News You Don't Hear

Having had some spare time and an opportunity recently, I picked up a copy of HaModia and perused its contents. One story that caught my attention was on the increase in religious Judaism in Tel Aviv. Although the city has a great reputation for being the secular capital of Israel, Torah observance has been steadily increasing over the last few decades and is starting to play an active role in life there.

but this is what really caught my attention. The article described how Chasidic institutions are cropping up in the Sheinkin neighbourhood which is possibly the most secular/avante garde part of the city. Yet one hasn't heard about rioting there. In fact it's been the opposite.

The article gave two examples. In one case, the local Superpharm put up a window advertisement featuring an immodestly clad woman. The local Chareidim contacted the management and complained. The manager took the sign down promptly. In the second case, a local beis medrash took to blasting a loud horn just before Shabbos to annouce its arrival. The local chilonim contacted the rabbi running the place and he put away the horn.

In the blogsphere, like in popular media, there's no currency for good news. You're not going to see FailedMessiah or any of the other anti-Orthodox blogs running a story headlined: Chareidim and seculars get along! How could they rack up dozens of anti-Chareidi comments that way?

But hopefully this is a sign that the rioters in Yerushalayim are indeed the exception to the rule and that there is a hope that both communities in Israel can gradually learn to grow and prosper together.