Miriam Shear
Encyclopedia
Miriam Shear is an American-Israeli
woman who, on November 24, 2006, on a five-week vacation to Israel, was allegedly attacked and beaten by a group of Haredi Jewish men (an ad hoc "modesty patrol") on her way to pray at the Western Wall
while riding a bus in Jerusalem. She refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus, after a disagreement as to whether she should sit separate from the men. The case is still being investigated.
While Egged Bus Cooperative
does operate sex-segregated
"Mehadrin" bus lines within Israel, the route Shear rode was a publicly-funded non-segregated line. The bus driver contends there was no violence, but that he did see a crowd around Shear and stopped the bus to inform passengers that his line was not sex-segregated. Egged's Mehadrin routes have come under heavy criticism since the incident, being compared to former racial segregation in the United States
.
American Jews
American Jews, also known as Jewish Americans, are American citizens of the Jewish faith or Jewish ethnicity. The Jewish community in the United States is composed predominantly of Ashkenazi Jews who emigrated from Central and Eastern Europe, and their U.S.-born descendants...
woman who, on November 24, 2006, on a five-week vacation to Israel, was allegedly attacked and beaten by a group of Haredi Jewish men (an ad hoc "modesty patrol") on her way to pray at the Western Wall
Western Wall
The Western Wall, Wailing Wall or Kotel is located in the Old City of Jerusalem at the foot of the western side of the Temple Mount...
while riding a bus in Jerusalem. She refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus, after a disagreement as to whether she should sit separate from the men. The case is still being investigated.
While Egged Bus Cooperative
Egged Bus Cooperative
Egged Israel Transport Cooperative Society Ltd , a cooperative owned by its members is the largest transit bus company in Israel. It provides about 55 % of public transport services throughout the country, employs 6,227 workers and has 2,861 buses for more than 928 service routes and 3,103...
does operate sex-segregated
Sex segregation
Sex segregation is the separation of people according to their sex.The term gender apartheid also has been applied to segregation of people by gender, implying that it is sexual discrimination...
"Mehadrin" bus lines within Israel, the route Shear rode was a publicly-funded non-segregated line. The bus driver contends there was no violence, but that he did see a crowd around Shear and stopped the bus to inform passengers that his line was not sex-segregated. Egged's Mehadrin routes have come under heavy criticism since the incident, being compared to former racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States
Racial segregation in the United States, as a general term, included the racial segregation or hypersegregation of facilities, services, and opportunities such as housing, medical care, education, employment, and transportation along racial lines...
.
External links
- Woman beaten on Jerusalem bus for refusing to move to rear seat, Ha'aretz
- Women taking a stand to sit up front, Globe and Mail
- Elizabeth Dwoskin: The Fall of the House of Rubashkin, Village Voice, December 3, 2008
- Mrs. Miriam Shear Responds, Emes Ve-Emunah, December 4, 2008