The late Rosa Parks is well-known to students of history. In 1955 in Montgomery, Parks, who was black, refused to obey a bus driver's order to give up her seat to make room for a white passenger. Her actions led to the famed Montgomery Bus Boycott.Israel, as a story posted today on the Wall Street Journal website notes, is facing its own bus controversy over the segregation of women for religious reasons. The report, like other stories on the issue, includes a reference to Parks. "For years, Israeli women have been pressured into moving to the rear of public buses serving strictly religious Jews. Now, in confrontations reminiscent of the era of Rosa Parks, women are pushing back," the story begins. The bus controversy is a tough issue for Israel, a democracy that continues to seek a balance between influential ultra-religious forces and its progressive, liberal ideals. This is not the first such clash in Israel's history, nor will it likely be the last. Israel, like our own great nation, is an imperfect country that at times has to struggle and work through unpleasant and challenging issues.
As Israelis we must bridge the gap between Democracy and Judaism. There is a way to do that!
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