Monday, June 21, 2010

Religion and State in Israel - June 21, 2010 (Section 1)

Religion and State in Israel

June 21, 2010 (Section 1) (see also Section 2)

If you are reading in email or RSS feed, please click here to read ONLINE

Editor – Joel Katz

Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.


*Articles on the Haredi school segregation case will be included in an upcoming special edition.


High Court abolishes state stipends for married yeshiva students

By Jonathan Lis, Yair Ettinger and Tomer Zarchin www.haaretz.com June 15, 2010

The High Court of Justice yesterday ruled that the provision of state stipends to adult yeshiva students violates the principle of equality stipulated in the budget foundation law as well as legal precedents.

Interior Minister and Shas party chairman Eli Yishai said that Shas intends to introduce a bill that would maintain the status quo with regard to income support for married yeshiva students or alternatively to address the issue through the Economic Arrangements Bill, the supplementary legislation that accompanies the annual state budget.

"The Knesset will fix this," Yishai said.


High Court: Income guarantees to kollel students unlawful

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com June 15, 2010

Rabbi Uri Regev, CEO of the religious freedom advocacy group Hiddush, called the ruling a correction of historic “injustice and discrimination” that bears important tidings to the Israeli economy, as “these payments were one of the primary factors enabling haredi men to avoid partaking in the labor market.”

Rabbi Gilad Kariv, head of the Reform Movement in Israel, called the ruling “an important message to all of those who are troubled by the ongoing growth of the culture of poverty, as well as the economic, civil and security inequality in Israel.”

He stressed that it was the state’s duty to act immediately to mainstream the haredi populace and incorporate the core-curriculum subjects in their schools.


Shas source: We'll ensure stipend for secular students as well

By Yaheli Moran Zelikovich and Attila Somfalvi www.ynetnews.com June 15, 2010

"We will make it so that everyone is satisfied. The High Court ruled that there is discrimination, and we do not mind rectifying it so that (secular) students are also made eligible to receive assured income," said the source, adding, "it is doubtful that there are many, since the criteria for yeshiva students' assured income speak of married couples where neither partner works and that have three children. How many (secular) students like that do you know?"


Yeshiva students reeling in wake of stipend cancellation

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com June 15, 2010

The implication is that Haredi cabinet ministers and MKs are about to fight for a line item that costs NIS 135 million a year - NIS 45 million of which, allegedly, is allocated fraudulently.

...Nearly 11,000 married yeshiva students receive the state stipend.

Deputy Education Minister Meir Porush characterized as "repulsive" the parallel drawn by the court between yeshiva students and university students.

"Yeshiva students study for dozens of hours every week in order to preserve the soul of the Jewish people," he said.


Years later, leader's struggle against grants bears fruit

By Jonathan Lis www.haaretz.com June 15, 2010

The man who embodied the fighting spirit against state grants for yeshiva students did not have a chance to see the fruits of his struggle.

Ornan Yekutieli, a former Jerusalem city councilman and a key activist in the battle against religious coercion in the capital, died of heart disease in 2001, a year after the original petition was filed with the High Court.


An end to the stipends / Constitutional questions

By Ze'ev Segal www.haaretz.com June 15, 2010

The law ensuring stipends for yeshiva students as part of their subsistence, according to the ruling, contradicts the law on subsistence payments which does not guarantee similar payments for any student.


A learned ruling

JPost Editorial www.jpost.com June 15, 2010

The time has come for the haredi community to reassess its standing. It is no longer the weak, embattled minority that it was in the aftermath of the Holocaust.

The haredi leadership can no longer justify devoting all of its energies to the singular endeavor of preserving tradition and insulating its flock from “evil” outside influences. It must now rise to new challenges.

First and foremost among these is ensuring that while an elite few continue to carry the torch of tradition, others receive the skills needed to integrate into a dynamic labor market.


The government's test of principle

Haaretz Editorial www.haaretz.com June 16, 2010

[The] High Court ruling places the prime minister and his cabinet before an important test.

If Yishai and his friends succeed in pulling the rug from under the court decision, the premier, his finance minister, justice minister, education minister and welfare minister will not only need to explain to the public why they failed to prevent the erosion of the court's standing, but they will also need to clarify the reasons for their preference of yeshiva students over students who will soon come to represent the pillars of Israel's economy and academia.


