Tuesday, February 21, 2012

Religion and State in Israel - February 20, 2012 (Section 2)

Religion and State in Israel

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


By Brian Lurie Opinion www.jpost.com February 18, 2012
Rabbi Brian Lurie is the incoming president of the New Israel Fund.

But there are also other trends affecting the haredi community that need to be considered.
More haredi women have entered the workplace. More haredim are going to college, more will join the army.

Changing the educational requirements for haredi schools to provide a secular core curriculum, something we and most Israelis strongly favor, would further integrate the ultra-Orthodox into modern life.


By Moti Bassok www.haaretz.com February 14, 2012

[The IMF] projects that Israel's gross domestic product would be 15% higher than it is if Arabs and Haredim worked as much as the other population groups.

The IMF begs to note than in 30 years, Arabs and Haredim will constitute about 50% of Israel's population (extrapolating from present trends), which will become a macroeconomic problem if they don't work.



By Jeremy Sharon www.jpost.com February 15, 2012

Community activists in Beit Shemesh have written to Montgomery County executive Isaiah “Ike” Legget in Maryland, asking him to go ahead with a twinning project between the two locales, despite recent violence aimed at women and young girls perpetrated by ultra- Orthodox residents of the Israeli city.

Hadassah Margolis, mother of 8-year-old Na’ama – who was highlighted in a television expose of extremist aggression directed at students at a Beit Shemesh girl’s school – wrote to Legget asking him “not to give up” on the sister city initiative.

“We are standing up to bullies. We are standing up to peoplewho are doing something very wrong,” Margolese said in her letter. “By you being our twin city, you stand up to these bullies and extremists everywhere together with us.”


By Melanie Lidman www.jpost.com February 13, 2012

A Maryland county considering a partnership with Beit Shemesh is backing off from their proposal due to sharp criticism of the recent violence by ultra-Orthodox extremists.


By Hadassa Margolese Opinion http://hadassamargolese.blogspot.com February 15, 2012

Rather than giving up on being our twin city, I think that you should be proud to be our twin city. 

You should be proud to be part of the people of this city who have made a change, who are doing everything possible to continue making a change, and who are an example for the rest of the country, the region, and the world.


By Revital Blumenfeld www.haaretz.com February 16, 2012

...Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman, who is ultra-Orthodox, left a conference on child safety yesterday when a schoolgirls' choir took to the stage.

After learning that the 12-year-old girls were due to perform, Litzman was said to have asked those sitting near him how he could leave the hall and saying that he had an important telephone call to make.
As soon as the choir finished its performance, Litzman returned to his seat.


By Noam Barkan www.ynetnews.com February 16, 2012

Litzman's bureau said in response, "The deputy health minister does not make a habit of attending events which include women's singing in keeping with his lifestyle and religious view.

"This does not warrant an apology and one must show understanding for a person who follows his beliefs. The deputy health minister does not interfere with the contents of the events to which he is invited. As for this specific case, he left the room to handle the nurse issue."


http://hiddush.org February 15, 2012

Hiddush Director, Rabbi Uri Regev: 
"This project is in protest to the exclusion that has become a regular occurrence, and to show that it is possible and necessary to exclude the excluders. 
Those behind this discrimination of women are not just the individuals who spit on little girls and curse at women on the street, but much of the ultra-Orthodox establishment who give these extremists support and inspiration.
When ultra-Orthodox leadership refuses to include women in roles of leadership, promotes segregated buses and exclusion of women in the media, and discriminated against women in rabbinic courts, they give license to the acts of these extremists.



By Tamar Rotem www.haaretz.com February 15, 2012

It is hard to comprehend how a woman from Bnei Brak, from a good Haredi family, immerses herself in feminist literature of the period, or even knows of its existence.

...After she “crossed the boundaries” and started a revolution unprecedented in our community, it was clear she needed time to “ripen”: to bring to the light of day the words and stories percolating inside her.
My mother’s life story is part of the history of the growing extremism in Haredi society.


By Ari Galahar www.ynetnews.com February 19, 2012

Rabbis of the extreme Eda Haredit faction have waged war against a new technological enemy: Smartphones in general, and Apple products in particular.


By David Gonzalez and David Furst http://lens.blogs.nytimes.com February 16, 2012

That wedding took place this week as thousands of Viznitz Hasidim crammed the streets for the nuptials of their rebbe’s grandson. 

