Monday, December 20, 2010

Religion and State in Israel - December 20, 2010 (Section 1)

Religion and State in Israel

December 20, 2010 (Section 1) (see also Section 2)

If you are reading in email or RSS feed, please click here to read ONLINE

Editor – Joel Katz

Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.


Special Comprehensive Coverage on IDF Conversion Bill

Conversion bill passes first hurdle

By Rebecca Anna Stoil and Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com December 16, 2010

The hotly debated IDF conversion bill sailed through its preliminary reading in the Knesset plenum on Wednesday, but its future remains uncertain, with a coalition crisis threatening to erupt.

...In the meantime, Shas hopes that it can still derail Rotem’s bill. Faction members hope that Amar will be able to reach an agreement with IDF Chief Rabbi Brig.-Gen. Rafi Peretz and the government that will satisfy Netanyahu and prevent Likud from supporting the bill in its future readings.

“It’s good that the bill passed the preliminary reading, but what is really needed is that the law be enforced among marriage registrars who refuse to recognize the conversions conducted not only in the IDF, but also by the State Conversion Authority,” ITIM head Rabbi Seth Farber said.


The IDF conversion law's unwilling beneficiary

By Anshel Pfeffer Opinion www.haaretz.com December 17, 2010

Why were the Haredi politicians so worked up this week about the Military Conversion Law?

...It's about economics just as much as religion. The claims by Haredi politicians that giving the IDF Rabbinate powers to perform conversions splits the giyur process into two separate tracks is disingenuous at best.

...But it is not just the private giyur industry which is afraid to lose out here. A much more fundamental issue is at stake. In recent decades, the Haredi-controlled batei din (rabbinical courts) have totally redefined the meaning of conversion, reducing acceptance into the Jewish People to conformity of a long checklist of halakhic demands.


Could Latest Conversion Flap Bring Down Israel’s Government?

By Gary Rosenblatt Opinion www.thejewishweek.com December 15, 2010

Placing full control of the conversion process with the Chief Rabbinate would be a major setback in the effort to integrate hundreds of thousands of Russian Israeli citizens into a full Jewish life, the liberal groups argued. It could also be a further obstacle to having non-Orthodox converts be accepted in Israel, should they choose to move there.


After conversion bill, parties push other measures

By Rebecca Anna Stoil and Gil Hoffman www.jpost.com December 17, 2010

One bill that the faction official said that the [Israel Beiteinu] party “really wants to advance” is the law that would establish civil unions for all Israeli citizens, and not just for two individuals who are both listed as having no religion.


Chief Rabbi Amar forms c'tee to advise him on IDF conversions


Chief Rabbi establishes IDF conversions committee


End conversion monopoly

By Prof. Yedidia Stern Opinion www.ynetnews.com December 16, 2010

Sadly, since the chief rabbi has abandoned his responsibility to prevent the oppression of converts (hona'at ha-ger), Israel's public officials must now take action to put an end to such oppression.

It is imperative that the government of Israel fend off political pressure, act morally, and assert that whoever converted to Judaism in the IDF is a Jew, full stop.


Nat'l Union MK Uri Ariel, why did you vote against the IDF conversion bill?


IDF soldiers undergoing conversions still worry bills won't pass


Bills allowing IDF conversions pass first test in early Knesset reading


IDF conversions pass preliminary reading; Shas threatens to quit coalition


IDF Chief Rabbi: 'Splitting conversion authorities not good for soldiers'


Reform, Conservative movement leaders laud conversion bill


Chief IDF rabbi says he opposes conversion law


IDF conversion bill passes preliminary reading in Knesset


IDF conversions pass preliminary reading


IDF conversion bill passes first reading in Knesset


MKs to vote on IDF conversions


Yisrael Beiteinu facing off against Shas over IDF conversion bill


Shas: We won't let Israel Beiteinu tear nation apart

Shas Rabbi Ovadia Yosef expresses need to solve problem of conversion


Livni: Netanyahu taken captive by Shas


Knesset set to vote on IDF conversion bill


Report: MK Rotem to Cite Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's Conversion Views


