October 25, 2010 (Section 2) (see also Section 1)
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Editor – Joel Katz
Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.
PM orders special committee to study yeshiva students' funding
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3973976,00.html
By Roni Sofer www.ynetnews.com October 24, 2010
The committee will include representatives from the Treasury, Justice and Education ministries, the National Economics Board, National Insurance institute and the Attorney General's Office.
Yishai: Kollel, university students both deserve benefit
By Gil Hoffman www.jpost.com October 24, 2010
The bill in question would also is designed to benefit also apply to non-haredi, unemployed university students with at least three kids who also do not own their own vehicle.
'We yeshiva students barely study'
By Akiva Novick www.ynetnews.com October 24, 2010
The man who telephoned us was a student in an ultra-Orthodox "kollel" (an institute offering an advanced Judaic studies program for married men), who claims to be "120% haredi."
"It's insane that there is no gradual reduction in the stipends. In Lakewood Yeshiva (in New Jersey), for example. It's like that. It's customary that the shver provides for the young couple for three years after the wedding, and then if the yeshiva student is serious he studies a bit more, and if not – he goes out to work.
Only in this country the benefits are for life. It's a huge failure on the part of secular politicians. I don't blame Gafni. He sees a secular politician who doesn't understand and extorts stipends. But this is not a normal situation – the stipends should not be for your entire life."
Vote on unpopular yeshiva bill delayed after exposé
By Zvi Zrahiya www.haaretz.com October 24, 2010
The Ministerial Committee for Legislation is expected to delay its vote Sunday on the preliminary reading of a bill allocating income allowances to full-time yeshiva students by two to three weeks, after Haaretz and TheMarker exposed the proposal on Friday.
75% of Jewish Israelis favor cutting yeshiva funding
By Zvi Zrahiya www.haaretz.com October 24, 2010
The Smith Institute survey, which was conducted for Hiddush, found that people who want to reduce government payments to yeshivas and to large families include 92% of those who consider themselves secular, 96 percent of immigrants, 82 percent of people who consider themselves traditional and 54 percent of religious people.
The total percentage − 75 percent − is up from 68 percent reported after the last survey, conducted six months ago.
How the gov't plans to legalize banned stipends for Haredim
By Jonathan Lis www.haaretz.com October 24, 2010
Opponents argued that providing yeshiva students with meager allowances encourages them to remain outside the workforce and perpetuates poverty within the ultra-Orthodox community.
Social Affairs Minister Yitzhak Herzog (Labor) said on Saturday that the bill sabotages attempts to incorporate the ultra-Orthodox sector in the job market.
Haaretz Editorial www.haaretz.com October 24, 2010
The proposed bill by United Torah Judaism MK Moshe Gafni, due to be debated this morning in the Ministerial Committee for Legislation, is bad news for anyone who values equality and the rule of law.
...It's hard to exaggerate the damage they inflict on members of their own public, who have recently shown the desire to correct the distortion and let young people change their situation, acquire a profession and join the workforce.
Vote on yeshiva student bill postponed
By Roni Sofer www.ynetnews.com October 23, 2010
Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar said,
"The need to incorporate the haredi sector in all aspects of society, including the job market, is a top interest, and I believe we can reach agreements on all sides by considering the sector's unique needs."
Handouts, not work, for Haredim
By Zvi Zrahiya www.haaretz.com October 22, 2010
And the timing of Gafni's bill is certainly anything but a coincidence. That's also the reason the Ministerial Committee on Legislation will vote on Sunday - two days before the budget law is brought for its first Knesset vote.
Gafni's committee is responsible for preparing the budget for its second and third readings in the Knesset.
C'tee to review bill reinstating yeshiva student stipends
By Lahav Harkov www.jpost.com October 22, 2010
In the explanatory section of the bill, the MKs wrote:
"The voice of Torah was not silenced even in the darkest periods in Jewish history, and much of the public sees Torah learning in kollels as promoting the essence of the Jewish people's existence and the guarantee of their eternal continuity."
Editorial www.haaretz.com October 19, 2010
Sixty-five percent of ultra-Orthodox men don't work - a rate nearly three times what it was three decades ago (21 percent). The culture of joblessness is becoming more firmly entrenched in the community, the size of which continues to grow apace.
...the government must subsidize child day care, transportation to and from work and create a negative income tax. Core subjects must be taught in ultra-Orthodox schools, since without them it is almost impossible to enter the workforce.
