Israel’s largest city has over 900,000 residents, a full 10 percent of the nation’s population. Sixty-three percent of those residents are Jews (580,000), and 37 percent are Arabs (350,000). Women in Jerusalem statistically have 3.9 children each, while the average in the rest of the country is 3.1 children. However, the younger generations are beginning to feel that Jerusalem is a social dead end.
The city’s history and heavy spiritual atmosphere often make life in Jerusalem harder compared to Tel Aviv. Two-thirds of Jerusalem’s Jewish population are Orthodox and religious Jews, while just one-third are traditional and secular Jews. The religious majority demands that Jerusalem adhere to the sacred. Their vision is a Jerusalem where no restaurants or shops are open and not a single car can be found driving on Shabbat. But the city’s secular citizens prevent such a reality.
Apart from myself, only two of my former schoolmates still live or work in Jerusalem. The rest left this city, seeing it as a place for religious people. That’s not an unfair assessment, considering how most Jews, Christians...
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