Israeli hotels sign modesty code
You have to wonder what they'll come up with next. YNet is reporting that some 20 hotels catering to fervently Orthodox vacationers have signed a "modesty code" commiting them to unplug TVs and bloc views of the pool from rooms.
The television will be closed in the closet, internet connections will be offered only to married couples, and there will be an option to separate the beds. These are some of the services some 20 hotels in Israel have taken upon themselves in order to accommodate ultra-Orthodox guests.
A little more than a month after senior haredi rabbis ordained the "Committee for the Character of the Jewish People" to establish a list of vacation spots appropriate for the haredi public, it seems as if their efforts are bearing fruit.Five of the hotels that have taken upon themselves to uphold the stringent modesty standards of the haredi public are under religious ownership. These hotels have agreed to impose the standards all days of the year. The other 15 hotels have committed to institute the set modesty code during certain short time periods during which ultra-Orthodox guests increase.
The code operates such that even if a haredi guests wishes to act against the modesty code – and watch television, for instance – the guest will not be able to do so.
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Sorry, Norman, but I disagree strongly with the comment “We aren’t members of the same tribe.”
Whether you like it or not, we ARE members of the same tribe. Yes, some of the observances of the haredim aren’t what some of us would like, but if you don’t want to go to one of those hotels, there are plenty of others in Israel that will accommodate you.
I am seriously worried about your dividing us up into “mainstream” and “non-mainstream” Jews. I sometimes wonder if “mainstream” is often translated into “secular.” Therefore, if one is even somewhat religious (not even “dati” but “masorti” in the language of Israeli Jews), some people would lump this person into the “non-mainstream” category. I submit that just because the majority of Israelis may identify as secular doesn’t mean that they should run roughshod over the non-secular, just as the haredim should respect the fact that the majority of Israelis are non-haredim (although they don’t have to like it).
I think we all have to recognized that Israel is a special country in our eyes and in the eyes of the world. Ultimately, it CAN’T be a country like all others. It is called the Holy Land for a reason. As uncomfortable as it makes some of us, we may have to accept that we Jews cannot necessarily do anything we want in Israel, because we do have to live with one another as Jews, and both the religious (including the haredim) and the secular have to accept each other as Jews (this does not mean forcing each other to approve of the other’s actions, but managing to respect the differences).
Do a lot of Jews accept the Lord Jesus Christ as their Saviour? God says in the book of Isaiah chapter 53 that they need to do that, otherwise God cannot bless them like He would want to. Otherwise God will have to someday send them into an everlasting hellfire.
Contact me at for help to get saved.
I applaud these hotels for their willingness to serve their guests. I would like to point out that while correct behavior is a good thing, it should come from the heart. If you need to have all temptations removed in order to act according to you beliefs I have to wonder how well founded your beliefs are. Yes, the Torah specifies that certain acts are to be avoided, but this should be because you love G-d and want to do as He asks.
WHICH hotels are they?
I agree that we are all Jews, whether they think I am or not; but I don’t have to support them. ..... And I don’t.
All the orthodox charity letters I get are tossed.
Mogen david I give to.
I’ve been to Israel twice....the next time I go, I want to know where to avoid....and I’m passing the names on to my traveling family....including those who are extended stays in Israel.
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Norman Pressman
07/02/09 12:15 PM
Great News-now lets make sure all mainstream Jews are informed of these hotels so we know where jot to stay on our trips to Israel. I certainly would not want to be stoend if I drove my car onto the parking lot of one of the hotels on Shabbat.
More seriously I see the deminse of Israel not coming by virtue of the Arabs but as a collapse of the state as the haredim increasingly make demands, freeload and overburden the mainstream Jews who carry the brunt of work-MainstreamJews shold cease fuunding, directly or indirectly any haredi school or charity. We aren’; members of the same tribe.-The alternative is the Kiryas Joelization of Israel and where would that town be but for the US government subsidies?