Ultra Orthodox

When public buses rumble to a stop in some of Jerusalem's religious neighborhoods, women often dutifully enter by the rear door and sit in the back, leaving the front for men. There's no law requiring the women to do so, but those who don't risk verbal taunts and intimidation. It's a curious sight given Israel's history as an international trailblazer for women's rights. The country produced one of the democratic world's first female heads of government with Golda Meir's election in 1969.

When public buses rumble to a stop in some of Jerusalem's religious neighborhoods, women often dutifully enter by the rear door and sit in the back, leaving the front for men. There's no law requiring the women to do so, but those who don't risk verbal taunts and intimidation. It's a curious sight given Israel's history as an international trailblazer for women's rights. The country produced one of the democratic world's first female heads of government with Golda Meir's election in 1969.

In "Eyes Wide Open," the quietly effective new Israeli film, the love that dare not speak its name is too terrified to even whisper. That's because the two men who are powerfully attracted to each other are members of Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, a world where homosexuality is so rigidly taboo that, as director Haim Tabakman has said, it simply does not exist: "It's just an evil urge. It cannot be part of a human being's essence." While there is a certain familiarity to lovers battling against society's hostility and repression, "Eyes Wide Open" makes the situation seem fresh and involving through Tabakman's low-key but confident directing style, convincing acting and, perhaps most surprising, an accurate and respectful treatment of the community that is making these men's lives so unendurable.

Jewish extremists are suspected of torching a mosque in a northern Israeli town Monday, the latest in a string of anti-Arab attacks that have enraged Palestinians and alarmed Israeli security officials. After setting the fire in the early-morning hours, vandals spray-painted the words "revenge" and "price tag" on the walls of the mosque in the Bedouin village of Tuba-Zangaria. Similar messages have been left in the West Bank, where attackers have burned mosques, cars belonging to Palestinians and olive trees.

The hand-lettered signs began appearing recently on the walls and community bulletin boards of this city's ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhoods. The fliers list the names and phone numbers of several prominent Israeli archeologists, including the head of Israel's Antiquities Authority, and urge community members to harass and threaten the men, who are described as "grave robbers." The message ends with a chilling wish: "May their bones be ground into dust."

When people talk these days about Israel's economy, they use words like booming, resilient, even "miracle." Weaning itself off socialist-influenced policies that once brought 400% inflation and 60% income-tax brackets, Israel's economy is now growing despite the international financial slowdown. Debt is manageable, the currency is strong; Israel's high-tech sector is admired worldwide. But one Israeli economist is warning that beneath Israel's back-patting lurks a hidden peril — fueled by demographic trends and political choices — that could eventually mean an end to the country.

The government of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak was plunged into crisis late Friday, but not by the peace process, the severe drought or even a troubling summer crime wave. Instead, the first real threat to Barak's 5-week-old coalition came in the form of a 300-ton electric turbine, after the government defied warnings from Israel's largest religious party and decided to transport the giant piece of equipment to a power plant during the Jewish Sabbath.

When an 8-year-old boy from an insulated, ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn failed to make it home from day camp, his parents' first call was not to police, but to the Shomrim patrol, a local volunteer group whose name means "guardians" in Hebrew. Hasidic areas like Borough Park, where a Shomrim-organized search party looked for Leiby Kletzky, are worlds unto themselves. Members have a distinctive appearance — wigs and modest dresses for the women, beards and side curls for the men. They send their children to Jewish schools, speak Yiddish as a first language and shun modern distractions like television.

The leader of a secular Israeli organization called the "Committee Against Religious Violence" was rescued by police after he was besieged by a crowd of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Jerusalem, police said. The ultra-Orthodox Jews were apparently offended when Avraham Fried tried to drive through the mixed secular-religious neighborhood on the Sabbath. Fried fired a shot into the air to try to disperse the crowd, but his car was stoned before police arrived to free him. A police spokesman said there were no injuries.

As someone who invests in the Israeli economy, I know firsthand that Israel's strength lies in its educated workforce. It used to be said that to make a small fortune in Israel, you needed a large one. That is simply not true anymore. Israel's economy is ripe for investors seeking a strong return. But there is an impediment to continued economic growth in Israel: the current dynamic of strong state support for ultra-Orthodox regulations. Today, Israel's economic and overall security is under threat from the increased hold that the ultra-Orthodox, or Haredim, have on religion for Jews in Israel.