Mr. Balilty, an Associated Press photographer who won the Pulitzer Prize in 2007 for his memorable shot of a West Bank settler holding off a phalanx of Israeli security forces, found himself in the middle of the elaborate celebrations.

“I’m kind of used to it, but not really,” he said. “It so different from the lifestyle I live. This is less than two miles from where I live. But it’s so far — it’s like a million miles, how they live.”


By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com February 14, 2012

The question of Rabbi Elyashiv's successor is not discussed in a public, official fashion. Yet many ultra-Orthodox are preoccupied with the subject.

...Attorney Dov Halbertal, who is close to Rabbi Elyashiv, believes the identity of the successor is not really important.

"No new Haredi ideological trend will arise," he says, "unless there is some sort of revolt. Anybody who thinks the way will now be paved for the introduction of a new educational program for Haredim is mistaken.

The common denominator linking all these [four] rabbis is absolute defense of the yeshiva world, in all its branches, against army service, and against changes in attitudes toward women.


By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com February 19, 2012

After nearly two weeks of being unconscious Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv awoke from his sleep and started communicating with his surrounding on Sunday.


By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com February 20, 2012

A spokesman for the Rabbi said, “The condition of the Rabbi is improving, but it is still defined as serious. This coming week is very significant in determining whether the Rabbi be himself again or not. Members of the family ask that people to continue to pray.”


By Dr. Motti Inbari, University of North Carolina at Pembroke

The article examines the modesty campaigns led by Neturei Karta circles in the period 1938–1974 under the leadership of Rabbi Amram Blau (1896–1974). This study was made possible following the discovery of Blau’s personal archive.


http://www.globes.co.il February 20, 2012

During a flight from Brussels to Tel Aviv, a group of haredi passengers took out fold-up cartons and spread them out on the seats where they were sitting to separate them from other passengers.

The flight attendants did not say anything to them, and the makeshift partitions remained in place until landing. "This is not the first time this has occurred," a passenger on the flight said.


By Jeremy Sharon www.jpost.com February 21, 2012

Three haredi women served up a veritable feast of culinary delights Monday afternoon, in a competition to find the most delectable dish in Israel for today’s large ultra-Orthodox families and bustling homes.


By Jeremy Sharon www.jpost.com February 14, 2012

Specialists and professionals this week highlighted a changing attitude within the haredi (ultra-Orthodox) community toward reporting suspected sexual abuse of minors.


By Danielle Ofri, M.D. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com February 16, 2012

The Israeli program was initiated by Dr. Jacob Lavee, a cardiothoracic surgeon who heads the heart transplant program of Sheba Medical Center in Tel Hashomer.

In 2005, he had two ultra-Orthodox, Haredi Jewish patients on his ward who were awaiting heart transplants. The patients confided in him that they would never consider donating organs, in accordance with Haredi Jewish beliefs, but that they had absolutely no qualms about accepting organs from others.


By Robby Berman Opinion www.jpost.com February 14, 2012
The writer has an MPA from the Harvard Kennedy School of Government. He is a freelance writer and the founder and director of the Halachic Organ Donor Society. www.hods.org.

An Israeli journalist who reports that a brain-dead baby died upon cessation of heartbeat contradicts the understanding of the medical community in practically every country in the world, as well as contradicting the Chief Rabbinate of Israel, the Knesset of Israel and the Ministry of Health of Israel.

A journalist who uses the term “life-support,” when she should have written ventilator, contributes to people’s decisions not to donate organs resulting in the needless deaths of more than 100 Israelis every year. Choosing our words carefully is good advice for conversation as well as for journalism.


By Yaniv Kubovich www.haaretz.com February 15, 2012

Non-Jewish prison wardens will be docked only half a vacation day for taking off on their holiday eves, in a policy change granting them terms equal to those of their Jewish peers.
This comes after a warden complained that the Prison Service discriminated against non-Jewish employees.


By Nir Hasson www.haaretz.com February 13, 2012

The rabbi of the Western Wall on Monday filed a police complaint about an Internet auction site selling stones from the holy site. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz also warned that anyone buying the stones from eBay would receive a curse, not a blessing.
See also: Western Wall stones on sale at eBay



AFP www.ynetnews.com February 20, 2012

Jewish pilgrims, among them settlers and Israeli politicians, are growing increasingly frustrated over security restrictions which permit them to visit a revered West Bank shrine only under cover of darkness.
The site in question is Joseph's Tomb...


