Monday, September 5, 2011

Religion and State in Israel - September 5, 2011 (Section 1)

Religion and State in Israel

September 5, 2011 (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


A Moral Stand

By Efrat Shapira-Rosenberg Opinion www.jpost.com September 2, 2011

Efrat Shapira-Rosenberg is a project officer at the Avi Chai Foundation in Jerusalem and a host on Channel 2 TV.

Tel Aviv Demonstration

All the excuses that we’ve been hearing about why religious people shouldn’t join the demonstrations are just that – excuses.

The reasons we are not supposed to go to these demonstrations have nothing to do with what rabbis and other so-called leaders of the religious-Zionist community have been saying – the lack of modesty in the tent camps or the breaking of the laws of the Sabbath at the demonstrations.

And they certainly have nothing to do with my own personal favorite: that we shouldn’t go because there was music at the demonstrations and it is forbidden to listen to music during the nine days of mourning that precede the fast of the 9th of the Hebrew month of Av.

No, none of these excuses were the real reason that we were supposed to stay home and not join the “secular” protest. The real reason is that the cause isn’t considered “meaningful” or “morally significant” enough.


Israel's social protest gave birth to a new language

By Yitzhak Laor Opinion www.haaretz.com September 4, 2011

…Ever since the protest began, it has been carried out along two conceptual channels: On television, they interview all kinds of spokesmen that no one has appointed.

Shahar Ilan, for example, continues to see everything as an attack on the ultra-Orthodox. After all, Ashkenazi students cannot call on their Mizrahi counterparts to join in a common struggle and to harass yeshiva students.

Prof. Dan David also continues to scare us with talk of "an Arab-Haredi majority," and both of them are brought to the television studios on the back of the "protest wave."

Time and again, there are those who try to bring into the protest discourse things that were not said there.


Social rights activist: Israeli government should finance couples forced to wed abroad

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com August 30, 2011

The state should finance overseas weddings for couples who are not allowed to marry in Israel, civil rights activists have told the Trajtenberg committee, the government-appointed panel for socioeconomic change.

“Some 300,000 immigrants from the former Soviet Union are not recognized as Jews according to the halakha and are denied the right to marry in Israel,” says Alex Tentzer, an activist for civil marriages in the Russian-speaking community.


Interior Ministry grants citizenship to gay spouse of immigrant

By Raphael Ahren www.haaretz.com September 2, 2011

The Interior Ministry recently granted citizenship to a non-Jewish gay man married to a Jew, for the first time applying the Law of Return to a spouse in same-sex marriage.

It remains to be seen, however, whether the move represents a policy change in the ministry, which could help many more same-sex couples immigrate, or merely a one-time ruling.


Is the Interior Ministry undergoing a sea change?

By Raphael Ahren www.haaretz.com September 2, 2011

Star of David Love Sticker

Experts are split on whether the Interior Ministry is being increasingly open to changes undergoing Diaspora Jewish communities or still looking to tighten the reins on who can enter the country as a citizen, following the granting of citizenship rights to the gay spouse of an immigrant as well as other aliyah applicants who had previously been rejected by the Shas-controlled body.


Do Israeli judges 'look down' on Jewish civil law?

By Elad Benari www.israelnationalnews.com August 15, 2011

According to a new study by Dr. Aviad Hacohen, Dean of the Shaarei Mishpat College, despite the talk by officials in Israel’s judicial system about the importance of Jewish law and its integration into the Israeli legal system, in practice no use is made of it and those who use it are looked down upon.


Petition against Israel radio station which does not allow women on the air

IMW to File Petition Against Radio Station

www.israelnationalnews.com September 4, 2011

For Eris

The Israel Media Watch organization is preparing to file a petition in the High Court against the Kol Berama radio station, which does not allow women to broadcast on the station. The station, part of the Second Broadcasting Authority, is loosely affiliatedwith the Shas party.


Last Ethiopian Jews Finally Make Exodus to Israel - Falash Mura Given Permission to Move

By Len Lyons http://forward.com September 1, 2011

VIDEO: Falash Mura leaving Ethiopia for Israel

Click here for VIDEO

Falash Mura leaving Gondar, Ethiopia for Adis Adaba and then Israel.

