Editor – Joel Katz
Religion
and State in Israel is not affiliated with any
organization or movement.
The chairman
implicitly criticized the ad and wrote: "I thought that a sense of
generalized abuse could be felt, and should be avoided if possible."
Given Shas' consent to
the ad's removal, the petitions for its ban were rejected.
Efforts to introduce
some drama, or comedy, into the somewhat lackluster Israeli election campaign, in the form of satirical
television ads for two parties at opposite ends of the political spectrum, have
been stifled by the country’s Central Election Committee, which deemed them too
offensive to broadcast.
Despite those rulings, however, both ads have attracted tens of thousands of views online this week.
Despite those rulings, however, both ads have attracted tens of thousands of views online this week.
Shas insisted,
however, that its commercial was not targeted against any specific person or
particular sector of society, but was designed to warn of the “danger of
fictitious conversions and mixed marriages.
“Only Shas, which has
halted legislative initiatives to advance these things, can halt them in the
future as well,” the party said.
Hatnuah
head Tzipi Livni wrote on her Facebook page that the ad was
"outrageous."
She said: "when I saw it, I remembered a meeting I held at a conversion base in the army and one of the soldiers in the process of converting who told me: 'If I am killed in the army I want to be buried next to my friends, and if I marry I want to marry like them.'
There are about 300,000 immigrants in Israel who live, serve, and work with us, who contribute to society and are forced to undergo tough conversion procedures despite the fact that Halakha allows otherwise."
She said: "when I saw it, I remembered a meeting I held at a conversion base in the army and one of the soldiers in the process of converting who told me: 'If I am killed in the army I want to be buried next to my friends, and if I marry I want to marry like them.'
There are about 300,000 immigrants in Israel who live, serve, and work with us, who contribute to society and are forced to undergo tough conversion procedures despite the fact that Halakha allows otherwise."
Deputy Knesset Speaker
and MK Shlomo Molla (Tzipi Livni Party) called on Yisrael Beytenu MKs who
immigrated to Israel to publicly denounce a Shas campaign ad which has been
widely decried as racist for negatively stereotyping Israel’s immigrant
population from the former Soviet Union.
By Yair Ettinger
That's
especially ironic considering that Shas is entrusted with managing the
conversion process in Israel (Sephardic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar, who oversees
the process, is a student of Shas spiritual leader Ovadia Yosef).
Their claim that Yisrael Beiteinu is devising a hollow forgery of conversion is exactly the same claim that the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox used to lob at Shas.
Their claim that Yisrael Beiteinu is devising a hollow forgery of conversion is exactly the same claim that the Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox used to lob at Shas.
Seth Farber, an
Orthodox rabbi and director of the religious rights lobbying group ITIM, also
slammed the commercial and accused the party of hypocrisy.
“The chief rabbi of Israel, who is a signatory to every conversion certificate in the state of Israel, is allowing the party with which he identifies to belittle people who passed the state conversion system and people who are currently stuck in that system due to its intolerable bureaucracy,” Farber said in reference to Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar.
“The chief rabbi of Israel, who is a signatory to every conversion certificate in the state of Israel, is allowing the party with which he identifies to belittle people who passed the state conversion system and people who are currently stuck in that system due to its intolerable bureaucracy,” Farber said in reference to Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar.
Derided by many as
archaic and irrelevant, the state-subsidized blocs of ads are a legendary
staple of Israeli election campaigns, providing a rare platform for candidates
from the more than 30 parties contesting the election to take their messages to
the masses.
By Rabbi Dov Lipman
It must be stated in the clearest of
terms that according to traditional Jewish law not only can we allow their
conversions but we must convert them.
According to Orthodox Jewish law, those
without a Jewish mother are not Jewish. But those who come from Jewish descent
actually fall into a unique category called “zera Yisrael.”
… The Talmud clearly requires only that we teach conversion candidates “some lenient and some strict commandments” prior to accepting them for conversion.
http://www.jpost.com/
Rabbi David Stav, chairman of the national-religious rabbinical association Tzohar, announced Wednesday night, via a YouTube video, that he would be standing as a candidate for the position of chief rabbi of Israel.
