Editor – Joel Katz
By Melanie
Lidman www.jpost.com March 15, 2012
A well-known Jerusalem restaurant in Rehavia has
found itself in the middle of the latest storm involving discrimination against
women, after the organization providing the restaurant’s kosher certification
threatened to withhold it unless the restaurant stops employing female
waitresses on Thursday nights.
City
Councillor Rachel Azaria, a prominent activist for women’s rights in Jerusalem,
said the request from the Badatz set a dangerous precedent and that other
restaurants could soon find themselves facing similar requests.
By Yair
Ettinger www.haaretz.com March 14, 2012
According
to the owner, Haim Safrin, zealots, "who are jealous of the place's
success," pressured the kashrut supervisors of the strict Agudat Israel
high religious court, known as the Badatz, to stop waitresses from working on
Thursday nights.
Safrin,
who says he has many non-religious and non-Jewish patrons, says the Badatz's
instruction is not the end of the matter and he wants to find a compromise.
"At most, we can move shifts," he said.
By Dr. Michael Marmur http://elearning.huc.edu March 8, 2012
In honor
of International Women’s Day and Purim, a group of about 200 people congregated
in Ben Yehuda to hear women read the Megilla (it’s the day before Purim in
Jerusalem).
The
Megillah was read by a group of women including Rabbi Ada Zavidov of
Har El Congregation, Rabbi Ma’ayan Turner,
and Rabbi Naamah Kelman,
Dean of HUC-JIR in Jerusalem, among other Jerusalem women. Men attending were
asked to come dressed as women, and some of us obliged.
In
recent times, those good-hearted people who are prepared to risk their lives in
order to save the Haredi women from themselves, are growing in number.
They
explain to them, slowly, that it is most desirable for them to be insulted by
their being erased from billboard advertisements, express surprise that they are
determined to agree to dictates from spiritual leaders, and are amazed that the
poor creatures refuse to admit their wretchedness.
By Tomer
Velmer www.ynetnews.com March 19, 2012
For the first time the Education Ministry is set
to recognize haredi seminary final exams as Bagrut matriculation exams in every
way.
This means that any young woman who graduates from the independent
education system’s haredi seminaries to become integrated in higher education
institutions.
The decision is set to come into effect retroactively
for any woman who has taken the exams in the last decade.
By Ben
Hartman www.jpost.com March 14, 2012
Recognition
of an alternative test taken by haredi women as a bagrut matriculation exam
will help them enter the workforce and Israeli institutes of higher education,
Education Minister Gideon Sa’ar (Likud) said on Thursday.
Shahar
Ilan, the vice president of research and information for Hiddush:
“We’re in
favor of finding a matriculation exam that respects their beliefs,” he said,
but added that the Szold exam was formed in order to prevent haredi women from
receiving the education and work preparation they need, and the decision made
by the Education Ministry will now put an official stamp of approval on that
system.
By Robbie Gringras http://makomisrael.org March 15, 2012
When Makom
was faced with the challenge of creating and running a 5-hour symposium on
“Haredim and the Jewish Collective” for the Global Jewish Forum of the Jewish
Agency, we wanted to avoid throwing oil on the already blazing fire.
We also
wanted to bring all the participants into a deeper more honest and informed
understanding of the situation.
For
example, all the above facts are most certainly the presenting edge of the
issue, but they risk offering a snap-shot as a trend, a two-dimensional picture
as the deep reality. How might we help everyone reach, as Yonatan Ariel puts
it, “a higher level of confusion”?
Add to that a mostly non-Haredi
audience carrying a little bit of natural prejudice, a smidgen of hurt pride,
and a genuine concern that Israel may not end up looking anything like a
Western paradise, and we knew to expect a loaded atmosphere for the latest
Global Jewish Forum.
Click here
for Global Jewish Forum Feb 2012 – Program
By Tzipi
Malchov www.ynetnews.com March 15, 2012
The
haredim are pushing forward an initiative to establish a market that will serve
as an alternative to the Machne Yehuda Market in Jerusalem. The reason – events
held at Machne Yehuda include women's singing. A suitable location was found a
few days ago, a 10 dunam area between Sanhedria and Mount Hotzvim.
