Thursday, January 31, 2013

Religion and State in Israel - January 31, 2013

Religion and State in Israel

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



By Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie
Dear Prime Minister Netanyahu: [ … ]
Let me say it directly: American Jews are fed up. They have had enough. They are finished being understanding and patient.
They will no longer accept that Reform and Conservative Judaism are ostracized by Israel’s government bureaucracy; they will no longer tolerate that Reform and Conservative rabbis are scorned and despised in Israel; they will no longer sit silently while Israel’s official representatives offend them and denigrate their religious practices.
You have seen some of this newly aroused anger in the reaction of Diaspora Jewry to the arrests and detentions at the Western Wall; and this is only the beginning.
And make no mistake: The angry voices are not coming from the ranks of the indifferent or the fringe left. They are coming from the heart of American Jewish leadership.

By Daniel Gordis
Dear Rabbi Yoffie,  [ … ]
But you, in the meantime, must engender a serious conversation among American Jews about whether or not the varieties of Judaism that they so desperately want validated in Israel can actually sustain a Jewish future.
Many Israelis suspect that they cannot, and I know that you share their concern. We need each other – we need each other’s validation, but we also need each other’s critique. I hope that this exchange is but the beginning of an ongoing exchange of ideas, and look forward to working together for the sake of our people’s future.
Yours, Binyamin Netanyahu

By Rabbi Michael (Micky) Boyden

[Daniel Gordis] needs to tell us why the local Orthodox rabbi and his community should receive public funds while we do not. 

He needs to tell us why the marriages at which we officiate should not be recognized by the state while those of the orthodox rabbinate are. 

He needs to tell us why we cannot conduct the funerals of our own members at the municipal cemetery. 

He needs to tell us by what right families should be divided when they go to pray at the Kotel

He needs to tell us why the Hebrew Union College, the Schechter Institute and their respective student bodies don’t enjoy the same level of state funding and stipends received by the yeshivot and their students. And we serve in the army!

By Rabbi Judith Hauptman

If Israel could learn from the American model and implement religion in a way that does not discriminate against women or ordinary Jews, it could meet its goal of protecting the dignity and liberty of its citizens, without regard to gender or religious affiliation. 

In such a state, women would have the opportunity to become rabbis hired by the government; they could initiate divorce proceedings against men; the Western Wall rules would give full prayer access to all Jews; the two chief rabbis would be elected or selected in a broad-based way…


“All of a sudden there was a change in seculars in Israel — they see themselves also as a sector that needs to fight for themselves,” said Mickey Gitzin, director of Be Free Israel, a group founded in 2009 that advocates for equality and religious pluralism. 

“People say, ‘Wait a minute, I don’t see myself as part of a society where women cannot sit in the front of the bus.’ People don’t want to be part of such an extreme society.”

“There are elements in the making of a Kulturkampf,” said Uri Regev, a Reform rabbi who runs Hiddush, using the 19th-century German term for culture war. 

“These issues have a way of coming out and messing up solidarity, messing up politics. It’s time to deal with them in a way that is a root canal; that’s what’s necessary.”

By Jeffrey Woolf

Aside from Jewish Home (which significantly includes a non-Orthodox candidate, Ayelet Shaked), the major lists highlighted moderate, Religious Zionist candidates who are devoted to deepening Israel’s Jewish identity. 

Three of these, all of whom I know personally and two well, were elected on Yair Lapid’s Yesh Atid list: Rabbi Shai Piron, Dr. Aliza Lavie and Rabbi Dov Lipman. 

These, together with like-minded religious and non-religious MK’s have an opportunity to make a long-lasting contribution to the stabilization of Israeli society, and toward resolving some chronic problems.


In Israel, all services connected to religion are administered by the government under the auspices of the Ministry of Religious Services, which is tightly controlled by the haredi sector. 

As a result, religious services are provided according to guidelines that belong to one section of the Jewish community, and are often disputed by the greater community—including the observant community. 

The expression of alternate opinions or outlooks by other Jewish sectors is strictly. Thus thousands of years of Jewish tradition, rather than being a uniting element in the lives of all Jews, becomes a source of alienation and contention.

By Rabbi Tzvi Graetz

I pondered on the paradox that in America a Jewish leader of such vision and influence can be invited to stand before senators and presidents, while not even being considered a legitimate rabbi in the Jewish State of Israel. 

