The city of Bet Shemesh, with its fast growing ultra-Orthodox population, is seeing a tremendous amount of growth and development these days. A major housing project undertaken by the Resido Group specifically for the ultra-Orthodox will also have a shopping/commerical center complete with medical offices, stores, and a branch of the ever important National Insurance Institute (ביטוח לאומי).
What’s the catch? The ultra-Orthodox locals will not allow anyone “not their own” to benefit from the commercial center. The reason? They find the “secular mode of dress” offensive to their religious sensibilities. The legality? Ambiguous; probably illegal. It is also unclear whether the neighboring, largely Anglo “National/Modern-Orthodox” community will be allowed access either.
This video (Hebrew only; sorry again) has interviews of the locals and their skewed claims.
