Editor – Joel Katz
By Ilan Lior
www.haaretz.com April
12, 2012
A female
audience member who was invited to participate in a circus performance in
Modi'in on Sunday was removed from the stage after a religiously observant
viewer complained.
Rafi Vitis, an acrobat and host of "The
Shambuki Show," at the city's Anabe Park, consented to the request of an
ultra-Orthodox woman who found the participation of women offensive.
He invited
a male volunteer to replace the teenage girl, but was forced to suspend the
show for a few minutes because other members of the hundreds-strong audience
objected to the switch.
By Ilana
Curiel www.ynetnews.com April 11, 2012
The fourth day of the
holiday drew large numbers of travelers out of their homes, but those who chose
to visit the Beersheba zoo found closed gates.
The zoo was open for the haredi
public only, visitors argued, without any prior notice.
A small sign on the
zoo's gate confirmed the allegations, while the zoo's management insists that
entrance to the zoo was not limited.
The chairman of the Second Television and Radio
Authority Tuesday rejected criticism of a vote by the authority's council to
reduce the number of hours that women are on the air on ultra-Orthodox radio
station Kol Barama.
According to the decision made two weeks ago,
every week the station will have women on the air for four hours, rather than
the six hours of a previous agreement.
[The
authority's chairman, Ilan Avishar] added that "the gaps are not that
great. To raise such a hue and a cry over four hours instead of six, when those
four hours are significant in terms of women's presence, seems petty to
me."
During a subsequent
investigation, the youths identified the two haredi men who allegedly paid them
NIS 25 per hour to publicly call for segregation. Police arrested the two
additional suspects.
By Elana Sztokman http://blogs.forward.com April 10, 2012
Yet none of this has anything to do with
“modesty,” or even about Jewish law.
Forbidding women’s use of cellphones or
girls’ use of Facebook is not about religiousness or Torah.
These are rules
made by men who believe that women’s silence and invisibility will make their
lives somehow easier or better.
By Oz
Rosenberg www.haaretz.com
April 11, 2012
Lawyers
representing the CEO of the website, “Behadrei Haredim,” accused the police of
starting an investigation and filing charges as a result of the website’s
attacks against Jerusalem district police commander, Nisso Shaham, and his
predecessor, Aryeh Amit.
The
lawyers claim that recent police actions are in response to pictures posted of
Shaham wearing an SS uniform.
By Tali
Farkash www.ynetnews.com April 12, 2012
As it turns out, this
platform was nothing but a cheap British tabloid in its haredi version. A
platform contingent on "pay and you'll be protected – don't pay and you
can bid farewell to your public life as you know it."
...So Hadrei Haredim,
as it seems, was unable to free itself from the tribal behavior patterns of the
haredi sector after all. Unfortunately for those who were extorted, they
belonged to the opposite camp, and therefore were regarded as fair game. The
"protection money" and "exemptions" made it all criminal.
By Mordechai
I. Twersky www.haaretz.com
April 12, 2012
A court on Wednesday extended the remand of a
senior executive at a Jerusalem-based charity who was arrested this week on
suspicion of stealing tens of millions of shekels from international donors.
The official, who is linked to the Hazon
Yeshaya Humanitarian Network, did not attend the hearing at the Rishon Letzion
Magistrate's Court.
He remains under observation at a central Israeli hospital
after he reportedly complained of "chest pains" during Sunday's
arrest, according to court documents.
By Joanna
Paraszczuk www.jpost.com
April 12, 2012
On Sunday, police
announced that they suspected the charity of cheating donors out of the funds
after making them believe the money would be used for purchasing food for the
needy, when in fact the money was used to purchase food that was sold to buyers
in the haredi community.
By Avi Bentov
www.ynetnews.com April
13, 2012
With some 10,000
couples marrying every year the world of haredi matchmaking has become a major
industry.
According to the
Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS) there are 135,000 households that see
themselves as part of the haredi sector, and with an average of six members in
each haredi family, roughly one million people belong to the haredi sector in
society.
This means that nearly
every haredi family has a family member undergoing the matchmaking process at
any given time.
By Florit Shoihet www.idf.il April 4, 2012
During the week of
Passover, not only soldiers honor the Jewish holiday by eating kosher for
Passover foods, but also IDF animals stationed at the various units.
The food,
composed mostly of corn and starches, does not contain wheat in accordance with
all Military Rabbinate criteria for kosher for Passover foods.
Its nutritional
value is specifically accommodated to the animals' needs and does not in any
way affect their health or activity.
By Nathan Jeffay http://forward.com April 12, 2012
Mimouna has become a major event on the Israeli
calendar. At one time drawing only a few hundred participants, today a central
celebration in Jerusalem’s Sacher Park draws about 100,000 people, usually
including the president and prime minister.
Across the country, Moroccans and Israelis of all
ethnic backgrounds flock to smaller public and private celebrations.
A special
law even requires bosses to grant employees unpaid leave on the day of Mimouna
if they want to carry on celebrations from the previous evening.
By Guy Lieberman
www.ynetnews.com April
17, 2012
"Final Resting Place," a
joint venture by the Health Ministry and the Abu
Kabir Forensic Institute, which aims to entomb 8,288 organs and tissue samples
removed from deceased during autopsies, was officially launched on Sunday.
Yehuda Meshi-Zahav,
who heads ZAKA (Disaster Victim Identification) also voiced his objection to
the project, saying that Judaism mandates that each and every part of a
deceased's remains, no matter how minute, be buried.
However, Rabbi Yaakov
Rosa, who works with the Forensic Institute, said several rabbis have endorsed
the project.
By Itamar Marilus
www.ynetnews.com April
15, 2012
Barak Tamir, a religious
IDF officer, recently discovered that he might soon need to look for a 'kosher'
stamp on his clothes and not just his food.
Tamir, who purchased a T-Shirt from
Israeli fashion brand Castro, found out after the fact that his shirt included
a reprint of The Lord's Prayer, a well known Christian prayer.
By Moti
Bassok www.haaretz.com April 16, 2012
One of the Abuhatzeira family rabbis owes the
government NIS 9.5 million in taxes, according to the Israel Tax Authority.
The authority claims that Rabbi Yekutiel
Abuhatzeira, a descendent of a distinguished rabbinic dynasty and a son of the
Baba Sali, did not pay taxes on religious services he provided between 2003 and
2009.
By Gad Lior
www.ynetnews.com April
16, 2012
According to the IRS,
the rabbi owes NIS 10 million in back taxes. Authorities uncovered the debt as
part of an ongoing investigation into several prominent rabbis and spiritual
leader, for alleged tax evasion.
The Chief Rabbinate
decided Monday that celebrations for Jerusalem Day, scheduled to take place
next month, will be postponed one day, from Saturday night to Sunday.
Editor – Joel Katz
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rights reserved.
