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Pardess Hannah was one place where the push between the two groups came to shove. In a new, secular neighborhood of 100-odd houses called Neve Rotem, haredi rabbi Rafael Boublil launched an incursion. He rented a dozen town houses and moved his followers into them. One house became a synagogue. He placed three trailers in an open field and established a school for 12-year-old boys. He put up a sign just outside Neve Rotem announcing that this was "a religious neighborhood" and asking entrants to dress "modestly" and respect "the holy Sabbath."
The neighborhood's nonreligious responded with their own placards asserting that people "dress and behave as they wish" in "secular Neve Rotem." Every Saturday for four months they organized a noisy demonstration in the main street that attracted secular activists from all over the country. Then in December someone torched Boublil's school. In retaliation, his adherents went on a rampage, attacking secularists. Each side accused the other of conducting a "pogrom."
Mordechai el-Harar, a teacher in Boublil's school, says the animus toward his group is misplaced. "The rabbi isn't looking for a fight here," he says. "He wants his little patch of earth and to live a life based on Torah principles." Replies Shimrit Orr, Yossi Werzansky's wife: "It's impossible that they will come here and tell us how to live. Here, we draw a line in the sand."
The intolerance at Neve Rotem reflects years of simmering conflict across the country. The battle over the Sabbath has been particularly intense. Orthodox Judaism prescribes a day of rest and worship, but many secular Israelis prefer to travel, go to the movies or shop on their only day off from work. A number of suburban shopping centers have begun to defy blue laws, opening up on Saturdays to cater to the burgeoning consumerism.
The ultra-Orthodox have responded with fury. Haredi mobs have attacked cars traveling in or near their neighborhoods on Saturdays. In a December 1996 rally, Ovadia Yosef, one of the most influential haredi rabbis, proclaimed that Sabbath violators "will be killed." The comment was particularly offensive to secularists in light of the assassination, a year earlier, of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin by a religious fanatic.
The status of yeshiva students is another irritant for the secularists. At the creation of the state, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion agreed to exempt about 400 such pupils from army service, which is mandatory for most Israeli youths. Some 29,000 are taking advantage of the deferrals these days, much to the resentment of those who serve. What's more, because these students are supposed to be full-timers, they are not allowed to work. That contributes to the fact that 60% of the haredim live, at taxpayer expense, on welfare. Mayor Milo calls them "parasites."