This is because she is a woman and therefore is forbidden to participate in a religious way in any government ceremony in Israel and even if she would or could would most likely be spit upon or spark some other outrageous act of violent protest.




In the preface to one of his books, Lapid wrote that he is secular and has no rabbi, but that if he had a rabbi, it would be Beit Daniel's Rabbi Meir Azari. Azari, for his part, takes pride in being the first to bring Lapid to the bimah of a synagogue. 

"I was proud to open our synagogue to Yair Lapid, and to help him to discover pluralism in Judaism and new horizons and ideas," Azari said Thursday.

By Ross Singer

The effort of making a living trains one to exert oneself with diligence, industry, and vigor. With the experience gained from the workplace, one can apply oneself to Torah study with greater energy and meticulousness.

By LW Ben Yechezkiel

Four new Knesset members from Yesh Atid should be of particular interest to American Jews. They offer an interesting window into what could be a new future for Judaism in Israel and a focus for productive interactions with American Jews.



By David Rosenberg

A better solution would be take young ultra-Orthodox men out of the confines of Geula and B’nai Brak and put them into training bases that distance them from the influence of rabbis and community pressure. 

Ideally, the Israel Defense Forces shouldn’t have the role of educator and social catalyst forced on it, but the fact is that has already happened because the regular school system doesn’t fulfill its role. 

Adding the Haredim to the list of recruits that need to be trained is a perfectly acceptable burden, especially as the army suffers manpower shortages in technology fields where young enlistees can be assigned.

Just as importantly as acquiring a modicum of useful skills, ultra-Orthodox recruits will be put face to face with Israeli society and inevitably adopt its norms at a time when they are young and most impressionable.


“A government with a small majority such as is likely to be formed without us won’t last very long. And even if we’re not in the government, it still won’t be possible to impose a solution coercively. 

Things have to be done in a reasonable manner, yeshiva students can’t be dragged out of the study hall,” UTJ MK Gafni argued.


The reality, however, is that there is a genuine gap between Lapid’s public image as a fighter for the cause of drafting the Haredim, and his actual plan. 

Yesh Atid’s policy on this issue was formulated by two individuals, the journalist (and soon-to-be MK) Ofer Shelah and Maj. Gen. (res.) Elazar Stern, former head of the IDF’s Human Resources Directorate, who turned down an offer to join Yesh Atid’s Knesset list and wandered over to Tzipi Livni’s Hatnuah party, on whose slate he was elected to the Knesset this week.


Deri dismissed the general draft notion: "Everyone knows it will not bring one person to enlist. A real draft will be made only by consent and everyone knows it."
Yishai supported Deri and explained that the percent of haredim who wish to enlist is currently larger than the enlistment extent.

"Now they want to ruin everything under pretense of equality. But there was never a danger of a rift in the people like today. Many are waiting to enlist but are not drafted," he said.
"I suggest no one consider tearing the students away from their Torahs. It will lead to a rift in the nation, Netanyahu said the same."


Now Ovadia Yosef faces a much more critical test, maybe the most difficult in his life, against the Ashkenazi Haredi establishment, which is expected to take an uncompromising stance against drafting yeshiva students.


A Shas official close to Deri reiterated on Thursday that the party was not opposed to increasing the number of haredim enlisting in the army.

“The opposite is true, but what’s important is it’s not done forcefully or coercively,” the source said.

http://online.wsj.com/

As benefits swelled, and more ultraorthodox remained in study to avoid the military, their workforce participation fell. When Mr. Begin took power, 75% of ultraorthodox men had jobs. Today that number is around 38%.

"The draft is a touchstone issue because…the army is such a deeply ingrained part of society," said Joel Katz, editor of Religion and State in Israel, a website. 

"If you don't go into the workforce, you don't contribute income tax, you don't help the economy, you don't pay to feed your family."

By Haim Bibas

If equalizing the burden is to become a long-term national priority, then we must realize that there is no quick-fix solution. While legislation and court rulings can institute forced enlistment, service in the haredi and Arab communities and elsewhere can only be sustainable if it becomes a service of choice.

This requires a sophisticated strategy aimed at truly changing attitudes.

