Editor – Joel Katz
There is finally a
government which does not need the ultra-Orthodox parties in its midst to
survive. As a result, the most pressing problem in Israel can and must be
addressed by this government in the next 17 months.
…Extremism, religious
coercion, and unity are the issues which truly threaten our future internally
and the new unity government can address these issues for the first time in
decades.
[Yonatan] Ariel knows just as well
as I do that currently no Reform, Conservative or Reconstructionist Jew by
Choice are allowed to marry in Israel, nor are their children.
How can one
expect to advance the critical cause of “Jewish Peoplehood” and enhance the ties
of the “next generation” to Israel without confronting the exclusion they will
face in Israel?
By Yair
Ettinger www.haaretz.com May 6, 2012
While the
faction's newspaper Yated Neeman has not ceased to deride them, Gafni and
Maklev realized somewhat belatedly that in the ultra-Orthodox camp there are
many who haven't waited for Yair Lapid.
They have
already stopped studying Torah day and night, some of them have served in the
army, some of them are studying for a degree and all of them work.
And
therefore their children are not accepted into the ultra-Orthodox educational
institutions and they have to live in communities of their own.
By Yair Altman
www.ynetnews.com May
6, 2012
The Jerusalem Police raided several
ultra-Orthodox institutions Sunday as part of an elaborate fraud investigation.
Five people were arrested.
Police believe that
the suspects are involved in a massive student registration scheme, meant to
defraud the state out of millions of shekels.
By Melanie Lidman www.jpost.com May 6, 2012
The institutions in question are located in
Jerusalem and Betar Illit, a haredi enclave in the West Bank.
Rabbi Uri Regev, head
of the religious freedom activist group Hiddush, blamed haredi rabbis’
reluctance to condemn the practice for the continued attempts to fraudulently
obtain funds.
“The result is that in
the haredi public it enables the perception that the state funds are abandoned
and it’s permissible to spend them fraudulently,” he said.
Such a
policy ought to define the rights and obligations of every Israeli citizen in
an egalitarian manner. It should study the army's needs and create civilian
service for those who either aren't needed by the army or are incapable of
serving effectively.
It
should bolster universal social services, subsidize selected yeshivas in the
same way the Council for Higher Education does for universities, and abolish
government stipends for yeshiva students.
All this
would deprive Haredi politicians of their kingmaker role and establish trust
between the state and its citizens.
Rabbi
David Shabtai, M.D., is the author of "Defining the Moment: Understanding
Brain Death in Halakhah," available at www.DefiningTheMoment.com
The incentive offered in the new law, by
pushing Isaac toward the top of the waiting list, unfairly punishes Jacob for
his religious views.
While
nobly intentioned as a means of increasing the organ supply, practically this
new law institutionalizes religious discrimination in medical treatment.
Such a
notion flies in the face of the Hippocratic tradition that has guided medical
practice since its inception. Treating patients differently based on their
religious convictions is something that good people should not tolerate.
For response, see: Turning morality on its head
For Dr
Lavee, the director of the Heart Transplantation Unit at Sheba Medical Centre,
it has been a long process to fix what he believed was an inbuilt unfairness in
the health system.
''If you
do not donate something for the greater good of society, how can you then
expect to get something back from that society?'' he said.
Who is ‘Haredi’?
By Rabbi
MK Haim Amsallem Opinion www.jpost.com May 2, 2012
The author is a member
of Knesset, an ordained rabbi, and the chairman of the Am Shalem movement.
But the fundamental
question is: Who is haredi?
That question must be asked because many people,
including myself, consider themselves haredi but are not viewed as such by many
in the haredi community. It would actually be easier to clarify who is not a
haredi according to preset standards, since the haredi press tends to focus on
this issue.
So, who isn’t haredi?
Here is the list as I understand it.
www.haaretz.com May 12, 2012
Regarding
the ultra-Orthodox: “Look at how Shas, with 11 MKs, controls all of us and how
United Torah Judaism with 5 mandates acts as if they officially own the Knesset
Finance Committee.
I don’t hate the ultra-Orthodox, but I wonder how they
always take care of their own community’s interests.
