Municipal rabbis in the Israeli city of Bnei Brak have moved to separate men and women on two of the city’s busiest sidewalks. The project has been put on hold after heavy criticism, but it has set off a national debate about religion and public space.
DR reports that the rabbis of Bnei Brak, just east of Tel Aviv, decided that men and women should walk separately on the two busiest streets. The municipality planned to mark the division with signs and barriers.
According to Israeli media cited by DR, the project was already underway when it was paused. Haaretz reported in July 2026 that public funds were being used for the segregation work.
The Times of Israel reported that the city was set to implement the separation on two main streets, and that the plan was drawing public backlash. Ynetnews reported that the rabbis’ directive concerned separate sidewalks near wedding and event halls. Per The Jerusalem Post, Bnei Brak councilman Yisrael Mendlowitz condemned the municipality’s project.
DR notes that the decision came only weeks after the Knesset passed a law expanding gender-separated teaching at Israeli higher education institutions. The option now covers master’s and doctoral programs, not only bachelor’s degrees. The law builds on a 2021 Supreme Court decision that allowed limited gender-separated bachelor’s programs.
Shuki Friedman, chief executive of the Jewish People Policy Institute in Jerusalem, told DR that anyone treating the two developments as separate incidents is missing the larger picture. He said that if the movement toward extremism and exclusion is not slowed, even hardliners in Tehran’s regime would envy the religious restrictions placed on Israeli public space.
A fast-growing population
Figures from the Israel Democracy Institute put the haredi population at about 1,452,350 people in 2025, up from 750,000 in 2009, with annual growth of roughly 4.2 percent. Israel’s Central Bureau of Statistics forecasts that the group will pass two million in 2033. As reported by DR, 46 percent of ultra-Orthodox men are without work, against 48 percent a decade earlier.
Military service is mandatory in Israel for both men and women, but yeshiva students have been exempted for decades. DR reports that the dispute intensified after the war in Gaza broke out in 2023. In 2024, Israel’s Supreme Court ruled that the broad exemption could no longer stand, prompting large protests.
Earlier in August 2026, the Knesset finance committee allocated $82.6 million to the ultra-Orthodox education system, including transport for yeshiva students and teacher training. Friedman expects the conflict to grow ahead of Israel’s parliamentary election in late October.
