Haredim

  Reading about the Haredim was extremely interesting, but having the opportunity to visit a Haredi neighborhood in Jerusalem was an experience that helped me understand their lifestyle and culture even greater.  Before visiting their neighborhood, I knew many of their strict values and rules that they abide by, such as having the men remain jobless in order to study the Torah in depth, dressing conservatively, and marrying only within their own communities.  However, I did not realize to what extent they followed all of these rules and how these rules affected their daily lives.  I was surprised to see a sign when walking down their streets that stated “We beg you with all our hearts, please don’t pass through this neighborhood in immodest dress.  Modest dress includes closed blouse, long sleeves, skirts – no pants”.  The sign asking to dress modestly did not bother me at all.  I respect different cultures and I respect their religious beliefs.  Nevertheless, I cannot condone the intolerance that I observed when viewing the vandalized section of a street sign that was in Arabic.  I tried to keep in mind that not just the Haredi have prejudices against Arabs, but many other Israelis do as well, and I also tried not to generalize that all Haredi are intolerant.

     Despite our entire group being modestly dressed, glares from the Haredi were frequent and the overall atmosphere did not feel welcoming at all.  I can tell that they are trying to isolate themselves from modern society and that our being in their safe haven made them feel very uncomfortable and possibly even threatened.  Even the small children stared at us and one young boy even spit towards our direction as if to tell us that we should not be there.  It was apparent that this neighborhood was very poor, most likely due to the fact that they strictly adhere to rule of the husband not working.  Each family seemed to consist of many children, a few of which seemed to have rashes or other health concerns.  This really saddened me that these families cannot even afford proper care for their many children.  This experience overall made me realize that although it is important to respect other cultures and ways of life, disagreeing with certain things is normal and okay, and I do not agree with the Haredim continuing to have children when they cannot afford any more.