The Non – Participants

B"H

A demonstration taking place somewhere in Jerusalem is nothing special. We are used to anything and anyone.

And therefore, I wasn't surprised at all when I saw another demonstration taking place last Sunday night. I was on my way to a Shiur and passed Yechezkel Street in the haredi Ge'ulah neighbourhood. Already from far away I saw about ten Chassidim from all kinds of groups standing on the sidewalk and waving three posters.

When you face a haredi demonstration in Jerusalem, it is usually against government plans building new highways over ancient Jewish cemeteries. This was also what I expected when I saw the demonstration. However, I was wrong, as the Neturei Karta seemed to make some more propaganda instead. Three Chassidim held up posters and all participants were praying loudly.

I stopped and took some time reading what it said on the posters. Basically the idea was to announce that the participants do not identify themselves with the present secular State of Israel. Unfortunately, I couldn't read everything, as after less than a minute, the demonstration ended and someone collected the posters. The Chassidim just disappeared into all directions. That was it.

Personally I hate this kind of demonstration. You walk in the street and suddenly someone comes up to you and asks if you have a few minutes to demonstrate. This goes so fast that people don't even have time inquiring who the organizer is. But maybe in Ge'ulah and Mea Shearim there is no need for that, as the Chassidim know each other anyway.

The result is that many demonstrations in this particular area happen spontaneously and end long before the police have a chance to arrive. Mea Shearim and Ge'ulah are facing countless demonstrations anyway, as certain Chassidim want to force the state – owned bus company Egged to introduce "kosher buses" in Jerusalem. All local buses should be kosher; means that women and men have separate seating.

This might be right with certain religious buses but one cannot just force the whole population to agree to this. Egged, however, never knows which side to take, as also the haredi population are good customers and Egged cannot afford a ban from the Edah HaCharedit.

It is never boring in Jerusalem !