Hooliganism in the Holy City

Ultra-Orthodox Jews attack secular Israelis--and each other

At a farewell party in Jerusalem for high school graduates entering military service, a mob of ultra-Orthodox Jews, armed with clubs and metal bars, not only disrupted the festivities but also partially destroyed the community center where they were being held. Another group of fanatics ransacked an Israeli census office, claiming that counting people violated divine law. A yeshiva student walking home one evening was seriously wounded by knife-wielding youths; they were apparently retaliating against the actions of militant religious groups. At a performance of Handel's Messiah by the Utah Oratorio Society, young firebrands repeatedly interrupted the concert with shouts of "Shame!" and were hustled away by police after they stormed the stage. When Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kollek denounced the hooliganism at a rally, a man spit in his face and proclaimed that "God gave me the strength" to do it.

These events in the Holy City are only samples of a troubling increase in sectarian violence involving ultra-Orthodox Jews, many of them members of Israel's numerous Hasidic groups.* Ever since the founding of Israel in 1948, traditionalist Jews who cluster in the Mea Shearim or Geula neighborhoods of northern Jerusalem have often stoned passing automobiles on the Sabbath and otherwise vented their wrath on those who violate God's law. But the recent outbursts reflect a new militancy on the part of extremists and a fundamental change in the relations of the city's religious groups.

The ultra-Orthodox Jews have a birth rate that is three times the national average, and they also constitute the largest group moving into Jerusalem. As a result, they have been trying to take over areas near the overcrowded Mea Shearim and Geula sections, offering twice the market value to entice secular Israelis to sell their homes and threatening those who refuse to move. At least one family has been burned out.

Other acts of violence have involved disputes over observance of Jewish law. The youths are more zealous in their beliefs and more pugnacious than their elders, who are often eager to urge them on. The new militants regard other Orthodox Jews as compromisers and secular Israelis as grievous sinners and abhor proselytizing by the small group of Christian missionaries in the country.

The aggressive hostility of the ultra-Orthodox has had other splintering effects on Israeli society. Most of the zealots are Ashkenazim (Jews of European background), while the majority of Israelis are now Sephardim (of Asian and African origin), who have different traditions. Some of those being forced out of the northern Jerusalem neighborhoods are also Sephardim. Complicating matters, the Hasidic movement is split into feuding groups. The Satmar sect, whose Brooklyn-based rebbe (spiritual leader) is Moshe Teitelbaum, believes that the very existence of Israel as a state is a blasphemy; Jews should wait for the Messiah to establish a true spiritual kingdom in the Holy Land. (When Teitelbaum and 1,000 followers flew to Israel to visit Satmarers in Mea Shearim, they refused to fly on El Al, the country's airline.) On this point, the Satmar group bitterly opposes the Lubavitch Hasidim, who are ardently pro-Israel. The Lubavitchers, who also have their headquarters in Brooklyn, have had several rock-throwing street battles with Satmarers.

In the past, Prime Minister Menachem Begin was reluctant to move against the religious rioters, partly because his coalition government needed the votes of the Agudat Israel Party, which is backed by the ultraOrthodox. But the attacks have become so prevalent, and the government feels so secure, that police are now cracking down on the hooligans. Obviously distressed, the recently elected Chief Rabbi of the nation's Sephardim, Mordechai Eliahu, pleaded that Jewish factions "must not exploit each other," and a spokesman for the new Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, Avraham Shapiro, said, "It is forbidden for one Jew to lift a hand against another Jew." So far, however, the zealots have listened only to their own rabbinical authorities, who have not publicly denounced the violence.

* The Hasidic movement, which arose in the 18th century, consists of closely knit Orthodox groups, each led by a dynastic rabbi, that exuberantly express spiritual fervor and strictly observe religious law. This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.