The smell of burning on an autumn morning

In Michigan, this is about the most perfect time of year. From the middle of October to the middle of November, the mornings are crisp and the air somehow feels clean. My favorites are the days when I can smell burning leaves, because somehow that makes it truly autumn.

In Jerusalem this morning, the weather feels just like a Michigan morning. The sun's shining. There's a very light breeze. The air just feels "right."

And there's even a smell of burning. But that... that just feels wrong.

Because we don't have so many trees here that drop their leaves. People don't rake the leaves from their yards and pile them up. There's not supposed to be that smell.

Instead, it's the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) people rioting in their neighborhoods to oppose the gay pride parade that's supposed to take place at the end of this week.

Now, to be perfectly honest, I have very mixed feelings about the parade being held in Jerusalem. It's not like it's just Jerusalemites or even Israelis who are putting this parade together. It's people coming from outside Israel for this.

Why?

I can't help but believe it is because Jerusalem is the center of three of the world's major religions, and it's an "in your face" kind of thing.

And "in your face" isn't necesarily bad, except when Jerusalem is in the world news enough, thankyouverymuch, and the last thing we need is more bad press. Especially when the press is because a bunch of people from outside Israel insist on being the cause of it.

On the other hand, Israel is a semi-democratic country, and we believe in the idea of freedom of speech, if not the actual practice. So why shouldn't there be a parade?

On the other hand, the mere idea of a gay pride parade in any of our neighboring countries would be cause for more than mere riots. So why should Israel get bad press whe no one's going to say anything about the other countries?

I don't have enough hands for this debate.

So I believe that the parade should be held, but at this point it's more to prove that the city shouldn't take orders from the haredim than it is the whole freedom of expression thing.

The things that upset me the most about this situation include:

The police are complaining about having to bring in reinforcements from outside Jerusalem to try to protect the participants in the parade. They're saying that it's going to make the rest of the country more vulnerable, since it'll be under-protected. So why weren't they talking about that last year when they were involved in evicting thousands of people from their homes? They knew this parade was coming -- why not activate people for this situation like they did for that one?

The rioting is disgusting. They're throwing stones and dirty diapers and other objects at police officers. They're setting the dumpsters on fire and blocking the roads. This is not, nor has it been, a peaceful protest. They've simply decided that they're right, and they're willing to hurt whomever they need to in order to prove it.

The rioters obviously care more about this parade than they do problems that face their day-to-day society. There are families without enough food. There are women who are unable to re-marry because their husbands refuse to grant them a divorce. There are abused women and children. There are drug addicts among them. And they're not protesting on the streets about any of that.

They don't pay taxes. Now that's a blanket statement, and probably somewhat unfair... but it's true that many, if not most, value learning in yeshiva more than they value working at paid jobs, so a huge percentage of them don't pay taxes at all. Some of the rioters don't even believe that the State of Israel should exist, since only the moshiach (messiah) can bring about a true Jewish country. Yet they don't have a problem taking advantage of the protections afforded them by the State.

It makes religious Jews look bad. Because while it's true that maybe even a majority of religious Jews are not in favor of holding this parade in Jerusalem, they've protested in other ways, like writing letters and holding demonstrations. They haven't behave like two-year-olds throwing temper tantrums. Yet when secular people look at the riots, all they see is that "religious" people are causing problems. They don't see the difference between rioters and other religious people.

And it took me 45 minutes to get to work today, because the rioters have forced the police to close streets, and my bus had to take a huge detour.

So yeah, I'm ticked off. I say, parade on!