Shas MK: Beginning of government's end


FM: IDF conversion bill will come to Knesset 'as is'


Livni slams Rabbinate for not accepting IDF conversions


FM Lieberman: No changing or postponing IDF conversion bill


Lieberman: IDF conversion bill will be presented on Wednesday


Knesset to vote on military conversion bill tomorrow


Yishai slams attacks on those ‘attempting to uphold Torah’


Netanyahu working toward IDF conversion compromise


The Orthodox tyranny

Haaretz Editorial


Netanyahu: We recognize IDF soldiers' conversion


Netanyahu's coalition in crisis over conversion law


Netanyahu trapped between his coalition partners


Conversion wars: Netanyahu is fooling someone (or just waiting for miracle)


The Rabbinical Assembly on Conversion Bill


Masorti Foundation for Conservative Judaism in Israel letter on Conversion Bill


Letter to PM Netanyahu from Conservative/Masorti & Reform movements on Conversion Bill


The Conversion Crisis: The Chief Rabbi of Israel vs. The Israel Defense Forces?!

By Prof. Yedidia Stern Opinion


An Open Letter About the Conversion Bill

By Lynn Schusterman Opinion

End: Special Comprehensive Coverage on IDF Conversion Bill


Married in Cyprus? See you in Rabbinical Court

By Rivkah Lubitch www.ynetnews.com December 13, 2010

Did you think that if you married in Cyprus you wouldn’t have to appear before a rabbinical court in order to divorce? You were wrong.

And now there’s something new: You thought that if you married in Cyprus all property disputes between you and your spouse would be adjudicated in civil court?

Wrong again. In a lengthy and reasoned decision, the Netanya Rabbinical Court ruled that rabbinical courts have jurisdiction over contested property and alimony cases even if a couple married in a civil ceremony.


Certifiably Jewish

By Dina Kraft www.hadassahmagazine.org October/November 2010

Rachel and Itai (not their real names) had become embroiled in a larger controversy. An increasingly suspicious and stringent rabbinical court system—the government body in charge of overseeing marriage, divorce, conversion and burial—is questioning the personal status of Jews, especially those from abroad.

The couple found help through the hotline of a nonprofit organization called the Jewish Life Information Center, known by its Hebrew acronym, ITIM. Founded eight years ago by New York-born Orthodox Rabbi Seth Farber, ITIM helps Jews navigate the rabbinate’s bureaucracy.


I am not alone

By Emily Levy Shochat Opinion www.jpost.com December 17, 2010

The writer is the chairperson of the Masorti Movement in Israel.

Freedom of religious expression and religious pluralism is the major area of concern for me at this time. That may not be surprising, as I am the chairperson of the Masorti (Conservative) Movement in Israel, but my concern is not parochial.

My concern is for the very essence of our country – a country defined as the homeland for the Jewish people, but one in which not all Jews are respected and treated equally.


The Unorthodox Solution: Embracing Pluralism and Reason in Israeli Society

By Daniel Sokatch www.huffingtonpost.com December 17, 2010

Daniel Sokatch is CEO of the New Israel Fund.

Israel must debate, re-examine and reform the relationship between religion and state. It must establish a civil sphere to provide every Israeli with freedom of religion and conscience.

Citizenship and personal identity must be a matter of impartial legal procedure, no longer held hostage to the decrees of ultra-Orthodox authorities.

All streams of Judaism -- and for that matter, Christianity and Islam -- must find welcome in a democratic Israel.


Religious Coercion, the “Free Society” and Alternative Ways – The Religious and Secular Divide in Israel Today

www.fnst-jerusalem.org December 18, 2010

“Only a new political movement backed by an engaged and determined civil society and civil society organizations are able to change the status quo of the orthodox monopoly and religious coercion in Israel”.

