Thursday, September 24, 2009

Religion and State in Israel - September 23, 2009 (Section 1)

Religion and State in Israel

September 23, 2009 (Section 1) (continues in 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.


Rabbi of Western Wall wants immigrants' welcome ceremony segregated

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com September 23, 2009

The Jewish Agency is considering whether to halt ceremonies granting identity cards to new immigrants at the Western Wall plaza after the rabbi of the wall said the immigrants must be segregated by gender, Haaretz has learned.

In late July, the Western Wall administration demanded the agency separate men and women at the ceremonies. It also demanded no ceremonies be hosted by women, and that the events must take place even further from the prayer area, on the pedestrian route across the plaza.

Rabbi Rabinovitch's letter of reply suggests he sees the Jewish Agency ID ceremony as a religious ceremony.

"The permission we gave to hold the ceremony was only given because the Jewish Agency told us this was an event of joint prayer of those passing into the gates of the Land of Israel for the sake of their successful settling in the Holy Land... as such, this ceremony must be held in accordance with the relevant regulations, which demand segregation," Rabinovitch wrote.
His letter concludes that unless the agency segregates men and women, the ceremonies should be held in the Progressives' prayer location.


Conversion bill to face 1st reading

By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com September 21, 2009

The Knesset's Constitution, Law and Justice Committee debated amendments to the conversion bill Wednesday, ahead of its first reading in the coming weeks.

The conversion bill, brought before the committee by MK David Rotem (Yisrael Beiteinu), aims to simplify the current conversion process, by having the Chief Rabbinate grant regional rabbis conversion authority, on top of its conversion courts.


State-employed rabbis barred from taking money for weddings

By Tomer Zarchin www.haaretz.com September 23, 2009

State-employed rabbis will no longer be allowed to accept money for conducting weddings, and will barred from officiating at more than two such ceremonies in one night, new regulations say.

The new regulations, which are the first regulations of their kind, will prohibit such rabbis from accepting money for conducting a wedding if one or both members of the couple live in the rabbi's jurisdiction.

If the wedding takes places 15 kilometers or more from the rabbi's jurisdiction, he is allowed to accept reimbursement for travel expenses, and in some specifically defined cases, remuneration for his time as well.


Rabbinate Okays death determination

By Matthew Wagner www.jpost.com September 23, 2009

The Chief Rabbinate's governing body approved legislation Tuesday night that could facilitate organ transplants after brain death.

However, the decision might spark a battle between more haredi rabbis and their more moderate peers.

In a unanimous vote, the Supreme rabbinical Council, which included the two chief rabbis of Israel and over a dozen city rabbis, agreed that present legislation, which provides directives for deciding when a person is official considered dead to permit disconnecting from life support and removal of organs for organ transplant, is in accordance with Halacha.


Converts' marriage still unrecognized

By Ruth Eglash www.jpost.com September 24, 2009

A pair of Nigerian-born converts to Judaism who were married two years ago in a ceremony conducted by a rabbi recognized by the Chief Rabbinate remain unable to register themselves as a couple with the Interior Ministry, even though the husband has been an Israeli citizen since 2005, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

Rabbi Seth Farber, founder and director of Itim, a nonprofit that lobbies for improving the conversion process in Israel, told the Post that this is not the first such incident.

"We currently have a similar such case in the Supreme Court where the rabbinate recognizes the person but the Interior Ministry refuses to do so," he said.

"The absurdity is that the Interior Ministry relies on the rabbinate to deny citizenship in some cases, while when it suits them, rabbinate approval is totally disregarded."


Charedi women refuse bus gender segregation

By Anshel Pfeffer www.thejc.com September 18, 2009

A new group has joined the fight over gender-segregated bus lines in Israel: religious women who do not want to be forced to sit at the back.

This month, four such groups boarded the “Mehadrin”, or especially stringent buses, running through Jerusalem, pointedly sitting at the front.

"Charedi women on the bus also joined us,” says Rachel Azaria, a religious member of Jerusalem City Council who is leading a coalition of local organizations against the buses.


The postmodern IDF melting pot

Jpost.com Editorial www.jpost.com September 23, 2009

Ten haredi young men who enlisted in the IDF a month ago, six of whom are married with children, started training this week to become electricians.

Upon completion of their course, which is funded by the Industry, Trade and Labor Ministry, they will first work in the army in their new profession and, after serving their country, will make the transition back into civilian life with the means to support themselves and their young families.

We warmly support this initiative as an ideal model for integrating the young generation of haredim into mainstream society and into the job market.