It is fitting that there
will be someone who looks after the rest of the Israeli public.”
http://menachemmendel.net May 3, 2012
The
Israeli organization for national-religious women, Emunah, has begun the
process of establishing a course for women who want to be Mashgiḥot Kashrut, kashrut supervisors.
They have
approached the Chief Rabbinate with a proposal that includes a curriculum.
Apparently much is dependent on the local Rabbinic Council, and in Efrat this
has already been implemented.
By Omri Efraim www.ynetnews.com
May 2, 2012
A controversial
"SlutWalk" rally that has drawn hundreds in Tel Aviv and Haifa in
recent months is coming to Jerusalem on Friday, unless officials in the
ultra-Orthodox community have the final say in the matter.
See also: Israeli ‘Slutwalk’ protesters hit streets of Jerusalem
See also: Israeli ‘Slutwalk’ protesters hit streets of Jerusalem
By Gabe Kahn www.israelnationalnews.com
May 1, 2012
"It
is only because of the ultra-Orthodox, here in Israel, that today we are in our
beloved homeland of three-thousand years dating back to God's promise to
Abraham that 'to your seed I shall give the land'," Eichler claimed.
http://www.globes.co.il May 3, 2012
The Rachip team is comprised of
female engineers from theHaredi ultra-orthodox community in Israel.
The Rachip
team is based on 100 semiconductor experts, located in 2 R&D centers in
Israel: Bnei-Brak and Haifa.
Kfar Sava bars girls from
singing solo at youth group meeting
By Gili
Cohen www.haaretz.com May 10, 2012
(hardcopy only)
Neither
girls nor boys will sing solos on stage during the Kfar Sava Youth Movement
Conference next week, the city’s youth council decided, voting 9-1 to accede to
a request from the religious youth group Bnei Akiva to avoid having girls sing.
www.israelnationalnews.com May 1,
2012
English
as a foreign language is not emphasized in many of Israel’s religious public schools,
according to the latest report from State Comptroller Micha Lindenstrauss.
Some
schools do not teach the subject at all, he reported, despite the fact that it
is considered one of the “core subjects” all government schools must teach.
By Rabbi
Rick Jacobs Opinion www.haaretz.com
24
Rabbi
Rick Jacobs is Incoming President of the Union for Reform Judaism
At Kehilat Mevasseret Zion, a remarkable Reform
congregation just outside of Jerusalem where the Grossmans are members, there
is a very special Torah scroll dedicated to the memory of Uri Grossman. It is a
tree of life to those who hold it fast.
May this unique scroll help us hold close the
memories of all of those who gave their lives for Israel.
Through our tears may we have the courage to
affirm: We have not, and we never will, lose our hope!
An American-born resident of the Galilee is on
trial for damaging antiquities in a burial cave on his property, even though he
says he has been working to preserve the site.
The trial of Mitch Pilcer, 54, a resident of
Tzippori, opened on Sunday in Nazareth Magistrate's Court.
He says he
discovered the grave of Rabbi Yehoshua Ben Levi, an amora (rabbi quoted in the
Talmud) who lived in the early third century, while working three years ago to
add a bungalow to his property, where he has been running a bed-and-breakfast
since 1997.
Robert
Slater talks to Eilat Mazar, the archaeologist who believes she has found King
David’s Palace in Jerusalem exactly where the Bible says it should be – even
though her critics aren’t so sure.
An
electricity pylon erected in front of the Church of All Nations in East
Jerusalem is sparking tensions between Israel and the Vatican.
The
Franciscan Custody of the Holy Land submitted on Wednesday an administrative
appeal against the Jerusalem municipality and the Israel Electric Corp,
claiming that the municipality approved the action illegally.
While accusing born-again Christians of stealing
items of our national heritage, Rejectionists also charge them with supporting
Israel for the most dangerous imaginable reason: a sense of religious
imperative.
This indictment rests upon the highly questionable assumption that
allies who join your cause out of political calculation count as more reliable
and honorable than those who defend your interests because they believe God
commanded them to do so.
Editor – Joel Katz
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