Religious Demographic Changes in Jerusalem

When I first came to Israel in 1997 my impression was that the country was predominantly secular. At that time four out of every five immigrants were from Russia and these immigrants had little interest in religion. So in my classes, I've given the impression that things haven't changed all that much.  I was wrong. I realize Jerusalem is its own unique case, but I've been reading a lot here about the profound changes in religious demographics.  There are about 800,000 people in Jerusalem. About 35% are Muslim Palestinians, 31% secular Jews, 31% ultra-orthodox Jews, and 3% Christians and other affiliations. But the fastest-growing segment of the population is the ultra-orthodox Jews. About 65% of the school kids in Jerusalem now are from ultra orthodox families. You know the 18th century Eastern European black suits with the big black hats,  hair side locks for the men and the scarves/wigs for the women . . . and lots of 21st century double-wide baby strollers! This is creating some tensions as secular Israelis are leaving Jerusalem, to the tune of about 20,000 in the last seven years, to go to other parts of the country.  I've been following the politics a little in Haaretz and Time Magazine where the recent government coalition fell apart over the draft. In Israel today, all men serve 3 years and women serve 2 years in the military. The ultra-orthodox are exempt from having to serve and are even subsidized by the state to study Torah. That was my biggest surprise. Unemployment among orthodox men is well over 50% as they receive financial incentives from  the state to study at the Yeshivas. So this summer, there were several proposals requiring some kind of government service, but all of them blew apart. There's also pressure on businesses to close on the Sabbath, to take women's pictures off public billboards, and even to have separate seats in the back of the bus for women, as well as separate rail cars in the above ground rail. Some secular Jews are up in arms over the issue, so much so that some of the tensions between the Jews and Arabs have been moved to the back burner. So to my students, when I said that Israel was much more secular than they typically imagine, at least for Jerusalem, that is no longer the case.