Rabbi David Stav, chairman of the national-religious rabbinical association Tzohar, announced Wednesday night, via a YouTube video, that he would be standing as a candidate for the position of chief rabbi of Israel.
Stav’s long-awaited
announcement has been expected since last August, when Tzohar began a campaign
to prompt the chief rabbinate to adopt a more modern approach to the Jewish
life in the country. The election of the new Ashkenazi and Sephardi Chief
Rabbis will take place in June.
Stav faces a strong challenge, mainly from
ultra-Orthodox communities and political parties, who may adamantly oppose his
candidacy.
The election scheduled for June 2013 will
apparently only be for the position of Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi, since Shas is
preparing legislation that will enable the current Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo
Amar to remain in office for an additional term.
To mark
his campaign yesterday, Stav released a YouTube video in which he said
"fundamental change" is needed to put the Chief Rabbinate back in
line with the path set by Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook, who served as pre-state
Israel's first chief rabbi.
That path, Stav said, "brings people closer," indicating the prospect of a rabbinate that is more welcoming and less alienating, especially for Israeli Jews who don't necessarily identify as religious.
That path, Stav said, "brings people closer," indicating the prospect of a rabbinate that is more welcoming and less alienating, especially for Israeli Jews who don't necessarily identify as religious.
Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi
Yona Metzger said on Wednesday that the Chief Rabbinate will be sending out a
directive to all local rabbinates in the coming days instructing them to accept
women’s testimony as to a person’s unmarried status for the purposes of
marriage registration.
Hiddush director Uri
Regev, who is both a Reform rabbi and an attorney, said however that he had
reservations about whether or not “extremist local rabbinates” would heed the
directive.
By Daniel Adin
The writer
teaches at the Achim kollel in Ra’anana.
Change is
indeed needed in the Chief Rabbinate’s office. For a long time I have argued
that the state should get out of the business of religion.
Civil
marriage should be instituted; conversions and kashrut should be left to the
hands of private authorities.
Those who
want to be strict will continue to do so. Those who want to be liberal, even to
the point of farce (like many Reform clergymen in the United States), should
also be permitted to do so. It makes no sense for the secular Supreme Court to
tell the rabbinate if it should grant a kashrut certificate for produce grown
on land “sold” to a non-Jew in the shemita year.
It makes
even less sense for the court to decide if a conversion is valid under the
Halacha. A Jew who is strict about kashrut will not decide what he will eat or
whom he will marry based on the court’s decisions. A secular state cannot and
should not control a religious establishment.
But the
rabbinate should not in any way relax its strictures.
Some 3000 haredi youths have been
presented with draft notices and are set to be enlisted for military service in
August 2013, said Major General Orna Barbivai, commander of the IDF Manpower
Directorate, on Thursday.
The young men who
were slated to join the military had until recently deferred their service due
to their religious beliefs, Maj. Gen. Orna Barbivai, the head of manpower in
the IDF, told Israel Radio.
"I am worried about what will
happen here if a law defining the status of yeshiva (religious school) students
isn't legislated, and if the IDF is forced to go out into the streets and,
though it does not want to, forcibly enlist yeshiva men.
It could, God forbid, spark a civil war," Deri said in an interview with Shas newsletter Yom Leyom.
It could, God forbid, spark a civil war," Deri said in an interview with Shas newsletter Yom Leyom.
If the
government decides to draft yeshiva students into the army, ultra-Orthodox Jews
will respond by leaving the country, Shas' spiritual leader predicts.
"We
will, heaven forbid, have to leave the Land of Israel and go abroad,"
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef said in remarks reported on Haredi website Kikar Shabbat as
part of Shas' election campaign.
“On Judgment Day,
God will accuse them, saying, ‘You abandoned my Torah in the hands of the
evildoers… who hate the Torah,” he said.
“On Judgment Day,
God will accuse them, saying, ‘You abandoned my Torah in the hands of the
evildoers… who hate the Torah,” he said.
