An Israeli Town’s Campaign To Rename Sodom Street

By Nathan Jeffay July 1, 2010

The residents of Ashkelon in Southern Israel like to think of themselves as good, upstanding folk. Which is why one local street sign has become a cause of great annoyance and embarrassment.

For as long as most Ashkelon residents can remember, they have had a Sodom Street. Sodom, if you recall, was one of the two cities said in the Book of Genesis to have been destroyed by God for its immorality.

For years, led by residents of the streets near Sodom Street who were constantly the subject of cutting jokes about their morality, the people of Ashkelon have been campaigning to change the name, and the local media reports they have now succeeded.

The replacement name is as innocuous as they come — Metar, the Biblical word for chords that support tents.

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