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Editor – Joel Katz
Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.
By Shimshon Arad February
19, 2009
Book Review: Israel:
Democracy or Ethnocracy (In Hebrew) By Shulamit Aloni, Am Oved
Her fundamental complaint is that by insisting on maintaining a "Jewish and democratic" state, we have introduced a built-in conflict. In practice, she claims that we have always treated the Jewish interest as the preferred obligation.
…There is also the case of the Orthodox rabbinate in Israel, whose authority often seems contrary to some basic human rights.
How do we reconcile this
with the obligation to observe both the Jewish and democratic rights granted to
all?
…Over the years, the Orthodox parties have gained much more power than anticipated. Aloni realizes there is no way to easily reverse the political clock.
Her counsel is clear: Block
any attempt to undermine the power and prestige of the High Court of Justice -
an objective shared by many other politicians.
By Shulamit Aloni Opinion
October 23, 2009
Here we live under religious coercion, there is no civil marriage, and the law forces us to be subject to the Orthodox rabbinate while other streams of Judaism are treated with contempt.
Now they wish to tie us to "the values and symbols" of the Judaism that emanates from the study halls of Shas and the ultra-Orthodox.
By Shulamit Aloni November 5, 2007
The government of Israel, with all due respect, does not represent the Jewish people but rather the citizens of the State of Israel who elected it.
By Shulamit Aloni December
19, 2010
Recently, we have been the victims of the disgrace and envy of various ultra-Orthodox men who have united with their old-fashioned and obsolete rabbis to shame women and keep them away from the words of the Torah.
By Shulamit Aloni Opinion
September 12, 2011
Last month, Anat Hoffman of the Reform Movement proposed that I board one of the previously gender-segregated bus lines and examine the attitude to women. These are the bus routes where the High Court of Justice ruled such segregation is illegal and must be annulled.
...This segregation is disgusting. It is a shame that the Egged bus company cooperates with this for some profits. However, the problem is not Egged. After all, Egged is subsidized by the State and must serve the entire public, regardless of ethnicity, creed, religion or gender.
By Shulamit Aloni July 30,
2008
…In other words, there is no barrier to adding a conditional get to every ketuba, which would take effect if the husband disappeared for several years or refused to divorce his wife.
…With regard to conversion as well, our ancestors were incomparably more broad-minded and open-hearted than those holy men who serve nowadays, and who pretend to put individual and public welfare at the top of their priorities.
By Shulamit Aloni September
30, 2008
Nowadays, I feel warmly disposed toward Reform and Conservative Judaism, and when I travel overseas, I attend Reform and Conservative synagogues to hear the liturgy.
Editor – Joel Katz
Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.
