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Two ultra-Orthodox men in downtown Jerusalem. (Archives) Last update - 10:36 20/02/2008 Beit Hakerem - The last secular holdout in Jerusalem By Tamar Rotem, Haaretz Correspondent Tags: jerusalem, secular  It took about a decade for the small north-Jerusalem neighborhood of Givat Hamivtar to change its skin. Now, after most of its well-to-do secular households have been replaced with ultra-Orthodox families, the metamorphosis seems almost complete. For Yael Bar-On, the decision to leave was made four years ago, when it came time to enroll her 6-year-old son for elementary school. That presented a problem, because by then, the Bar-Ons were among the few remaining secular families in the neighborhood. "The population of young couples with children had slowly disappeared," she recalled recently. "Only the older residents remained. The neighborhood's kindergarten and its secular schools just kept losing students." Advertisement Increasingly, the families replaced those who departed came from Ramot Eshkol, the Haredi neighborhood to Givat Hamivtar's west. Since the latter half of the 1990s, many relatively well-off people from Ramot Eshkol began buying homes in the secular neighborhood. One secular school in Givat Hamivtar, Yad Hamoreh, has managed to hang on because it was declared a regional school, which allows it to receive students from several other north Jerusalem neighborhoods. Unlike so many Jerusalem secular families in their situation, the Bar-Ons and their four children did not move to the coast, to the greater Tel Aviv area, although they had considered the possibility. Instead they moved to Beit Hakerem - the neighborhood on Jerusalem's western side that so many secular residents have come to regard as the city's "last secular island," as Bar-On calls it. She and other people living there say Beit Hakerem is the only thing keeping them in the capital, which is becoming increasingly ultra-Orthodox each year. "Women can wear shorts here, and you can start the car on a Saturday without worrying about disturbing the neighbors," says Ephraim Schlein, a departed Beit Hakerem native who returned there in the 1990s. Many of his neighbors seem to share the sentiment. Schlein even compares the quarter to the boy with his finger in the dyke. By this analogy, when Beit Hakerem falls, there will be no stopping Jerusalem's "Haredization." The flow of people leaving other Jerusalem neighborhoods because of their increasingly ultra-Orthodox nature has placed a strain on Beit Hakerem's schools. The fact that the area is home to some of the city's most prestigious educational institutions may also play a part in this. On top of that, the veteran quarter has seen a brand-new secular neighborhood spring up to its east: Ramat Beit Hakerem. This neighborhood has 2,000 housing units, but no schools at all, despite the high percentage of young couples living there. Haim Rubenstein, who oversees Jerusalem's elementary education system, says this is the result of a miscalculation on the part of City Hall. The new apartments - which come with relatively steep price tags - were expected to attract older owners rather than young couples with children. And indeed, many of them were bought by prosperous older businessmen - who then turned around and rented them out to young couples, he says. "Still, we're talking about only 30 pupils who have to be sent to schools in other parts of town," he says. Rubinstein nonetheless concedes that Beit Hakerem could use a new school. But in the past few years alone, Jerusalem has seen five secular schools close down in other parts of the city. City officials are understandably reluctant to open a new school at a time when other ones are closing down. Tali Yogev is fighting the city on this catch-22. She is a member of a forum of parents and educators from Beit Hakerem who organized as a pressure group last year to persuade the city to solve the local education situation. "Distributing pupils from Beit Hakerem to schools in other neighborhoods is not a solution," she says. Related articles: Matchmaker, find me an affordable 3-room apartment Torah with treadmills Ultra-Orthodox set to protest against division of Jerusalem From Haredim to leftists, regulars mourn end of J'lem's only gay bar More Jewish World news and features Bookmark to del.icio.us   Auschwitz gimmick U.K. Tory chief draws fire for calling school visits to Auschwitz a gimmick. 5 Stops in Galilee Rock hares, peach orchards, a taste of the past, and walking the Jesus trail.   1.   Still plenty of places to live in Jerusalem 07:04  |  Shmuel Addams 20/02/08   2.   this is what israel DEMANDS it`s neighbors accept... 08:01  |  eric 20/02/08   3.   Haredim? NOT IN MY BACKYARD!! I WANT MY MTV! 08:09  |  Dr. Bittulman 20/02/08   4.   Give them to Abbas 08:12  |  Didi 20/02/08   5.   secular families 08:23  |  mike 20/02/08   6.   Hey Eric, Then It Would Be Like All The Others 09:09  |  Brad 20/02/08   7.   Ghetto`s in Jerusalem, yak ! 09:41  |  Sara 20/02/08   8.   Untouchables 10:40  |  Dollar Down 20/02/08   9.   secular families leave J.lem, ultra-orthodox : take over: 10:40  |  jacqueline yaffe 20/02/08   10.   what a sorry state of afairs 10:42  |  danny 20/02/08   11.   Chareidi losers 11:12  |  S 20/02/08   12.   ACTUALLY 11:20  |  Allon 20/02/08   13.   ACTUALLY 11:20  |  Allon 20/02/08   14.   ACTUALLY 11:20  |  Allon 20/02/08   15.   @Eric 11:22  |  Jimmitree 20/02/08   16.   i guess black garb e.g. ayayoallaseventually blackend the insides 12:05  |  whitey 20/02/08   17.   Misleading 12:24  |  Michael 20/02/08   18.   Pisgat Zeev, French Hill, Gilo... 13:31  |  Jason 20/02/08   19.   cant wait to see `Last Secular Stronghold in TA` 13:31  |  david london 20/02/08   20.   It`s the money, stupid! 14:30  |  Zvi 20/02/08   21.   An advice from a swedish goy/gentile 15:34  |  Suetonius 20/02/08   22.   It was MEANT to happen this way. Muhammed predicted it! 16:09  |  ME Observer 20/02/08   23.   I dont understand all this fuss here.. 16:17  |  Nethanel 20/02/08   24.   shmuel tsodek - armon hanatsiv is also secular! 16:41  |  michelle 20/02/08   25.   12. we note thqat allon doesn`t choose to live in the stolen land 17:05  |  say what fool? 20/02/08   26.   TO ALL NONHAREDIM: 19:53  |  Yechiel Haredi 20/02/08   27.   fear lurks deep in the hearts of man 21:16  |  ecr 20/02/08   28.   With a Haredi mayor, what do you expect? 21:59  |  Mike 20/02/08   29.   to all Haredim, and especially to Yechiel 01:57  |  Asher 21/02/08   30.   Baruch H! May it be 22000 Kedoshim surroundin the temple mount 02:01  |  Regular Joe 21/02/08   31.   Haredim would never say such things about you!! 03:24  |  Shimon 21/02/08   32.   boy with his finger in the dyke 04:05  |  Dyke Dike 21/02/08   33.   swedish goy 07:39  |  jacqueline yaffe 21/02/08   34.   # 6 to brad in canada 08:56  |  eric 21/02/08   35.   Stop whining about the Haredim and start having babies. 09:07  |  Bartley Kulp 21/02/08   36.   # 15 to jimmitree in jerusalem 09:20  |  eric 21/02/08   37.   hallucinations 12:09  |  eddie 21/02/08   38.   Whats the problem, they are also citizens no? 14:12  |  jon 21/02/08   39.   Hatred of a fellow Jew is a CAUSE, terrorism, the AFFECT (R"L) 02:56  |  Yaakov 22/02/08   40.   No surprise... 02:02  |  Motic 24/02/08

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