Last month's decision
allows for up to 1,300 haredim to be recruited to the civilian service by
August 1 or until new legislation is passed to replace the Tal Law.
Bayit Yehudi leader
Naftali Bennett said on Monday with regard to the issue of haredi enlistment in
the army that yeshiva students who are studying Torah should be allowed to
continue their studies and not be forced to enlist in national service
programs.
Speaking with haredi
station Radio Kol Hai, Bennett added that his party would “fight against
legislation which would coercively draft” yeshiva students.
“We will be a partner
which will fight for Torah study in Israel, and we will fight against laws that
coerce service,” Bennett said.
After a period of instructing talmidim not to report
to IDF induction centers, the Vishnitzer Rebbe Shlita is now changing his psak
in light of a new agreement reached with the IDF.
Shas leaders Arye
Deri, Eli Yishai and Ariel Attias sent a letter to Prime Minister Binyamin
Netanyahu on Tuesday calling on him to commit to preserving the status quo of
all matters pertaining to religion and state in the country.
In addition, the
troika demanded that Netanyahu, and all potential coalition partners, commit to
preventing the passage of any legislation that would sanction public transportation
on Shabbat; stop legislation allowing for “fictitious” conversions; and ensure
that jurisdiction over marriage and divorce remain under the auspices of the
rabbinical courts system.
By Nehemia
Shtrasler
A few
weeks ago, MK Chaim Amsellem published his new book, "In the Name of
Reason," which tears the tissue of lies and self-interests off the faces
of Shas party leaders. The response by some ultra-Orthodox Jews was swift: They
burned the book at a public ceremony at a yeshiva.
[If Shas]
actually solved the problem of the Haredi community's poverty and distress, who
would need them any longer?
Shas spiritual leader
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef may no longer bless his adherents via smartphone, the
Central Elections Committee ruled on Thursday.
Following a complaint
from religious freedom NGO Hiddush, Central Elections Committee chairman
Justice Elyakim Rubinstein demanded Shas that remove the option of receiving a
blessing from its smartphone application.
For the first time Shas spiritual
leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef has openly and publicly criticized Rabbi Amnon
Yitzhak for establishing his own political party, which will be contesting the
upcoming election.
Yitzhak is a well-known haredi outreach
preacher who seeks to “return” secular Israelis, especially Sephardim, to
Orthodox Judaism, and Shas is concerned that Yitzhak’s Hakoah Lehashpia party
will divert votes away from it.
Aryeh Deri, Eli Yishai
and Ariel Atias wrote in the letter, we are, "calling on you today to
outline the Jewish direction your future government will take after the
elections."
4 main
principles:
1.
maintaining the status quo in terms of religion and state;
2.
preventing legislation that contradicts Jewish law;
3. not
allowing civil marriage laws which would permit the intermarriage of Jews with
non-Jews;
4.
preventing the operation of public transportation on Shabbat.
Shas
co-leader Aryeh Deri has been summoned to appear before a Yerushalayim beis din
in a case filed against him stemming from his support of the Oslo Agreement.
This was
not a lone gesture of support. The chief rabbis, whose institutions are
publicly funded, have long given support to the cause.
For the past several years they have faithfully sent out periodic public letters inveighing against abortion, and last year wrote that they were acting "to encourage births in the Jewish nation and prevent unnecessary abortions."
Amar and Metzger even instructed the marriage departments in the local governments' religious councils to continue distributing Efrat's booklet, "For a Happy Marriage," due to "its great importance and necessity."
For the past several years they have faithfully sent out periodic public letters inveighing against abortion, and last year wrote that they were acting "to encourage births in the Jewish nation and prevent unnecessary abortions."
Amar and Metzger even instructed the marriage departments in the local governments' religious councils to continue distributing Efrat's booklet, "For a Happy Marriage," due to "its great importance and necessity."
Religious
Zionist rabbi Benny Lau: "There
are enough situations in which women are in terrible kinds of distress, or
there is something badly wrong with the fetus," he said.