This was one of the main conclusions of the final seminar in 2010 of the ‘Forum for Liberal Thought’, a discussion forum devoted to promote and highlight liberal values/thought and policies and a long-lasting partner of the foundation in Jerusalem.


Rabbis to propose Jewish law be considered in Knesset

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com December 13, 2010

During the opening session, to be attended by Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger, cabinet ministers and members of the Knesset, Arusi will propose his Jewish law renaissance, which besides the mandatory evaluation of Knesset bills, will determine that every High Court of Justice ruling must relate to Jewish law as well, and that all judges undergo special training in Jewish law.


Jewish Monetary Law Should be Israeli Law

By David Lev www.israelnationalnews.com December 16, 2010

This past week, the Netzach Yisrael organization, under Rabbi Arusi's leadership, held its 20th Annual World Conference on Monetary Law, discussing and promoting various aspects of Jewish (Halakhic) law on monetary issues.

But the conference is more than about just halakhic minutiae, as Rabbi Arusi told Israel National News; it's about promoting Jewish monetary law to be the law of the land.


Religion vs. State

'Law and Disorder' (2nd part)

By Yossi Verter www.haaretz.com December 17, 2010

A few minutes after the Knesset passed the army conversion bill in its preliminary reading, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman staged an impromptu press conference. He lavished praise but also brandied a stick.

This stick, bearing the words "religion and state," could break the coalition's foundation. In the absence of peace negotiations (thank heavens, there is no danger of peace), religious matters are the time bomb threatening Netanyahu's coalition from the right.


Religion in the Jewish State

By Professor Ira Sharkansky Opinion http://blogs.jpost.com December 15, 2010

The writer is a Hebrew University Political Science professor.

Judaism is many things, with an inclination to argument being one of them. A Jew should not be surprised at challenges to any of the above.

The advantage to a tribal community is that membership is not dependent on belief, or holding a particular posture. Antagonists can accuse one another of not being proper Jews, but any statement that a Jew is not a Jew lacks significance. And rest assured that I will not question the halachic status of any who choose to quarrel.


Jewish Agency strike threat over Sharansky's new deputy

By Lior Dattel http://english.themarker.com December 13, 2010

Employees of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization have declared a labor dispute, and are even threatening to strike. The workers are protesting the appointment of Rani Traynin, the head of the Yoav Regional Council, as deputy chairman under Natan Sharansky.


The New sabras

By Reuven Weiss www.ynetnews.com December 16, 2010

Twenty one young Jews from around the world, members of the Tzabar unit of the scouts movement, enlisted over the past few days into the Israel Defense Forces Paratroopers Brigade after experiencing a few months of absorption into Israeli society on various Kibbutzim around the country


VIDEO: Conservative Movement Aliyah

http://www.jafi.org.il/ December 16, 2010

Click here for VIDEO


Surfing his way to Israel

By Itamar Eichner www.ynetnews.com December 19, 2010

Barak Argov, 19, the son of an Israeli father and an American mother has decided to leave the paradise in which he is leaving – Hawaii - and immigrate to Israel in order to join the Israel Defense Forces.


No mosque, church coming to Ben Gurion Airport, despite promises

By Zohar Blumenkrantz www.haaretz.com December 13, 2010

The Israel Airports Authority will not be building a mosque and a church in the near future despite its pledge to do so, according to a correspondence by officials at the airports authority and Ben-Gurion International Airport with Eitan Heller, an activist with the peace group Artists Without Walls. Chapels for the other faiths were supposed to have been built in the new airport, which opened six years ago.


A Jew from Arabia

By Ksenia Svetlova www.jpost.com December 17, 2010

After some searching and questioning he confirmed that his grandmother was in fact a Jew who married a young Jordanian soldier back in 1946, ran off to Nablus with him and converted to Islam.