Court: Cancel yeshiva students' assured income

By Aviad Glickman www.ynetnews.com June 14, 2010

Dissenting Justice Edmond Levy, the only religious judge on the panel, said studying the Torah is "a command of the bible, which the Knesset and government believed should be funded".

The separation between yeshiva and other students is based on "relevant difference", he added.


Rabbi: Seculars' raison d’ĂȘtre sustaining yeshiva boys

By Ari Galahar www.ynetnews.com June 16, 2010

Rabbi Shteinman, 97, added that currently there is a state of symbiosis between seculars and haredim: "They help us and God Almighty helps them."


Just ask Jenny

By Yuval Albashan Opinion www.haaretz.com June 17, 2010

Instead of paving the way for people like Baruchi by granting them the same status as yeshiva students, the High Court preferred to abolish the arrangement they had enjoyed...


Steinitz: We need haredim and Arabs in workforce

By Sharon Wrobel www.jpost.com June 16, 2010

Steinitz said it was important to recruit haredi men and women into the labor market when they turn 22, when many of them already have two children, instead of waiting until they are 35 or 40, as it is the case today, when it is hard for them to find a job with a decent salary.

As part of the Finance Ministry’s efforts to encourage haredim to join the workforce, Steinitz said he planned to submit an amendment to the Tal Law that would exempt haredim who are age 22 with at least two children from army service, which would allow them to work.


Chareidi Lawmaker Challenges Meretz Bus Advert Campaign

By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com June 18, 2010

Rabbi Avraham Ravitz (UTJ) has sent a letter to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz, requesting he probe the bus campaign launched by the left-wing Meretz Party, displaying signs on buses “An end to the chareidization of Jerusalem.”


IDF proposes new model for enlisting ultra-Orthodox students

By Amos Harel www.haaretz.com June 16, 2010

The Israel Defense Forces has proposed a new model for the implementation of the Tal Law in an attempt to conscript several thousand more ultra-Orthodox into its ranks annually.

The army is willing to see the age limit drop to 27, and in parallel proposes increasing the number of ultra-Orthodox conscripted by including younger men who pass Labor Ministry courses prior to conscription and older Haredim who will serve a shortened term and be incorporated into the IDF's 'emergency reserves'.


IDF opposes exemption program for haredi fathers

By Tani Goldstein www.ynetnews.com June 16, 2010

Elements in the Israel Defense Forces are not keen on a new Finance Ministry program which would provide an automatic draft exemption for haredi men over the age of 22 with two or more children.

The plan is aimed at enabling ultra-Orthodox men to join the work force, however IDF Personnel Directorate chief Major-General Avi Zamir said it may have far reaching implications for the IDF.


Aish Machal recruits non-Israelis for IDF

By Sam Cross www.jpost.com June 17, 2010

Not since the days before the War of Independence – when David Ben-Gurion and Menachem Begin scoured the globe seeking members of the Diaspora to fight in the War of Independence – has an organization proactively recruited non-Israelis to serve in the nation’s military.

Aish Machal decided to fill this void by establishing a full-enlistment army volunteer program for non-Israeli citizens.


Religious Soldiers in the Israel's Army

By Eliav Rodman www.myjewishlearning.com June 3, 2010

Eliav Rodman, an informal Jewish educator, is a Lieutenant in the IDF reserves and a student of International Relations and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In the first years of the State, nearly all Jewish Israelis served in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF). As the security situation in Israel stabilized, religious leaders sought to create frameworks that would allow religious men to combine study at yeshivot (religious academies) with army service.

Many of these programs were created because the majority of the army, and its predominant cultural norms, are secular. Thus, religious soldiers in the IDF face unique challenges relating to issues of daily life, such as dress code and food, and religious practice, such as prayer, Shabbat, and holidays.


Coalition to Discuss IDF Radio Sabbath Broadcast

By Gil Ronen www.israelnationalnews.com June 16, 2010

The ruling coalition will discuss Monday whether the IDF may issue an order allowing the employment of soldiers in the IDF Radio station on Sabbaths. The debate is expected to be stormy, with members from Shas, United Torah Judaism, the Jewish Home and part of the Likud poised to object strenuously to the idea.

IDF Radio is a military station that employs civilians as well as IDF officers, NCOs and soldiers in mandatory service. It broadcasts seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Soldiers are employed in the station on Sabbaths, in apparent contravention of military orders that forbid employing a mandatory-service soldier on Jewish holy days in any role that is not essential for security.


