Monday, September 12, 2011

Yeshiva Students have to go to bed early

B”H 

Jerusalem's Municipality is planning a new law and when you take a quick look, you may get the wrong impression. The haredi council member Yossi Deutsch suggested that local restaurants and shops must close at 11pm.

Sounds like Jerusalem is going to turn into a village !

However, the snag is that Deutsch is only talking about restaurants and shops in or near haredi areas and NOT about the secular parts of town. His intention is to get all those young haredi Yeshiva guys out of bars and restaurants where they sit for hours watching TV. 

Yossi Deutsch is right and for many years, plenty of young Yeshiva students (Israelis as well as those from abroad) have been looking for entertainment in the evening hours. For instance, in downtown Jerusalem, Jaffa Road. Boreka bars or further snack bars. Every place with a TV is highly welcomed. The Yeshiva guys watch the news, soccer or movies of all kinds. They don't really bother but the Municipality claims to received hundreds of letters complaining about the noise. The neighbours of those places freak. Especially when those neighbours are haredi.

On the other hand, I don't think that a person's life should be limited in such a way !

I don't really understand the story, as many Yeshiva guys find their TV set at places in and around Jaffa Road. A secular area which is not supposed to shut its gates at 11pm. How is Yossi Deutsch going to interfere in this particular area ? Even if places near haredi areas have to close earlier, the students will search for other places with a TV. Internet Cafes or elsewhere in town.



In the haredi Ge'ulah neighbourhood in Jerusalem. I took the picture randomly and it has nothing to do with the above subject !

Photo: Miriam Woelke

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