By Rafi Newman
There are many ways to solve these issues. But only few would produce productive results. I suggest the following:
  • Cancel the draft entirely. Benefits will be granted to those who join, but there is no compulsory draft for woman, men, Olim, and people with disabilities. No mandate of national service as well.
  • Those serving in the IDF or national service will get - at the very least - minimum wage.
  • Shorten the conscription to a period of 12-18 months. 
By Gideon Levy

The Israel Defense Forces probably doesn’t want the ultra-Orthodox; it probably doesn’t need them. ...

Ever more ultra-Orthodox people want to join the workforce. But neither they nor the Arabs will accept military service. 

The IDF is fat enough without them and Israel is strong enough to respect their limitations. They can’t be forced into the economy, not by law and not by draconian orders of a Netanyahu-Lapid government. 

The way to incorporate them is by mutual respect and tolerance for their otherness. But that’s not on the agenda of the new Israeli revolution.

By Rachel Neeman

"Equalizing the burden" is a hollow slogan that has nothing at all to do with equality. An attempt to smash the Haredi ghetto using brutal methods is liable to intensify the tension in our society. 

What's more, the army doesn't really need the Haredim; they will only be a burden on it. Forcing Haredim into the army will be a symbolic act that will boomerang.

By Aluf Benn

Lapid is too weak to force on Netanyahu his plan to suppress the Arabs and the ultra-Orthodox, which will lead to mass forced labor ("civilian service").

In any case there is no real need for "equal bearing of the burden," beyond finding a formula that will satisfy the High Court of Justice. 

The ultra-Orthodox politicians understand this, and Netanyahu hopes they will agree to sign some hollow document, out of fear of losing the child allowances and funding for their yeshivas and elementary schools.

By Rabbi Natan Slifkin

Second, and most significantly: Regardless of the sources that someone might dig up/ reinterpret to claim that yeshivah and kollel students are protecting Israel, let us ask the following: Do haredim themselves actually believe that they are soldiers providing metaphysical protection? 

If so, then from their perspective, they are not draft-dodgers. But instead, they are deserters.

By Avi Shilon

In contrast to the empty slogans, the ultra-Orthodox do not evade the draft because they are afraid to fight, but rather because their leaders hope to prevent their “assimilation” into secular society. 

For them to take the route of Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, founder of neo-Orthodoxy, secular leaders should offer the Haredim a military track enabling them to preserve their way of life while being productive. 

At present, especially considering the decrease in Haredi political power, there is an opportunity that shouldn’t be missed: Secular leaders must show largeness of spirit and, together with the Haredim, search for a compromise that would result in a sharing of the burden without negating anyone’s right to live according to his beliefs.


Rabbi Melamed offered a different idea. “The whole solution to ‘equality in the burden’ could be very simple,” he said. “Whoever does not believe he belongs in the army would be free to learn or to work.”


NPR: Yesh Atid, the new political party pushing this issue, envisions a phase-in period of perhaps five years. 

But eventually, many of the Orthodox would face possible conscription. Figuring out who has to serve could be painful. Uri Regev, head of a group called Hiddush for Religious Freedom and Equality, says there's only one way to avoid favoritism: A small group of Torah scholars should be chosen strictly based on academic ability.

Uri Regev: The selection should be done by an objective board and not by the Yeshiva heads or the political ultra-Orthodox leadership.




Rabbi David Stav distanced himself Monday from ads supporting his candidacy to the post of Israel's chief rabbi. 

Stav, chairman of the Tzohar organization, a group of moderate orthodox rabbis, announced that he did not approve of the ads published in recent weeks in newspapers and websites, and requested that their publication be halted.

By Rabbi Michael Knopf

The problem here isn't with Orthodoxy. The Rabbinate is problematic even if Reform or Conservative rabbis, and not Orthodox ones, were to hold the top spots. And the problem is not the rabbis, either; rabbis have a crucial role to play in Jewish religious and communal leadership. 

The problem is a state giving governmental power and authority to religious leaders as religious leaders. Doing so has historically led to the persecution of those who refuse to embrace their beliefs.

… Only abolishing the Chief Rabbinate will fulfill Israel’s promise of religious freedom for all its citizens. And the time has come.


The chief rabbi of Rishon Letzion refers couples who register to marry in the city to a private company to ascertain their Jewishness, in contravention of proper procedure, according to a High Court of Justice petition filed this week.