Video shot by Len Lyons, author of “The Ethiopian Jews of Israel: Personal Stories of Life in the Promised Land” (Jewish Lights, 2007)


Rabbis withdraw support for gay marriage

By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com August 29, 2011

Senior Religious Zionism Rabbis Yaakov Ariel, Haim Drukman and Elyakim Levanon have withdrawn their support from a recent initiative seeking to match between religious homosexuals and lesbians until the religious and ethical aspects of the issue are clarified, Ynet has learned.

The three even demanded that the Kamoha association, which is part of the matchmaking initiative, immediately remove their names from the list of supporters on the association's website – until further notice.

See also: Helping Gay Men Marry Lesbians


IDF female soldiers transferred after Haredi recruits arrive

By Yaakov Katz and Lahav Harkov www.jpost.com August 30, 2011

Soldiers

The IDF Ground Forces Command has decided to transfer four female soldiers from an Artillery Corps battalion to another unit due to the upcoming arrival of religious soldiers to the battalion, military sources said on Monday.

The four female soldiers had recently signed on for an additional year of service to continue serving in the battalion.

Several days ago, they were summoned by the battalion commander and informed that they would be stationed in another unit upon the arrival of the religious soldiers, who cannot serve alongside female soldiers.



Shul Hopping: Wailing At The Wall

By Joseph Winkler Opinion www.jewcy.com August 30, 2011

But as I make my way to the back, to watch over the men and the women, to stand as an observer, I realize a person can become hardened even to holiest of sites, inured to the most beautiful of scenes. The analytical side of my personality returns.

...More specifically, coming off the heels of some real comfort-zone-pushing shul hopping, the mechitza here, the high metallic wall that requires climbing to see over, the allotment of half the amount of space to women than given to men offends my religious and human sensibilities.

The orthodox hegemony over the rules of the country comes roaring back. How do I separate the complexities of this country from my simple desire to connect to something larger than myself?


Israel's Erin Brockovich wages bold campaign to save her nation's soul

By Barney Zwartz www.theage.com.au September 5, 2011

[Anat] Hoffman, who calls herself ''profoundly religious'' in the more liberal Reform tradition of Judaism, thinks the influence of the ultra-orthodox on secular society is one of Israel's biggest problems, and turns Israelis away from religion.

''Look at Israel's entrepreneurship in every field, from medicine, to agriculture, to nine Nobel prize winners. We are second only to the US in patents registered. Israel takes your breath away, except in one thing - Judaism.

''There are ultra-orthodox in New York or Melbourne, but they don't ask for segregated buses because they can't get away with it. Israel is too important to be left to the Israelis.''


Bringing the many faces of Judaism to Israel

By Ilan Ben Zion Opinion www.haaretz.com August 29, 2011

Ilan Ben Zion is an active blogger currently living in Be’er Sheva; he is a graduate of Tel Aviv University with a Masters in Diplomacy

How many secular Israelis could be turned on to Judaism through alternative streams extant in the Diaspora?

Those who shun or are oblivious to Jewish religion because of the singular association with Orthodoxy might prefer Conservative, Reform, or Reconstructionist Judaism, but have never been introduced to them.

...The major obstacles to changing this singular Israeli approach to Judaism are the lack of education about Diaspora Jewry in Israeli schools and the monopoly the Orthodox Rabbinate holds in Israel.


Can Reform Judaism prosper in the Jewish state?

By Aaron Leibel http://washingtonjewishweek.com August 31, 2011

Reform's success in Israel is a test the movement must pass, [Rabbi Richard Hirsch] writes.

"If liberal Judaism can flourish only in a non-Jewish environment and not in a Jewish environment, then we will be like fish that can live out of water - and a fish that lives out of water is not a fish."

Only when liberal Judaism becomes strong in Israel will there be "a proper relationship" between liberal Jewish movements in the two countries."


