1) Why do we need these busses at all. Is it just another opportunity to control or abuse women?
2) Why now? Gedolei Yisroel rode the busses and never complained.
3) Why is it good enough to have mixed busses in the US but not in Israel?
4) What next? Separate times or lines in the makolet? banks?
5) Why should non chareidi be forced to fit chareidi contrived standards?
6) What about pregnant and elderly women? Why should they be forced to stand?
7) Why women at the back? Why not the men?
8) Are we just following the lead of a few violent thugs, and are too afraid to raise our voices? Or are we by our silence really acquiescing?
It is a fact of life that men's minds do not work the same as women's. A woman can stare at a man from morning till night and not suffer for distracting thoughts, or alternatively, she will get little enjoyment from it. A man's mind works very differently. He can receive pleasure from staring at women, even briefly. Note the popularity of pin-up girls. Similarly, if he wishes to remove such images from his mind, it is very challenging. The Torah exhorts him to prevent those images in the first place. And because of this weakness, even a fully clothed woman be a distraction. Not as much, but a distraction nonetheless. While a woman can hardly be blamed for arousing such thoughts in a man, provided she acts within the spirit of the laws of tznius, she does have the opportunity to participate in overcoming his challenges.
But how far should she have to go? As already stated, if her dress and actions are those that do not arouse undue attention, which means basically, not sticking out, anything else is hiddur.
In addition there is a problem of men and women jostling each other. This is a problem, for both men and women. Mixing with women who are improperly dressed is also a problem (at least for men). So what's the hetter? If the issur is not meikar hadin, strictly forbidden, then the hetter is due to the fact there is no suitable alternative.
That is the idea behind the mehadrin bus. A man can have a ride on the bus with one less thing to disturb him. A woman can enjoy a bus ride without being jostled by women. From personal experience, I have found exactly that. Peace of mind. Perhaps I have a problem that others don't. Perhaps not. But I don't need a woman who understands nothing about men's minds, especially one who has a poor sense for tznius or kedusha, to tell me where I stand.
Once we understand that the issue is hiddur and not issur, the questions of gedolim and history, banks and the US become easier to understand. Men and women jostling each other on public transport is a problem. Being in places where women are poorly dressed is a problem (for a man). When all you have is the regular bus routes, there's no alternative. So there's no problem - as far as the mixing problems are concerned. The US has no other options. The banks are not offering other options. It was never an issue in the past, because there were no other options. The hiddur issue doesn't even start.
But Israel has come of age. The chareidi community is large enough to support it's own transport, run according to it's own preferences. In fact, on a small scale, the system has been running for years. Anyone who has traveled between Bnei Brak and Yerushalayim by way of sherut knows the arrangement. Full size buses were just the next step. So these buses ran alongside Egged buses, intercity. Nobody had a problem. Don't like it - go with Egged - or walk. This is a private bus. The success, and continuing success, of these routes is testimony of the desire of the community for Mehadrin.
The problems really only started when Egged stepped in. Egged came to an arrangement with a number of private intercity routes to take over, according to the same format. Some routes were also started intracity in the absence of competition under pressure from passengers. Some routes were bullied into submission by price cuts and legal methods. All these new lines are still not exclusive. Don't like it. Take the non-Mehadrin. True that many of the Mehadrin buses are far more frequent than the alternatives, but this is simply a capitalist market response. The Mehadrins are more popular.
But Egged has been negligent. The buses are not properly marked, and the alternative routes have also not been made clear. So a person could really get on without being aware that in some way he has committed himself to a set of guidelines. This is where the antagonists find their nitch.
So if you don't like a Mehadrin bus, pick up the phone and ask Egged what your alternatives are. Perhaps due court activity will force the issue.
More in next post..
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