Segregated buses and carloads of Orthodox families flock toward Israel’s separate beaches during the summer season. Believe it or now not, swimming lovers can discover a frum beach in each major city alongside the Holy Land’s lengthy coastline. There are even separate beaches in Eilat and alongside the Dead Sea.
While not every seaside is hermetically blanketed against occasional breaches in modesty, the situation on the complete is satisfactorily mehadrin to attract loads of thousands of Gd-fearing Jews to Israel’s beaches each yr.
As an avid beachgoer myself, let me explain the way it works. Usually, half of the day is allotted to ladies and the alternative 1/2 to men. The shifts turn on alternating days to afford extra flexibility. But there are also seashores in which women and men can effortlessly enjoy separate seashores at the same time.
The beaches are run via the municipalities and are remarkably maintained and freed from clutter. There are adequate trash packing containers for Coke cans and soiled diapers, and city employees clean up at the cease of the day. The seashores additionally have water faucets and seaside showers, which can be almost as fun as the ocean itself. By pulling a chain, an invigorating circulate of cold water splashes over your head, causing your muscle tissues to shiver.
Religious families with a pioneering spirit who want to enjoy their own family outing collectively with the aid of the sea can find many stunning strips of isolated beaches along the shoreline with no person in sight. However, these dreamy stretches don’t have lifeguard stations and may be dangerous due to sturdy undercurrents. (Every year, there are tragic drownings.) The separate beaches operated by way of the municipalities have experienced lifeguards and put up black flags to warn bathers when turbulent currents and tidewaters make swimming volatile.
What about the trouble of male lifeguards scanning the waters for hours special for girls? While halachic authorities agree that a girl lifeguard is ideal, maximum poskim allow ladies to go to a separate seaside if the lifeguards are guys, including that women bathers have to dress modestly and put on beach robes while not in the water.
The lengthy wood mechitza that separate frum beaches from neighboring mixed beaches are available in unique lengths. The ones that amplify the total width of the beach into the ocean provide for a total department. Others go away the beachfront adjoining the water open so that secular joggers or leisurely strollers can transverse the frum beach as nicely.
While non-spiritual beachgoers usually admire their Orthodox brothers and sisters’ privateness, I was at the seashore. Simultaneously, a conceited lady or two has jogged throughout the seaside, whether purposefully or now not, causing a minor commotion. But for a devoutly non-secular Jew, venturing onto the street or traveling a shopping center is regularly no less risky.
If you are planning a journey to the Holy Land, here is a brief rundown of some of Israel’s separate seashores in numerous cities:
Tel Aviv: The Nordau Beach has all of the facilities you can ask for besides a kosher MacDonald’s. The separation among women and men is as much as par, and the seaside became presented with international “Blue Flag” popularity for meeting pinnacle requirements. Parking charges money, but the beach itself is unfastened.
Bat-Yam:
The mechitza is hermetic, without taking walks from the separate seashore to the combined seaside. You technique the seaside thru a paved pathway, and the seaside’s maintenance is deserving of reward.
Herzliya: The seaside is lovely and clean, attracting many site visitors from nearby Bnei Brak. The seaside is set off in a secluded cove. However, it lacks a mechitza, and an occasional woman can be seen.
Rishon L’Zion: This separate seashore has grown to be very popular, boasting renovated paths with clean accessibility, a playground for children, seaside chairs for hire, and a mechitza extending into the ocean.
Netanya: The frum beach is simply throughout the road from the Sanz Chassidic network. Nonetheless, it’s far a shlep descending the slope and long stairway to the shore, and while the secular seashores of the city are pristine, this one is unfortunately unkempt. As far as modesty goes, it’s far glatt kosher.
Haifa: If you have to go to someone within the Rambam Hospital in Haifa, the close by the frum seaside has calm, serene waters due to its lengthy breakwater. The seaside is remoted from different beaches and the busy Haifa port.
Tiberias: If you’re visiting the Tomb of Rebbe Meir Baal HaNess, you can take a clean dip inside the Kinneret simply throughout the street. There is a front rate. However, the facilities are amazing, with shaded areas and living room chairs, and a full mechitza. It is right for households, considering that males and females can experience the Galilee Sea’s paranormal waters at equal times at opposite sides of the cove without having to watch for alternating hours. The seashore itself is a touch stony, so convey tongs when you have sensitive ft.
The Dead Sea: Men and girls can experience entire separation simultaneously on the clean and properly-kept seashore among the Nirvana and Moriah Hotels. The beach has a full range of centers, but it’s far frequently crowded with busloads of day tourists.
Eilat: The separate beach is alternatively rocky, but it has an extraordinary view of the Red Sea Gulf and surrounding mountains. Enjoy!
