Elana Sztokman

Here’s the latest news in the radical extremist, violent culture of sex-segregation in certain areas in Israel: According to today’s Yediot Aharonot, a woman had her baby snatched from her arms by a haredi man in Meah Shearim. Apparently, this was done to her because she inadvertently entered the “men’s” sidewalk. Yes, sidewalk!

The woman, herself haredi and covered from head to toe, had been walking to the Simhat Beit Hashoeva celebrations with her husband and child when, without warning, she found herself surrounded by only men. As she began to realize her mistake, a haredi man grabbed her baby and ran off. The woman began screaming and the police chased him down. When they caught up with the guy, he threw the screaming baby to her mother. “Thank God I caught him,” she said. In the toss, the baby’s head banged into her teeth and there was some blood, but at least she got him back basically in one piece.

“I can’t believe that this hassid was capable of kidnapping a baby from his mother just because of his belief [emunah],” she was quoted as saying, still in shock.

That’s the thing — it may have been his belief, but it is not ‘emunah’. This is not religious, spiritual, Godly behavior. This is misogamy turned violent — couched in the insularity of a community that has lost its moral core. Let’s not delude ourselves into thinking that this fanatic sex-segregation is about Torah or Judaism. This is about men wanting to rid their daily lives of the presence of women, and using the language of absolute authority to do it. It’s violence against women as if in the name of God. It’s actually blasphemous, and it’s evil. It’s time the religious community began to call a spade a spade.