An Israeli Town’s Campaign To Rename Sodom Street
The residents of Ashkelon in Southern Israel like to think of themselves as good, upstanding folk. Which is why one local street sign has become a cause of great annoyance and embarrassment.
For as long as most Ashkelon residents can remember, they have had a Sodom Street. Sodom, if you recall, was one of the two cities said in the Book of Genesis to have been destroyed by God for its immorality.
For years, led by residents of the streets near Sodom Street who were constantly the subject of cutting jokes about their morality, the people of Ashkelon have been campaigning to change the name, and the local media reports they have now succeeded.
The replacement name is as innocuous as they come — Metar, the Biblical word for chords that support tents.
A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen
I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.
At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse..
Readers like you make it all possible. Support our work by becoming a Forward Member and connect with our journalism and your community.
— Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO