JERUSALEMITES VOTED yesterday for a new mayor in elections that many residents believe were the last chance to stop the ultra-Orthodox takeover of the city.
Local elections were taking place across the country, but the tight race, with so much at stake, focused attention on Jerusalem.
The percentage of ultra-Orthodox residents of Jerusalem, distinctive in their black coats and hats, has been gradually rising over the last few decades, due partly to a high birthrate.
As secular families have fled to nearby suburban satellite communities, or the more attractive metropolis of Tel Aviv on the Mediterranean coast, secular schools have closed down. For an increasing number of non-religious Jerusalem residents the question has become when, and not if, they should join the exodus.
Campaigning to reverse the trend was the frontrunner in the polls, millionaire high-tech investor Nir Barkat, the head of the Jerusalem council opposition.
The ultra-Orthodox candidate is seasoned politician Rabbi Meir Porush, Israel's former deputy housing minister.
The two other challengers, both way behind in the polls, are the Russian-born oligarch Arkady Gaydamak, who owns Jerusalem's top football team, Beitar, and Dan Biron, standing for the Green Leaf legalise marijuana party.
Rabbi Porush has narrowed the gap in the polls and a close contest was likely to be decided by voter turnout.
The ultra-Orthodox turnout is traditionally high, with families heeding rabbinical injunctions to vote. In contrast, only a third of non ultra-Orthodox residents voted in the 2003 municipal election - resulting in a victory for Jerusalem's first ultra-Orthodox mayor, Uri Lupolianski.
In the ultra-Orthodox neighbourhoods the slick party machine was in operation, with mini-vans ferrying voters to and from the polling stations. Posters of Rabbi Porush hung from balconies and the streets were littered with Porush pamphlets.
During the campaign the ultra-Orthodox candidate reached out to secular and modern-Orthodox voters, appealing to them not to judge him by the length of his beard. He even used a benign cartoon image of himself, similar to Papa Smurf.
But his opponents claim Rabbi Porush let the cat out of the bag when, a few weeks ago , he told a closed gathering in Yiddish, the language of choice for many of the ultra-Orthodox community, that in 10 years there won't be a secular mayor any where in Israel.
The Barkat campaign made this statement the focus of its campaign as Jerusalemites went to the poll, arguing that the soul of the city is at stake and that a non-vote is effectively a vote for the rabbi.
Palestinians make up a third of Jerusalem's 750,000 population but the overwhelming majority boycott local and national polls, refusing to recognise Israel's annexation of Arab neighbourhoods captured in 1967.
This contest was described by some as a culture war and Israel's top-selling newspaper, Yediot Aharonot, addressed the issue thus in an editorial: "Jerusalem's story tomorrow will be the story of Israel in the near future."