Don’t call me Orthodox

By Rabbi Stewart Weiss Opinion www.jpost.com September 2, 2011

The writer is director of the Jewish Outreach Center of Ra’anana.

The murderer, Asher Dahan, was described in the news accounts as a “religious” Jew. “Religious”?! Are you serious? Do you mean to say that you can stab a defenseless person six times and still be deemed “religious”?

...What, exactly, defines a Jew as Orthodox, hassidic or religious? If one eats a cheeseburger on Yom Kippur, or publicly smokes outside the shul on Shabbat, he is secular and irreligious; yet if he observes ritual practices but murders a child or abuses several wives, he still remains within the observant fold?


Thoughts on the Agunah Problem

By Dr. Israel Drazin www.jewishideas.org August 29, 2011

Dr. Israel Drazin is the author of seventeen books, including a series of five volumes on the Aramaic translation of the Hebrew Bible, which he co-authors with Dr. Stanley M. Wagner, and a series of four books on the twelfth century philosopher Moses Maimonides.

Rabbi David Hartman addresses this problem in his new book The God Who Hates Lies: Confronting and Rethinking Jewish Tradition, Jewish Lights Publishing, especially in chapter 5, “The Mistaken Halakhic Presumptions of Rabbi Soloveitchik.”

Hartman points out that the problem has remained unresolved because even in modern times, “the Orthodox Jewish community, broadly speaking, has coalesced around a conviction that change per se is destructive to the halakhic (legal) system, which must be preserved in the greatest extent possible” even when “moral intuition, logical argument, or observed realities serve as valid bases for critiquing inherited halakhah.”

...Hartman states that Rabbi Emanuel Rackman offered a sensible solution to the aguna problem that complied with halakhah.


Go North celebrates 650 olim

www.ynetnews.com August 30, 2011

Some 500 Nefesh B’Nefesh olim celebrated the third anniversary of the organization’s Go North program in Carmiel's Park Hagalil on Sunday.


'Jewish Jordan' Jon Scheyer makes aliyah

www.ynetnews.com August 31, 2011

Duke University All-American basketball player Jon Scheyer made aliyah Tuesday on a group flight organized by Nefesh B’Nefesh in cooperation with the Jewish Agency and the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption.

Click here for large PHOTO


Former Duke basketball star Jon Scheyer makes aliyah to Israel

www.haaretz.com September 3, 2011

Immediately stepping off the plane at Ben-Gurion Airport, Scheyer - who recently signed with Super League powerhouse Maccabi Tel Aviv - received his immigrant ID card.


Relative of David Ben-Gurion becomes 2011 Jewish Idol

By Elka Looks and Alona Ferber www.haaretz.com August 26, 2011

Mexican singer Adam Kleinberg, a relative of Israel's founding father, David Ben-Gurion, won first prize at the 2011 Hallelujah singing competition Thursday night, as local families, seniors and music enthusiasts gathered in Ramat Hasharon's central square.


Las Vegas girl gambles on Israel

By Tania Didio Opinion www.ynetnews.com August 31, 2011

Tania Didio , 18, from Las Vegas, lives in Kibbutz Magen, in the regional municipality of Eshkol. An alumna of 'Lapid', which brings thousands of Jewish high school-age teenagers to Israel from around the world, Tania is a participant in Garin Tzabar, of the Tzofim (Israel Scouts) Movement, which is in partnership with the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption.

To be honest, in the beginning, I came to see the Dead Sea, the Kotel, to take photos in Tel Aviv night clubs, to press “Like” on facebook, and then to go back to Nevada.

...So, as befits a Las Vegas girl, I decided to take a gamble. Needless to say I am practised (and don’t tell anyone, that your 18 is the American 21) – so I take a gamble on my security bet. Therefore, I am enlisting into the army. I am making aliyah. I am leaving the desert winds. I am leaving the sparkles of Las Vegas.


State ups funding for non-religious burial practices

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com August 30, 2011

The finance and religious services ministries have announced a dramatic increase in their budgeting for secular, so-called alternative burials in Israel. The decision comes in the wake of severe criticism the state received from the High Court of Justice on the matter.


