Miriam Shear

Miriam Shear (b. c. 1956) is an American-Israeli woman who, on November 24, 2006, on a five-week vacation to Israel, was allegedly attacked and beaten by a group of Haredi Jewish men (an ad hoc "modesty patrol"^[1]) on her way to pray at the Western Wall while riding a bus in Jerusalem. She refused to give up her seat and move to the back of the bus, after a disagreement as to whether she should sit separate from the men. The case is still being investigated.

While Egged Bus Cooperative does operate sex-segregated "Mehadrin"^[2] bus lines within Israel, the route Shear rode was a publicly-funded non-segregated line. The bus driver contends there was no violence, but that he did see a crowd around Shear and stopped the bus to inform passengers that his line was not sex-segregated. Egged's Mehadrin routes have come under heavy criticism since the incident, being compared to former racial segregation in the United States.^[3]

See also

• Mehadrin bus lines

References

1. ^ Woman beaten by 'Modesty Patrol' on Jerusalem Bus, Fox News, Dec. 20, 2006
2. ^ Egged launches 11 'mehadrin' bus lines, Jerusalem Post, Dec. 1, 2006
3. ^ Destination: Montgomery, 1955, Jerusalem Post, Jan. 20, 2007

External links

• Woman beaten on Jerusalem bus for refusing to move to rear seat, Ha'aretz
• Women taking a stand to sit up front, Globe and Mail
• Elizabeth Dwoskin: The Fall of the House of Rubashkin, Village Voice, December 3, 2008
• Mrs. Miriam Shear Responds, Emes Ve-Emunah, December 4, 2008

Persondata
Name	Shear, Miriam
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Date of birth	1956
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