“The Battle for Jerusalem” vs. “This is not Teheran”

Two weeks ago, on Shabbat, over 1,000 secular Jerusalemites gathered together at the city's Safra Square to stand up for their right ... to park.

No, this is not the premise for a satiric comedic sketch - a la Monty Python's classic "Ministry of Silly Walks". Nor was this secular rally part of a trivial, local zoning dispute.

In reality, the "parking wars" that have swept up Jerusalem over the last five weeks are just the latest manifestation of the ongoing "clash of civilizations" between different segments of Israel's Jewish population.

For those unacquainted with the issue, a brief recap is in order: The current dispute is over the opening of a parking lot just outside the walls of Jerusalem's Old City. Over the last few years, at the insistence of the city's burgeoning ultra-orthodox population, all parking lots near the Old City have been closed on Shabbat. Recently, however, increased religious pressure led to an additional Shabbat ban - one that prevents cars from entering the Old City.

The result of these twin bans has been a serious traffic safety problem, as thousands of non-Orthodox visitors have had no choice but to park their cars in the many no-parking zones around the Old City.

In response, Jerusalem mayor Nir Barkat (a secularist multi-millionaire elected last year) recently adopted a recommendation by the Jerusalem police to allow the use on Shabbat of one municipal parking lot outside the Old City walls. Barkat also ordered - to make the arrangement palatable to the ultra-Orthodox interpretation of Jewish practice - that parking on Shabbat be free, and that those operating the lot on Shabbat not be Jewish.

Nonetheless, on the first Shabbat that the lot was opened, June 5-6, thousands of ultra-Orthodox residents rioted, calling their protest, "The Battle for Jerusalem". The rioters hurled bottles, rocks and even dirty diapers at police, wounding six officers; policemen were also spat on and called "Nazis".

Alarmed by the riots, the mayor decided to re-close the lot for a two-week period, during which he unsuccessfully tried to reach a deal with ultra-orthodox representatives. The reopening of the lot on Shabbat two weeks ago led to renewed riots and death threats against Mayor Barkat.

Tired of the growing ultra-Orthodox domination of Jerusalem's public life, the city's secular community decided to answer back. The "Forum of Organizations for a Free Jerusalem", a coalition that includes Meretz and the local "Wake Up Jerusalem" faction, has been organizing weekly counter-rallies. Proclaiming that, "This is not Teheran", they are pledging, "not [to] give in to ... bullying ..., nor will we capitulate to threats."

In fairness, it should be noted that the "parking wars" are far from a simple secular vs. religious struggle. Jerusalem also has a large number of Modern Orthodox residents, who live alongside the secular population. Many of them voted for Barkat last November, preferring him to the ultra-Orthodox candidate, Meir Porush; and many support Barkat's parking lot decision, regarding it as a reasonable compromise for maintaining balance in the troubled city.

Even Jerusalem's ultra-orthodox community is not monolithic. The recent riots have been ignited by the radical anti-Zionist wing of this community known as the "Eda Haredit". Indeed, there are some reports that, before opening the parking lot, the mayor had secured the agreement of the more pragmatic ultra-Orthodox representatives who sit on Jerusalem's city council. But as the turmoil broke out, Israel's most important ultra-Orthodox leaders, such as Rabbi Shalom Elyashiv and Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef, chose to stand with the "Eda Haredit", calling on their many followers to join the weekly protests.

The protests are expected to continue this Shabbat - though their intensity seems to be waning. Indeed, it is entirely possible that this ‘round' of the Kulturkampf will be won by the city's secular residents.

But the fundamental problem is not likely to go away. As a respected ultra-Orthodox figure once explained to me, the ultra-Orthodox population cannot, philosophically, endorse a "different strokes for different folks" approach, since, for them, religion is not about an individual relationship between the believer and God.

Instead, he explained, since the Jewish people are to be judged by God collectively, a secular Jew's ‘desecration' has a direct impact on her ultra-Orthodox brother in Meah She'arim or Bnei Brak. (This sense of collective responsibility sometimes manifests in outrageous ways, as when former Chief Rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu attributed the Holocaust to God's displeasure over the growth of Reform Jewry in Germany.)

As a result, separate residential areas for secular and ultra-Orthodox cannot provide a complete solution. Indeed, as Yosef Rosenfeld, one of the leaders of the riots, explained to the Jerusalem Post: "It makes no difference that the parking lot is far away from the haredi [ultra-Orthodox] neighborhoods".

Of course, statements like these quickly give rise to adamant secular responses, such as that of Jerusalem city councilman from Meretz, Meir Margalit: "There is no other option but to stand up against the haredim and say, ‘You will not take over the city.'"

Jerusalem is at the epicenter of Israel's secular-ultra-orthodox clash. Over the last two decades, secular Jerusalemites have watched with concern as more and more secular 20- and 30-somethings depart for the ‘bright lights' of Tel Aviv, while the city's ultra-Orthodox sector has grown from approximately 28% of the city's Jewish population in 1996 to an estimated 38% today. Indeed, approximately 60% of Jerusalem's Jewish schoolchildren study in the ultra-Orthodox school system.

But the heart of the problem is not limited to Jerusalem. Speaking to the secular rally on June 27, New Movement-Meretz MK Nitzan Horowitz framed the apparently local issue in a much broader context:

"Tomorrow, the government is going to pass a bill submitted by the [ultra-Orthodox] Degel HaTorah party that will dramatically increase the budgets going to the ultra-Orthodox school system. For the first time in this country's history, the ultra-Orthodox streams, which are not Zionist, will receive more than State-run schools, and this is something that we cannot allow. Therefore, when people say to you, ‘Oh, you're fighting for a parking lot,' tell them, ‘No it's not about a parking lot. It's a fight about education. It's a fight over identity. It's a fight over freedom'."

Meretz USA believes in a pluralistic Judaism, in which all streams of Jewish practice - including the ultra-Orthodox - are given equal respect and treated equally under the law, and in which all Jews are allowed to interpret their Judaism as they see fit. We therefore salute the efforts of the "Forum of Organizations for a Free Jerusalem".

May it truly be a Shabbat Shalom - a Shabbat of Peace - for all.