A dispute that has produced violence in the streets here may have been resolved Sunday night by the City Council, but not without threats of violence in council chambers.
A compromise was adopted in the fierce dispute between ultra-Orthodox residents of the city, who demand strictest observance of the Sabbath by all of its citizens, and the secular population, which would like to pursue entertainment and other activities on Friday nights and Saturdays.
The council, under the chairmanship of Mayor Teddy Kollek, adopted the recommendations of the Harman public committee to restrict — but not ban — cultural activities for the non-religious in limited areas of the city. That committee’s chairman is Avraham Harman, chancellor of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a former ambassador.
But the proceedings of the council meeting produced near-violent confrontations, and the representatives of two ultra-Orthodox factions, Shas and Agudat Israel, walked out in a fury before it ended.
Tempers flared when Kollek pounded his gavel to try to cut short a lengthy speech by Agudat Israel Councilman Avraham Leisersohn. Another Aguda councilman, Meir Porush, produced a gavel of his own, pounded the table and shouted, “Mr. Mayor, you are not the only person to have a hammer, and you had better let people talk.”
Labor Councilman Emmanuel Suesman approached Porush, apparently to wrest the gavel from him, but was confronted by other Orthodox members. At that point, Kollek warned Porush, “I can break your head with my hammer.”
There will be no Daily News Bulletin dated Wednesday, Nov. 11, due to the Veteran’s Day postal holiday.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
