This year, throughout the month of September, a group of radical Charedi (ultra-Orthodox) Jews would continuously throw eggs and rocks at girls from the Orot School, a Dati Leumi (Israeli equivalent of Modern Orthodox) girls school for grades K-6 in Beit Shemesh. The school sits around the "border" of two neighborhoods, one Dati Leumi and the other Charedi. It has fueled anger among many Charedim, many of whom do not want a Dati Leumi presence - especially a female one - near their residences. These Charedim feel that the Dati Leumi girls at this school, ages 5-11, dress immodestly. So they throw things at the girls...makes sense, right? (I really hope you sensed the sarcasm in the last sentence.)

Now, inappropriate dress would obviously not be a valid reason for Charedim to throw rocks and eggs at little girls. But here's what makes the story even weirder: the girls do dress according to extremely high standards of Jewish law and sensitivity. They wear sleeves past their elbows, skirts below their knees, and shirts above their collar bone. So why, again, were these Charedim throwing things at the girls? Couldn't be inappropriate dress...

I wouldn't be writing this post if it were not for even more recent events, which occured in the past week. (For a while, it seemed that tensions had cooled down somewhat, but recent events prove otherwise.) Last week, an eight-year-old girl named Na'ama from Beit Shemesh was walking either to or from school (to be honest, I forget which). A Charedi found her clothing to be inappropriate, even though she was presumably keeping to the strict rules of the school, and he spat at her. This man was arrested, and since the event, Na'ama has experienced a serious degree of trauma. Why this Charedi  is worried about eight-year-olds is a great question, probably with a very sad answer.

Also in the last week, a different Charedi male threw a rock at a woman he claimed was dressing immodestly, which got him arrested.

The city of Beit Shemesh, in collaboration with the police, also decided to knock down the hundreds of signs and graffiti on public walls put up by Charedim essentially requiring women to dress modestly, or else... These posts, besides vandalizing public property, create a mob-type law and order system in the streets of Beit Shemesh that goes against the State of Israel's law and ethics. The police and city plan to complete the project of removing the illegal posts in the coming weeks.

All of the above events have spurred huge ongoing Charedi protests against - seemingly - everyone else. The Charedim have thrown rocks at news cameras and police. Why are they so often violent in their protests? Who knows...

With the exception of some Charedim, the entire Israeli populous, both secular and Dati Leumi, seem to understand a basic fact: Discrimination against women and violence against those who we might not fully agree with are not acceptable.

Last night, an enormous gathering of thousands of Israelis from Beit Shemesh and elsewhere stood together in an emotional protest against the horrible acts of these Charedim. My many friends who attended came back with delightful reports and some very nice Facebook statuses, expressing that we will not give up on Beit Shemesh, a city that is for the religious and non-religious alike.

Multiple female Members of Knesset plan to travel tomorrow in the front of the 418, a gender-segregated bus line that runs between Beit Shemesh and Jerusalem. I wish I could be there to experience this amazing act, but unfortunately I will be in classes at yeshiva. My heart will be with these women, who will be publicizing the sexism displayed by the Charedim who force women to the back of buses.

Beit Shemesh is a city that I love. In just four months, I have fallen in love with the spectacular views of mountains, the kind people, and (some of) the restaurants. I will not let Beit Shemesh fall prey to sexists who want to segregate sidewalks and bus lines and force women to dress a certain way.