When an 8-year-old boy from an insulated, ultra-Orthodox Jewish neighborhood in Brooklyn failed to make it home from day camp, his parents' first call was not to police, but to the Shomrim patrol, a local volunteer group whose name means "guardians" in Hebrew. Hasidic areas like Borough Park, where a Shomrim-organized search party looked for Leiby Kletzky, are worlds unto themselves. Members have a distinctive appearance — wigs and modest dresses for the women, beards and side curls for the men. They send their children to Jewish schools, speak Yiddish as a first language and shun modern distractions like television.

The image of a bearded, black-hatted Jew with an evil grin and a bloody blade seems straight out of the annals of classic European anti-Semitism. In this case, however, it is straight out of the pages of a comic book that landed in the middle of a campaign to outlaw circumcision in San Francisco for males under the age of 18. "Foreskin Man," featuring a blond, buff hero who battles dark, evil Jewish characters, has added a strange and possibly...

An Israeli man was killed and three others wounded Sunday when a Palestinian security officer opened fire on a convoy of ultra-Orthodox Jewish worshippers who had entered a religious site in a Palestinian-administered area without permission and then ignored orders to stop, Israeli and Palestinian officials said. The Jewish worshippers were attempting to make an unauthorized predawn pilgrimage to Joseph's Tomb, located in the West Bank city of Nablus. The incident threatened to further heighten tensions in the West Bank between Jewish settlers and Palestinians.

A new front in the struggle between Jerusalem's secular and ultra-Orthodox communities has opened in a tiny nursery school playground, where city officials have drawn what might be called a line in the sandbox. In response to complaints from ultra-Orthodox parents, officials last week erected a fence dividing the playground in two, separating pupils at a secular school from those at an adjacent Orthodox one. The fence was torn down Tuesday nigth, probably by secular parents unhappy about the division, leaving city officials to ponder their next move.

From a drab office in this ultra-Orthodox Jewish stronghold, three devout young women hunch over computers and surf the Internet ? looking for pornography, celebrity gossip and a laundry list of other items banned by their rabbis. It's odd work for this trio, dressed modestly and wearing wigs in keeping with their beliefs. But it's their job at Israel's first ultra-Orthodox Internet provider, Nativ, as it tries to launch a product that could transform the traditionally sheltered community: kosher Internet.

In "Eyes Wide Open," the quietly effective new Israeli film, the love that dare not speak its name is too terrified to even whisper. That's because the two men who are powerfully attracted to each other are members of Jerusalem's ultra-Orthodox Jewish community, a world where homosexuality is so rigidly taboo that, as director Haim Tabakman has said, it simply does not exist: "It's just an evil urge. It cannot be part of a human being's essence." While there is a certain familiarity to lovers battling against society's hostility and repression, "Eyes Wide Open" makes the situation seem fresh and involving through Tabakman's low-key but confident directing style, convincing acting and, perhaps most surprising, an accurate and respectful treatment of the community that is making these men's lives so unendurable.

Lee Freeman '60s band had No. 1 hit Lee Freeman, 60, a member of the 1960s' band Strawberry Alarm Clock, famous for its flower-power anthem that became a No. 1 hit in 1967, died of cancer Feb. 14 at his home in the Bay Area, his brother, Doug, said in an e-mail. Freeman, who played rhythm guitar, sang and wrote lyrics, was an original member of the band, which was called Thee Sixpence when it was formed in 1966. None of the band members wanted to sing lead on "Incense and Peppermints," intended to be released on the B-side of a single, so a friend on hand for the recording session volunteered.

Tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox Jews protested Thursday against a Supreme Court decision to jail parents who have refused to comply with its order to desegregate a religious girls school. Dressed in black hats and carrying posters denouncing the court as "fascists," the mostly peaceful demonstrators continued their afternoon protest until about 40 parents turned themselves in to police to begin serving two-week sentences for contempt of court, a police spokesman said. The protests, which organizers vowed would continue, marked the latest fissure in relations between Israel's religious and secular communities.