The Itim institute, which advises people who encounter obstacles in obtaining religious services, filed the petition Monday against Rishon Letzion Chief Rabbi Yehuda Wolpe, the Chief Rabbinate Council and the justice minister. 

The petition demands that disciplinary action be taken against Wolpe and that he be prevented from using this invalid procedure, which was aimed particularly at immigrants from the former Soviet Union, who constitute around a fifth of Rishon Letzion residents.




Mavoi Satum (“Dead End”) announced on Thursday that the High Court of Justice struck down part of an order of the Rabbinical High Court, the result of which is that a husband refusing to grant his wife a divorce will remain in prison until the court hears a full petition filed by the wife.

Mavoi Satum director-general, attorney Batya Kahana Dror, said, “We are happy that we succeeded in stopping the unethical and unconstitutional decision of the Rabbinical High Court to free a divorce refuser from prison, the goal of the decision of which was to conduct a jurisdictional battle between the venues [the rabbinical and family court venues] on the backs of the women” whose requests for a divorce are being refused.

The rabbinical court appeared upset by Vogelman’s ruling. “This has no precedent,” a source in the system told Haaretz. “While there have been past attempts, the High Court has never interfered in a din Torah [religious court case] and the way in which the batei din [rabbinical courts] interpret Torah law.”

With regards to the High Court precedent,  [the husband's lawyer, Uri] Zamburg said: "The jailing was enforced by the High Court, and not by the Supreme Rabbinical Court, and that is a direct interference by the civil courts in a case under the sole authority of rabbinical law. This is a severe interference, even more so than in a civil suit, as it is an interference of circumvention."


Attorney Batya Kahana-Dror, executive director of the Mavoi Satum organization which provides legal and emotional support to women who have been refused a Jewish divorce, said in response to the figures that the Rabbinical Court Administration would rather not reveal the real number of women refused a divorce, and that the report was therefore incomplete.

"Addressing the number of sanctions imposed on get refusers without comparative data is misleading the public," she said.

"The courts are hiding their conservative stance from the public, which sees arrest and forced divorce as prohibited, making the get not kosher. Therefore, they avoid forcing the reluctant husbands into a divorce as much as they can, turning the get into a extortive bargaining chip in the divorce process.

"The result of the courts' policy is thousands of women in Israel who have been taken captive by their husbands and cannot move on with their lives, start a new family and have children."


The report doesn't say how many agunot or mesuravot get (women whose husbands refuse to divorce them) there are in Israel, making it impossible to determine what percentage of cases the rabbinical courts actually solved. Women's rights groups claim there are hundreds of such women. 

Thus while they welcomed the improvement in last year's numbers, they said it is still a drop in the bucket.


According to Hannah Kahat, founder of the Orthodox feminist organization Kolech: “If one of the women will say she wants to take the rabbinical ordination exams, we will back her with all our might. We will go to the High Court of Justice and launch a struggle.” 

While welcoming the development, Kahat is also cautious. “This is a development that could strengthen the practice of turning to an authority, instead of developing autonomy,” Kahat says about the women who teach halakha.




'Convert, what's the problem?' I don't want to. I am not looking for a conversion crash course or for the Rabbinate to do me a favor and recognize me as a Jew. I am not looking to cut corners. 

I have been a part of this society for my entire life. I want them to marry me like this. This is my country, I give it my all – the country should give me this right. It should allow me to marry just the way I am."

http://www.jewishideas.org/
By Rabbi Marc D. Angel

In our time when Rabbi Uziel’s religious vision is vital to the well being of the Jewish people, we regrettably find so much of the Orthodox rabbinic world going in the opposite direction. 

The current Chief Rabbinate in Israel has created numerous obstacles for would-be converts. 

The rabbinic establishments in Israel, the United States and much of the diaspora have succumbed to an almost xenophobic attitude toward prospective converts, unless those candidates for conversion are willing to accept to live a fully Orthodox religious lifestyle. 

Stringency upon stringency is added. Candidates for conversion must often wait years before being approved for conversion, and even then must fear that the beth din might revoke the conversion in the future.




By Renee Ghert-Zand

Ben-Shetreet is essentially being punished for having an exceptionally beautiful voice and wanting to share it with the world. The 12th grader has been suspended (with the agreement of her parents) for two weeks from her religious girls’ high school in the seaside city of Ashdod. Her offense? Singing in public.

