File photo: Beit Shemesh modesty sign
Photo: Reuters
Lives of women appealing to remove Beit Shemesh modesty signs threatened
Unknown parties call the homes of 2 of 4 women who appealed to High Court to remove Beit Shemesh modesty signs, threatening them with kabbalistic Pulsa diNura ritual; signs put up over city publish names of petitioners and their children, addresses.
At least two women from Beit Shemesh who appealed to the High Court to have modesty signs—calling women to avoid walking on certain sidewalks and dress modestly—removed, said Friday they received phone calls over the past two days threatening them with Pulsa diNura, a kabbalistic ritual calling for its target's death.
Posters were also put up in the city with the women's personal details, including the names of their children, their addresses and their phone numbers, along with an appeal to call them and demand they stop their actions against the modesty signs.
The two women lodged a complaint with Beit Shemesh police Friday. An attorney for the Israel Religious Action Center who represented the women in legal proceedings was also threatened.
The lives of women appealing to HCJ to remove Beit Shemesh modesty signs were threatened (Photo: Reuters)
The Supreme Court issued an ultimatum to the Beit Shemesh municipality last week mandating the removal of modesty signs hung in the city's streets that demand women dress modestly by Haredi standards.
The court ordered the Israel Police to ensure new signs were not put up to replace the old ones.
'The 4 Reform women appealing to the Zionist High Court and authorities to take down modesty signs'
"Someone called our house yesterday, claimed to be called Mordechai Cohen and said I was bothering them with the signs. He said they keep the peace in their neighborhoods and that it's part of their tradition," another petitioner, Nili Filim, said.
"I told him I don't intend to have that conversation over the phone and wanted to meet with him in person, so he can get to know me and so we can hold dialogue. I don't think he expected that kind of response, and the conversation ended then and there," she recounted.
Beit Shemesh Mayor Abutbul said the signs were 'ideological' (Photo: Alex Kolomoisky)
"This morning I received another call, from someone else. He said I was disturbing them, that that's their Judaism. I told him I grew up in a religious home and it wasn't my Judaism. In response he said my name, my address and the names of my children and asked if I knew what Pulsa diNura was. He said next week they'll hold a Pulsa diNura ritual for us," she said.
Responding to Beit Shemesh Mayor Moshe Abutbul's claim the signs were merely ideological", the High Court declared, "Women will not be excluded from the public sphere in Israel."