With our sights set on the heavens

Jpost.com Editorial www.jpost.com September 18, 2009

Shas MK Rabbi Haim Amsalem suggested in a scholarly article publicized this week that rabbinic judges should be lenient in accepting non-Jewish IDF soldiers interested in converting to Judaism because their military service demonstrates the scale of their commitment to the Jewish people.

If conversion is a process in which a non-Jew makes a conscious decision to tie his or her fate to the Jewish people, argued Amsalem, what test of loyalty could trump the willingness to give one's life if necessary for the Jews' protection?


Hareidi Farmers to Volunteer in Border Police

www.israelnationalnews.com September 16, 2009

The commander of the Border Police's rural southern division, Superintendent Chezi Naftali, met Tuesday with residents of Moshav Komemiyut, a Hareidi-religious agricultural settlement. The commander encouraged its community members to volunteer in the border patrol.


IDF Training Chareidi Soldiers to Earn a Livelihood as Electricians

By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com September 21, 2009

In cooperation with the Ministry of Industry & Trade, a number of chareidi soldiers are in a course training them as home electricians, providing them with a skill that will assist them following their discharge, possibility providing them with a trade that will facilitate earning a livelihood.


Cinema Paranoidiso

By David Chinitz Opinion www.haaretz.com September 21, 2009

David Chinitz, an associate professor of health policy and management at the Hebrew University-Hadassah School of Public Health, has served on a variety of citizens boards in Jerusalem.

Immigrants from North America, like me, are used to seeing things in various shades of colors. But, apparently, we are a tiny minority.

The vast majority of Israelis, including those who enjoy films in Technicolor at the Smadar, seem to have a need to see things in black and white.

So many Jews in Israel appear not to have any idea that there is a rainbow of ways of being "Jewish," and dividing the world into "religious" and "secular" is not only destructive, it has little basis in Jewish law or tradition.

I propose removing the terms from the lexicon.


Jewish "Women of the Wall" Defy Law to Pray

By Kelly Hartog www.religiondispatches.org September 20, 2009

“A woman at the Wall is like a pig at the Wall.”

This was the statement made by Yehuda Getz, the late Chief Rabbi of the Western Wall in Jerusalem , following one of the most shocking demonstrations of violence at one of Judaism’s holiest shrines—the Kotel (Western Wall)—on a bleak December morning in 1988.

Twenty years later, Yael Katzir’s powerful documentary, Praying in her Own Voice, takes an up-close-and-personal look at the ongoing struggles of the Women of the Wall as the group continues to seek the right to read from the Torah at the Western Wall. It’s a battle that has seen the group take their case all the way to the Israeli Supreme Court.

Katzir: “I also hope people come away from this film with an understanding that Judaism still has a lot of places where things need to change.”
Click here for VIDEO.


Circumcision and its critics

By Dan Rickman Opinion www.ynetnews.com September 23, 2009

The secularization of society and the popularity of “new atheists” such as Richard Dawkins, has increased the ongoing controversy over circumcision.

…secular Israelis are evidently losing interest in this rite, I’d suggest as much due to broader secular-religious tensions as anything else.


Hadassah sells popular Jerusalem olim center Merkaz Hamagshimim for $9 million

By Ruth Eglash www.jpost.com September 16, 2009

The Hadassah Women's Organization has sold its Jerusalem-based Merkaz Hamagshimim, an educational and communal facility that has provided a first home to hundreds of new immigrants arriving from English-speaking countries since the mid-1990s, it was reported by e-Jewish Philanthropy on the Internet Tuesday.

The center, which sold for close to $9 million, is located in the capital's trendy Emek Refaim neighborhood and houses more than 20 single-room apartments, an English-speaking theater and a community hall, used for a wide variety of events.


Doctor: Closed clinic may mean future olim will die

By Ruth Eglash www.jpost.com September 18, 2009

Dr. Arthur I. Eidelman, former head of pediatrics at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem:

"It does not make any sense. These people have already been recognized as Jews by a rabbinic authority, and the Israeli government has agreed to consider them for aliya, but there are no medical services to protect them from basic health problems," he said. Their medical issues could end up following them to Israel, he said.


Religion and State in Israel

September 23, 2009 (Section 1) (continues in 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.

All rights reserved.

Religion and State in Israel - September 23, 2009 (Section 2)

Religion and State in Israel

September 23, 2009 (Section 2) (continued from 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.


Time to tell the truth

By Rachel Azaria Opinion www.haaretz.com September 21, 2009

Rachel Azaria is a member of the Jerusalem City Council from Jerusalemites Movement.