“I think the Torah wants us to find ways to be happy,” said Ben Sheetrit in her initial interview. “The Torah wants music to make people happy, and I think it’s possible to do both, which is why I came to the show.”

By Simi Lichtman

Ben-Shetreet seems to be sticking to her plan of singing, and that’s admirable. But if she doesn’t want pushback from her school, then she should wait the last few months of her senior year to sing publicly, or she should switch schools. And if she does want to stay in her school and sing anyway, then no one can fault a school for following its own rules.




The transfer of the Finance Committee from the Haredim to Lapid is more than a practical matter; it's also a symbol of change. For years UTJ and its predecessors headed the panel, all but viewing it as a fief. They often preferred it to a ministerial post and advanced their party's interests while transferring large sums to Haredi yeshivas and other institutions.


“My dream is be to bring the American style of being Haredi to Israel. In the U.S., even the most heavy duty yeshivas have general studies,” he points out. “The time has come to model the American approach, and make it clear that a Haredi person can have educational and professional success without sacrificing their level of religiosity.”


Switching gear, Lipman espoused a lenient approach to conversion, stating that there has been a “rabbinic failure” on the issue.

“How can people go to school with our children, speak Hebrew, do the army” and be ignored by the rabbinate? he asked.

It is “intolerable that people were persecuted in Russia for being viewed as Jews and now they are persecuted here” for not being Jewish enough, Lipman continued.

He also advocated a “broader conversion policy with other streams of Judaism included.”
On civil marriage, Lipman declared that “it is wrong for us to legislate anyone having to get married according to Halacha. The rabbinate needs to be far more embracing.”


"We tripled our power from previous elections," Bennett said. 

"We united. On all issues of religion and state there has been a status quo for decades. I think it's time to open up all the issues of religion and state, to sit and have a dialogue about them, with mutual respect for all the factions, to find a new, complete way to deal with this matter."


A plurality of the public and an overwhelming majority of Yesh Atid voters want Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu to form a coalition without haredi parties Shas and United Torah Judaism, a Smith Research poll conducted this week found.


[Eli Yishai’s] brave face belies a grave worry, said Uri Regev, head of the NGO Hiddush for Religious Freedom and Equality.

“While the haredi leadership is voicing satisfaction from their achievements, being able to maintain their representation, and in the case of United Torah Judaism to grow it, the truth behind those smiling faces and confident statements is a tremendous fear and anxiety over the new political landscape,” he told the Post

“They understand that the long era in which the well-being of the government depended on their goodwill, and therefore they could name their price and get it in return for their votes, is over.”


"There is a famous joke we (tell) in Israel," outgoing Defense Minister Ehud Barak told CNN in an interview.

"One third of the country wakes up to work, one third is paying taxes, and one third is serving in the (army) reserves. Unfortunately it is the same one third. This one third told the government yesterday 'That is it'," he said.

Ofer Kenig, a political scientist from The Israel Democracy Institute, said the ultra-Orthodox parties had a much reduced bargaining position than before.
"There is a growing recognition among the Haredim too that the current situation cannot continue for much longer," Kenig said, referring to the Haredi exemptions from military service.


Israel's two ultra-Orthodox parties insist that they will create a Haredi blocking majority in the 19th Knesset.

“We will form a blocking majority with Shas,” MK Moshe Gafni of United Torah Judaism said Saturday night. "Half a million people voted for our parties, and together with Shas, we're worth 18 seats. “We’re not ruling out other parties, but our principles are clear,” he said."



By Daniel Goldman

Beit Shemesh continues to serve as a microcosm for these issues on several levels.
While not the exclusive solution, efforts to live side by side, stand up for our rights, and build bridges for practical and unthreatening areas of cooperation must replace the dialogue of dogma.

This and similar models must be replicated around the country to amplify the positive engagement


High-profile cover-ups of sexual abuse and molestation by communal rabbis and activists have not been limited to England and the US, but take place frequently in Israel, alleged David Morris, director of Magen, a Beit Shemesh-based community child protection organization.


“The absence of basic knowledge in core curriculum topics, especially mathematics, English and computer skills, along with a lack of general study capabilities required for academic study, turns study in these kinds of courses into a serious challenge,” the report noted.


