Tensions in Beit Shemesh, a community near Jerusalem that has become the flashpoint for the battle of ideology between secular and religious Jews, particularly on the issue of female segregation, reached a boiling point this week when it was revealed that a group of ultra-Orthodox men attacked a community rabbi attempting to escort girls to school. Rabbi Dov Lipman, a resident of Beit Shemesh and a community activist, wears a black velvet kippah and long beard, just like any other Orthodox rabbi. Even before media reports surfaced of an 8-year-old girl in Beit Shemesh being spat on for wearing clothing that was not deemed modest enough, however, he had spoken out against religious coercion in the city. Get the Israel Hayom newsletter sent to your mailbox! The girl, Naama Margolese, said she was being regularly assaulted as she attempted to enter a religious-Zionist elementary school, Orot, located on the border of the city's ultra-Orthodox neighborhood. Other female students also reported harassment and assault and Lipman, who immigrated to Israel from the U.S. seven years ago and who teaches at religious schools, had gone to the school to assist the students. On Dec. 12, he found himself the target of vicious physical assault. "One morning I saw that they [ultra-Orthodox fanatics] were not allowing schoolgirls to make their way to the school grounds," Lipman said. "The ultra-Orthodox gang recognized me and began yelling my name in the most threatening way. I was terrified. They yelled, 'Don't defile our neighborhood!' at the top of their lungs. Once I ran to help one of the schoolgirls who was crying, and they spat in my face, surrounding me and calling me 'Satan' and 'Amalek' [biblical enemy of the Israelites]." In another incident, the rabbi recalled how a group of ultra-Orthodox fanatics shouted, "Lipman must be cut up into pieces." "The police asked me to bring a camera to record the attackers. I did so, and filmed a fanatic ultra-Orthodox man picking up a stone while threatening a woman," Lipman said. "After I filmed it, with a friend, the fanatics jumped me and began pulling at me. I was dragged along on the floor, while the gang kicked my friend in the stomach. Never in my life have I seen such a thing." Despite the violence, Lipman remains determined to work toward eradicating fanaticism. "We must take a stand against these thugs, despite our fear. I am a product of a yeshiva education, but I am against anyone who would dictate the lives of others." Lipman wants to tear down the city signs that call for women to segregate themselves in public, and also hopes to be available to help women who find themselves under attack. Ultra-Orthodox neighborhoods have also been spray-painted with fanatical messages, which infuriates Lipman. "Look here, it says do not cross here if you are not dressed in modest attire, while further down there is says 'expel the Zionists' and still here graffiti reads, 'Zionists are not Jews,'" he says, pointing at the messages. "It is utterly disgraceful." "There is no Torah passage that dictates how women should dress," the rabbi says. "We have a shopping mall here, and when it was being built the ultra-Orthodox fanatics smashed in all its windows, saying the complex went against Jewish law just because it would be open for both men and women. Now the place stands empty and neglected. They thought it would be easy to take over the city, but I intend to fight them until the very end. They are breaking all the rules of the Torah, and I won't stand idly by while this extremism runs rampant."
