Welcome to the Chez Israel where watching T.V. is prohibited, where plates need to be buried and sex only to be had through a sheet.

These are some of the novelties that one will encounter at Israeli hotels following strict ultra-orthodox practices for religious zealot guests:

Following is the list of modesty regulations the hotels have committed to keep:

* Television

“The television equipment will be disconnected, at the very least by removing the cable and closing it away in storage, as well as disconnecting the central control in reception, such that no one can turn it on. The television itself will be covered or closed in a closet. A guest who does not observe the Torah and mitzvot, or someone who claims he has a television at home and his looks prove this, will be directed to a rabbi who will authorize that he be connected to the television.”

* Internet

“The wireless internet will be locked in the whole of the hotel compound. The computers in the lobby and other places accessible to hotel guests will not have internet access. Internet cards sold by the hotel will be available only to (married) adults.”

* Pool

“It will not be possible to observe bathing from any location. Male bathing will be overseen by a male lifeguard, and female bathing will be overseen by a female lifeguard.”

* Bars

“There will be a separate bar men and a separate bar for women in the dining room and anywhere else. In the hand washing area, a separation between men and women is also needed.”

* Hotel employees

“Women to be dressed modestly”

* Beds

“The beds will be separable in the rooms, or, otherwise, an extra bed may be added.”

Of course, it would be wrong and false to suggest that this is a normal hotel in Israel or that fundamentalist Jews are unique in their extremism. That is not true. But I highlight the absurdity of this to underline two points: One, contrary to Israel’s pronouncements that it is a secular state, that is from from the truth. Rabbis in Israel play an incredible role in public life from deciding who can get married [Israel has no civil marriage] to whether can continue to operate. Rabbis influence and in many cases control every aspect of Israeli society.

Second, Jews have their fundamentalists too. Whether Jewish fundamentalists are the most extreme is a matter of judgment, but for all the talk about “Radical Islam,” an increasingly Orthodox Jewish Israel does not bode well for the secularists in Israel and the current state is proof that religious dogmatism is not unique to Muslims [to say nothing about fundamentalism in America.]