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MembersOnly in Israel: The Curious Case of the Orthodox Concert

Israel’s need to balance its secular democracy with the fact that it is a religious state can get confusing

Photo: David Cohen/Flash90

When Orthodox Jews organized a concert with one of their best-known singers to be held in a public park in the norther town of Afula, it sparked a domino-effect of reactions that produced another “only in Israel” moment.

The Orthodox performer insisted that the concert be held according to strict religious requirements separating men from women in the audience. So, a secular Women’s Rights Lobby appealed to the District Court in nearby Nazareth (a mixed Arab and Jewish town), where the Jewish judge ruled that segregating men from women at a concert in a public park is against state laws protecting equality.

In response, the ultra-Orthodox political party Shas petitioned the Nazareth District Court against the Women’s Lobby petition, and the court decided to accept the Orthodox petition, thus canceling its own decision to prohibit separate seating at the concert. The District Court cancelled its own cancellation and let the segregated concert go forward (it’s confusing, I know).

Meanwhile, the Women’s Lobby appealed to the Supreme Court, which ruled that the...

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Patrick Callahan

This is an example of author bio/description. Beard fashion axe trust fund, post-ironic listicle scenester. Uniquely mesh maintainable users rather than plug-and-play testing procedures.

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