Let them hire their own private bus companies if that's what they want!

If a man sits next to a woman on a bus he gets sexually excited? Go talk to a psycho not a Rebbe!

You write "women are forced to sit at the crowded back". I ride on these buses all the time and this statement is a complete lie. The women have more room and the men are the ones who are crowded. Because of this false statement, I didn't even bother reading the rest of this article. But my question is: why do all you people care? If we want to have these buses transport us in and out of our community, for whatever reason, why don't you leave us alone?. You can take whatever bus you want, and we're all fine waiting extra time at bus stops for the few mehadrin buses to pull up. And all the religious women, by the way, are very happy to be on these buses. And no one is forcing you to take these buses. I think the government should spend a little more time dealing with the security threats, and the many other pressing issues we face, instead of trying to take away one of the last few things this country has that reflects a little religion.

why we care? because it is a practice that is associated with primitive people who have backward views on women throughout the world (ie iran and the arab world). if you want to be separate when you are in shul, or in a religious place, fine, but in general areas this should not happen. i used to be against reform and conservative, but now i think that they should really be brought in to stop the madness and choke hold that these taliban types have on the life of the state of israel. segregation on the basis of gender outside a religious site in israel should be completely illegal.

I'll address your 2 main points. 1)You are entitled to your opinion about how to live life. There are many people though who disagree with you. Again I ask, why do you care how other people live? 2) Why is it a problem just because it's in a general area? If most of the people who ride these buses want it to be the way it is, what's the problem?

All the religious women are happy? That's nonsense. I know plenty of shomer shabbat Orthodox women (and men) who consider this a disgrace to the faith. This is not "reflecting a little religion", this is reflecting lunacy. It's not our heritage, it's not who we are, it's people who think that taking away what adonai has given is pious. Perversions like this should not stand - this is an area where the seculars and those who really understand the religion agree. It'd be tempting to say that modesty squads and this kind of strict gender segregation belong in the past, but in fact they never were. (For that matter, when one looks back to the roots of Islam, they're ahistorical there too). Again, people confuse brutalising themselves and others with being a good person. It should not happen with our community.

The society must be united when it comes to everyday life, and run accordingly. I don't find it acceptable that the whole of Jerusalem is shut down on Saturday with as much a bottle of water or sandwich can't be bought, or parking lot be opened for the tourists. It may be fine for the religious population but as the city's economy is shut down for around 15% of its overall work time a week, it can only go down, which translates into poor financing, dirty streets( and they ARE dirty), no funds for proper education, development, culutre, and all that only in order to please a segment of population. Jerusalem is Jewish world heritage and we don't own it for our ends and purposes - we, Israelis are custodians of this holy city for generations to come and it's not up to us to bend it in order to satisfy the human society rules which clearly belong in Middle Ages. Spare us this - people want to live this way, so let's make them happy. The problem is that these people also want other people to live this way, and this is something we have every right not to accept and to stand against. Being a Jew doesn't mean treating a woman as an inferior brainless being. Finally - all this fun for religious segment translates into huge financial losses ( El Al is a good example). If you want then the economy work according to your rules - would you suggest you cover these losses with an extra tax that you'll pay? Or - excuse me - paying taxes is something you are not very good at? I won't continue I guess you get the point. And please Yehuda - this is not about opinion or tastes , we're not talking about literature here, it's just business. This way of living is incompatible with a vibrant economic powerhouse that Israel is on the way to be.

I am religious. I try very hard not to be in close quarters with an unrelated female, even on a bus. That's my problem and I deal with it - even when it means standing and letting someone else take an open seat next to a woman. That being said - Egged, Superbus, etc. WANT to run these mehadrin bus lines. Some comments were made that the religious should run their own private transport if they want seperate seating. THEY DO! The Sheirut vans continue to take money away from the bus companies. The only way that Egged etc. can retain any of the relgious-route business is to offer mehadrin service. How many of you G-d hating leftists regularly take the bus from Jerusalem to Bnei Brak anyway? Kiriyat Sefer? Which mehadrin bus line do you use that you object to it so passionately? Or is this just another attack against Judaism?

