Tuesday, August 21, 2012

Religion and State in Israel - August 20, 2012

Editor – Joel Katz
Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.






By Merav Michaeli
You no doubt think that this is a religious matter that has no bearing on you. But no. What constituted a real danger to public safety and hurt others' feelings was that the four women put on a tallit - the traditional Jewish prayer shawl - with black stripes. That is to say that what turned their praying into a criminal act was the fact that they used an item of clothing that is considered to be for men.

By Abby Caplin

By Bonnie Ras




Grass-roots campaign in Jerusalem reverses some haredi-imposed gender segregation and discrimination.














By Corinne Sauer
Corinne Sauer is the co-founder and director of the Jerusalem Institute for Market Studies, an economic policy think tank.





By Yair Eldan
The writer is a lecturer and faculty member at both the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem and in the department of law at Ono Academic College.
If the rabbinical court judges feel they cannot do their jobs in light of this kind of interference, they should resign. I am certain we can find other rabbinic judges who would be happy to take their place.

Many Israeli rabbis are missing the point of Jewish marriage.
By Rabbi Aaron Leibowitz

By Barbara Sofer
As their husbands have refused to grant these women divorces, their lives have been put on hold for decades.





















By Roni Shuv
The writer is the editor of the women's supplement of the Haredi magazine Bakehila.
If the Council for Higher Education wants to provide more higher education opportunities for Haredim, it should stop expecting them to adapt to secular surroundings



By Menachem Mautner
Prof. Menachem Mautner teaches in the law faculty of Tel Aviv University.
A critical approach to yeshiva funding … could create justification for a significant reduction in the budgets channeled to Haredi yeshivas for adults. This would require many Haredim to join the job market, and would be an important step in a proper ordering of relations between the state and the ultra-Orthodox community. It would also be an important normative statement on the part of the state.











By Isi Leibler
It is therefore the obligation of the Israeli government to set up a coordinating body with Jewish community leaders – particularly those outside of the United States – to provide guidance and assistance in this critical deteriorating arena of Diaspora Jewish life.








By Yoaz Hendel




Book Review: "Zot Briti" (This Is My Covenant: Conversion, Secularization, Civil Marriage) by Shimon Gershon Rosenberg (Shagar), edited by Amnon S. Dukov, Zohar Maor, Moshe S. Faloch, The Institute for the Advancement of Rabbi Shagar's Writings, 258 pages (in Hebrew)





Editor – Joel Katz
Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.
All rights reserved.