"The statement ‘Abortion is murder’ is not legitimate. I understand the motivation to fight against extreme liberalism, but a lack of balance is very dangerous to the social structure. A religious society is obligated to take things in a balanced way.
The Efrat association does not have this balance; there is no balance. Taking our Torah in the direction of Christian Catholic canon law is a terrible mistake.”
"The statement ‘Abortion is murder’ is not legitimate. I understand the motivation to fight against extreme liberalism, but a lack of balance is very dangerous to the social structure. A religious society is obligated to take things in a balanced way.
The Efrat association does not have this balance; there is no balance. Taking our Torah in the direction of Christian Catholic canon law is a terrible mistake.”
Dozens of
demonstrators braved torrential downpours in Jerusalem on Monday afternoon to
protest an award from the Jerusalem Conference to the anti-abortion
organization Efrat.
A
controversial Israeli anti-abortion organization is receiving support from the
country's chief rabbis.
"We view the
Efrat association's activity, aimed at saving the lives of Israel's children,
as extremely important," Rabbis Yona Metzger and Shlomo wrote in an open
letter sent to Israel's rabbis.
The
fervently Orthodox parties, as well as some Arab parties, refuse to permit
women on their lists. They say it would be immodest and a violation of Jewish
law/Islam to permit women to campaign and serve alongside men.
A small
but significant number of women voters have begun to fight back. In an unprecedented
move, a group of haredi women are publicly refusing to vote for the fervently
Orthodox parties that claim to be representing their agenda, whether it be
subsidies for large families or military exemptions for yeshiva students.
Rabbi
Aharon Lichtenstein, dean of the prestigious Yeshivat Har Etzion in Alon Shvut
and a leading figure in the national religious community, said recently that the
religious community should be more honest with itself in regards to the way it
relates to homosexuals.
By Anshel
Pfeffer
[Naftali]
Bennett has detailed plans in many fields, but he has yet to articulate a
reason for having a parochial and religion-based party in Israeli politics at a
time when religious Israelis have never been as well integrated into society as
they are today.
There are many hard-right politicians in Israel, but only one has hijacked an entire community to serve his desire to be a part of the leading elite - and that is why he should be opposed.
There are many hard-right politicians in Israel, but only one has hijacked an entire community to serve his desire to be a part of the leading elite - and that is why he should be opposed.
By Batsheva A. Neur
What, according to Aviner, would likely
be wrong with this biblical picture today, besides – everything? A female
warrior and judge playing an authoritative and political role, and singing in
public, too? A far cry from the recent October call Aviner made barring women
from public office or voting. Deborah is lucky she predated modern-day fervor.
Had she been around today she’d likely be sharing the same jail cells as the Women of the Wall.
Had she been around today she’d likely be sharing the same jail cells as the Women of the Wall.
I beg and plead – will the real leaders
of religious Zionism please stand up?
By Rabbi Dr. Jeffrey Woolf
In the course of the
past year, a courageous group of Rabbis, Yeshiva Heads, To’anot Rabbaniot, and Yo’atzot Halakhah have banded together to form an organization
that they have appropriately named ‘Beit Hillel.’
Their goal is, officially, to develop rabbinic leadership that is attentive to the needs of the entire Jewish community in Israel.
Their goal is, officially, to develop rabbinic leadership that is attentive to the needs of the entire Jewish community in Israel.
Rabbi Shlomo Aviner,
known as one of the strictest Religious Zionism leaders when it comes to
women's modesty, has formulated a new dress code in which he orders women to
avoid wearing red, keep their hair tied in a braid and put on 40 denier
stockings.
Aharon
Attias, the director of the mechina and the driving force behind the Garin
Torani, tries to allay the suspicions. A Lod native, he debated moving to a
settlement after his army service but decided to remain in his hometown.
"To
leave here is to run away," he says, adding that his goal is to
rehabilitate Lod, not to "Judaize" it.
Jerusalem needs
secular residents, said Rabbi Yaakov Medan, one of the heads of the Har Etzion
yeshiva in Gush Etzion, one of the leading yeshivot in Israel.
