July 19, 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.
*Articles on the Conversion bill and Women of the Wall will be included in an upcoming special edition.
Shas Chair: Absence of conversion law poses danger to Jewish people
By Barak Ravid and The Associated Press www.haaretz.com July 19, 2010
Meanwhile Sunday, Interior Minister Eli Yishai (Shas) said that the absence of a conversion law would pose "an enormous spiritual danger to the Jewish people."
Sephardi chief rabbi Shlomo Amar also stressed the need for the conversion law, calling on the religious political factions to withdraw from the coalition if the law was not approved. "If they heeded my advice," he said, "they would all stand together with one voice and one heart and say 'it's the conversion law or we're leaving.'"
"The Reform Jews are using the political situation to blackmail the prime minister. They sit there and they want to dictate our lives," the rabbi told Kol Barama radio.
By Amir Shoan www.ynetnews.com July 12, 2010
Yedioth Ahronoth obtained inspection reports filled out by Hugi and his colleague, Shimon Shimoni, an inspector of the religious Independent Education Center. The reports show that the State has not been enforcing the law which conditions funding upon the number of hours of basic subjects taught in schools.
It appears that many of the schools have continued to receive full funding while neglecting to teach the required hours of basic subjects, and according to the ministry's calculations at least $38 million have been distributed unlawfully to the religious education networks.
..."Two people are inspecting the education plans of tens of thousands of students," she said. "And they are haredim. They won't dare to report the correct hours – they could be expelled from the community."
Most Beit Shemesh Students Chareidim
By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com July 8, 2010
In 2010, a startling 63% of all students are affiliated with the chareidi sector, and that number is expected to continue increasing.
27% of the students in the city are identified with the dati leumi community, with the remaining 10% from the secular public schools. 17,300 students are chareidi; 7,000 dati leumi and 2,900 in the secular public school system.
By Menachem Gsheid Opinion www.ynetnews.com July 14, 2010
Anyone who thinks he will be able to “educate” the haredi public via laws and punishments is wrong and misleading.
This is a community that knows how to fully stand for the principles it believes in. It is also a minority whose lifestyle must be respected, at least the way this is done with other minorities. The problem is that some people refuse to look into the data, for fear it won’t confirm their views.
A-G wants Haredi site probed for attacks on Emmanuel judge
By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com July 16, 2010
“His tongue is deep inside the rectums of the Ashkenazis at the Supreme Court” is a headline from the haredi Web site Tzofar, and one of the more vile references to Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy.
Police to investigate Haredi site for diatribe against Supreme Court Justice Levy
By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com July 15, 2010
The Attorney General's office recommended that police launch a criminal investigation of the haredi website Tzofar on Thursday, after writer Shmuel Kooper produced numerous diatribes against Supreme Court Justice Edmond Levy.
Haaretz cartoon July 13, 2010 by Amos Biderman
“The Sephardim won!!”
(Emmanuel school segregation case;World Cup champions: Spain; "Sephardim"= Spaniards)
Rishon Anglos bring in TALI education as solution for Russian immigrants
By Cnaan Liphshiz www.haaretz.com July 16, 2010
A rare collaboration between English-speakers and Russian immigrants in Rishon Letzion may soon make the Tel Aviv suburb the first large city in Israel to adopt the immigrant friendly TALI program in all its primary schools.
The TALI program, founded by American immigrants to Israel, provides pluralistic, Jewish education for secular pupils to a network of 84 schools nationwide.
Religious group aims to cut subsidies for yeshiva students
By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com July 15, 2010
In the wake of last month's ruling that yeshiva students should no longer receive income assistance, a group is now demanding they also be denied personal accident coverage subsidies.
A religious organization has found the insurance, which is provided to all 1.7 million school children in Israel, is also extended to married yeshiva students up to age 45 for a nominal annual fee of NIS 28 to NIS 35 per year, and has opened up a front against the practice.
Majority of haredim: We're not racist
By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com July 12, 2010
Most members of Israel's ultra-Orthodox public believe there is hardly any racism in their society, according to a special poll ordered by Ynet following the compromise in the Emmanuel discrimination affair.
The findings also showed that the haredim believe the High Court of Justice is hostile towards them, but that they are the ones who won the battle over education in Emmanuel.
