ShalomNewYork.com

“It was into this reverent hush, two Sabbaths ago, that 500 cheerful American and European Baptists drew up in 20 buses, having come, on tourism bent, through the Mandelbaum Gate from Jordanian Jerusalem. The Orthodox Jews of Mea She’arim were dumfounded with outrage—and none more than a lean, hawk-eyed man who has a fair claim to the title of the world’s most orthodox Orthodox Jew. On occasion, he even shows up in sackcloth and ashes. He is Amram Blau, 63, leader of a fanatical Mea She’arim sect called the Neturei Karta (guardians of the city). Sabbath elapsed. Then Blau exhorted his disciples, in broad-brimmed black hats, to loose volleys of stones, pelting city buses, breaking windows and injuring some cops. Sixteen of his zealots are awaiting trial. “ more@TIME.com