In fact, he said, secular Israelis should have the opportunity to attend the cinema on Shabbat, if they so wished.
“The theaters could sell tickets in advance,” he said, in order to avoid conductingcommerce on the Sabbath and work the movies by special timers so as to avoid desecrating the Sabbath.
In fact, he said, secular Israelis should have the opportunity to attend the cinema on Shabbat, if they so wished.
“The theaters could sell tickets in advance,” he said, in order to avoid conductingcommerce on the Sabbath and work the movies by special timers so as to avoid desecrating the Sabbath.
Israel’s left-wing Meretz party ran another round
of their Shabbat buses this past Friday night—this time in and around Jerusalem
and Tel Aviv.
An estimated 200 passengers enjoyed free service along three sponsored routes while Meretz brought the lack of public Shabbat transportation options in most places around the country into public consciousness.
An estimated 200 passengers enjoyed free service along three sponsored routes while Meretz brought the lack of public Shabbat transportation options in most places around the country into public consciousness.
In short, does refraining from running buses on
Shabbat serve to unify the country around the symbol of the Jewish week? Or is
it a sign of religious oppression?
The verbal abuse
continued throughout the ride. "I was insulted the entire way and was in
tears," she says. "No one helped me."
The nightmare lasted
an hour and a half, until the bus reached Arad. Before disembarking, Miri was
again subjected to slurs and was spat on by one of the passengers.
"I was shocked. I couldn't believe this could happen in my country."
"I was shocked. I couldn't believe this could happen in my country."
Shayna Weiss: I have been surprised to find out how much common cause
religious and secular people had in their concern over the beach, especially in
the Mandate Period.
Those norms have shifted now, but some of them still remain. Gender segregation goes to the core of a discussion of what a Jewish and democratic state might look like. We need to realize that these aren’t new issues.
Those norms have shifted now, but some of them still remain. Gender segregation goes to the core of a discussion of what a Jewish and democratic state might look like. We need to realize that these aren’t new issues.
Also, I do not like the trend to only
blame Haredim for the current trends in Israel, although I am not suggesting in
any way that they are blame-free. The secular government has been just as
much blame—these things are the products of long historical processes of
compromises and controversies.
Lapid: "Whoever forms the next government needs to know: We are not
asking for portfolios, we are not asking for seats, we didn't establish Yesh
Atid for that purpose.
These are our principles. We will not be part of a government that will not enlist the Haredim and get them into the job market," Lapid told a news conference.
These are our principles. We will not be part of a government that will not enlist the Haredim and get them into the job market," Lapid told a news conference.
Interview with Adina
Bar-Shalom, the eldest daughter of the spiritual leader of the ultra-Orthodox
Shas party, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, and the founder of the Jerusalem ultra-Orthodox
college — The Haredi College
of Jerusalem.
"Considering
the fact that in Jerusalem alone, 2000 ultra-Orthodox girls graduate from high
school each year, while merely 300 of them enroll for studies at our college,
then it is certainly not enough," she says, adding on an optimistic note:
"I believe that if no obstacles are put in our way, within a few years,
the majority of young men and women in the ultra-Orthodox community will
acquire academic education and obtain an academic degree just like their
counterparts in the secular sector."
A united haredi bloc,
the [Haredi] paper warned, "Could, for instance, strike a deal with Livni
and Yachimovich and crown them prime ministers by rotation. There's nothing
wrong with that."
The Satmar rebbe,
Rabbi Aaron Teitelbaum, leader of the world's biggest anti-Zionist Hasidic
community, has launched a harsh attack on ultra-Orthodox politicians in Israel,
who he claims are only interested in "glory, power, money and seats."
United
Torah Judaism's Moshe Gafni, chairman of the Knesset's Finance Committee:
Whether
this election is critical to the relation between religion and state, the
answer is yes.
It's the first time I've witnessed the Knesset debating the very basics.
The struggle between the Haredim and the anticlerical minority is in full swing, and is likely to be decided during the term of the next Knesset, especially on the issue of yeshiva students, who are the backbone of the Jewish people throughout history. Maintaining that is our most cherished cause.