Anti-abuse forum in disarray over Rabbi Eilon affair
By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com October 21, 2010
Takana, the organization that made public accusations of sexual abuse by Rabbi Mordechai Elon, is in turmoil after it decided to give detailed statements by alleged victims to Yedioth Ahronoth.
Rabbi Benjamin Lau, a prominent figure in the national-religious movement, criticized Takana in a recent document, a copy of which was obtained by Haaretz.
"Something went wrong. Someone within this forum forgot his role and his station, and decided to sling mud and filth under the rubric of 'the public's right to know,'" Lau wrote.
End Israel's Private Tribunals for Sex Abuse Cases
By Elana Maryles Sztokman Opinion http://blogs.forward.com October 22, 2010
So despite the troubling slide into voyeurism that all this evokes, I decided to write this because there are several major lessons here for the religious community.
One is that the insularity that led to the formation of Takana is a destructive force for the community.
...Second, the most important consideration in dealing with sexual violence must always be the victims. Takana, because so many of its members are friends and colleagues with Elon, has been incapable of separating itself from sympathy with the accused.
...Third, when it comes to issues of sexual violence, the religious community should not be secretive and fearful, with private self-appointed tribunals. The issue should be dealt with openly and courageously.
Rabbi accused of sexual abuse: Man's strength is in his silence
By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com October 20, 2010
Rabbi Mordechai (Moti) Elon responded Wednesday to testimonies of sexual abuse claims against him that had been made public by Takana, a forum that fights sexual abuse in the Orthodox community, saying "man's greatest strength is to remain silent."
Students denounce sex-crime allegations against Rabbi Elon
Ben Hartman www.jpost.com October 22, 2010
Hundreds of former students of prominent national religious Rabbi Mordechai “Moti” Elon have signed a petition this week defending their former teacher against claims that he sexually abused students in the past.
Ex-students' petition backs Rabbi Elon
By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com October 20, 2010
Three hundred former students have already signed the petition, and its initiators say they will have a thousand signatures by Wednesday afternoon.
Among the signatories are most of the rabbis who teach at Horev yeshiva, headed by Elon, and where the abuse allegedly took place.
One of those responsible for the petition is a central figure in religious-Zionism, Rabbi Shlomo Aviner.
Ultra-Orthodox party lawmakers hold emergency meeting over state supervision of religious schools
By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com October 19, 2010
The religious United Torah Judaism faction, backed by its entire senior spiritual leadership, held an "emergency conference" in Bnei Brak Sunday where Education Minister Gideon Sa'ar was lambasted for seeking to tighten supervision over the ultra-Orthodox education system.
Sa'ar recently stated at an Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry conference that he intends to increase the network of supervisors over the ultra-Orthodox education system, in order to keep renegade schools from receiving the full allotment of state money.
Shas MK Amsalem urges UTJ to confront racism in schools
By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com October 24, 2010
Shas MK Haim Amsalem is urging the members of United Torah Judaism to take action against the alleged racial discrimination of Sephardi girls prevalent in haredi Ashkenazi schools.
On Tuesday the Knesset’s Education Committee will hold a session to discuss the problems of children who have not been accepted to haredi educational institutions.
Denied state funding, private school slams 'double standard'
By Or Kashti www.haaretz.com October 20, 2010
The Education Ministry has rejected the request of the Havruta private school to receive accreditation as a recognized educational institution, a step that would have made it eligible for considerable state subsidies.
School chairman and co-founder Dror Aloni:
"I understand that the general public doesn't want to fund private schools, but such a decision needs to be consistent. It's unacceptable that a religious seminary should receive funding while we're held to a different standard."
Haredi university program marks 5 year anniversary
By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com October 18, 2010
“The state must take initiatives like this and make them into a national program, to accommodate the allowances for kollel students to enable them to learn a trade, which is the most efficient way to counter poverty,” Welfare and Social Services Minister Isaac Herzog (Labor) told the participants at the capital’s Bible Lands Museum.
Don’t lie: Science is relevant to Judaism
By Rabbi Levi Brackman Opinion www.ynetnews.com October 22, 2010
Sadly, much of the contemporary religious leadership seems content with having recreated the shtetl in all its detail. And anyone in the community who does not conform completely is subject to social repercussions and sanctions.
