#0202_A_View_From_West_Jerusalem

Vandalising Women’s Faces on Banknotes is ‘Unjustified Hatred’

“What is unjustified hatred?
Today, we received this note as change at the supermarket, and were angry because of the exclusion of women and the vandalization of banknotes.

This scribble on the note caused us to think: What is unjustified hatred? This is same hatred that caused the destruction of the Temple [1]. Is vandalizing the face of a woman on a banknote, or on a billboard [2], unjustified hatred?
In this period, ‘Bein Hametzarim’ [3], and with Tisha Be’Av coming up, even if we differentiate between different kinds of hate – unjustified or dearly earned – it comes with a hefty social price-tag.”

– The Jerusalem Forum of Jewish Renaissance Organizations FB page [4]

[Selected Comments:]
– ‘This stresses the importance of women’s presence in the public space – on signs, in events and in the media. It makes clear that no one can be erased from the public sphere.”
– “Vandalized notes should not be accepted!”
– “A hate crime, misogyny and chauvinism! Look how much criticism you’ve dumped in the lap of a bored kid that drew on a note in the middle of class. Give it a rest.”
– “That isn’t hate. Hate is posting posts that create a fissure in the nation. People can think differently to you, it doesn’t make them women-haters.”

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0202 Editor’s Notes:
[1] According to Jewish tradition, the Second Temple was destroyed because of unjustified hatred within the Jewish nation.
[2] In the past, the faces and figures of women on billboards have been vandalized by extremists who think that Jewish modesty laws forbid these images. After Israeli banknotes were recently changed to show prominent poets, including two female poets, there have been a number of reports that some banknotes that displayed women’s faces were vandalized.
[3] ‘Bein Hametzarim’ are days of mourning commemorating the destruction of Jerusalem at the end of the Second Temple Era. They begin on the day on which, according to tradition, the walls of Jerusalem were breached, and end on Tisha Be’Av, the day of the Temple’s destruction.
[4] From the organization’s Facebook page: ‘The forum’s unique contribution is the creation of a realm for joint activity for the Jerusalem organizations that share a Jewish, Zionist, pluralistic world view.’

#Vandalism #Gender #Tisha_Bav
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