Later the family emigrated to Kuwait, where employment opportunities were vast. The Jewish past of the grandmother was never publicly discussed.


Human Rights Yeshiva

By Joshua Bloom www.rhrna.org November 4, 2010

Classes began this week for twenty university students enrolled in Rabbis for Human Rights‘ (RHR) Human Rights Yeshiva held at Hebrew University‘s Hillel House.

Over the last seven years, RHR has worked with hundreds of Israeli students through its Human Rights Yeshiva. The program attracts both religious and secular students from the widest range of political, cultural, and economic backgrounds. Participants study issues of human rights that are relevant in Israeli society. The students also volunteer in a hands-on capacity with RHR or other human rights groups working for positive social change.


VIDEO: Rabbi Gideon Sylvester, Director of Rabbis for Human Rights' Yeshiva Program

Click here for VIDEO

http://www.rhr-na.org/ December 1, 2010


Jefferson Airplane's Jewish mind

By Yoav Friedman www.ynetnews.com December 19, 2010

Q: Tell us a little about the conversion process. Did you enjoy it? What did you like about it?

"I learned many new things. In fact, despite being Jewish – almost everything I learned was new to me. And yes, I definitely enjoyed it very much."

Q: Do you feel different after his process?

"It'll probably sound like a cliché, but I feel like a new and better person."


In the West Bank, a new road to peace?

By Matt Beynon Rees www.globalpost.com December 12, 2010

A new road — literally — leads pilgrims to the once-inaccessible St. George Monastery


Saying "Ave Maria" in Hebrew

By Judith Sudilovsky www.hadassahmagazine.org October/November 2010

Many of the founding Catholic pioneers, or halutzim, as they call themselves, were monks and nuns who felt the need to unite as Catholics with the Jewish people in response to the horrors of the Holocaust that they had witnessed. Others, like Anyela Apple, accompanied their Jewish spouses, the majority from Poland, to Israel but retained their own religion.

The community’s aim was to serve as a bridge between the Catholic Church and the people of Israel by strengthening the relationship of Jews and Christians and sharpening the church’s awareness of its Jewish roots and the Jewish identity of Jesus and the apostles.

...In general, the Hebrew-speaking community maintains a low profile and is relatively unknown among Jews and even in the larger Arab Catholic church.


Religion and State in Israel

December 20, 2010 (Section 1) (see also Section 2)

Editor – Joel Katz

Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.

All rights reserved.

Religion and State in Israel - December 20, 2010 (Section 2)

Religion and State in Israel

December 20, 2010 (Section 2) (see also Section 1)

If you are reading in email or RSS feed, please click here to read ONLINE

Editor – Joel Katz

Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.


Cabinet approves stipend limits to most yeshiva students

By Herb Keinon and Rebecca Anna Stoil www.jpost.com December 19, 2010

The government on Sunday voted to limit to five the number of years certain kollel students will be able to receive a monthly living stipend from the state, while a select few – some 2,000 characterized as “perpetual students” – will be eligible for the allotments in perpetuity.

The Movement for Progressive (Reform) Judaism, the Masorti (Conservative) Movement and Hiddush – For Religious Freedom and Equality – all organizations that support religious pluralism in Israel – blasted the decision.

“The government has missed a historic opportunity to fix an error that threatens the future of Israeli society, and chose to ignore the clear position of most of the Israeli public, which is fed up with haredi evasion of both military service and employment,” Rabbi Gilad Kariv of the Reform Movement said.


Cabinet approves Haredi allowance plan

Cabinet set to approve plan to phase out Haredi handouts, starting in five years


PM to present new Haredi stipend plan


Cabinet to approve limits on stipends for yeshiva students


Rebuilding, together

Jpost.com Editorial www.jpost.com December 16, 2010

This package is an important development that was long in the making but which could not be forced before its time.

Recognition has finally sunk in among haredi leaders that the present situation is untenable. And secular Israelis now fully appreciate the need to accommodate haredi needs for the sake of attaining mutual goals.

