The City of Jerusalem has withdrawn its financial support for a large Chanukah concert in Binyanei HaUma after organizers announced that the event will be held exclusively for men, following guidance from leading litvish Roshei Yeshiva.
The decision by Jerusalem officials came after women who had purchased tickets for a designated women’s section were suddenly notified that their seats were cancelled and that they would receive a full refund. This reversal followed letters from prominent Rabbanim who stated that even events with full separation are not permitted, and that doing so could be misused to justify future mixed programming.
In a message sent to women ticket-holders, the production company wrote: “In the past we have held fully separate events with strict adherence to tznius under the direction of Rabbanim. But in order not to serve as a basis to permit other events that do not follow these guidelines, we have made the difficult decision to cancel the women’s section and hold the event for men only.”
The company apologized and assured full refunds for all affected.
Naftali Kempe, set to headline the Chanukah event, released an emotional personal letter, expressing both his hurt and his resolve to avoid causing pain to bnei Torah.
“The past few days have been filled with deep pain,” he wrote. “I don’t wish to enter debates. Even though a real injustice was done here, the painful reality is causing anguish to bnei Torah. I do not want to be part of that.”
Kempe said he therefore chose to remove the women’s option entirely: “I decided to cancel the possibility for women to attend and to leave it only for men. I apologize to the women who purchased tickets, and of course you will receive full refunds. May we be zocheh to be mekadeish Shem Shamayim and not, chas v’shalom, the opposite.”
Following the announcement, Jerusalem municipality officials decided to pull financial support amounting to hundreds of thousands of shekels, which had been designated for the event as a cultural production for the chareidi public. City officials did not provide additional explanation, but the cancellation came only hours after news broke of the event shifting to men-only.
The incident highlights a growing internal battle in chareidi cultural programming. While many music events have long been held with mechitzahs, senior Litvish Rabbanim have indicated a shift toward stricter standards regarding public performances.
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12 Responses
Why the outrage? If the organizers want to rent a facility and have a men’s only concert, why shouldn’t they pay the rental cost and factor that into the ticket prices?
I’m sure if the Arabs did it there would be no issue
There should be no outrage. The government doesn’t exist to give you free stuff.
Why didn’t they cancel the men’s section?
Why government needs to subsidize chanukkah concerts for anyone – men, women, jews, arabs?
why can’t they have 2 separate events on 2 different nights of Chanukah one for men and one for women? when Yehudis killed the stupid greek she didn’t have to share the credit with any men!
and, there are plenty of nights available…
I’ll tell you why the outage — because of double standards and hypocrisy!
Where I work – a completely nonreligious area in Israel – they OFTEN host women-only workshops and lectures, because it’s important to “strengthen the women in the workforce” and whatnot.
But as soon as it’s men only, and even worse religiously motivated (sarcasm) , then they simply can’t have THAT now, can they?
Separate seating is insufficient? What a Chilul Hashem. Sounds like Iran and Afghanistan to me. No wonder many view and fear this form of Jewish Extremism.
Good for the municipality pulling the funding.
What business do bnei Torah have going to a concert? My feeling has always been that concerts are a “vibishe thing” and the only men that go are those who want to accompany their wives.
As usual, the Brisker mantra is spot on.
“Az mir nemt gelt, iz mir meshubid.*
Many posters are ignorant of how things work in Israel. There are HUGE municipal funds available for cultural events. I don’t know about the Arab sector, but all Jews pay hefty municipal taxes (Arnona), and, as such, support municipal spending, including garbage collection, street sweepers, AND cultural events. Unfortunately, that includes “pride” parades, cinema, and many other events that religious Jews find abhorrent. Any event for the chareidi public that is supported by the municipality is NOT free. It is well-deserved and certainly paid for, albeit not directly. As Ysiegel noted, the outrage is the double standards, and it’s not just the Jerusalem Municipality. E.g. Israel Railway closed the Jerusalem station when there was an Atzeres, supposedly due to safety reasons with masses of people converging on the city, yet increasing service for secular masses streaming in the same direction, separate events for Arabs, but not for Jews, and so on.
I’m just referring to the Municipality withdrawing funding almost automatically, without a second thought.
I’m not getting into whether canceling the event was OK or not, whether the letter was the initiative of Gedolim, or rather of askanim who authored the letter and twisted the arms of the Gedolim to sign. Maybe Kempeh would want to share his feelings with Lipa Schmeltzer…
Richie1963:
There are halachic parameters to Chilul Hashem. Perhaps you could source your assessment that this is a “Chilul Hashem”. In actual fact, it is likely the opposite.
Also, if you read the next line in the article, you would see that the objection was not necessarily the separate seating itself as being insufficient, as you claimed it was but “…followed letters from prominent Rabbanim who stated that even events with full separation are not permitted, and that doing so could be misused to justify future mixed programming.”