Religion and State in Israel – November 7, 2011 (Section 2)
November 7, 2011 (Section 2) (see also Section 1)
Editor – Joel Katz
Religion and State in Israel is not affiliated with any organization or movement.
Yet another aspect of the Trajtenberg recommendations for social and economic reform is being adjusted to suit narrow sectoral interests: Having a job will be dropped as an eligibility requirement for affordable housing.
A survey found that 78% of the country’s Jewish population supports implementing every aspect of the Trajtenberg committee’s recommendations regarding integrating Haredi men into the workforce.
“Two years ago, the battle between the ultra-orthodox and the secular population was about the sanctity of the Sabbath,” says Shahar Ilan, the vice-president of Hiddush, an Israeli pressure group for religious pluralism.
“Now the battle is about whether women still have a place in the public sphere.”
Rabbi Amsalem Backs Peres’ Call on Haredim to Join Labor Force
“The way of Torah study that combines earning a living is the true path of our forefathers and this is how we should educate the young people. Someone who is truly enamored of Torah study will engage exclusively in that study.”
Ultra-Orthodox spitting attacks on Old City clergymen becoming daily
The Hazon Ish crafted a strategy meant to provide an independent social space for Haredim within Israel, yet today it increasingly entangles them in Israeli secular life.
When he called for army exemptions for the 400 yeshiva students in 1949, did he dream that the number would multiply to 62,500 by 2010, triggering intense resentment among their fellow citizens?
Would he have been satisfied to see that many of the Orthodox women he tried to protect from the secular world have become deeply involved in this world to support their husbands learning Talmud full-time?
“I partly agree with him,” he told The Jerusalem Post. “It’s very impressive that someone who was so senior within the security apparatus should point out that it will be the internal issues facing us which will determine the fate of the State of Israel.
MK Gafni urges AG to probe Halevy for incitement
“The average Charedi is moderate and wants to get along with fellow Jews. It is the extremists who will rip Israel apart and destroy us through disunity and lack of interest in Judaism among the population if they get their way.
“The world is like a train,” he said, gesturing to the walls of his ad hoc museum, filled with knick knacks such as soda bottles from the 1920s.
“Everything is the same, the world is always moving forward,” he said, and no one, not even the haredim, will be able to stop it. “We just want to make sure that we’re in the last car of the train.”
Second, the films must be solely for educational purposes, and they are produced with the permission and under the strict supervision of rabbis.
Israeli MKs waver on support for Jewish identity bill
By Jonathan Lis www.haaretz.com November 7, 2011
The Knesset’s legal advisor, Eyal Yinon, informed Barakeh that because the bill is neither racist nor does it reject the existence of the State of Israel as the state of the Jewish people it must be approved for the Knesset agenda.
However, last week Yinon took the rare step of calling for a broad public and parliamentary debate on the draft law, citing its broad implications for Israel’s constitutional status.
See also:
Livni against Dichter’s ‘Jewish identity’ bill
Rivlin: I won’t disqualify ‘Jewish state’ bill
Legal, but dangerous
Haaretz Editorial www.haaretz.com November 7, 2011
The bill is making MKs in Dichter’s own faction uncomfortable, with party chairman Tzipi Livni expressing her vehement opposition to it.
Several Likud lawmakers and government ministers are also upset by the initiative, and certainly by the bill’s wording.
The question of Israel as a Jewish democracy
By Ilan Ben Zion Opinion www.haaretz.com October 31, 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.
If Israel is to properly protect its citizens’ rights, it must finally reach a national consensus –however difficult and daunting it may be – on what laws are above the state and the people.
We the people must ratify a constitution that guarantees individual freedoms, minority rights, separation of religion and government, and a clear system of checks and balances.
“The students are involved in many violent acts against Palestinian residents and security forces, including during yeshiva study hours. Prominent rabbis in the yeshiva support and/or are involved in this violent activity and go as far as to incite the students to this sort of activity.”
Two heads of the yeshiva, Rabbis Yosef Elitzur and Yitzhak Shapira wrote the controversial book “The King’s Torah” which justifies the killing of non-Jews.
The writer is Chairman of Shavei Israel www.shavei.org
“Before the War, it was unheard of that every child learned in yeshiva the entire day; it was only a selection of students,” Rabbi Heller said, adding that, “Today, however, there is a new ideal that has no source in Torah: everyone has to learn Gemara, and someone who learns Mishna is considered a ‘loser.’”
“Never in history,” he noted, “was there such a phenomenon. Throughout the generations, each person learned according to his level.”
Last wave of Ethiopian aliya delayed, central funder angry
A ceremony marking the 20th anniversary of Operation Solomon, in which over 14,000 Ethiopian Jews were airlifted to Israel in 36 hours, will take place tonight with the participation of Ethiopian community leaders, President Shimon Peres, Absorption Minister Sofa Landver and other government officials.
With a generally well-educated population of 7.4 million and a modern medical system, Israel has an acute shortage of organs, in part because of religious beliefs.
Just 12 percent of Israelis are registered donors, meaning they have consented to let their organs be used for transplants after they die, according to the Israeli National Transplant Center.
That compares with 40 percent of Americans. About 730 Israelis are currently waiting for a transplant, which is 13 times more than the number of such surgeries performed legally in Israel in 2010, according to the center.
KayamaMoms http://presentense.org
Halachic Approaches to Single Motherhood
Rabbi Yuval Cherlow, Rosh Yeshiva, Orot Shaul and member of the Surrogacy Advisory Committee
Single Mother by Choice Families in the Framework of the Orthodox Community
Knesset Refuses to Declassify Temple Mount Report
Religion and State in Israel
November 7, 2011 (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.
