“You spread diseases, not take you”

Public criticism of the violators sometimes also leads to inclusion, incitement and free hatred: a taxi driver invited to travel in Tel Aviv passed the customer, an ultra-Orthodox resident of the city, and refused to stop and provide him with service, claiming he was a “disease distributor.” The man, Yakir Lens, described the feeling of insult in pain in a conversation with Ynet, and said: “We have been living in Sheinkin for 18 years and we have never encountered a phenomenon of racism. You do not believe this is happening to you.” The Gett company, through which the trip was booked, stressed that it advocates the values ​​of equality and tolerance, apologized for the serious case and added that it was “treated immediately”.

Lens tells the Ynet studio that he ordered a taxi through the “Get Teksi” app. “I see the taxi pass me and do not stop, so I thought he might be wrong on the way. I call him, and he tells me without confusion: You are an ultra-Orthodox spreading diseases, can not take you – and move on.”

The shocked Lens contacted the company and even received an apology, but the sadness did not leave him: “I run the Roots Center, which conducts Jewish studies for the general public, and we meet every evening with the general population. We want to connect and be together – and then something like this happens to you, And you do not believe that this case is happening to you … it is so insulting and painful. “

Lens believes that there is a public atmosphere of incitement. “We hope it does not happen again,” he says. “All in all we live here together, we are not going anywhere and the power of reality is forcing us to live together. This is a difficult time, but nothing will justify this civil war.”

Shmuel Berger, also a resident of Tel Aviv, in his sixties, belongs to the local ultra-Orthodox community, and also tells of a delicate and crumbling social fabric. “I grew up in Tel Aviv all my life. I was born here, I got married here. The center of my life in Tel Aviv,” he says. “We have always lived in coexistence with the local secular population. Here and there over the years I have been cursed for my ultra-Orthodox appearance, but these were acts of individuals. I have never felt hostility and alienation in the street.”

“But a few days ago I was walking on the street next to my house, in Yehuda Halevi – corner of Shenkin. A vehicle approaching me stopped the traffic in the back. The secular passenger opened the window, cursed at me and moved on. Tell you the truth – I did not care. It hurts more to see how “People cross a parallel sidewalk where they see me, or walk away from me as if I were a contagious mutation.”

Berger says he was kept from the virus “like fire,” but it got him: “Ten months I sit at home. Hardly go out. For a long time I did not see my children, my grandchildren. I followed the instructions. At one point, I do not know how, the virus got. “Me and my wife. After a few weeks we recovered, God willing. And as if the suffering we went through is not enough, now for some reason, I and all the ultra-Orthodox residents of Tel Aviv are required to bear the crimes of others who do not follow the instructions.”

“I could have escaped to the hot corner you love so much – I did army, did reserve for many years, worked all my life and paid taxes. But I do not run to this place because I think even those who did not army should not bear the sin of others.”

It is clear to Berger that this is the result of incitement: “Imagine two secular hooligans burning a bus in Dizengoff Center – would anyone think of blaming all secular Tel Aviv residents for their sin? Why are we painted in one black bloc, and every ultra-Orthodox person guilty of the other’s crime? Why? Why these stigmas? After so many years, with such developed media, you have not learned that there are many shades in the ultra-Orthodox public? ”

Lens and Berger are not the only ones: “My neighbor on a nearby street said yesterday that he came across a man who passed by with his son, pointed at him and said to his young child, ‘You see, it spreads diseases,'” Berger testified. “It is a painful and unbearable situation. I never imagined that a situation would arise where I would be judged according to my ultra-Orthodox identity and criminal acts of others would belong to me.”

His son is Meir Berger, the political correspondent for the Herald newspaper. According to him, this is a classic hypocrisy of what he calls the “State of Tel Aviv.” “After all, the enlightened, the liberal, the law-abiding live in Tel Aviv. Those who have adapted to tolerance, exclusion and inclusion of the other. Tel Aviv is characterized by openness to the minority sectors … so why when it comes to the ultra-Orthodox everyone becomes one piece? “The police paint the entire ultra-Orthodox public – over a million people – in a violent and ugly color, while secular acts are attributed to the individual and do not receive any condemnation.”

Gett responded: “The driver’s behavior, ostensibly, in the event described, is against the law and does not comply with Gett’s principles. As someone who has enshrined the values ​​of equality and tolerance over the years, we are deeply concerned about the case in question. We contacted Yakir, and after “When we heard the details from him, we dealt with the case immediately. We demand that drivers who use the Gett app act in accordance with the law and in accordance with the rules of conduct.”