It's the first time I've witnessed the Knesset debating the very basics.
The struggle between the Haredim and the anticlerical minority is in full swing, and is likely to be decided during the term of the next Knesset, especially on the issue of yeshiva students, who are the backbone of the Jewish people throughout history. Maintaining that is our most cherished cause.
Many in the new
generation of ultra-Orthodox are open to the idea of getting jobs. The key is
finding one that fits, said Bezalel Cohen, 38, who has worked for years to
promote employment among his fellow haredis.
"The diamond
industry's initiative (to hire ultra-Orthodox) has potential to really
succeed," he said. "As long as the pay and training is proper, it
should take off."
Discussion will focus on Hi-tech in
the Haredi sector, including success stories, difficulties, hardships along
with solutions, government plans and ways of raising capital.
Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak, a
well-known haredi outreach preacher and founder of the newly established Hakoah
Lehashpia Party (The Power to Influence), said the party would be running in
the upcoming election, despite the public attack on him from Shas spiritual
leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef over the weekend.
Payroll
costs in the Haredi city of Betar Ilit, one of Israel's poorest cities, were
relatively generous.
The municipality's 13 senior officials cost an average of NIS 32,400 monthly while the overall cost per employee averaged NIS 12,000.
In another ultra-Orthodox locality, Kiryat Ye'arim (Telz-Stone) with a population of just 3,500, the cost for town officials was NIS 35,000.
The municipality's 13 senior officials cost an average of NIS 32,400 monthly while the overall cost per employee averaged NIS 12,000.
In another ultra-Orthodox locality, Kiryat Ye'arim (Telz-Stone) with a population of just 3,500, the cost for town officials was NIS 35,000.
By Batsheva Alexandra Neuer
Rabbi Abraham Joshua
Heschel claimed that “Religion declined not because it was refuted, but because
it became irrelevant, dull, oppressive, and insipid.... [W]hen religion speaks
only in the name of authority rather than with the voice of compassion – its
message becomes meaningless.”
To me, there is
nothing less compassionate than a sign warning others against entering.
There’s no “Jewish
vote” in the state of Israel. Or rather, as The Times of Israel pre-election
poll shows, there’re at least a half-dozen variants of the “Jewish vote” for
which political parties are competing.
These include four distinct streams of self-described observance — secular, traditional, Orthodox, and ultra-Orthodox — and two types of self-described ethnic Jewish heritage — Ashkenazi and Sephardi/Mizrahi.
Each stream or heritage type forms a distinct bloc with its own voting patterns and trends. Indeed, in Israel, it’s not just religion, but religious observance and heritage, that help to define voters and parties.
These include four distinct streams of self-described observance — secular, traditional, Orthodox, and ultra-Orthodox — and two types of self-described ethnic Jewish heritage — Ashkenazi and Sephardi/Mizrahi.
Each stream or heritage type forms a distinct bloc with its own voting patterns and trends. Indeed, in Israel, it’s not just religion, but religious observance and heritage, that help to define voters and parties.
It's no
secret that a vast majority of Haredi schools don't teach the Israeli core
curriculum, or at least a large chunk of it, and one can assume that whoever
isn't tested doesn't teach or learn the material.
However,
despite their failure to teach the core curriculum, Israel's Haredi schools
receive between 55 percent and 75 percent of the government funding received by
schools in the state system.
The two largest school networks in the Haredi educational system – those affiliated with the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael party and the Shas party – received 100 percent of the funding provided to state schools, which are obligated to teach the core curriculum.
The two largest school networks in the Haredi educational system – those affiliated with the Hasidic Agudat Yisrael party and the Shas party – received 100 percent of the funding provided to state schools, which are obligated to teach the core curriculum.
The issue of the
talmidei torah, the chareidi school system, is back in the media; under attack
as a result of statistics released by the Ministry of Education.
Ministry officials report that over the past decade the number of students attending chareidi mosdos elementary schools has skyrocketed. These schools enjoy state funding, but the children emerge “ignorant”, the daily Maariv reports, referring to “core subjects”.