The religious and rabbinic leadership seem oblivious to the fact that whilst this was good strategy in the shtetl it cannot work in the twenty first century where alternative opportunities are easily available.
This is in addition to the tragic fact that a Judaism which is seen as completely out of touch with reality and full of unreasonable social norms loses its relevance and becomes unattractive to most people.
500 Haredim protest opening of J'lem parking lot
www.jpost.com October 18, 2010
Some dozen members of the group, located in downtown Jerusalem's Rehov Shivtei Israel, tried to block the entrance of cars into the Carta parking lot near Jaffa Gate, but failed to so when police distanced them from the area.
Israel: Knocking down walls to put up a parking lot
By Matt Beynon Rees www.globalpost.com October 11, 2010
The city’s planning committee is considering a proposal to build an underground parking lot for the Old City by breaching the 16th-century walls of Suleiman the Magnificent and digging into the rock beneath the ancient Jewish Quarter.
...City officials intend to close the existing surface parking lot. They’ll use the space to build new housing for the largely ultra-Orthodox Israelis who inhabit the Jewish Quarter.
Haredi, get thee to a Rami Levy
By Rina Rozenberg www.haaretz.com October 22, 2010
It's common knowledge: The supermarket chains that target the ultra-Orthodox have the lowest prices. But sometimes, it seems, common knowledge is flat-out wrong.
...Rami Levy, owner of the Rami Levy chain, said only that his chain's prices are lowest because that is what he is committed to: He checks the prices at the Haredi chains and makes his lower.
Sikrik leader arrested, released to house arrest
By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com October 21, 2010
A leader of the violent Sikrikim group, Israel Heshin, 26, was arrested overnight Tuesday on suspicion of assault in an operation involving undercover police forces.
MK Ya’acov Katz (National Union), who was attacked some five weeks ago at a Mea She’arim synagogue by members of the group, expressed “great joy” over Heshin’s arrest on Wednesday.
Dairies go to war over Haredi consumers
By Amiram Cohen www.haaretz.com October 24, 2010
Israel's dairies have launched an aggressive fight over ultra-Orthodox consumers, and are offering farmers a premium if they uphold higher kashrut standards.
...As part of the agreement, kibbutz members will not milk cows on Shabbat or Jewish holidays; on those days, non-Jews such as Arabs and Thai workers will milk the cows.
J'lem nonprofits win tender for affordable homes
By Ranit Nahum-Halevy www.haaretz.com October 24, 2010
This is not their first attempt to get a project off the ground, however. The two groups had attempted to put together a purchasing group of apartment buyers a year ago, when Hebrew University put two buildings in neighboring Kiryat Hayovel up for sale.
Their goal had been to enable young couples to buy the apartments, and to block ultra-Orthodox organizations from taking the buildings, further increasing the Haredi influx in the neighborhood.
Six ultra-Orthodox organizations also were looking to buy the buildings, and the competition would have been fierce, but ultimately the university shelved the tender.
Justice rebuffs rabbi who sought to exclude judges from minyans
By Tomer Zarchin www.haaretz.com October 24, 2010
Supreme Court Justice Elyakim Rubinstein responded harshly on Thursday to statements by the city rabbi of Holon, who has said that judges should be excluded from Jewish prayer services. Rabbi Avraham Yosef is the son of Shas party spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
Ultra-Orthodox Jews, Arab students clash in Safed
By Ahiya Raved www.ynetnews.com October 23, 2010
Police forces in the northern city of Safed launched an investigation Saturday into a confrontation between ultra-Orthodox and Arab college students. No injuries were reported, but property was damaged.
Public outcry ensues after rabbis tell Jews not to rent to Arabs
By Jack Khoury and Eli Ashkenazi www.haaretz.com October 21, 2010
Several Knesset members and nonprofit organizations on Wednesday demanded a criminal investigation of Safed Chief Rabbi Shmuel Eliyahu and 17 other rabbis, after Haaretz reported that they had called on Jews not to rent or sell apartments to non-Jews.
The Reform Movement's Israel Religious Action Center and the Abraham Fund, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting coexistence between Israeli Jews and Arabs, also demanded that Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein open a criminal investigation against Eliyahu.
Probe urged into Safed rabbi for alleged racism
By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com October 24, 2010
“These sentiments are prohibited by law, and worse tenfold when they are expressed by a public figure in an official capacity – as Rabbi Eliyahu is,” the IRAC wrote to Attorney General Weinstein.