U.S. millionaire funding health care of 'Hebrew Israelite'

By Raphael Ahren www.haaretz.com September 2, 2011

A U.S. millionaire has come to the rescue of a non-Jewish but halakhically-observant man facing health issues after he was profiled in Anglo File last month.

Saul Fox, the founder and CEO of one of California's most successful private-equity firms, donated $10,000 to help cover the health expenses of Claud Moore, who lives in Beit El but has no insurance or health fund coverage.


Haredim look for Jerusalem mayor candidate

By Greer Fay Cashman www.jpost.com September 1, 2011

jerusalem

With just over two years to go until the next municipal elections, the haredi movers and shakers are looking for a suitable candidate who will appeal to both religious and secular Jerusalemites. One of the names proposed is that of Prof. Jonathan Halevy, the director of Shaare Zedek Medical Center.

Halevy, though religiously observant, is not haredi. However, Shaare Zedek operates along halachic guidelines, and Halevy does much to accommodate the needs of the haredi population.


Votes of no-confidence

By Peggy Cidor www.jpost.com September 1, 2011

Elections are elections. Whether they are held for parliament or for the head of a building committee, it’s always a matter of life and death. Well, almost. In this particular case, it is yet another issue that centers around the eternal secular-haredi struggle.

The special committee has decided that in addition to Gilo, Baka, Pisgat Ze’ev and Beit Hanina, Ramot will also get to elect a new neighborhood leadership.


Religion and State in Israel

September 5, 2011 (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 - September 5, 2011 (Section 2)

Religion and State in Israel

September 5, 2011 (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.


Haredim disrupt State religious girls' school activities

By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com September 5, 2011



Photo posted with permission of Yissachar Ruas www.yruas.com
Photo may not be re-distributed without the express consent of Yissachar Ruas

The battle over the state-religious girls' school in Beit Shemesh is far from over: Although the school year began as planned last Thursday, under tight police security, on Sunday afternoon a group of ultra-Orthodox protestors returned to the "Orot Banot" educational institution and tried to prevent students from leaving the building.


Beit Shemesh Haredim threaten sit-in at girls school

By Oz Rosenberg www.haaretz.com September 5, 2011

Shabbas Protest by Haredim

Photo not related to article

The ongoing dispute between the national-religious and ultra-Orthodox communities in Beit Shemesh over the state religious girls' school Orot was renewed Sunday, when around 70 Haredim from a nearby neighborhood converged at the gate of the institution at about 1 P.M.

"We'll fight for another 20 years," said Moshe Friedman, one of the leaders of the extremist Haredi group that broke into the school Sunday. "Until they get rid of the girls. We'll do something different every day, until they say they've had enough."


VIDEO: Religious tensions simmer at Beit Shemesh school

By Benjamin Spier www.jpost.com September 1, 2011

There is a growing tension between the haredi and national religious residents of Beit Shemesh and the newest battle ground for the dispute is a girls’ elementary school. The Orot school for girls will open the doors of its new building for the beginning of the school year on Thursday.

Click here for VIDEO


Beit Shemesh: Residents march in favor of embattled school

By Ben Hartman www.jpost.com September 1, 2011

Jordy Alter, a New Jersey native, was protesting because “this affects the community. It affects us if the school is forced to move far away.”

When asked about recent statements by the mayor’s office that implied that the national-religious community was being inflexible on the matter, Alter said, “I don’t know what the spokespeople mean by not being flexible; this building-plan has been in effect for years.

These plans for the school were in effect before the haredi buildings next door were built. This is our neighborhood, we aren’t being inflexible.”


Education Ministry: Beit Shemesh school to open as planned

By JPost.com Staff and Ben Hartman www.jpost.com August 31, 2011

jerusalem

Photo not related to article

A number of residents of the city, both national religious and secular say the controversy is part of an ongoing effort by the haredi mayor and extremist members of the city’s haredi community to make the city more and more haredi, at the expense of the rest of its residents.


School Daze

www.jpost.com August 31, 2011

Letters

Our city can’t give in to the bullying that is destroying the quality of life of all residents, and should adopt the same zero-tolerance policy our schools have been encouraged to implement.