Who Decides on Shabbos Elevators?

By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com June 14, 2010

The Ministerial Legislative Committee has approved a bill introduced by MK (Ichud HaLeumi) Yaakov Katz that addresses residents of an apartment house complex wishing to install a shabbos elevator.


President Peres Amended his Schedule to Avoid Chilul Shabbos

By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com June 14, 2010

President Shimon Peres was scheduled to fly from Tel Aviv to South Korea on a Korean Air flight, but requested from Shin Bet officials that they approve another airline since the flight booked would have entailed chilul shabbos.


VIDEO: Officers hurt in haredi riots in Jaffa

Click here for VIDEO


1,000 Haredim protest at Jaffa excavation site

By Yaniv Kubovich www.haaretz.com June 17, 2010

About 1,000 ultra-Orthodox protesters demonstrated yesterday morning in Jaffa to protest archaeological work in an area they believe contains Jewish graves.


Officers hurt in haredi riots in Jaffa

By Eli Senyor www.ynetnews.com June 16, 2010

The police were prepared for a demonstration, but the haredi protest escalated when hundreds arrived in buses and began to riot, and climb the fence in the area to tear it down.


Hundreds of haredim riot in Jaffa

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com June 16, 2010

Two photographers were also injured and an Israel Radio reporter was forced to seek protection inside a police van. The demonstrators broke into the old Jewish cemetery, which is close to the site of the dig.


Vandals deface Jaffa archaeological site; ultra-Orthodox protest nearby

By Noah Kosharek www.haaretz.com June 15, 2010

In addition to defacing historical structures, the perpetrators also damaged the archaeologists' equipment. "Our nets were torn and fences were ripped down," Arbel said. "They also created safety hazards, cutting electrical wires and taking down a fence that protected passersby from falling into the wells."


Mehadrin Beach to Open in Herzliya

By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com June 14, 2010

Barring any last minute changes, a separate swimming beach is set to open in Herzliya on June 27th, operated in cooperation between the Herzliya and Bnei Brak municipalities. The separate swimming beach will operate until August 31, 2010.


Chareidim in Israel Police, Prison Authority?

By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com June 17, 2010

The daily Yisrael HaYom reveals a plan is in the works towards enlisting chareidim into the ranks of Israel Police, Israel Prison Authority and the war on drugs. Participants in the program will be eligible in receiving the same rights as IDF veterans.


Religion and State in Israel

June 21, 2010 (Section 1) (see also Section 2)

Editor – Joel Katz

Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.

All rights reserved.

Religion and State in Israel - June 21, 2010 (Section 2)

Religion and State in Israel

June 21, 2010 (Section 2) (see also Section 1)

If you are reading in email or RSS feed, please click here to read ONLINE

Editor – Joel Katz

Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.


*Articles on the Haredi school segregation case will be included in an upcoming special edition.


Israel’s Conversion Bill May Change

By Stewart Ain www.thejewishweek.com June 16, 2010

The bill’s author, Knesset Member David Rotem, told The Jewish Week that he too wants to preserve Jewish unity and is therefore willing to amend his bill in light of concerns raised by Conservative, Reform and Reconstructionist leaders he met with here in April.

He said he is offering to add a clause that would “say the law will be considering only conversions being done in Israel.”

“So American Jewry has nothing to worry about,” Rotem said. “Their conversions will be recognized and accepted.”

The leader of the Conservative movement in Israel, Yizhar Hess, said he was unaware of Rotem’s offer but quickly dismissed it.


Mazal tov, Zach Emanuel

By Yizhar Hess Opinion www.jpost.com June 14, 2010

The writer is executive director and CEO of the Masorti Movement in Israel.

The site chosen for the event, known by many as the Masorti Kotel, was the archeological park adjacent to the more familiar Western Wall.

...The Masorti Movement has never relinquished its right to pray at the Kotel, but has agreed, in compromise and with great pain, to hold its prayers at the archeological park.


‘New marriage protocols a violation of the law’

By Rebecca Anna Stoil www.jpost.com June 16, 2010

MK David Rotem (Israel Beiteinu), the force behind his party’s bills to change the way both marriages and conversions are recognized in Israel, fired off a terse missive Tuesday to Religious Services Minister Ya’acov Margi (Shas), saying new rabbinic marriage protocols violate the law.

