Marchers Protest Mea Shearim’s Main Street Gender Separation
Protesters marched in Mea Shearim a day after Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that men and women cannot be segregated on its main street.
Carrying signs reading “Jerusalem is not Tehran” and “A woman does not need to hide herself,” the demonstrators marched Wednesday in the haredi Orthodox neighborhood of Jerusalem to protest gender separation on public streets of the city.
On Tuesday, the high court approved the march over Jerusalem police objections, but ordered the route altered so that the march did not end at the central Shabbat Square. The same day, barriers that have been used to separate the sexes in the neighborhood during the Sukkot holiday also were removed, according to reports.
Haaretz reported that the protesters were mostly Meretz Party supporters and university students.
Why I became the Forward’s Editor-in-Chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
