Chassidic singer Motty Steinmetz became an unwitting hero in a fight he never anticipated. But it was about far more than a concert
Photos: Itzik Blenitzky, Mickey Shpitzer
It was slated to be one of those typical bein hazmanim outdoor concerts where the singer has to balance between electrifying the crowd and keeping a level of decorum. But last Wednesday’s Motty Steinmetz concert in Afula’s amphitheater generated enough fireworks by its very happening to light up the sky.
It was a last-minute scramble following a week of court injunctions and appeals, instigated by the Israel Women’s Network feminist lobby, who petitioned against the separate seating at a municipality-sponsored event. It is inconceivable, they claimed, that in the State of Israel in 2019, a local authority should fund an event with mandatory separation of genders.
And Motty Steinmetz? He became an unwitting hero in a fight he never anticipated, and the focus of a secular public who, ironically, became exposed to his from-the-heart music in a way he never expected.
Every summer, local municipalities all over Israel sponsor cultural events for their residents. When the Nazareth District Court ruled on Tishah B’Av that the chareidi community may not hold a city-sponsored gender-segregated musical event at a public park — even as the Afula municipality supported the event, stating that out of over 300 sponsored events this summer, the city’s chareidi community was entitled to one that met its standards — Steinmetz made his own headlines by declaring he was canceling his performance.
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