“These directives are in violation of the existing law,” Rotem wrote. He concluded the letter with a request to be informed as to “what Margi planned to do to cancel the guidelines.”


Sh'ma: A Journal of Jewish Responsibility June 2010 Jewish Weddings

Sanctifying Endings

By Melanie Malka Landau http://www.shmadigital.com June 2010


Civil Marriages in Israel: A First Step

By Rabbi Naamah Kelman http://www.shmadigital.com June 2010


A Journey Toward Marriage

By Haviva Ner-David http://www.shmadigital.com June 2010


Women's group seeks female director for Rabbinic Court Administration

By Ari Galahar www.ynetnews.com June 19, 2010

Kolech, the Jewish Woman's Voice organization, has approached Justice Minister Yaakov Ne'eman and urged him to appoint a woman director for the Rabbinic Court Administration, following a decision to end Eli Ben-Dahan's term as director-general.

In a letter sent to the minister Sunday, the group said, "We turn and ask you to lead an historical move in respect to the management of rabbinic courts by appointing a woman to this position."


Eli Ben Dahan, did politics play a role in your ouster from the rabbinical courts?

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com June 15, 2010

On Friday the Committee for the Appointment of Rabbinic Judges voted unanimously for the initiative by Justice Minister Yaakov Neeman to "limit" Ben Dahan's term.

Ben Dahan: "There has been no situation where a rabbinical court refused to divorce a woman. The person who did or did not grant a divorce is the husband, and sometimes the rabbinical court doesn't have reasons or halakhic solutions for forcing him to grant a get."


Social Barriers, Not Halacha, Keeps Orthodox Women From Rabbinate

By Elana Sztokman Opinion http://blogs.forward.com June 15, 2010

There are no halachic problems with women becoming rabbis, and virtually no rabbinic functions that women cannot perform.

So argued Dr. Hana Kehat last week at the inaugural Limmud Modi’in conference — a Jewish learning festival modeled on the famous Limmud conferences of England. Kehat, the renowned scholar and founder of the Orthodox feminist organization Kolech, spoke on a panel (along with yours truly) about the subject of Orthodox women rabbis.


Israel’s Sex-Segregated Buses Riding High

By Nathan Jeffay www.forward.com June 16, 2010

Keeping away from women other than one’s wife and family members, said the 20-year-old Tel Aviv resident, is basic Jewish law, and he tries his best to travel only on segregated lines. To show the way he keeps his thoughts pure on nonsegregated lines, he gestured, raising a hand to each side of his eyes, like blinkers.

This young man, a Hasid from the Skver sect, has grown up in a Haredi world with enough political and financial clout to get Israel’s Transportation Ministry to establish niche services catering to his religious lifestyle, like the mehadrin buses.

He believes Haredim should continue to push for segregation in other areas of public life.


Chief Rabbi to mark imported beef unkosher if slaughtering process not changed

By Cnaan Liphshiz www.haaretz.com June 18, 2010

Israel's chief rabbi intends to label 80 percent of the meat currently imported into the country as not kosher unless "cruel" slaughter practices are ended, Anglo File has learned. The decision came after pressure from American-Israeli animal welfare activists.


A danger called constitution

By Aluf Benn Opinion www.haaretz.com June 16, 2010

But a constitution that seeks a broad compromise will at best not change a thing, and at worst will bolster the status of the religious and Jewish law.

Constitution by Consensus, backed by former Supreme Court president Meir Shamgar, promises "stability, public transparency, equality and unity."

To get there, its authors offer the religious a deal: closing down malls on Shabbat and preserving the rabbis' control over marriage and divorce in exchange for "civil unions" - a second-class form of civil marriage.

If this is the constitution they are offering, it would be best to give up and stick with Ben-Gurion's tradition of no constitution. This was also Ariel Sharon's position.


WZO gets 1st religious-Zionist chairman

By Haviv Rettig Gur www.jpost.com June 16, 2010

In what may be a sign of the slowly growing demographic and organizational influence of Orthodox Jewry in the Diaspora, the World Zionist Organization on Tuesday elected its first-ever chairman from the modern-Orthodox “Mizrahi” camp.

The Orthodox parties comprise over a quarter of the delegates to the quadrennial Zionist Congress, largely because at the last election to the Zionist General Council, held in 2006 in Jewish communities throughout the world, Orthodox organizations such as the US-based OU and others organized to encourage their constituency to cast their votes.


