A heated discussion about American Charedi aliyah and their place in Israeli society played out on social media over the past week. It reminded me of a recent experience that my high school-age son had.

My son was waiting for the light rail. When it arrived, it was crowded as usual. As the doors opened, he waited for the passengers inside to step off before getting on. He didn’t want to push his way through, and besides, there are signs on the light rail doors instructing people to do just as he was doing.

As he stepped on, an older woman started scolding him in fast, harsh Hebrew. She accused my son of being a leech on society, selfish, and a few other choice terms along those lines.

Why? Because he took a little longer to get on the light rail, ironically out of consideration for others?

It’s because of what my son was wearing.

My son goes to a Charedi Yeshiva Tichonit, a high school that is Charedi in the sense that the students dress like Charedim and spend the majority of the day studying Torah in the lomdishe style of classical Charedi yeshivas. At the same time, the school offers a full general studies curriculum, including bagruyot (and not just the bare minimum for compliance; my son is taking five-unit math and physics this year, for instance).

Since he was wearing the standard Charedi “uniform” of black pants and a white shirt, that woman applied whatever she believed about Charedim to him.

The reality is that there is diversity within........

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