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Kosher workout in Jerusalem
(VIDEO) First kosher gym in Israel offers religious men and women possibility to exercise separately in a modest and accommodating environment. This place is about health, not about how you look, gym's managers explain
Yaron Nir
VIDEO - It's the middle of the day, and the large, sophisticated gym in Jerusalem is completely empty. A slow business day? On the contrary. The women have just completed their workout, the men will soon enter the place, and in order to prevent the two crowds from bumping into each other, a short time slot has been allotted in midday to allow for the exchange to take place.
Welcome to Kosher Gym, a fitness center for the religious and haredi public in the Givat Shaul neighborhood in the capital.
The fitness revolution sweeping the world in recent years has not skipped the religious sector, and the new gym enables yeshiva students, rabbis and women in long dresses and head covers to work out at a place which adheres to the society's strict modesty codes.
"We provide a healthy option for religious people who have no other place to go to," said David Malki, an emigrant from France who runs the club.
"There's separation between men and women. We have a half-an-hour break at noon, so that men and women don't meet, not even on the street. We don't have television sets here, so that men don't accidentally watch problematic or immodest shows or commercials," Malki explained.
A modest workout (Photo: Gil Nir)
"In other places, you go to the gym wearing your headphones, and that's it. Here, people meet to work out together, there's more of a family spirit, and the community spirit is the heart of the place. People know that they can leave the yeshiva and their studies, come here to work out, pray – and then go back to study," he added.
According to Maliki, "Here you don't have people who are seeking to look good or compete. We put the emphasis on health."
And yet, it appears that the concept of fitness and health has not quite penetrated the religious and haredi society in Israel, and the variety of foreign accents at the gym testifies to the fact that many of the members are not Israeli-born.
Rita Fuchs, who made aliyah from the US, runs the exercise program for women. She explained that the program is especially designed to meet the needs of the religious woman.
"The gym is open to all women, including non-religious women, but the atmosphere is different, because women work out separately, and this gives us a chance to focus on things that are important to women.
"Many of the religious women give birth many times, and we work on muscles that it is important to strengthen ahead of the delivery and after childbirth. There is also a babysitter here (including a playroom, Y.N.) that enables women to work out. They help each other to make time for exercising," she added.
Here, what's important is health, she said, "Not how I look, but the way I feel."
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