First Time for Number Two

By Cnaan Liphshiz www.haaretz.com June 18, 2010

For the first time in its 113 years of existence, the World Zionist Organization this week elected a representative of a religious denomination as its number two man. David Breakstone, the U.S.-born representative of Merkaz - the Zionist political arm of the Conservative Movement - was voted deputy chair and acting chair of the organization.


WZO congress opens in Jerusalem, with new vision for Jewish state

By Nir Hasson www.haaretz.com June 15, 2010

Shas also seeks to increase the power within WZO of Israeli representatives at the expense of Diaspora Jewry, especially Americans.

At present, congress delegates represent in roughly equal numbers Israeli and U.S. Jews as well as Jews from the rest of the world.

Shas proposes that half the delegates come from Israel. Another 10 percent would come from the Diaspora but be selected by Zionist institutions in Israel.


World Zionist Congress

By Elliot Jager www.jewishideasdaily.com June 15, 2010

[T]hree years after the birth of Israel, the congress met for the first time in Tel Aviv, where delegates sought to map out the relationship between movement and state.

By contrast, the prosaic issue confronting today's congress involves the possibly baleful influence of the WZO's newest constituent, the ultra-Orthodox Shas party—undoubtedly nationalist, but with no philosophical connection to Zionism—on religious pluralism inside the movement.


The World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency Struggle to Find Meaning

By Dan Brown http://ejewishphilanthropy.com June 14, 2010

Where are our Diaspora leaders while all this is taking place? Basically, asleep at the switch. When might they wake-up? While we heard faint stirrings in the past couple of days, it will probably not be until Shas takes their new found power to the Jewish Agency Board and proposes to amend Sharansky’s Identity programs with the words, “according to Torah” and remove “mutual respect for the multi-faceted Jewish people” from the agenda of the Jewish Agency.


"Ghost Zionism" Haunts the World

By Gil Troy Opinion www.jpost.com June 16, 2010

Gil Troy is Professor of History at McGill University in Montreal and a Shalom Hartman Research Fellow in Jerusalem.

[T]his year, Shas, having recently joined the World Zionist Organization, is trying to change the iconic Jerusalem Program.

That Johnny-come-lately politicos are quibbling over wording while neglecting so many other pressing issues borders on the comic.

That the proposed changes will feed stereotypes of Israel and Zionism as conservative, theocratic, and alienating Diaspora youth, makes the episode tragic.


First look: The Jewish Agency’s new strategic vision—the actual plan

By Jacob Berkman www.jta.org June 18, 2010

It’s not a radical redoing of the agency, but it certainly is a shift that flip-flops the focus of the organization, and drastically de-emphasizes aliyah and some of its modalities of the past.

The Agency seems to have come to the realization that if it is to remain relevant it must do away with its old sensibilities – namely that for the better part of last century, the world Jewish community was consumed with founding the state of Israel, establishing it and settling it.


Group slams JA's new Jewish identity focus

By Raphael Ahren www.haaretz.com June 18, 2010

The Council of Immigrant Associations in Israel has sharply criticized the Jewish Agency for recently shifting its focus away from immigration and toward fostering Jewish identity.

"Immigration groups protest and condemn the policy of the Jewish Agency, which decided to forfeit the centrality of working to encourage immigration, which for 100 years has been the essence of Zionism."


Breeding Zionism

By Adam Kirsch www.nextbookpress.com June 15, 2010

[The] whole premise of Birthright is opposed to the classical Zionist idea that Jews, to flourish as Jews, must settle in the Jewish State.

Birthright trips are round-trip, not one-way; as Kelner provocatively puts it, “since the program’s inception, it has funded the departures of almost 200,000 Jews from the Jewish state.”

Really, the tours are not Zionist enterprises but “diaspora-building” ones, meant to increase Jewish consciousness among American Jews once they return to America.


Jewish Agency holds aliya expos across N. America

By E.B. Solomont www.jpost.com June 14, 2010

Riding a wave of increased aliya, the Jewish Agency for Israel is hosting a series of major immigration expos across North America this week.

At a gathering billed as the largest of its kind, some 1,000 people were expected to turn out at the kick-off event in New York on Sunday, where olim were to learn, one-on-one and in groups, about Hebrew-language programs, housing, health care and absorption.