SHERRY ZIMMERMAN

Beit Shemesh

...Our struggle reflects a mood throughout the country. The working population grows weary of supporting an ever growing non-working population while getting very little or nothing in return. This is especially true for religious Zionist working people who are equally committed to Torah study as their haredi counterparts, but struggle to make extra time in their tight schedules to do so.

The respectable haredi population realizes this and shows encouraging signs of change.

But for a small handful of extremists to be allowed to put a parasitic chokehold on those who make their community possible is obscene.

MARK SMILOWITZ

Beit Shemesh


State says Haredim won't close school in Beit Shemesh

By Oz Rosenberg www.haaretz.com August 31, 2011

National religious parents of girls due to begin their studies on Thursday at the Orot school in Beit Shemesh, who are trying to stave off a takeover of the school by members of the town's ultra-Orthodox community, received a letter of support Tuesday from Prime Minister's Office Director General Eyal Gabai.


Haredi community thwarts school for Beit Shemesh girls

By Oz Rosenberg www.haaretz.com August 30, 2011

"The mayor is in fact saying: 'The mighty rule. I am not willing to make a decision even though there is a legal ruling that says the structure is yours,'" said Esti Moskowitz, who chairs the parents committee at the school.

"The threats the mayor received come from a small group in Beit Shemesh and all the institutions are afraid of it, a group of radicals who are currently controling the city.


Cops deny warning Beit Shemesh mayor of potential violence from Haredi extremists

By Ben Hartman www.jpost.com August 30, 2011

Beit Shemesh police never warned the city’s mayor, Moshe Abutbul, about potential violence if a local national religious girls school opens in the city this Thursday nor did it pass on any intelligence about such alleged threats, a Jerusalem District Police spokesman said Tuesday.


Beit Shemesh: Haredim invade girls' school

By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com August 30, 2011

M., one of the haredi residents, said that almost all factions were united on this issue – including the moderate ones and the mayor.

"This will be a very difficult war, and the haredim will do everything in their power to prevent the school year from opening there – even if forced to barricade themselves inside the building.

"This isn't a struggle over a building or property, which was stolen from us, but over the identity of this city," he said, claiming that the municipality's condition for allotting the area was that only boys would study in the institution.


Parents clash with ultra-Orthodox who shut down Beit Shemesh girls' school

By Oz Rosenberg www.haaretz.com August 29, 2011

“Right now there is anarchy,” Esti Moskowitz, the head of the parents’ association, said Monday.

“What the mayor is actually saying is ‘the strong are in charge, I am not ready to take the decision, even though the legal decision is to say that the building is yours.’


School battle looms in Beit Shemesh

By Ben Hartman www.jpost.com August 30, 2011

Yossi Green, a father of three who lives in the second building down from the school, said he opposes its opening.

“I am very against there being a school. I pay mortgage every month, and this facility is on our property, so who does it belong to? The ones who live here. I can’t walk in the streets here with my children because there are women in the street who are religious, but not in haredi dress.

This is not the education that I am teaching my children.”


Mizrahi girls start year without places in Haredi seminaries

By Talila Nesher www.haaretz.com September 1, 2011

Mizrahi teenage girls in Jerusalem will start the school year today without a place in a classroom after the Education Ministry failed to resolve a dispute with Haredi girl's high schools which refused to enroll them because of their background.

The Education Ministry's director general, Dr. Shimshon Shoshani, held this week a hearing involving principals of four Jerusalem educational institutions which have refused to enroll this school year girl pupils of Mizrahi descent.

These ultra-Orthodox seminars (Orthodox secondary schools) refused to admit the girls even though their enrollment had been directed by the Jerusalem municipality.


Pluralistic school in Misgav town vetoed at 11th hour

By Eli Ashkenazi www.haaretz.com August 31, 2011

One day before the school year opens, some 50 children still have no school to attend, due to a last-minute decision to nix a special program focusing on pluralistic Judaism.

The program, an initiative by a group of parents from the Misgav town of Eshhar, was slated to be run at a school in neighboring Moreshet.

