers to protest the opening of the Safra parking lot two weeks ago, secular Jerusalemites held their own counter demonstrations; when haredim held demonstrations calling for more "mehadrin" separated bus lines, secular Jerusalemites faced them down; in Kiryat Hayovel, a few months ago, they were out in force to fight a decision to set up two haredi kindergartens in the heart of the secular part of the neighborhood.
The turning point was the inauguration of the Calatrava Bridge, about a year and a half ago. At the time, the deputy mayor and then-strongman at Kikar Safra, Yehoshua Pollack, forced 12-year-old girls from the local dance company Meholla to cover themselves, arguing that "teenage girls are not innocent and should appear modestly dressed."
"I had the feeling that we just witnessed the crossing of a line no politician should ever cross," says a high-ranking employee of the culture department at the municipality. "I remember telling people around me that we had just witnessed the beginning of the end of the haredi hegemony in this city; and, of course, everybody thought I was crazy. It looked as if nothing would stop them anymore.
"I can remember some of the jokes, like the next step would be separated sidewalks and a modesty patrol in the streets and so on. But I thought then that it was so 'too much'; that a reaction was inevitable.
"Well, the reaction came. The fact is that people who were not so enthusiastic about Barkat's candidacy finally voted for him because he was our last hope, and the strong reaction we saw recently around the parking lot issue comes directly from there: People just said 'Enough is enough.'"
A sign in Yiddish saying "Our Jerusalem is no Teheran."
Photo: Eyal Ackerman
Noam Pinhassi, 50, was born in Kiryat Hayovel. He says he loves his neighborhood and wants to stay there, and to see his children remain there as well. "I can't imagine living anywhere else," says Pinhassi. "I am delighted that Jerusalem is not Tel Aviv, that it has deep Jewish roots, although I am not at all religious. But what has happened recently is really too much. My feeling is that the haredim have crossed all the boundaries. I can't tell where and when exactly - some say the ceremony on the bridge when they forced the girls to cover up, some say with the kindergartens and synagogues they forced on us here in Kiryat Hayovel; others say because of the mikve in Beit Hakerem. I guess it's all of it, and perhaps something more. But the fact that they have gone too far is obvious - and it all started from there."
Pinhassi continues, "Barkat was elected because the haredim went too far - and the ground here was ripe for a change. After all, he also ran six years ago and was not elected. The haredim became too greedy; they lost the sense of limits, and it all came together: the students, residents like me, who do not hate haredim but just want to live here freely, and the election of Barkat - and we see it now taking shape in front of our eyes," he says.
"As far as I am concerned, I would appreciate if all my neighbors were religious Zionist. I love those people. They are Zionist, educated, open minded. I wouldn't care at all being very considerate because I know they wouldn't force it on me. The whole issue is the fact that haredim force themselves on us, and we have become accustomed to the idea that it's the way it should be.
"Well, it shouldn't. Would one of us dare open a restaurant in Mea She'arim? Walk there in our summer clothes? Of course not! But we seem to think that it is normal that they should tell us how to live, how to dress and where to go and when. Well, this is over. The times, they are changing."
Meanwhile, the secular front is busy preparing its next steps. On Monday the Hit'orerut (Awakening) party, a member of Nir Barkat's coalition, announced a countdown, led by the recently formed Forum of Organizations for a Free Jerusalem, stating that the demonstrations will continue for the two weeks the mayor has given himself to find an alternative solution to the opening of the Safra parking lot. On Saturday, June 27, the day that two-week period ends, there will be "either a big happening in support of Barkat or the largest and toughest protestation and demonstration day ever seen here," depending on the outcome of the issue, says Meirav Cohen, one of the main forces behind the Hit'orerut protest.
According to the plan, last Thursday a large symbolic clock was installed at Kikar Safra to start the countdown, while in the evening, during the city council monthly meeting, a vigil took place at the entrance of the main building at Kikar Safra.
"One thing is sure," Hit'orerut chairman and city councilor Ofer Berkovitch - one of the major figures in the secular demonstrations - tells In Jerusalem, "we worked very hard to promote this tremendous change, which culminated in the election of a secular mayor, and it means much more than the opening of some parking lot or other. We're talking about saving this city to keep it a pluralistic, open city for all of us."
Berkovitch, as well as a long list of young people - students, activists of Hit'orerut and members of New Spirit, the students' association created a few years ago by Barkat, as well as residents of Kiryat Hayovel and Beit Hakerem who oppose the implantation of haredi synagogues and kindergartens in their neighborhoods - all have one thing in common: a deep and essential change in their attitude toward the issue of haredi hegemony. "The days when we just packed our things and left for the center of the country are over," says Berkovitch. "Today we are ready to stay here and to fight - not against the religious, we do not hate them - in favor of a pluralistic city in which we can all live, work, spend our leisure time and raise our families together. And, of course, the Safra parking lot is not the issue. What is at stake is our life here: Do we have an opportunity to earn a decent living in Jerusalem? Can we lead our way of life here without being threatened by haredim who want to bind us to their way of life? These are the issues that will determine if we can live here or not."
