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Editor – Joel Katz
Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.
Poll: Most Israelis won't eat chametz on Pesach
www.ynetnews.com March 29, 2010
Asked whether they planned to eat chametz on Passover, 69% said no and 19% said they would only do so in the privacy of their own homes so as not to offend the religious public. Only 12% said they would eat bread in public.
To the question of how they planned to celebrate Pesach, 63% said they would hold a traditional Seder, which includes reading the entire haggadah, while 23% said they would only read up to the dinner part. Just 4% said they would not read the haggadah at all.
Baking Matzahs in Meah Shearim
Yeshiva World News By Yitzchok Russek / Kuvien Images
March 29, 2010
By Ze'ev Segal www.haaretz.com March 29, 2010
The Jewish and democratic state told a Muslim citizen that it was legal to maintain strict kashrut and all the laws of Passover in a prison wing that housed a mixed population of Jews, Muslims and Christians.
…Incidentally, the chief chaplain at the Prisons Service also approved that sliced bread be handed out before Passover - bread that remains fresh and can be frozen. The problem has been put on hold until it comes up again, as it surely will, next year in Jerusalem.
Supreme Court: No bread for Muslim inmates over Passover
By Tomer Zarchin www.haaretz.com March 26, 2010
The Supreme Court yesterday rejected an appeal from a Muslim prison inmate who asked to receive bread instead of matza with his meals during the upcoming Passover holiday. Madab Mahmoud Rayik, who is serving time for a criminal offense, is jailed in an integrated prison housing both Arab and Jewish inmates
Supreme Court: Muslim inmates won't receive chametz during Passover
By Aviad Glickman www.ynetnews.com March 24, 2010
Judge Rubinstein noted that chametz should not be provided in integrated criminal wings for possible halachic and practical difficulties.
He noted that a non-Jewish prisoner eating chametz kept in his locker during Passover can do so privately and in a dignified manner, so as not to offend his fellow Jewish cellmates.
Judge Eliezer Rivlin, in the minority, stated that one man's right shouldn't offend others' rights to observe their religion since Israel is a democratic country which respects foreigners and their right for religious freedom.
Cows to Get Kosher for Passover Diet
By Maayana Miskin www.israelnationalnews.com March 22, 2010
The Israel Agriculture Association has announced that dairy cows will begin receiving kosher for Passover bedding this week, and beginning next week, will get kosher for Passover food as well.
The cows' temporary new diet will consist primarily of corn and legumes, which Ashkenazi Jews do not traditionally eat on Passover but are permitted to own and make use of them on Passover.
By Maayana Miskin www.israelnationalnews.com March 29, 2010
In order to host the hundreds of seders it has planned, the IDF has purchased 71 tons of matzah, seven tons of fish, three tons of chicken, 60,000 kosher for Passover chicken shnitzels, 4.5 tons of Passover cookies, 8 tons of matzah meal, and 13,000 bottles of grape juice.
6,000 Ethiopian Jews to attend world's largest seder in Gondar
www.haaretz.com March 29, 2010
Approximately 6,000 Ethiopian Jews will gather at a massive seder in Gondar on Monday night, most of them hoping that Israel will soon accede to their request to make aliyah.
"We left our families in order to strengthen [the Jews in Ethiopia]," said Awake. "This will be the biggest Passover seder in the world, facilitated by two rabbis. We have more than 250,000 matzahs and 2,000 liters of wine."
Ethiopian olim attend model seder
www.ynetnews.com March 27, 2010
Some 200 new immigrants from Ethiopia attended a model seder Thursday at the Jewish Agency Absorption Center in Mevasseret Zion outside Jerusalem, in preparation for their first Passover in Israel.
“I am committed to bring the rest of the Falash Mura community to Israel,” said Jewish Agency Chairman Natan Sharansky, who attended the model seder.
Ethiopian Olim celebrate their first Seder in Israel
By Benjamin Spier www.jpost.com March 25, 2010
By Melanie Lidman www.jpost.com March 26, 2010
As Pessah preparations rise to a fever pitch, many entrepreneurs are taking advantage of the many time-consuming details associated with the holiday to offer a variety of unique services.
To understand the ad hoc economy surrounding Pessah preparations, In Jerusalem trolled community Web sites, message boards and automated phone messages across the city, which many businesses use to market their wares in the weeks before the holiday.
Public warned over fake matzot
www.jpost.com March 24, 2010
The coming Passover night might bring us a new brand of matzot: fake ones.
In a well-hidden Be’er Tuvia cache, the Chief Rabbinate found no less than seven tons of matzot.
Their boxes were adorned with the highest standard kosher seals, but the certifications were actually a clever fake.
The product was found to have been made in poor conditions with leavened bread remains lying around the bakery, suspected use of regular flour that hadn’t been approved as kosher for Passover and no evidence of supervision.
Manufacturing a matza shortage
By Ilanit Hayut www.globes.co.il March 25, 2010
The fierce competition between supermarket chains as the Passover holiday approaches is allegedly causing distortions in the market for the holiday's most basic commodity unleavened bread, or matza.