Why do you bother writing on this website? Nobody cares to here the other side, not even a little bit. This is a one sided biased group of people. This website is for charedi bashing and that's it.You have no business writing here. And to prove my point just wait for the rest of the responses.

Shutting down this city is a disgrace.Only an incompetent mayor can achieve this " tour de force ".Lets get rid of him (street cleaners are in high demand) and put a real Jew in charge. Jerusalem is / or suppose to be THE Jewish heritage.---flight of businesses, culture?,filthy streets, poor education, segregation, and the smell....! Welcome to the tourist trap. They are lucky to be subjected to this for 5 1/2 days only. The religious community, all of it (haredim, naturei karta, ultra orthodox, and others) should be proud . It almost matches the miserable Schatels of Eastern Europe; < the good old days >

and give this at the same CHEAP prices Egged charges for this trip , or other "mehadrim" lines ?. Do you know that Egged charges less for a Bene Berak - Elad trip [ more than 20 km ] than for a Tel Aviv - Petach Tikva 14 km one ? That's the way they attract those passengers , cheap fares . And the Normal passengers are paying more because of this .

Perhaps the Israeli courts will consider banning males from using the crowded conditions on buses from getting their jollies by poking women. Hareidi women find this disgusting (but it appears that hiloni'ot seem not to mind have their bodies touched by strangers under the pretext that the bus is crowded). In fact, many traditionally oriented societies have single six buses.

You have a severe problem. Don't pollute my country; please get on the first flight to somewhere - anywhere - and leave today. You and your kind are precisely the type that is unwelcome and unwanted; freedom is to be cherished and free speech is not a license to slander.

1. Egged recives government money 2. Egged is a public company and can not discriminate for any reason. This is very similar to the staus of blacks in southern states in America which is no longer the rule. 3. Seperated busline should be paid for by private money.if allowed to exist at all. The Hassidc comunity seems to have lost all sence in regard to masciline - feminie interaction . Their ideas are based on 18th century morals. We should not give into them on any issue.

this is beyond rediculas. the fact is that this practice bothers progressives because it is associated with the black civil rights movement (as many of the progressive intellectuals publicly said) so it is not whats happening here that is the problem as much as what happened 60 years ago on another continent and with a different context. And the woman that have been humiliated and abused (and there have been such cases) were deliberately refusing to respect the rules of the bus. of course humiliating them cannot be condoned, but if they can take a moral stand then why cant the religious? understand, GAYS can live abnormally but the religious cant. GAY behavior is EXTREMIST BY DEFINITION, but religious behavior is apparently the bad kind. all the TALK about accepting people that are different from you flies out the window when it is about religious people. Some how I should not be bothered by abnormal sexual deviancy but I should be bothered by religious behavior. wow. secularism is a religion without a god or prophet.

What's the obsession with harassing the orthodox community is Jerusalem all the time?!? The opening of the parking on Shabbat, the media frenzy over the allegations (which are not true) that that woman starved her son and NOW THIS!! How do you expect to be called a Jewish state if you keep on secularizing everything?

Non-religious jews are just as jewish as the religious ones.

Let me address your comment from #8 and then i'll get to your latest comment. You say this is a disgrace to the faith. I don't know what faith you refer to, but my faith puts a strong emphasis in seperating men and women when possible. And how dare you put together the mehadrin lines and these so called modesty squads. Either your making a joke or you're just very uninformed of the religious world. We want seperate seating on buses but think the people who beat other people up in regard to this matter are completly wrong, not even a little right. Anyways getting to your last statement , if non-religious Jews are as Jewish as the reigious ones,so why is the secular view more correct? And don't get me wrong i have nothing at all against secular Jews, really, I'm just trying to understand if many people want these bus lines, just please let us use them, that's all.

You are not a Jew if a piece of paper says you're Jewish or because of bloodline. If you consider yourself to be a Jew by these standards then you are lying to yourself. Actions speak louder than words (even if they are written on a piece of paper).

Even the greatest Mitzwa i have read . So you will say i'm not Jewish because of being an atheist ? Well i Made Alyah , and you are still abroad . Now who is Jewish here ?