Over the past few weeks, I have found myself thinking about the growing tensions between different segments of Israeli society, particularly between the Haredi and Hiloni communities.

The louder the debate becomes, the easier it is to view people as labels instead of individuals.

A few weeks ago, my cousin and her husband were visiting Israel, and I spent Shabbat with them. After Shabbat, we were waiting for our driver to pick us up.

When he arrived, he briefly stopped in the road before pulling over. Before he could fully move his vehicle, the cars behind him began honking aggressively.

The driver immediately started repositioning his car, but one man was furious.

He rolled down his window and began shouting. The driver apologized and moved further over. The man became even angrier. The driver apologized again.

What struck me was not the traffic inconvenience. It was the response.

The driver was a Haredi man with peyot, soft-spoken and humble. The kind of person who would rather say “I’m sorry” than argue, even when he believed he had done nothing wrong.

Yet the anger kept coming.

As the furious driver finally sped away, he responded to the apology with an obscene gesture.

Moments later, another driver passed and sarcastically thanked the Haredi man for “leaving so much room” on the road.

I remember thinking: What........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)