Flag-burning yeshiva student claims freedom of expression
By Liel Kyzer www.haaretz.com July 12, 2010
An ultra-Orthodox yeshiva student indicted for flag-burning has asked that the charges be dropped as protected freedom of expression.
The student's lawyer also told the Jerusalem Magistrate's Court that the law, as it stands today, is effectively a dead letter as it doesn't specify intent to dishonor the flag - and so many Israeli citizens effectively break the law on a daily basis without ever being charged.
Haredi rabbis: Hotel vacations immoral
By Ari Galahar www.ynetnews.com July 14, 2010
In a notice distributed in Haredi neighborhoods, rabbis call on editors of haredi press to avoid publishing advertisements for hotel vacations, except for three "kosher" Haredi hotels.
Haredim riot over 'obscene' plasma screen news updates
By Shmulik Grossman www.ynetnews.com July 18, 2010
A haredi riot broke out on Sunday in a postal branch in Jerusalem's Bukharim neighborhood over Ynet news updates. A group of 25 ultra-Orthodox protested at the site over plasma screens showing Ynet news updates which they referred to as "abomination." Several rioters even attacked security guards standing outside the branch.
Bnei Brak: The poorest city you can't afford
By Shlomit Tzur www.haaretz.com July 12, 2010
Bnei Brak Mayor Yaakov Asher said that the only thing that will bring down housing prices in Bnei Brak is the expansion of Modi'in Ilit and Elad, the absorption of Haredim by the communities of Katzir-Harish, near Hadera, and new construction in Betar Ilit.
Rabbi Elyashiv joins Jaffa protest
By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com July 15, 2010
The Eda Haredit is not alone. Senior rabbis from the central stream of haredi Judaism, led by Lithuanian leader Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv, are joining the protest against the evacuation of graves from the Andromeda Hill construction site in Jaffa.
The rabbis are calling upon their followers to demonstrate against the ongoing work on the site.
Haredim continue protest in Jaffa over building on graves
By Yaniv Kubovich www.haaretz.com July 12, 2010
MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism) also visited the site yesterday to join in prayers with the protesters. Gafni said he had the feeling that a "barbaric attack" was being perpetrated against graves in Israel.
By Shmulik Grossman www.ynetnews.com July 12, 2010
More than 100 haredim blocked Bar Ilan road in Jerusalem on Monday with a large garbage container in protest of the construction on Andromeda Hill in Jaffa, which they claim is damaging ancient graves.
Friends say murder-suicide in Tel Aviv was likely caused by failed Haredi arranged marriage
By Yuval Azoulay and Yaniv Kubovich www.haaretz.com July 16, 2010
An arranged marriage gone awry may have caused the dispute that led to the death of two Haredi men in an apparent murder-suicide in Tel Aviv on Wednesday, friends of the deceased said yesterday.
Ultra Orthodox Visiting Synagogue Tear Out Prayers For State From Prayer Books
By Independent Media Review Analysis http://beforeitsnews.com July 18, 2010
After several visits of the radical ultra orthodox groups, Avi Tessler, the gabbai of the synagogue, noticed that all the prayer books in the synagogue had been damaged. The pages with the prayer for the State of Israel and for IDF soldiers were torn out of the prayer books.
14-year-old takes Rabbinate exams
By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com July 18, 2010
While his classmates spent the summer holidays at the beach or at the pool, vacationing in Israel or abroad, Moshe's focus was on a completely different subject. While they were trying to solve crossword puzzles or Sudoku, Moshe's gifted mind continued to race ahead. Last week, the boy fulfilled his dream of sitting the Chief Rabbinate's ordination exams - and he is only 14 years old.
By Peggy Cidor www.jpost.com July 16, 2010
For years, the Jerusalem city council was considered a stronghold of the Shas movement, and it was the model on which the political movement based itself to recreate the same success. Today, there is hardly a city council in the country that doesn’t have its own local Shas representative, including the bastion of secularism, Tel Aviv.
Crowd of 10,000 Declare: The Temple Mount Belongs to Jews
By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu www.israelnationalnews.com July 13, 2010
A huge crowd of 10,000 Jews gathered at the old gates of the Temple Mount Monday night and declared their allegiance to the holy site, which rally organizers said is being separated from Jews by discriminatory practices by the police.
July 19, 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.