...Now, it is to be hoped, we are entering a new, healthier phase in the rehabilitation of the Jewish people after the Shoah. Haredi society, numbering close to 800,000, or 11% of Israel’s population, will gradually begin sharing more of the burden of running a modern Jewish state.


Challenging orthodoxies, Shas maverick seeks to put Israeli haredim to work

By Leslie Susser www.jta.org December 15, 2010

Shas MK Amsellem wants to build a genuinely socially concerned party independent of rabbinic fiat. Unlike conventional haredi Orthodoxy, which turns its back on modernity and often on the secular Israeli state, Amsellem is willing to entertain a working symbiosis between haredi Orthodoxy and the modern world. He also is unabashedly ready to call himself a Zionist.

His positions have earned him rogue status in Shas.


Cabinet approves bill excusing ultra-Orthodox from IDF service

By Haaretz Service www.haaretz.com December 19, 2010

The cabinet decided Sunday to limit the period during which married yeshiva students are entitled to stipends to five years. The decision will only be fully implemented, however, in another five years.

...To be exempt from military service according to the recommendations, Haredim would have to do a year of alternative service with the police, the Magen David Adom ambulance service, the Fire and Rescue Services or the Prison Service. The arrangement would apply to married students up to age 22 if they have no children, or bachelors over 24.


IDF chief: We are in favor of incorporating Haredis into the military

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com December 19, 2010

"Our concern lies with providing the exemption [to army service]. We think that the age for exemption should be 24-25, or younger for individuals with children. Equality is important here. For instance, you have a community of academics that enter army service at age 22-23. Why shouldn't they, too, enjoy an exemption?"


IDF Chief of Staff Ashkenazi: Integrate Haredim in army


Cabinet to vote on excusing ultra-Orthodox from IDF service


PM to present new Haredi national service plan


Minister, opposition slam cabinet's proposal for yeshiva stipends


End of the people's army


Haredi funds to be limited to 5 years


Cabinet to approve one-year civilian service for Haredim


Gov't ties haredi civil service to IDF exemption


New plan to double Haredi IDF enlistment


Kadima MK: Haredi IDF recruitment 'deceptive'


Beware the Military-Religious Complex

By Gershom Gorenberg Opinion


Hesder Yeshiva soldiers: The Privileged

By Nehemia Shtrasler Opinion www.haaretz.com December 17, 2010

The time has come to dismantle the separate platoons and to conscript every religious youth into full, three-year service, just like their secular colleagues.

The IDF is still the melting pot of Israeli society; only there can a "Russian," an "Ethiopian," a "yuppie" and a "dos" (religious person ) run together over the hills in squad exercises, making sure the line is straight so that none of them will get a bullet from behind.


Kadima: PM bought MK's vote on Carmel fire probe in return for Hesder Yeshiva funds

By Jonathan Lis and Mazal Mualem www.haaretz.com December 14, 2010

According to Hasson, who is the Knesset Control Committee chairman, in exchange for Ariel's vote against the probe the Prime Minister promised him that the Defense Ministry will allocate a sum of NIS 21.8 million to the hesder yeshivas, religious seminaries where students also serve in the Israel Defense Forces.


2010 army figures show 25% jump in Haredi enlistment

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com December 15, 2010

About a thousand ultra-Orthodox young men mustered into special Israel Defense Forces service tracks during the past year, according to 2010 wrap-up statistics compiled by the army's personnel division, obtained by Haaretz.


IDF Chief: Do justice with Hesder Yeshivot

www.ynetnews.com December 14, 2010

"We must do justice with the yeshiva students. They serve in the IDF and have an important contribution to the command and reserve forces. I understand the commanders' desire to have everyone do everything, but this is the arrangement."


Regarding Army Service for Women

By Rabbi Shlomo Aviner Opinion www.ravaviner.com December 13, 2010

[R]egarding military service for girls, that program has always been rejected entirely by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, and Ha-Rav Tzvi Yehuda issued the same ruling. If, however, a girl enlists all the same, we have to engage in damage control.