The
initiative to establish the alternative market was launched a few months ago.
The haredim declared war on the market over the Balabasta Festival, an event
that includes live performances between the market stalls. The haredim's main
claim was that the festivals include women's singing and are a source of
"immorality that harms our children's education."
By Tobias
Buck www.ft.com March 14, 2012
The
call-centre belongs to Cal, one of Israel’s largest credit card companies. What
makes it unusual is that it only employs members of the country’s
ultra-orthodox Jewish community.
… Mr Efrat
says that opening the facility in Modiin Illit in 2007 was a “risk” that few
companies at the time were willing to take. Many of the rules that govern
Haredi life are hard to follow in the workplace, not least the demand for a
strict separation between the sexes.
By Yair
Ettinger www.haaretz.com March 15, 2012
Tens of thousands of people attended the
funeral on Wednesday of the long-time leader of the Vizhnitz Hasidim, whose
death is likely to set off a split in Israel's second-largest Hasidic sect.
See also: Hassidic Vizhnitzer rebbe dies at 95
Lev Tahor Hasidic cult: ’When you’re on the path of
truth, you don’t care what others say’ [Part 2 of series]
By Shay
Fogelman www.haaretz.com March 16, 2012
The main
inspiration for Helbrans’ doctrine as presented in “Path of Salvation” is drawn
from the book that is a keystone for all the most extreme Hasidic sects –
“Vayoel Moshe” by the previous Satmar Rebbe, Rabbi Joel Teitelbaum.
...Helbrans, like the Satmar Rebbe, has chosen
an interpretation that is vehemently opposed to the existence of the State of
Israel.
Lev Tahor Hasidim strive to avoid any contact
with the State of Israel and its authorities.
By Rene H. Levy www.timesofisrael.com March 18, 2012
The experience of the last few months suggests
that the new generation of Israeli and Diaspora Jews requires more emphasis and
focus on the notion of Jewish peoplehood. Jewish peoplehood is unique because
it is based on the concept of arevut, or mutual responsibility, which
transcends individual allegiances to specific groups, whatever the label.
By
Talila Nesher www.haaretz.com
March 14, 2012
A class
in "Marital Communications" was held Tuesday in Bar-Ilan University's
Midrasha, an advanced Torah study program for women. The course has an unusual
prerequisite: It is meant only for women who have been married for at least one
year.
"Bar-Ilan
seems to be confused," said the executive director of the Masorti
(Conservative) movement in Israel, Yizhar Hess. "They forget that a
university class isn't a Bnei Akiva [religious youth movement] activity, and
that academia isn't an ulpana [religious high school].
By Jeremy Sharon www.jpost.com March 17, 2012
Two
students at a West Bank yeshiva have accused a counselor of sexual abuse. The
counselor is also suspected of possibly carrying out similar acts against
students at a separate institution where he also taught.
The committee in charge of approving domain names
which might be offensive, has voted this week to okay a new domain:
"Yahweh.co.il." The decision was first reported by Tomer Persico on
his blog "Minim."
Committee
members Michael Birnhack and retired judge Boaz Okon agreed there was no reason
to prohibit the possibly offensive domain name, whereas Committee Chairman Hank
Nussbacher and author Yochi Brandes objected.
By Liron Naglar-Cohen www.ynetnews.com March 15, 2012
Odeleya Berlin, daughter of famous traditional
clarinet klezmer musician Moussa Berlin, has recorded her own record –
"Shvil Shel Or" (Path of Light).
But Berlin
is no ordinary musician. She is a religious woman and therefore only performs
in front of other women, as the halacha instructs. But at the same time, her
album is intended to be played on all Israeli radio stations, as she wishes to
reach maximal exposure, free of gender segregation.
By Jeremy
Sharon www.jpost.com March 20, 2012
Friends and associates of Rabbi Yonatan Sandler,
who was murdered with two of his children on Monday morning as well as 8-year
old Miriam Monsonego, spoke of his warm, friendly and generous character and
praised him for his commitment to his students and their education.