The time has come for us to look directly into the eyes of the ultra-Orthodox who live in this country and say to them: Dear Brothers and Sisters, it's just not working anymore. Not for us and not for you.

After nearly a year on the Jerusalem City Council, and the more I become involved in the day-to-day running of municipal affairs, I am only more convinced of just how true this is. And the situation is getting harder all the time.

…So, the time has really come to tell ourselves, and the Haredim, the truth: It can't go on like this.

In Jerusalem the situation is the most palpable, because of the critical mass of 30 percent of the Jewish public that is ultra-Orthodox.

But keep in mind that nationally, 25 percent of all the children who entered first grade this month are Haredim. And in time, what has happened in Jerusalem will happen in the rest of the country.

…I can see the growing anger and bitterness the non-Haredi public is feeling toward its ultra-Orthodox brethren, because of being forced to shoulder the burden of an entire public that can't cover its own needs.

The same will happen nationwide in time. And if the ultra-Orthodox public doesn't take the lead in changing this situation, then the non-Haredi majority will do so. Because we're all very tired. And the system no longer works.


Involved and evolved – Interview with Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat

By Peggy Cidor www.jpost.com September 21, 2009

Q: How would you assess your relationship with haredi society today?

Mayor Barkat: I think the Haredim understand today that this violence, this breaking of the law is not serving their interests.

And I know, as everybody knows, that these agitators are barely five percent of the haredi community, which drags down the other 95% who are law-abiding residents.

I think they understand now that I am not caving in to the violence, and very soon they will have to realize that having a dialogue is much more effective than all their attempts to impose their laws on us.


Activists dress as chickens to protest the 'Kapparot' atonement ceremony

www.jpost.com September 23, 2009

Click here for VIDEO


Masorti movement joins fight against 'kapparot'

By Matthew Wagner www.jpost.com September 22, 2009

The Masorti (Conservative) Movement will join forces with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals - Tel Aviv to fight against the Jewish custom known as Kapparot that involves slaughtering chickens as a way of atonement for sin.

Rabbi Jeff Cymet of Congregation Adat Shalom Imanuel in Rehovot said that he would accompany the society on Tuesday when it visits the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv, where the custom is observed publicly.


Chief Rabbis urged not to harm animals in Kapparot custom

By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com September 23, 2009

The animal rights organization Let the Animals Live petitioned Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger and Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar to instruct their followers to prevent the suffering of chickens used in the Yom Kippur holiday's Kapparot custom and to give money to charity as a replacement for slaughtering the animals.

Let the Animals Live attached a halachic opinion written by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef to their petition.

The opinion, sent by the Shas movement, claimed that Kapporot is only a custom, and, as such, harm to the chickens must be limited or charity should be given in place of slaughtering the fowl.


Veterinary Services to Crack Down on Kaporos in Yerushalayim

By Yechiel Spira http://chareidi.shemayisrael.com September 17, 2009

Jerusalem's business license, inspection and Veterinary Services bureau are making preparations to operate the local kapporos markets.

This year enforcement will be boosted to an unprecedented level at a limited number of sites.


Is this Sukka Kosher?

By Yechiel Spira www.jerusalemkoshernews.com September 23, 2009

Jerusalem Kosher News spoke with representatives of a number of kashrut agencies in the capital, seeking to determine if they accept responsibility for the kashrut integrity of a sukka in a restaurant or eatery, or is this outside the jurisdiction of the certifying agency.


Shofar blowers raise the roof at first-of-a-kind conference

Click here for VIDEO

By Yair Ettinger and Zafrir Rinat www.haaretz.com September 18, 2009

Over 100 shofar blowers gathered Wednesday at a first-of-its-kind and somewhat ear-splitting conference for men who desperately needed to practice and receive their colleagues' encouragement before the moment of truth - Sunday, when they will put the traditional ram's horn to their lips and coax from it the plaintive calls that form one of the most moving moments of the Rosh Hashanah holiday.

The shofar blowers had another special reason to gather: They are graduates of the first shofar-blowing course ever organized by the Chief Rabbinate.

The course included a meticulous study of the laws pertaining to the shofar and a lesson by Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, as well as several useful tips from experienced blowers of the ceremonial horn.


Charedi Israeli Paper Recalled After Misquoting HaRav Elyashiv

By Benjamin Slobodkin www.vosizneias.com September 17, 2009

A Hebrew-language weekly halted distribution after mistakenly printing a front-page lead saying HaRav Elyashiv shlita had permitted heads of Vaad HaRabbonim LeInyonei Tzedokoh to print stories that have little truth to them in order to persuade the public to donate generously for the sake of poor families supported by the fund.