But both the Education Ministry and the Misgav Regional Council opposed the idea, and on Monday, the parents were informed that the program had been denied approval and that they would have to send their children to other schools.


The back-to-school

By Anshel Pfeffer Opinion www.haaretz.com September 2, 2011

The most powerful democratic argument they have on their side is that as long as a sufficient number of parents choose Haredi education for their children, the state has no right to interfere.

The opposing argument is that parents do not have the right to deprive their children of the skills necessary to succeed in the modern world, and that it is society's duty to provide those skills. Indeed, Israel is legally bound to do so as a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

I used to believe this. But in recent years, my certainty has been eroded.


In praise of Torah studies

By Menachem Gsheid Opinion www.ynetnews.com August 31, 2011

The efforts to impose studies that this community does not wish to engage in will not work; moreover, on the practical level there is almost no connection between general education studies and the ability to join the workforce.

...However, studies in essence constitute a means for sharpening one’s mind and ability to integrate into the workforce – regardless of whether these are Torah studies or studies in any other field (with the addition of complementary studies required for the job.)


Women in Bnei Brak are "Illegal"

http://room404.net/ September 1, 2011 (Google translation)

Harry Potter poster in Bnei Brak

via http://haoneg.com/


A call to rehabilitate Haredi education

By Rabbi MK Haim Amsalem Opinion www.jpost.com August 31, 2011

The writer is an MK, and the founder and chairman of the Am Shalem political movement.

I have extensive plans to establish a system of government-funded schools to provide haredi boys with the opportunity to reconnect to authentic Jewish study of Torah and general studies, enabling them to sustain their families with dignity.

I bless all our students with a successful and fruitful school year, but will not cease to work toward rehabilitating the haredi system as an MK and through the Am Shalem movement.

It is time for the haredim who claim to fight for authentic Judaism to truly live by that lofty ideal.


Secular residents worry about Haifa neighborhood turning into 'another Bnei Brak'

By Revital Hoval www.haaretz.com September 1, 2011

The struggle between secular and ultra-Orthodox residents of Haifa's mostly secular Neveh Sha'anan neighborhood began the day of the Passover seder this year.

...Residents call their opposition "a struggle for the preservation of Neveh Sha'anan's green and pluralistic character," not one between the secular and Haredi communities. They're particularly angry at the municipality.


Who removed IDF prayer from siddur?

By Ari Galahar www.ynetnews.com August 30, 2011

A yeshiva student is suspected of destroying siddurim (Jewish prayer books) which included a prayer for the State of Israel and IDF soldiers.

...In the past few weeks, the site's managers noticed that many siddurim including the prayer for the State had been destroyed.

Footage obtained from the security cameras revealed that the person responsible was a yeshiva students affiliated with the extreme Neturei Karta faction, who placed stickers calling for the "end of the Zionist state" over the prayer.


Modi'in residents try to keep away ultra-Orthodox with fee to public park

By Gili Cohen www.haaretz.com August 31, 2011

Modi'in

Modi'in residents want the municipality to institute an entrance fee to the city's Park Anabe, which they think may stem the flow of ultra-Orthodox from surrounding towns to the popular park.

The park, near the center of the city, features grassy areas, a lake with paddleboating, a large playground and is open to all, with no parking or entrance fees.

Since opening last year it has becoming a popular idyll for city residents and outsiders, including ultra-Orthodox residents of nearby Modi'in Ilit.


Reporters change insular Jewish world

AP www.ynetnews.com September 1, 2011

In the insular world of ultra-Orthodox Jews in Israel, the fact that the news is being reported is itself important news.

A decade ago, brawling between two ultra-Orthodox factions over real estate in Jerusalem would almost certainly not have been reported in the community's media.

Neither would a bitter debate over ethnic segregation in a girls' school, or an incident in which a member of a Hasidic sect in New York attacked and badly burned a community dissident.


'Haredi sector suffers from obesity'

By Ari Galahar www.ynetnews.com September 1, 2011

The Health Ministry has determined that there are more overweight people in the ultra-Orthodox sector than in the secular one.