Ministry officials report that over the past decade the number of students attending chareidi mosdos elementary schools has skyrocketed. These schools enjoy state funding, but the children emerge “ignorant”, the daily Maariv reports, referring to “core subjects”.
Israel's
Chief Rabbinate has threatened to stop an art gallery in Tel Aviv from
exhibiting works using original Talmud pages "sacrilegiously."
Chief Rabbi Yona
Metzger said he hoped someone would purchase the artwork for thousands of
shekels – so that they would be removed from the gallery.
"The
Million that Changed the Middle East" deals with the immense influence the
wave of immigration from the Soviet Union has had on Israeli society primarily
- but not solely - from the political-social angle.
Its authors - Lily Galili, who covered the great immigration as a correspondent for Haaretz for some 20 years, and Roman Bronfman, formerly the most prominent left-wing member of Knesset from the so-called Russian community - construct the story of this immigration around the axis of political goings-on.
Its authors - Lily Galili, who covered the great immigration as a correspondent for Haaretz for some 20 years, and Roman Bronfman, formerly the most prominent left-wing member of Knesset from the so-called Russian community - construct the story of this immigration around the axis of political goings-on.
An attempt
to harm the fragile status quo at the building which houses King David's Tomb
and the room of the Last Supper may have been behind the smashing of
centuries-old tiles at the site two weeks ago, informed sources indicated on
Thursday.
The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which manages the site, said the damage to the tiles was 'total.'
The Israel Antiquities Authority and the Western Wall Heritage Foundation, which manages the site, said the damage to the tiles was 'total.'
For the second time in
two weeks, vandals destroyed antique ceramic tiles at King David’s tomb next to
the Old City’s Zion Gate in Jerusalem overnight Wednesday.
Some
critics see Taglit-Birthright as nationalist and right-wing, but the former
leader of Israel’s left and architect of the Oslo peace process isn’t worried
at all.
“People
say Birthright is right-wing but they’re wrong,” says Yossi Beilin, a former
head of Israel’s justice, economics and religious affairs ministries.
“I’m all in favor of a debate on Israel’s policies and don’t think Jews in the Diaspora should blindly support it, but this has nothing to do with visiting Israel.”
“I’m all in favor of a debate on Israel’s policies and don’t think Jews in the Diaspora should blindly support it, but this has nothing to do with visiting Israel.”
The Jewish
Federations of North America has found a new home for Otzma, its flagship
Israel leadership program for young adults. Jerry Silverman, JFNA president and
CEO, wrote in an e-mail to Otzma alumni on Friday that Israel Experience
Educational Tourism Services Ltd. will assume control of Otzma when this year’s
class completes the program in June.
Over
winter break, Jalali, from Beverlywood, was one of nine teens to visit Israel
on a unique tour run by the Sephardic Educational Center (SEC) out of Los
Angeles.
A
delegation of outstanding Ethiopian-Israeli high school students visited the
country where their parents were born.
But the gap between the headlines
and the reality is enormous. When the situation of Israelis of Ethiopian origin
is compared with that of communities from elsewhere — the former have nothing
to feel ashamed of.
Considering the starting point, when the parents and immigrants’ generation didn’t even know how to read and write, the achievements of the Ethiopians and their integration in Israel are something to be proud of.
Considering the starting point, when the parents and immigrants’ generation didn’t even know how to read and write, the achievements of the Ethiopians and their integration in Israel are something to be proud of.
Now that leading rabbis
have come out in favor of organ donations and transplants, ADI is hopeful that
more people will get the message and sign up for an ADI card, which obviates
the need to ask immediate relatives to agree to donate organs if a card holder
dies.
Were the final resting-places of the
family and disciples of Jesus discovered 30 years ago and then hidden as part
of a religious-political conspiracy?
The archaeological controversy swirling
around two Roman-era burial tombs in Jerusalem refuses to die. Indeed, it has
become something of an ugly academic slugfest.
Editor – Joel Katz
Religion
and State in Israel is not affiliated with any
organization or movement.