Thousands of Viznitz Hassidim expected in Bnei Brak for holidays

By Matthew Wagner www.jpost.com September 18, 2009

A humongous hangar that will serve as a house of prayer for the holidays has been constructed in Bnei Brak to accommodate between 6,000 and 7,000 members of the Viznitz Hassidic movement.

The event was organized by Rabbi Israel Hager, Hager's oldest son, and it is considered a demonstration of his dominance within the Viznitz hierarchy of leadership.


J'lem teen arrested on suspicion of attacking cab driver in haredi riots

www.jpost.com September 22, 2009

Jerusalem police said Tuesday that a 17-year-old haredi Jewish youth was arrested on suspicion of attacking an Arab cab driver three weeks ago in the Mea She'arim neighborhood of the capital.


Communications Concerns & Kosher Public Telephones

By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com September 16, 2009

Israel’s Rabbinical Communications Committee is calling on the tzibur not to use the services of Hot, Netvision or Kavei Zahav, explaining they are cable and internet services that do not comply with regulations set forth by the Vaad.

The rabbonim fear that having the infrastructure of the above-mentioned firms in one’s home, it may lead to internet connections and this must be avoided.


Taxman uncovers Netivot Ponzi scam

By Nati Toker and Amit Benaroia www.haaretz.com September 23, 2009

Another Ponzi scheme has reportedly been uncovered in Israel: Tamir Feigelbaum, 36, of the ultra-Orthodox community of Rechasim in Jerusalem, managed millions of shekels for investors, promising monthly returns of 15%.

But Feigelbaum's business fell into difficulties, and the Tax Authority launched an extensive investigation after one of Feigelbaum's agents was unable to explain the presence of large sums of money in his bank account.

Feigelbaum's clients - primarily Haredim and residents of outlying areas - lost their entire investment


Immodest Attire Prompts Attack against a Woman

By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com September 22, 2009

Last week, pashkavilim were seen in Beit Shemesh addressing an incident in which a woman appearing in immodest attire was attacked.

The notices were a condemnatory message against the attackers, who assaulted the woman in the name of tznius.

It stated the attack was perpetrated by youths and children, including throwing a stone at her.


Ministry to Appoint Agents to Evaluate Yeshiva Students’ Stay in Israel

By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com September 22, 2009

Special representatives of the Interior Ministry will be assigned to determine the legal status of foreign yeshiva students wishing to remain in the country.


Religious and Secular Leaders Hold Panel on Coexistence

By Benjamin Slobodkin www.vosizneias.com September 23, 2009

Charedi, secular and national-religious figures in Jerusalem came together Tuesday night for a panel discussion on how Shabbos should be observed publicly in the capital, according to a report in Kikar HaShabbat.


Tnuva’s New Mehadrin

By Yechiel Spira www.jerusalemkoshernews.com September 23, 2009



Tnuva has united most of its mehadrin hechsherim under one new symbol, bringing Tnuva rav, Rabbi Ze’ev Whitman, HaGaon HaRav Mordechai Gross, Badatz Belz-Machzikei Hadas and Badatz Chug Chatam Sofer Bnei Brak under one umbrella logo.

The new entity unites the mehadrin effort under the Tnuva logo, with the exception of the Badatz Eida Chareidit, which remains independent, offering its own separate line of Tnuva mehadrin.


Maran R’ Elyashiv Shlita Permits Distribution of Shefa Shuk Vouchers

By Yechiel Spira www.theyeshivaworld.com September 21, 2009

According to the Chareidim report, R’ Elyashiv expressed words of praise for David Weissman, who owns AM:PM and Shefa Shuk, for deciding to begin closing down AM:PM branches on shabbos.


Of charity and chickpeas

By Peggy Cidor www.jpost.com September 21, 2009

A ‘gemah’ (an acronym of gemilut hassadim, good deeds) is a local charity organization that helps those in financial difficulties.

Gemahim can also provide necessities of daily life, such as food and clothes for babies, chairs for mourners or ritual items for bar mitzvas.

The gemahim that provide interest-free loans are developing a kind of alternative financial system due to the increase in their numbers (over 3,000 registered in the country) and the huge sums of money they deal with (there are only unofficial figures, but most speak of millions of shekels).

For many Israelis they have become an additional factor in their steady income, although they may often deepen a financial entanglement.


Religion and State in Israel

September 23, 2009 (Section 2) (continued from 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.

All rights reserved.