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By Ira Sharkansky
 JERUSALEM—There is a ghetto revolt in Jerusalem.
It began several weeks ago in protest against the municipality opening a parking garage on the Sabbath that served visitors to the Old City. It escalated in protest against the arrest of a woman from one of the ultra-Orthodox communities on charges of abusing her three year old son.
The ghetto is always seething to some degree. Protests can escalate at any time on account of opposition to a store selling non-kosher food; the discovery of bones at a construction site; the demand that a road be closed on the Sabbath; advertising posters showing immodest women; or a demonstration of gay pride.
The ghetto is not unified. There are numerous congregations tracing themselves to Central or Eastern Europe, or Morocco. Some have a history of several hundred years, and each clings to its traditional dress, nuances in ritual and doctrine. Experts say that it is possible to identify the various camps according to the hats and stockings worn by the men, and the wigs or scarves that women use to cover their heads.
The larger communities have integrated into Israeli politics, and exercise their weight in the city council and Knesset. The Chabad (Lubavitcher) reach out to other Jews like missionaries. They introduce outsiders to ritual, and seek to gain their support or even their affiliation to the community. Several congregations operate schools for individuals who had been secular, transform themselves to new born Jews, and are extreme in their loyalty to what they see as true Judaism. The congregations offer social and material support to their members, and help in the selection of a mate. Some congregations are steadfast in their isolation, and opposition to the heretic state.
Disputes between the congregations are no less prominent than disputes between the ghetto and secular Israelis. Placards denounce an offending rabbi in the harshest of terms, and yeshiva students may be sent to attack the property or the students of his congregation.
When one of the communities finds an issue that excites others, the whole ghetto is likely to respond. None can remain behind on an issue that gains traction as defense of Judaism. The woman charged with abusing her child is an example. She had starved her three year old boy to the point where he was severely undernourished and weighed only 15 pounds. She was affiliated with one of the smallest and most extreme of the congregations, but the involvement of the police and municipal social services with a pregnant woman was enough to recruit others. The protest spread when the police arrived with their truncheons and horses to clear the streets.
The ultra-Orthodox community in Beit Shemesh has begun its sympathy protest. So far other ghettos have been quiet.
From 2003 to 2008 the ultra-Orthodox had one of their own as mayor of Jerusalem. Uri Lupulianski engaged with the establishment by serving in the IDF and working his way up the career ladder of municipal politics. His election could have marked the beginning of ultra-Orthodox dominance. They amount to 30 percent of Jews in Jerusalem, as opposed to 10 percent of the Jews throughout Israel. They obey their rabbis
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on issues of politics, and turn out in municipal elections at rates that reach three times those of secular Jews. Insofar as almost all Arabs of East Jerusalem boycott the city's elections, the ghetto could own the city. In 2008, however, one of its inner conflicts set a major congregation against the ultra-Orthodox candidate. A secular candidate, Nir Barkat, moved into city hall. It was he who ordered the opening of the parking garages on the Sabbath, after frustrating negotiations with representatives of ultra-Orthodox congregations. Currently, in response to several nights of burning trash dumpsters and stoning police, journalists, cars, and buses, Barkat has ordered a cessation of garbage pickups, and municipal social services in the ghetto.
The municipality and the national government provide considerable resources to the ultra-Orthodox. They qualify for significant discounts on local taxes and water charges due to their large families. Ultra-Orthodox parties in the Knesset work to assure funding for the schools run by each congregation, most of which ignore the demands of the Education Ministry to provide basic instruction in secular subjects along with their emphasis on religious texts. The parties also demand considerable money for housing, most recently over the 1967 borders in Modiin Ilit and Beitar Ilit. These towns have given the ultra-Orthodox a stake in the conflict over the Land of Israel, and add their complication to whatever can be done about defining the boundaries between Israel and Palestine.
Almost all ultra-Orthodox men claim their special exemption from military service. They gain little support from the larger community with the claim to be more effective defenders of the nation than the IDF, due to their study of sacred texts.
Each of the congregations also relies on fund raising from affiliated communities overseas, mostly in the United States, Britain and Australia. The occasional need to arouse the enthusiasm of donors may account for the commotions in Israel. Defending the faith against heathen Jews is a way of opening the wallets of ultra-Orthodox millionaires and poor people, and other Jews who respond to Yiddishkeit.
Currently one of the main arteries in the city is closed to traffic, and the alternative route is choked as a result. The two major bus lines between French Hill and the center of town are doubtful.
There is too much commentary in the media. We hear representatives of the ultra-Orthodox and the anti-ultra-Orthodox, as well as the municipality and the police. It resembles what the media provide during a war: too many voices explaining the position of the Arabs, the Jews, the government and the IDF. One can measure the balance in the media by the insistence of extremists from all sides that they are given a bad deal. It is a time to praise the classical music station,
Salvation may not be the right term for what may deliver us from this evil. We can expect a cooling of passions as on previous occasions. A local court has ordered the woman accused of child abuse released to house arrest for Friday and the Sabbath. The police oppose the move out of concern for her other children. The police will release the protesters they arrested, and there will be calming voices of rabbis and secular commentators.
Until next time. Perhaps when the parking garage opens again for Sabbath visitors to the Old City.
It may all be confusing to those who do not understand, or who cannot understand. The ultra-Orthodox are part of us. They have political weight. They do not dictate policy, but neither do secular Jews.
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