Joshua Hersh
HuffPost

In Israel, Spate Of Ultra-Orthodox Incidents Rattle The Secular Mainstream

Updated: 1/9/12 11:48 AM ET
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JERUSALEM -- If they hadn't been stirred already by the female soldier who was called a "slut" on a public bus, or the 8-year-old girl spit on by neighbors on the way to school, the sight of Jewish protesters dressed up in concentration-camp garb seems to have pushed much of Israeli secular society over the edge.

It happened last weekend, during a demonstration against what protesters perceived to be an unholy government incursion into their way of life: several hundred ultra-Orthodox Jews staged a rally in Jerusalem, dressed as concentration camp victims.

The protesters, part of an ultra-religious group known as Haredim, were dismayed that the government had taken down signs in their communities demanding that women walk on the opposite side of the street.

Later, two ultra-Orthodox men were arrested for releasing fliers comparing the government's treatment of Haredim to the treatment of Jews in Nazi Germany.

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The Haredim do not work, and they refuse to serve in the Army -- indeed, the most extreme of them reject the legitimacy of the state of Israel itself.

At the same time, they are largely dependent on nationally-provided welfare to feed and clothe their families; their education system, which does not include most of the core Israeli curriculum of math and sciences, is also funded by the state.

(More here.)