WHEN you’re out shopping, don’t you just hate it when you encounter women choosing stuff from the shelves and racks?
No? Well, neither do we, but that’s probably because, mercifully, we don’t share the barmy misogyny and paranoia of the ultra-Orthodox Haredi Jews of Jerusalem, who have just welcomed the decision by a store to separate men and women shoppers ahead of the Tu B’Shvat holiday.
Mixed shopping for mixed nuts is a no-no in Jerusalem
According to this report, the owners of Pitzuchei Mizrahi in the Bucharim neighborhood of Jerusalem said they would arrange separate entrances for men and women, after they were recommended to do so by a kashrut (kosher) supervisor.
The store specialises in selling nuts. And dried fruit. And the supervisor advised the owners to take steps to ensure that male and female customers don’t unintentionally touch each other during the busy shopping hours when the store is crowded.
Not all residents of the neighborhood welcomed the idea, which to some seemed “radical and exaggerated.” But one, identified only as Avi, said that in his view:
It would be more pleasant if, on busy days, there was separation at the store and men don’t rub against women.
Sources in the ultra-Orthodox public believe that other businesses in the capital will now follow suit.
This batty report reminded me of my days in South Africa, when off-licences had separate entrances for blacks and whites. Being white, I would always bamboozle and annoy the staff by using the black entrances. I would also perversely sit on blacks-only park benches and travel on blacks-only railway carriages to wind up the enforcers of what was known as “petty” apartheid.
Guess who had to leave the country in a great big hurry.
Hat tip: Michael Cohen
The Freethinker was founded in 1881 by GW Foote, an outspoken critic of religion. After the publication of 
February 7th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Sex! Sex! Sex! Why are these ‘holy’ people so screwed up about sex. If it wasn’t for the old testament women would not have had millennia of abuse in any of these vile faiths. Was Abraham gay or Moses, they didn’t like females in any shape or form. Its one thing for those old barbaric beliefs to behave this way, but we are in the 21st century, and YOU GOD BOTHERING GUYS, WOMEN ARE AS GOOD, IF NOT BETTER THAN YOU.
February 7th, 2009 at 10:23 pm
So misogyny is rife in a place that has all the ingredients for the making of fruitcakes.
Well I never!
February 7th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
I’ve never been to South America, but I know there are tribes along the Amazon where men and women wear little or nothing at all. Boys grow up with naked women everywhere. Does anybody really think these guys spend their lives going around with interminable erections? Strangely, though, people who customarily overdress for all occasions seem obsessed with sex. Why? Can we learn anything from this?
February 7th, 2009 at 11:24 pm
Can anybody find a religion that bans pensioners from clogging up the supermarket when I’ve just finished work? I mean, they’ve got all day…
February 7th, 2009 at 11:39 pm
No valdemar…It takes them all day!
February 7th, 2009 at 11:40 pm
Well said that man. I should know I was old once!
February 7th, 2009 at 11:48 pm
.
February 8th, 2009 at 8:39 am
Why do these religious nuts always seek to supress women? I’m the boss in my house until my wife wants her own way.
Knocking women back reduces a cultures’ scientific/creative ouput by 50%. I thought Israel needed all its citizens to help stem the islamic tide.
February 8th, 2009 at 11:55 am
I’ve probably said this before but religion is by men and for men to oppress others,in particular women. Women who go along with this obscene charade are traitors.
February 8th, 2009 at 3:38 pm
Spot on Angela.
Religion is not just created by men, but particularly insecure, scared, naive & irresponsible men. The true ‘sin’ is that there seems to have been enough of these type of people to perpetuate it for the last 2000 years or so.
I try not to blame the women as they are usually victims of the male dominated culture to which they belong. When you’re born into a backward, mysoginistic society, that must seem like the norm.
February 8th, 2009 at 9:42 pm
“It would be more pleasant if, on busy days, there was separation at the store and men don’t rub against women.”
I suppose I must just be one of those nasty non believing pervy atheists, but.. I quite like rubbing against women. Though I have never tried it in a busy shop. Maybe they’ve got a point. It can’t really be very hygienic with all that food around.
February 9th, 2009 at 12:04 am
Nice one GNG.
These religious pervs must get tumescent if they must share a lift (elevator) with a woman. Bitch was asking fot it. Sounds a bit islamic don’t you think?
February 9th, 2009 at 1:31 am
Need I say it ? S + R yet again!!!!
February 9th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
I agree Alun. These people are utterly obsessed with sex! I thought it was supposed to be a sin to even think about it. Doesn’t this mean that they’ll all go to hell?
You mentioned islam. I think their biggest mistake in this regard is to separate kids from 9ish. The boys `grow up` with no understanding of females at all and are easily convinced to believe all the bullshit about how dangerous women are. Even the women can be convinced of this!
I once watched a documentary about FGM. At one point, there was a group of women sitting around talking about how they were so glad that they’d had this done since, had they been left intact, they would not be able to sit in a room with men in it without ripping off their clothes and getting down and dirty. (not the actual phrase used of course)
I knew a muslim woman who told me of a cousin of hers who didn’t want to marry the bride chosen for him because he had seen a picture of her washing a car. He judged her to be immoral and not worthy of marriage on that alone! Personally, if the marriage didn’t go ahead (I don’t know how it ended), I think she had a lucky escape.
Also, when her married sister fell pregnant, she went to tell her mother but wasn’t able to tell her father. That would be like talking about sex. He would find out when she got bigger but there would be no talking about it.
There is no joy in religion right enough. What miserable lives these people lead. If the `men` who enforce these rules actually lived `clean` lives that would be fair enough, but the fact is that many of them rape and abuse their way through life. No one is safe, especially with islam since it is considered that at 9yo, a girl is actually a young woman and is fair game. They would never consider this to be paedophilia yet they gleefully cite paedophilia amongst the sins and depravities of the western world.
Muslim men also seem to think that non muslim women are fair game and have no right to be respected. Even women from their own communities who don’t dress the way they are suppose to are abused. The guys doing this believe they have high moral standards but that it’s the women who are at fault for tempting them.
Why can their tiny little minds not figure out that the no sex rule applies to them too. If they consider a woman to be harlot, they shouldn’t go near her. Not how they see it though. And they are never done telling us that islam respects women!
Fuckin morons!!!
I heard many stories from this woman so this is not just me jumping to conclusions about islam. These people are seriously messed up and it’s all down to religion and it doesn’t seem to matter which religion you look at, women are only here for the sexual gratification of men, to do all the work and are also to be blamed for tempting men to sin. This also gets men off the hook. If they rape some poor woman or girl, it was HER fault. Men are not to blame. I suppose it’s the old Adam & Eve thing with the apple.
We all know that people given positions of authority in religion are very, very likely to abuse that authority and it nearly always involves some sort of sexual deviation and or money. Aren’t these seen by religious types as being more or less the two worst evils in the world? Yet they are most prevalent in religions. The very institutions which claim to lead us away from these `sins` and guide us to a life of morality.
Sheer madness!!!