We must therefore praise the “Aluma” Organization which directs girls to army programs in which less immodesty prevails, providing them with guidance and assistance all through their service.


Reform Movement petitions court against Safed rabbi

www.jpost.com December 16, 2010

The Israeli Reform movement petitioned the High Court on Thursday to instruct the attorney general to charge the chief rabbi on Safed, Rabbi Shmuel Eliahu, with incitement for his religious ruling banning the sale or rental of apartments in the city to Arab Israelis.


The Attorney General shirks his duty

Haaretz Editorial


Israel is not a Halakhic state

By Israel Harel Opinion


When Rabbis Give Israel A Black Eye

New York Jewish Week Editorial


High Court asked to try rabbi calling for no renting to non-Jews


Rabbis: Raise your voices against extremism

By Isi Leibler Opinion


Taking a clear-headed approach to the rabbis' letter


The rabbis' letter and the Jewish state

By Prof. Ruth Gavison Opinion


The farce of a secular and democratic Jewish state

By Gideon Levy Opinion


U.S. Rabbis Offer Rare Rebuke of Israeli Edict


The Continuing War for Safed & Rabbis Letter


Safe Houses


Poll: 55% back rabbis' anti-Arab ruling


Say no to Jewish ghetto

By Rabbi Donniel Hartman Opinion


Rabbis behind anti-Arab manifesto seek compromise with Netanyahu


Knesset Speaker Rivlin: ‘Rabbis’ letter’ is discriminatory


Rabbi Haim Druckman: 'OK to rent to Arabs when security not at stake'


Education Ministry official rejects rabbis' anti-Arab manifesto


U.S.-based rabbi: Edict against renting to Arabs endangers Jews abroad


One new clause


We all owe Israel's racist rabbis a vote of thanks

By Bradley Burston Opinion


Falsifying Jewish law

By Rabbi Michael Abraham Opinion


Victimized by rabbis who lack God's image

By Shulamit Aloni Opinion


S.F./Bay Area (local) rabbis condemn ruling against renting to non-Jews


Is it permissible to sell or rent an apartment to a non-Jew in the Land of Israel?

By Rabbi David Golinkin


In Israel, a rabbi who argues that anti-Arab measures are un-Jewish


On Rabbis and Racism


Rabbis sign petition against religious discrimination


US rabbis speak out against rabbis' letter


Rabbis Against Religious Discrimination urge Israeli colleagues to denounce letter against renting


Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein's Response to the Letter Banning Sale of Homes to Gentiles in Israel


An Independent and Courageous Rabbinate


PODCAST: Breaking Away

Vox Tablet www.tabletmag.com Produced by Josh Gleason December 13, 2010

Click here for PODCAST

Luzer Twersky spent the first 23 years of his life in Hasidic enclaves in Brooklyn, London, and suburban New York. For much of that time, he struggled to square his own beliefs and desires with those of his family and community.

Two years ago, he gave up and left. It was a painful decision, and one for which he paid dearly, if predictably—his family now considers him as good as dead.


Secular Jews Tour a Foreign Culture: Hareidi Jews

By Gil Ronen www.israelnationalnews.com December 14, 2010

A new internal tourism initiative brings groups of secular Jews to hareidi-religious neighborhoods and homes, smashing stereotypes and creating new bonds among Jewish groups that drifted apart over centuries.

The tours are largely a Chabad initiative and focus on hassidic communities in Jerusalem.


Finance Minister Steinitz: Haredi, Arab workforce integration still too slow

By Sharon Wrobel www.jpost.com December 13, 2010

Although the level of participation in the labor market increased significantly since the beginning of the year, the integration of the haredi and Arab population is still slow, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said Monday.

