Around 250 women and girls from Beit Shemesh held a "women's only" Flash Mob on Friday.
Brenda Ganot, one of the organizers, explained to Arutz Sheva that one of the purposes of the dance was "to show another face of Beit Shemesh - that Beit Shemesh is not just the extremists you see in the news. Another purpose is to show the extremists that they don't own the city and that we are not afraid to express ourselves publicly: If you spit at us when we walk down the street, then we’ll dance down the street. This was about cooperation between all different types of women from different backgrounds, showing that we can get together and do something fun and empowering. We are free to dance in our own city."
Ganot says that they don't feel afraid of the responses of their neighbors, but emphasizes that they did not hold this event in order to provoke. "We won’t live in fear", she explains, "but this was not meant to be a provocation, which is why we danced in Old Beit Shemesh, far away from the troublesome hareidi religious neighborhoods."
Regarding the dance itself, Ganot tells Arutz Sheva that most of the women and girls who participated, as well as the organizers, are religious. "This included the wives and daughters of a few local rabbis", she says, "We wouldn’t have done it if we didn’t think it was kosher. We didn’t dictate a dress code or a religious test, since the message is that all women, regardless of their religious level or dress, are free to express themselves in our city and deserve to be treated with dignity and respect."