By Judy
Siegel-Itzkovich www.jpost.com March 15, 2012
A
24-year-old Jerusalem inventor and biomedical engineering student will soon
market the first tracking device that informs would-be elevator users in their
rooms or apartments when it will reach their floor.
By Nathan Jeffay www.forward.com March 4, 2012
It was a new campaign by Be Free Israel, a not-for-profit organization that promotes
pluralism, that prompted the council to bring the issue to a vote.
“There’s a
very big discourse about the ‘status quo,’ but the status quo changes almost
every day,” said the organization’s director, Mickey Gitzin.
Buoyed by the response in Tel Aviv, the group is
now rolling out its campaign nationally.
By
Talila Nesher www.haaretz.com
March 19, 2012
The Council for Higher Education in Israel has
ordered Bar-Ilan University to stop registering students for its graduate
Talmud program, saying the university did not seek the necessary approval
before opening the new program.
By
Revital Blumenfeld www.haaretz.com March 14, 2012
A Chabad
rabbi who was serving the tiny ancient Jewish community in Cochin, India, and
his wife were expelled to Israel yesterday for allegedly engaging in illegal
activities.
In recent
months there has been a campaign by a number of Israeli right-wing groups and
individuals, including Knesset members, to force the issue of Jewish access to
the Temple Mount.
By Ed
Rettig Opinion http://blogs.timesofisrael.com
March 12, 2012
First,
as Weil points out, the determination of the Jewishness of Ethiopians by two
chief rabbis is still not fully accepted by ultra-Orthodox rabbis, some of whom
place obstacles in the path of their marriages.
Second,
while service in the IDF is an effective vehicle for integration, most
Ethiopian women decline to serve, citing their religious Orthodoxy. As a
result, they forgo an important opportunity to gain skills and education.
By
Shirly Sasson Ezer www.ynetnews.com March 13, 2012
Five
foundations representing Christian communities in Israel have petitioned the
High Court of Justice to implement equal treatment under the tax law for all
religious houses of worship in the country.
The
petition, lead by the Jerusalem Institute of Justice, a civil rights group, was
filed in response to an March 2010 amendment made to the capital’s municipal
tax laws, fully exempting synagogues from property taxes.
By Jeremy
Sharon www.jpost.com March 18, 2012
Prime
Minister Binyamin Netanyahu lavished praise on the Evangelical Christian
movement, and on a mission of approximately 800 members of Pastor John Hagee’s
Christians United for Israel (CUFI) organization, in Jerusalem on Sunday night.
By Nir
Hasson www.haaretz.com March 19, 2012
American Evangelical pastor John Hagee - who
heads the largest pro-Israel lobby group in the United States - half jokingly
compared Benjamin Netanyahu to the Messiah on Sunday night, as he waited for
the delayed prime minister to arrive at a Jerusalem hotel to address the crowd.
By Nir
Hasson www.haaretz.com March 14, 2012
A Jerusalem Court acquitted an antiquities
collector on most counts of forgery on Wednesday, eleven years after the case
was first opened.
Oded Golan, along with four others, was
originally indicted for selling forged antiquities, including the Jehoash
inscription, a shoebox-sized tablet inscribed with Biblical-style Hebrew
instructions on caring for the Jewish Temple, and an ossuary, or ancient burial
box bearing the inscription, "James, brother of Jesus."
By Jeremy
Sharon www.jpost.com March 20, 2012
The
Justice Ministry announced on Monday that it has renewed a deal with the Bahai
World Center in Israel exempting it from indirect taxes for another five-year
term.
The
government will transfer funds equivalent to any indirect outlays incurred by
the World Bahai Center or any of its associated non-profit organizations for
activities it carries out in operating and developing the sites.
By Tomer
Zarchin www.haaretz.com March 20, 2012
In an
unprecedented move, a court has ordered the Israel Prison Service to provide a
Muslim inmate with festive meals on Muslim religious holidays.
The
Prison Service told the court that the decision will have wide-ranging
implications for all non-Jewish inmates incarcerated in Israel.
Editor – Joel Katz
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