New hit on Haredi street: Wig leasing

By Ari Galahar www.ynetnews.com September 2, 2011

An Israeli wig chain has realized that the war on haredi women's pockets passes through their head. That chain recently launched a new campaign for the sector's women: Wig leasing.

It sounds simple enough. But a closer look will reveal the drama behind the scenes.

Ramot is both secular and haredi, and for the past 20 years or so there has been an ongoing struggle over the character of the neighborhood, and there are no indications that a resolution is nigh.


Ultra-Orthodox population figures within the Jerusalem area

Relocating within the Jerusalem area

By Yair Assaf-Shapira http://jiis-jerusalem-eng.blogspot.com September 4, 2011

Beitar Illit and Modiin Illit basically only draw Ultra-Orthodox population, mostly young families.

Young adults between the ages of 15 and 29 made up the bulk of incomers to Beitar Illit and Modiin Illit, between 47% and 54%; children under the age of 15 accounted for 34%-40%, adults between the ages 30-64 accounted for 11%-12% and seniors over the age of 65 accounted for only 1%.

Beit Shemesh, another major destination for ex-Jerusalemites, draws a more mixed population that includes Ultra-Orthodox groups as well as others.


Poland trips boost Israeli students’ opinions of the IDF, study finds

By Talila Nesher www.haaretz.com September 5, 2011

The percentage of respondents studying at state religious schools who said that the trip aided in understanding the universal implication of the Holocaust was lower than their counterparts in non-religious state schools, at 64 percent and 72 percent, respectively.

The gap between the two groups was even larger regarding their support for the idea of "seeing every person as a citizen of the world, without regard to national identification," after returning from Poland, at 42 percent and 72 percent, respectively.


Yigal Amir allowed Torah study partner

By Joanna Paraszczuk www.jpost.com August 31, 2011

The Central District Court ruled on Tuesday to permit Yigal Amir to attend twiceweekly religious study sessions with a fellow prisoner during the next month.

A final decision over Amir’s solitary confinement will be made next month, and the judge also ruled the Prisons Service will monitor Amir’s study sessions and report to the court whether anything unusual takes place.

See also: Yigal Amir to have a study partner in prison


Rabbi Ovadia Yosef to US envoy Shapiro: Shas supports peace

www.jpost.com September 5, 2011

Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef met with US ambassador to Israel Dan Shapiro on Sunday, telling him that Shas is a party that supports and is obligated to peace, Israel Radio reported.


Jews, the Temple Mount, and 'Missing' Police Protocol

By Maayana Miskin www.israelnationalnews.com August 26, 2011

For years, activists have claimed that police are discriminating against Jews on the Temple Mount, the holiest site on earth according to Jewish tradition. Now, one police commander is arguing that police protocols regarding the Temple Mount are not discriminatory, but rather, do not exist at all.


VIDEO: Knesset Christian Allies Caucus rallies support for Israel in Hong Kong

By Chris Mitchell www.cbn.com September 1, 2011

A meeting between Israelis and Chinese Christians may not seem unusual. But this growing relationship with Christians around the world has led some Israeli officials to the Far East and to Hong Kong - one of the crossroads of the world and a major gateway into China.

Josh Reinstein directs the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus.

"One of the reasons we're here in Hong Kong and then later in Beijing is because there are a 100 million Christians here who love Israel," Reinstein told CBN News.


Life of slain rabbi's nephew threatened in Netanya

www.ynetnews.com August 31, 2011

A known criminal has threatened to kill Rabbi Moshe Turgeman, whose uncle, Rabbi Elazar Abuhatzeira, was murdered last month in Beersheba.


Agriculture Ministry: Don't Overcharge for Mehadrin Dairy Products

By David Lev www.israelnationalnews.com August 30, 2011

In its letter, the Ministry reminded dairies and markets of the law, saying that “products with a mehadrin supervision are not to be considered 'special' for the purpose of charging higher prices,” as their ingredients and production are more or less the same as those of “regular” kosher products.