By Nadav Shragai www.israelhayom.com February 17, 2012

Now a book has been released about the cemetery. “Sambusky: the Story of the Jewish Cemetery on Mount Zion,” published by the City of David Institute for Jerusalem Studies and edited by Dr. Eyal Miron, is both fascinating and sad, not only because a story about the dead and their graves – particularly ones that have been desecrated innumerable times – can only be a sad one, but also because Doron Herzog died unexpectedly two years ago at the age of 53, turning his research project into a memorial for its author.


By Melanie Lidman www.jpost.com February 15, 2012

A former police officer who witnessed a stoning attack on the Mount of Olives on Monday slammed the security situation in east Jerusalem, saying it enabled stonings to become a frequent occurrence at the ancient Jewish cemetery.


By Ehud Kenan www.ynetnews.com February 17, 2012

The Chabad house appealed to the hackers with practical advice on better ways to spend their time, suggesting they try a more meaningful endeavor, like learning the Seven Laws of Noah, rather than commit a crime.


By Ilana Curiel www.ynetnews.com February 19, 2012

The Beersheba District Court determined on Sunday that legal proceedings against a man who was charged with murdering Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira last July will continue in light of a psychiatric opinion stating he is fit to stand trial.


By Tomer Zarchin www.haaretz.com February 14, 2012

An American hit-and-run driver who was finally found in Israel last year, after fleeing Florida over a decade ago, may not be extraditable because Florida does not allow its prisoners to receive kosher food.


By Nir Hasson www.haaretz.com February 21, 2012

"Price tag" graffiti was spray-painted in Jerusalem again Sunday night, with vandals this time targeting a downtown church.


Reuters www.ynetnews.com February 20, 2012

The words 'Price Tag', a slogan used by extremist Jewish settlers, were also scrawled on the walls of the Baptist Narkis Street Congregation in a quiet residential neighborhood in west Jerusalem.



By Michele Chabin www.religionnews.com February 15, 2012

Every year, thousands of Americans travel abroad for less-expensive fertility treatments, hip replacements and other medical procedures. Now, an Israel-based tourism company is offering a package that combines medical care with a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.


By Yanir Yagna www.haaretz.com February 19, 2012

Be'er Sheva, the largest city in Israel's south, does not provide burial accommodations for its Christian population, Zikaron, a non-profit representing Christian burial rights in Israel, is claiming.

The NGO's struggle against city policy began after current mayor Rubik Danilovich reversed a 2001 decision by then mayor Yaakov Terner to allocate land to serve as the future site of a Christian cemetery in the city.


By David Lev www.israelnationalnews.com February 16, 2012

The Zionist Organization of America (ZOA) this week sent a sharply critical letter to Knesset members government ministers, and Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu, demanding that Jews have the right to “unfettered access and freedom” to pray on the Temple Mount.


By Nir Hasson www.haaretz.com February 15, 2012

The model was made 140 years ago by the architect and archaeologist Conrad Schick, whose work in Jerusalem was supported by the London Society for Promoting Christianity Amongst the Jews. Its details reveal that its creator had access to places where no Western scholar of his day was allowed.


www.travelujah.com February 13, 2012

Conrad Schick, a 19th century German missionary, scholar and architect, was described by Dr. Shimon Gibson as a kind of "oracle" in Jerusalem during his time.

Anyone desiring to truly understand the city's history, and possibly its future, simply had to visit and learn from Schick. With the return of some of Schick's most prominent work to the Christ Church compound in Jerusalem's Old City, pilgrims once again have the opportunity to do so.


By Nir Hasson www.haaretz.com February 21, 2012

In the rear section of the Western Wall plaza, in the spot where the Western Wall Heritage Foundation intends to erect a large building that it calls "the Core House," Antiquities Authority researcher Shlomit Wexler-Bedolah discovered an ornate and broad Roman street, complete with shops on each side. This is the eastern cardo, along whose path Hagai Street would later be paved.


By Nir Hasson www.haaretz.com February 13, 2012

The Jerusalem District Planning and Construction Committee approved on Monday the construction of a new visitors’ center at the City of David National Park in Silwan.


By Melanie Lidman www.jpost.com February 13, 2012

The Israel Antiquities Authority, the National Parks Authority, and Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat all gave their blessing to the project at the District Committee meeting on Monday...


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