Jewish holidays are normally times of communion. Not this year, with commemorations which are the scene of clashes between secularists and religious people.
Sukkot celebrations, the “Festival of Booths,” begin this weekend in Israel. But these festivities could be interrupted by clashes between religious and secular people: already last week, for Yom Kippur, the two camps faced each other in the heart of Tel Aviv. Never seen before, and especially for this holiday where Jews ask forgiveness for all their sins. Secularists and religious people clashed in the open air, Dizengoff Square, in the heart of a modern district of Tel Aviv, with restaurants and bars almost everywhere.
What happened was that a rather proselytizing religious association, Rosh Yehudi (“the Jewish head”), organized, as it had for four years, an open-air prayer. But last week, she decided to separate women and men, thus contravening a court decision. The organizers played with the rule: there was not really a physical barrier, but flags hung on a bamboo frame. However, this was enough to provoke the anger of dozens of demonstrators, who loudly shouted their refusal to leave public space to religious people. And it is one more step in the confrontation between two Israels which seem irreconcilable.
For almost ten months, every Saturday, tens of thousands of opponents of the government’s justice reform have been marching in the streets of the country. They defend a political system based on the balance of powers, while the executive, supported by the ultra-religious and the settlers, supports the idea of strengthening the prerogatives of Parliament.
Call for calm from politicians
Until last week, these debates, as heated as they were, had remained confined to the streets and the political arena. But to clash during Yom Kippur is to touch a totem: it is one of the rare Jewish holidays which can – or could – still unite a divided society. Three years ago for example, just after Covid, the celebration was the occasion for large gatherings. There were already separate prayers, but on the conservative side no one tried to impose them, and among the liberals it was tolerated. Now this is no longer the case.
Politicians seem to have become aware of the danger and are trying to calm things down, starting with the Prime Minister himself. Benyamin Netanyahu asked everyone to make efforts to “reduce friction and strengthen unity”. Even religious parties, such as Shas and its leader Arieh Deri, have asked believers to remain praying in synagogues. The only one who stood out was Itamar Ben Gvir, the Minister of National Security, supremacist, homophobic, racist and provocative, wanted to fan the embers by organizing a new prayer in the same place. But he was quickly called to order, and here too it’s unprecedented: never in ten months has there been such a political consensus to put down weapons, at least during the holiday season…