Safed Rabbis urge Jews to refrain from renting apartments to Arabs
By Eli Ashkenazi www.haaretz.com October 20, 2010
There are currently 1,350 Arab students (out of a total student body of 2,200) matriculating at the Academic College in Safed. The increased demand for rented apartments prompted the rabbis to issue their call.
Police: Netivot official 'attempted to lure rabbi with woman
By Yaakov Lappin www.jpost.com October 24, 2010
A woman equipped with recording equipment was paid to attempt to lure Rabbi Yaakov Ifergan of Netivot, also known as the "x-ray," into carrying out immodest acts, as part of an attempt to damage his reputation by Netivot Municipal Comptroller Shimon Alon, police said on Sunday following the completion of a National Fraud Unit investigation.
ADL slams Shas spiritual leader for saying non-Jews 'were born to serve Jews'
By Natasha Mozgovaya and Haaretz Service www.haaretz.com October 20, 2010
The Anti-Defamation League on Tuesday condemned comments about non-Jews made this past weekend by Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
On Tuesday, the ADL said that Yosef's comments contributed "to an atmosphere of hatred and a global trend of intolerance."
MK Orbach: Rabbinate Tests Need Improvement
www.israelnationalnews.com October 19, 2010
MK Uri Orbach (Bayit Yehudi) said Tuesday that he intends to make a priority (the) institution of an organized and proper procedure for qualification test given by the Chief Rabbinate.
VIDEO: 14-year old candidate for the Rabbinate (Hebrew)
זה הנער • ראיון וידאו מיוחד עם 'העילוי מנתניה' שרוצה 'סמיכה' לרבנות
www.bhol.co.il October 13, 2010
By Peggy Cidor www.jpost.com October 22, 2010
An old plan to build the new Magistrate Court’s near the [Museum of Tolerance] has been put back on the table by the Treasury.
...Believe it or not, two of the Meretz members on the city council – former deputy mayor Pepe Alalu and Meir Margalit – managed to gain as allies two prominent members of the haredi party – Yossi Deitsch (United Torah Judaism) and Shmuel Yitzhaki (Shas). And not too long after that, they corralled almost all the members of the two parties, who are all members of the coalition.
Ramat Gan mayor determined to build synagogue on park land
By Noah Kosharek www.haaretz.com October 24, 2010
A plan to replace a cherished neighborhood park on one of Israel's busiest streets with a synagogue were rejected Saturday by a subcommittee of the Tel Aviv District Planning and Building Committee.
By Elan Miller www.jpost.com October 22, 2010
Exasperated by the seemingly endless negativity, Rachel Tova Rott decided to take action.
She designed a simple flyer to be posted around Jerusalem. The flyers call for people not to make dating harder and remember that singles are more than just their marital status.
Rott says that more than 250 flyers have been posted around Jerusalem in areas such as the German Colony, Nahlaot and Har Nof, where there are large English-speaking communities.
Thousands mark Rachel’s yahrtzeit at Bethlehem tomb
By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com October 19, 2010
Thousands of people began arriving at Rachel’s Tomb in northern Bethlehem at sundown on Monday, to mark the anniversary of the matriarch’s death, 11 Heshvan.
Rabbi Yosef Shvinger, director of the National Center for Holy Sites, said he expected around 60,000 people to arrive for prayers, mostly women.
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the head of Shas’s Council of Torah Sages, visited the site overnight Sunday, accompanied by Rabbi of the Western Wall and Holy Sites Shmuel Rabinovitch as well as Shas’s chairman Interior Minister Eli Yishai and Construction and Housing Minister Ariel Attias.
VIDEO & PHOTO Gallery: Tens of Thousands at Rachel's Tomb
www.israelnationalnews.com October 20, 2010
Tuesday was the 11th day of Cheshvan, the Yartzheit (anniversary of death) of the biblical matriarch Rachel, whose tomb is located on the road from Bethlehem to Efrata where she died, rather than in Hevron where the other three matriarchs are buried with their husbands.
Samaritans mark holiday of Tabernacles
www.haaretz.com October 23, 2010
The Samaritans, members of an ancient sect closely associated to Judaism, marked the holiday of the Tabernacles, or Sukkot, on Friday.
Followers of the religion held an annual pilgrimage ceremony on Mount Gerizim, the sect's holiest site, near Nablus.
October 25, 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.