An analysis by "Globes" found that the disqualification by the Israel Land Administration of the haredi (ultra-orthodox) charities' joint bid in Harish lots cost the government NIS 113 million - the difference between the disqualified highest bids and the lower bidders which were declared the winners. 

The highest bids by the haredi charities, which were disqualified, totaled NIS 248.5 million, resulting in sales proceeds of NIS 135.1 million.



By Sami Peretz
6. Aryeh Deri and Eli Yishai
Israeli voters are fed up with that. It’s not just the need to share the burden, but also the realization that military and civil service is the key to Haredi integration into society, higher education institutions and the workforce. 

For all practical purposes, equal service is the key to reducing inequality and improving the financial standing of weaker segments of the Haredi sector, Ashkenazi and Mizrahi alike. 

Deri and Yishai need to get off their high horse, drop the victimhood and separatism and work for their constituents' integration into all parts of Israeli society.


"The significance of a coalition without the ultra-Orthodox," Deri added, "which in practice is the desire today of the standard-bearers of the conscription law, is not in fact drafting the ultra-Orthodox.



By Rabbi Chaim Richman

Let’s get one thing straight: true Temple activists never speak about ‘blowing up the Dome,’ even in jest. 

Firstly, those who are sincerely involved in the movement towards rebuilding the Holy Temple are men of integrity and peace; secondly, it’s not funny; thirdly, it is an immature, imprudent, and irresponsible way of speaking.




We can guess that Ruth Calderon will express her unique viewpoint on issues of religion and state, pluralism and education. 

It is not yet clear, however, whether Israelis, accustomed to sound bites and simplistic arguments, can take on more complex messages. The burden of proof in this case is on everyone.

By Rabbi Gideon D. Sylvester

Today, learning Talmud is normal for Modern Orthodox women and most have no idea of the battles fought to gain that access. 

Rabbi Brovender's students are running institutions in Israel and around the world. They continue his synthesis of intellectual openness with absolute faithfulness to Jewish law and tradition. The ripples continue and the revolution expands with more and more women taking their learning deeper and deeper. The intellectual glass ceiling has been removed.

Book Review: Inside the mind of Rav Kook: Redeeming not only the world, but one's soul  

“Tzadik Yesod Olam: Hashlihut Hasodit Ve’ha’havaya Hamistit shel Harav Kook” (“Tzaddiq Yesod Olam: Rabbi Kook’s Secret Mission and Mystical Experience”), by Smadar Cherlow. Bar-Ilan Press, 435 pages, NIS 135

Considering the immense influence that Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook ‏(1865-1935‏) has had on the fate of the State of Israel in our day, it is surprising how few scholarly books have been devoted to him.



By Mishael Zion

The leadership of the two communities might meet often, but we must strive for grass-roots collaborations between the community members themselves. We must cultivate networks of connections between like-minded communities and organizations from both sides. 

The Jewish Agency’s project “Siach” is a good model: Israeli and American social justice organizations talking to each other. The AJC recently brought together Israeli and American activists on concerns over the Israeli Chief Rabbinate, showing that rather than this being an Israel vs. America controversy, there are strong alignments between the communities on both sides of the issue.


The Jewish Agency for Israel increased the number of emissaries it sends abroad by 20 percent in 2012 – Yehuda Setton, the organization’s director of long term emissaries told The Jerusalem Post on Tuesday.




Apostolate Renê Terra Nova, the head of the International Restoration Ministries in Manaus, Brazil, has brought tens of thousands of Christians to Israel over the past 10 years and says that his followers “leave this country in love and become ambassadors of Israel.”




Health Ministry Director General Ron Gamzu has instructed HMOs to stop injecting women of Ethiopian-born women with the long-acting contraceptive Depo-Provera. 

The background is that last month an Israeli television report alleged that Ethiopian immigrant women were coerced into taking contraceptive shots in transit camps in Ethiopia when waiting to move to Israel, and continue to receive the shots in Israel.


Gamzu’s letter came in response to a letter from Sharona Eliahu-Chai of the Association of Civil Rights in Israel, representing several women’s rights and Ethiopian immigrants’ groups. The letter demanded the injections cease immediately and that an investigation be launched into the practice.



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