Deputy Health Minister Litzman: No More Autopsies

www.theyeshivaworld.com August 30, 2011

A ceremony was held in Assaf HaRofeh Hospital on Tuesday (August 30th) to dedicate the new MRI, not just a regular unit, but one that will eliminate the need for autopsies in Israel according to Deputy Health Minister Yaakov Litzman.


Rabbi Nixes Annual Uman Trip

By Maayana Miskin www.israelnationalnews.com September 2, 2011

Israeli rabbi has come out against the increasingly popular custom of married men traveling to the tomb of Rabbi Nachman of Breslav in Uman, Ukraine for the Rosh Hashanahholiday without their families.

There is no justification for leaving one's family to take the trip, Rabbi Ratzon Aroussi told Arutz Sheva.


Haifa University postpones conference with ‘Torat Hamelech’ author

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com September 1, 2011

The University of Haifa announced on Wednesday its decision to postpone a conference booked for next week on the bookTorat Hamelech (“The King’s Torah”) and featuring one of its authors, following pressure from numerous organizations on the school’s president, Prof. Aaron Ben-Ze’ev.


Yemeni immigrant fined for Torah scroll

By Itamar Eichner www.ynetnews.com August 31, 2011

A Yemeni Jew arrived in Israel recently with a Torah scroll rescued from the enemy country. While Yemen's authorities let him leave with the scroll, as did Egypt when he passed through, the Israeli authorities were the only ones to cause problems.


Rabbi cleared of sexual harassment at Nahariya hospital

By Jack Khoury http://www.haaretz.com/ [print only] August 30, 2011

The Civil Service Disciplinary Court in Haifa yesterday acquitted former Western Galilee Hospital rabbi, Rabbi Shimon Gorelik, of charges of sexual harassment.

Gorelik, whose disciplinary hearing took two years, was accused of sexually harassing a woman who was at the Nahariya hospital assisting her brother and his child.


The Internet Tribes of Israel

By David Shamah www.jpost.com August 30, 2011

Top Hassidic and Eastern European (“Litvishe”) rabbis long ago banned the Internet altogether, except for work purposes, obviating the need for haredi websites altogether.

A notable exception is Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, who has several websites where he publicizes his decisions on matters great and small (http://halachayomit.co.il, among others).

But even so, there are at least half a dozen Haredi sites geared towards people who are theoretically “covered” by the Internet ban, where they report on news from within their communities, and comment on general new stories.


'My source is the heart'

By Eli Eliahu www.haaretz.com September 1, 2011

"My family belongs to the religious Zionist community," Nir said. "My father is a rabbi, and I studied in institutions run by the Mercaz Harav Yeshiva, where the main emphasis and most of the work focus on religious subjects, especially Talmud study.

...Yet despite the opposition that Nir noted, and perhaps even precisely because of this opposition, several prominent poets have emerged from the religious world in recent years.


Shlomo Carlebach - rabbi of love or undercover agent of Orthodox Judaism?

By Shefa Siegel www.haaretz.com September 4, 2011

Dr. Shefa Siegel is an environmental writer. He teaches environment thought, and has worked as an adviser to the United Nations and other international organizations.

Holy Beggars: A Journey from Haight Street to Jerusalem, by Aryae Coopersmith, One World Lights


Was Shlomo Carlebach a patchouli-scented hipster bard of universal love, or a deviant preacher disguised in beads and sandals on a mission to return Jewish hippies to ultra-Orthodox Judaism?

This question has dogged the memory of Rabbi Shlomo Carlebach (1925- 1994) since his death nearly 20 years ago, muddling a profound and beautiful spiritual legacy rooted less in denomination than friendship.


Muslim workers at Israel's Hebrew University forced to work on Ramadan

By Oz Rosenberg www.haaretz.com September 2, 2011

Muslims throughout the world this week celebrated Id al-Fitr, the holiday marking the end of Ramadan, but the Muslims employed as cleaners on the Hebrew University's Mt. Scopus campus in Jerusalem reported to work as usual.


Religion and State in Israel

September 5, 2011 (Section 2) (see also Section 1)

Editor – Joel Katz

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

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