“The level of participation of the haredi and Arab population is an important parameter, and we have a problem here,” he said at the Globes Israel Business Conference in Tel Aviv. “In 2010, there was a significant increase in participation in the Israeli labor force.


Upheaval in a Breslav Hasidic court

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com December 15, 2010

The kind of court revolutions in history books and fables can also occur in the Hasidic courts. This week, a revolution, for all intents and purposes, occurred in the Shuvu Banim community of Breslav Hasidim in Jerusalem.

The contender for the throne is the spiritual leader himself, Rabbi Eliezer Berland, who reinstated himself after asserting that he had been exploited for years by the powerful court built around him by his son and grandson.


Everyone’s favorite scapegoat

By Jonathan Rosenblum Opinion www.jpost.com December 17, 2010

Anti-Haredi bias explains much of the venom directed at Yishai, but there was something else pushing the media agenda as well: the desire to avoid thinking about a truly scary subject.


Nir in the rabbis’ den

By Peggy Cidor www.jpost.com December 17, 2010

Who is going to explain to Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef that the fact that he is eager to see one of his sons seated as the Sephardi chief rabbi doesn’t mean the rest of the city’s residents are voiceless?

To increase his son’s chances, Shas representatives at the Knesset and at the Religious Services Ministry are closing deals with the Ashkenazi Haredim.


Halacha expert slams ban on visiting Kotel on Shabbat

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com December 17, 2010

Senior haredi Ashkenazi adjudicator Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv recently prohibited visiting the Western Wall on Shabbat due to halachic problems with the security cameras there.

But Rabbi Yisrael Rozen, head of the Tzomet Institute, said Thursday that “whoever wants to prohibit the Western Wall cameras will have to order religious people to stay away from yeshivas, hotels, banquet halls and public areas, all of which use online security cameras.”


Rabbi Yosef Shalom Eliashiv says Western Wall cameras desecrate Sabbath

AP www.washingtonpost.com December 15, 2010

A leading Israeli rabbi has declared the Western Wall off limits to the faithful on the holiest day of the week because of security cameras that he says desecrate the Sabbath.


Israel's Core Curriculum Meets Fierce Haredi Opposition

By Nathan Jeffay http://forward.com December 14, 2010

A tug-of-war is taking place over the government’s attempt to impose a core curriculum in ultra-Orthodox elementary and high schools, and it’s not just about education. It cuts to the heart of a bitter conflict within Israeli society on the issue of authority.

Israel’s Education Ministry has launched a zero-tolerance policy toward Haredi schools that refuse to teach the ministry’s prescribed secular studies curriculum.

But a fight over course content has quickly morphed into something broader.


Pre-wedding double date

By Tzofia Hirschfeld www.ynetnews.com December 15, 2010

Some 40 couples belonging to Tel Aviv 'Garinim Toranim' - groups of idealistic, religious zionist individuals and families who try to effect social and religious development in underdeveloped communities, were trained for the program.

Any couple registering for marriage in the Tel Aviv Rabbinate can now choose [to] exchange the counseling session for a 'date' with a religious couple, have a cup of coffee and hear about traditional Jewish matrimonial relations right from the source.


Nof Zion buyer believed to be Bashar al-Masri


Secularism and Its Discontents

By Yehudah Mirsky www.jidaily.com December 17, 2010
How do you say "secular" in Hebrew? The current term is
hiloni. (Roughly 45 percent of Israelis characterize themselves as hiloni, while another 25 percent call themselves, intriguingly, masorti/lo-dati, traditional/nonreligious.)

The term appears to have been first used by Micha Yosef Berdiczewsky, the enfant terrible of modern Hebrew letters, and was intimately connected with the rise of Zionism. Yet it didn't become part of Israel's lingua franca until the 1950s; for decades, the reigning term had been hofshi, free—free, that is, of the law.


Religion and State in Israel

December 20, 2010 (Section 2) (see also Section 1)

Editor – Joel Katz

Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.

All rights reserved.