Retailers that tried to order matza in the past few days have met refusal from the matza companies, who say they are short of stocks.
On these grounds, the manufacturers are refusing to supply chains with which they have no exclusive agreement.
Soldiers Learn How to Make Seder in Kfar Chabad
Source: www.col.org.il http://shmais.com March 23, 2010
Groups of soldiers have been visiting Kfar Chabad recently to take part in a model Seder run by the Chabad Youth Organization.
This week, they included officers and soldiers from the Israel Air Force’s computer division, located at the Hakirya Base in Tel Aviv.
How is the Reform Movement making this Passover different?
www.reform.org.il March 23, 2010
The Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism is guiding Israelis in bringing meaning and relevance to family Seders throughout the country.
Although the family seder is a cultural icon, the deeper Jewish meaning of the celebration has been lost to many Israelis.
These are the ways in which IMPJ is helping Israeli families regain access to the event that is at the heart of Jewish identity and peoplehood:
1. This year, sixteen Reform congregations are enabling Israelis from all walks of life to participate in a pre-Passover workshop. The guiding concept is to help the leaders of family and group seders to create a lively and memorable evening of Jewish experience.
2. This year, the popular Israeli radio station (Galei Tzahal) is broadcasting public service announcements inviting listeners to attend Reform movement Pesach workshops throughout the country.
3. This year, Israelis are learning about holiday traditions—and how to make their own—through the IMPJ holiday website: www.hagim.org.il
4. This year—and every year—social justice is an integral aspect of Pesach study, celebration and action. IMPJ's youth movement, affiliated schools and community leaders are all taking part in a campaign to provide for Israel's neediest—including distribution of food packages and clothing purchase coupons.
By Shalom Life www.ynetnews.com
http://www.shalomlife.com/eng/
"Mekusharim", a social networking website in Israel, has announced that this Passover it will be conducting an online seder for the benefit of surfers who are alone during the holiday, as well as families living in the Diaspora.
Mekusharim hopes that this way it will be able to connect between users and create a more meaningful holiday experience.
Gavaad Bnei Brak Approves Water for Pesach
By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com March 25, 2010
On Pesach, Bnei Brak usually closes the main water intake valve connecting to the Kinneret using only the water supply existing in a number of area aquifers.
This supply sufficed in the past but due to the closure of a number of these wells for various reasons, the supply would not be adequate this year.
Matza hits the big time for Jerusalem
By Ben Jacobson www.jerusalemite.net March 25, 2010
Pictured above is the honorable Mayor Nir Barkat, posing with a world record-setting largest piece of matza ever.
The oversized cracker measures over 3 meters in diameter and weighs in at 60 kilo. It was made by a team of 40 people, two of whom wore rappelling gear to be able to reach the edges while hanging from above. Try hiding that afikoman.
By Sefy Hendler www.haaretz.com March 26, 2010
Tuashi, 39, is a third-generation baker: His late grandfather, Yaakov Tuashi, immigrated to Israel from Turkey after the establishment of the state and "opened an oven" in Ajami, he says: "At first it was just a room. People would come with their pots to cook and bake here in the days when there wasn't an oven in every home."
…"Open the bakery on Passover?" says Tuashi. "No way. There have to be limits. We need to respect ourselves. We are observant and all our customers, Jews and Arabs, respect this."
Even the famous Arab-owned Abulafia bakery on Jaffa's Yefet Street is closed during Pesach, out of respect for the Jewish neighbors, says Tuashi. "And if they close, how could I remain open?"
Mekorot to Supply Water from Desalination and Wells during Pesach
By Yechiel Sever http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com March 25, 2010
Knesset Finance Ministry Chairman MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni contacted Mekorot director Ido Rosillio to confirm — as he does every year at the beginning of Nisan — that the water supply will come from wells, not the Kinneret, during Pesach.
El Al Israel Airlines Gets Ready for Passover
http://blog.fbworld.com March 25, 2010
More than 650 pounds of gefilte fish, 400 pounds of smoked salmon, 28 gallons of horseradish, 325 pounds of smoked trout, 275 pounds of kosher for Passover assorted chocolates and more than 45,500 packages of individually wrapped matzo will be served on EL AL nonstop flights from New York (JFK/Newark).
Video: Car Ablaze in Bnei Brak from Children Playing With Biur Chometz Fire
http://matzav.com March 29, 2010
A frightening scene took hold of a Bnei Brak neighborhood this morning after a vehicle caught fire from a biur chometz blaze being played with by children.
Rally to Demand Jewish Prayer on Temple Mount
By Hillel Fendel www.israelnationalnews.com March 22, 2010
The organizers had originally asked that the rally be held close to the Temple Mount, but “we agreed to the police request to relocate it because of the recent Arab disturbances. We hope the police will remember this in the future.”
The organizers further demand to be able to celebrate this coming Passover holiday on the site of the Holy Temple by being allowed to offer the Paschal sacrifice. One Halakhic [Jewish legal] approach over the generations is that this would be permitted, even under the present circumstances and without a Temple.
To emphasize their desire, the organizers call on participants to bring sheep and goats to the protest.
Editor – Joel Katz
Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.
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