Simon Rockower 2009 Awards for Excellence in Jewish Journalism

http://www.ajpa.org June 17, 2010

Nefesh B'Nefesh Award for The Story of Aliyah

First Place

Jewish News of Greater Phoenix, Phoenix, AZ

"The ‘Lone Soldier' Experience" by Josh Sayles

Second Place

Forward, New York, NY

Writing in My Father's Footsteps Series by Jonathan Kesselman


Hagai Merom, has the time come for the World Zionist Organization to end its historic role?

By Nir Hasson www.haaretz.com June 16, 2010

Q: What is your opinion about Shas joining the WZO?

Hagai Merom:

Their proposals, which at first glance seem replete with a love of Israel, include a kind of rejection of other streams, and a decision of this kind could not get the required majority in the Congress. So that will be their first test and [we'll see] whether they remain members.

But as I understand it, Rabbi Ovadia's decision is a firm one and it is not intended as a short term one, and it says 'we will serve in the army and we are Zionists.'


WZO elects Shalom Simhon as JNF chair

By Amiram Cohen www.haaretz.com June 18, 2010

The World Zionist Congress yesterday elected Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon (Labor) as chairman of the Jewish National Fund.

...Simhon's supporters insisted the election did not violate the prior order; the court will decide that issue shortly.


Court: Simhon's appointment as JNF chairman needs vote

By Mazal Mualem www.haaretz.com June 16, 2010

Labor party chairman and Defense Minister Ehud Barak suffered an embarrassing setback this week: The Petah Tikvah District Court barred him from appointing his crony, Agriculture Minister Shalom Simhon, as chairman of the Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund without a formal election by party organs.


WZO to boost environmental practices

By Ehud Zion Waldoks www.jpost.com June 18, 2010

The World Zionist Congress voted nearly unanimously in favor of four resolutions Thursday which would significantly improve its – and its subsidiaries’ – environmental practices.


Keren Hayesod bids farewell to world chairman

By Greer Fay Cashman www.jpost.com June 20, 2010

This year’s conference had a bitter-sweet component as it was also a farewell to Keren Hayesod World Chairman Avi Pazner, who decided to step down after twelve years in office. A separate official farewell was held for him at the Mount Zion Hotel the following evening.


VIDEO: Israeli company of immigrants

www.jerusalemonline.com


"Hakhel" for Schools – Jewish Identity Education for Israeli Government Schools

http://jtec.macam.ac.il June 24, 2010

Panim for Jewish Renaissance in Israel will be holding a "Hakhel for Schools", to give principals and teachers from state elementary and high schools all over Israel the chance to become acquainted with the variety of approaches within pluralistic Judaism and with Jewish pluralistic organizations, as well as the tools, teaching methods, and government budgets available for education towards Jewish, Israeli, and democratic identity.


The Spirit of Limmud Comes to Modiin

By Michal Bergman http://ejewishphilanthropy.com June 18, 2010

Limmud Modiin is now behind us. After preparations, deliberations, ups and downs, we are “after.”

Only the feeling of euphoria, the feeling of the joy of learning, the joy of people and the joy of community – these feelings are still with us, as well as our hope that they won’t fade away too quickly.


Tourists seek enlightenment (or Madonna) in Israel

Reuters www.ynetnews.com June 15, 2010

In this hilltop town above the Sea of Galilee, black-clad Hassidic Jews throng stone alleys where sandal-shod New Agers offer biblical jewelry and organic hummus to tourists seeking enlightenment – or Madonna.

Welcome to Safed – also known as Tzfat – where the tourism boom Israel is enjoying with a lull in violence comes with a spiritual twist, thanks in part to the interest the Queen of Pop takes in Jewish Kabbalah mysticism, which has roots in the town


Israel, Vatican closer to resolving differences

www.jta.org June 15, 2010

Israel and the Vatican appear to have moved closer to resolving financial and other outstanding issues that have clouded bilateral relations for years.

A plenary session of the Bilateral Permanent Working Commission between the two states took place Tuesday at the Vatican.

A statement said the plenary "welcomed the progress" accomplished by the commission's working committee and had "agreed on the next steps towards conclusion of the Agreement." It said the meeting took place in "an atmosphere of mutual understanding."


Religion and State in Israel

June 21, 2010 (Section 2) (see also Section 1)

Editor – Joel Katz

Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.

All rights reserved.