Love life like yourself ?!?!?

JPOST: Friction between two religious communities in Ramat Beit Shemesh has surfaced once again, this time over who should take responsibility for the mikve (ritual bath) in a neighborhood that is equally inhabited by both haredi and  national religious communities, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The tension is focusing on a mikve that opened roughly two years ago on Nahal Dolev and was divided in two last summer by the city’s Religious Council so each community could follow its own interpretation of Jewish law.

However, according to women who came forward to the Post this week, and to numerous posts on a Ramat Beit Shemesh community Web site, haredi “balaniot” – bath attendants whose job is to check that women are properly prepared for their immersion – have now taken over the entire mikve and are making life unpleasant for women who do not share their more stringent beliefs.

“The mikve is supposed to be an uplifting and spiritual experience, but since these balaniot have taken over, I know many women who have chosen to go to other neighborhoods,” said one Ramat Beit Shemesh resident, who asked to remain anonymous.

She told the Post that during her last visit to the Dolev mikve, the attendant had scrubbed her elbows so hard to remove the dried skin that she was in pain for many days afterwards. Other women described similar incidents, with some women leaving the establishment bleeding and in serious physical pain.

“I have been going to the mikve for more than 13 years, and that experience has never happened to me before,” said the woman. “Women go to the mikve to cleanse themselves and so they can be with their husbands; there is no reason for them to go there and get hurt.”

She asserted that it was “all part of an attempt by the haredi community to take over the area.”

Taken from and read more: http://www.jpost.com/JewishWorld/JewishNews/Article.aspx?id=173839

YOU SAW IT HERE FIRST: Plastic surgery in Iran part I ‘Want to be a virgin again???’

B.B.C.: Although born in France, Arab culture and traditions are central to Sonia’s life. Life was strict growing up under the watchful eyes of a large traditional Arab family.

Virginity certificates

“I thought of suicide after my first sexual relationship,” she says, “because I couldn’t see any other solution.” But Sonia did find a solution.

She eventually went to the Paris clinic of Dr Marc Abecassis to have surgery to restore her hymen. She says she will never reveal her secret to anyone, especially her husband to be.

“I consider this is my sex life and I don’t have to tell anyone about it,” she says. It’s men that are obliging her to lie about it, she says.

Dr Abecassis performs a “hymenoplasty” as it’s called, at least two to three times a week. Re-connecting the tissue of the hymen takes about 30 minutes under local anaesthetic.

He says the average age of the patient is about 25, and they come from all social backgrounds. Although the surgery is performed in clinics around the world, Dr Abecassis is one of the few Arab surgeons who talks openly about it. Some of the women come to him because they need virginity certificates in order to marry.

“She can be in danger because sometimes it’s a matter of traditions and family,” says Dr Abecassis. “I believe we as doctors have no right to decide for her or judge her.”

Taken from and read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8641099.stm