Monday, March 14, 2011

Religion and State in Israel - March 14, 2011 (Section 1)

Religion and State in Israel

March 14, 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.


Chief Rabbi Amar's c'tee on IDF conversions calls for end of course

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com March 9, 2011

The rabbinic committee appointed by Chief Sephardi Rabbi Shlomo Amar recommended that he terminate the Nativ course held for potential IDF converts, since Reform and Conservative teachers are part of its staff, Israel Radio reported on Tuesday.

“In this [Nativ] course about 10 of the staff of 170 teachers are Reform or Conservative. We perceive this as a severe problem, that casts a heavy shadow on all of the military conversions, and every effort should be made to cancel this course and/or to not have it as a precondition to the IDF process,” the report quoted from a letter the three-man advisory committee wrote.


Chief Rabbi Amar failing to protect converts, says army official

By Raphael Ahren www.haaretz.com March 11, 2011

The chairman of Nativ, a program through which Israel Defense Forces soldiers convert to Judaism, this week slammed Sephardi Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar for allowing the program's opponents to continue spreading doubts regarding the validity of its conversions as irresponsible.

Rabbi Seth Farber, whose Itim organization fights for converts' rights, said the committee's recommendations had no legal standing. "This is an informal committee, which was asked to make a recommendation to the Chief Rabbinate. But it doesn't obligate anybody," he said.


Plan to register converts for marriage bypasses rabbis

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com March 11, 2011

The state is proposing solutions for converts who wish to marry but are rejected by stringent marriage registrars, by circumventing, but not removing, such rabbis.

In the updated solution proposed by the state, converts may register in the city of their residence.

However, if the city rabbi, in his capacity as marriage registrar, refused to register the convert, he would have to transfer the request to one of the four rabbis appointed by the Chief Rabbinate. These rabbis, as experts on conversion, would be able to approve the request and return it to the convert’s local rabbinate.


11 Orthodox converts barred from aliyah

By Larry Yudelson www.jstandard.com March 11, 2011

This time it’s an Orthodox problem.

The latest round in the never-ending battle over “who is a Jew” pits diaspora Orthodox rabbis, including one from Teaneck, against the Israeli Interior Ministry and the office of the chief rabbi.

At immediate issue is the immigration status of 11 North American Jews who underwent Orthodox conversion and whose petition to make aliyah has been denied in recent weeks by Interior Ministry immigration authorities.

“Certain forces in Israel are trying to export their version of Orthodoxy over the whole world. There are two opposite approaches, one that sees Israel as relevant to the entire Jewish people, and another ideological position that klal Yisrael — Jewish peoplehood — is only for the type of Orthodoxy that the chief rabbinate identifies with,” said [ITIM Rabbi Seth] Farber.


Much work to do for Reform in Israel

http://blogs.jta.org March 7, 2011

To the Editor:

...On a personal level, I have experienced some of the difficulties of Reform Judaism in Israel. While most Israeli citizens and government offices have treated with me with simple curiosity and often acceptance, I have been consistently denied, as a Reform Jewish convert rabbinical student, a visa to participate in the Year in Israel program, in spite of my many visits to the Interior Ministry and the provision of every document it has requested.

With the help of the Israel Religious Action Center, which is affiliated with the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, I have been pursuing the recognition that I need to study in this country legally. This struggle has been both frustrating and eye opening as to the range of the acceptance of the Reform movement in Israel.

[...]

April Peters, Jerusalem


A form of torture

By Ruth Halperin-Kaddari Opinion www.jpost.com March 7, 2011

The writer is chair of the Ruth and Emanuel Rackman Center for the Advancement of the Status of Women at Bar-Ilan University

With the introduction of civil marriages in late 19th-century Europe, Jewish men discovered the option of civilly divorcing and remarrying, knowing that their wives would suffer severe halachic repercussions if they did the same. Thus the ugly abuse of the power to withhold a get started.

...Modern-day attempts and proposed legislation to deal with the question have similarly failed. The present rabbinical establishment bars any attempt to think – not to mention act – outside the conventional halachic “box.”


International Women’s Day goes to the movies

By Jonah Mandel and Lahav Harkov www.jpost.com March 8, 2011

The two-day event, the sixth of its kind, is organized by the Mavoi Satum organization, which works for the rights of women who have been refused divorces by their husbands. It marks International Women’s Day and the upcoming Yom Ha’aguna, a day devoted to women “chained” to a marriage by recalcitrant husbands.

As in past years, the films, accompanied by lectures and discussions, will deal with the complex relationship between women, religion and state. Wednesday’s panel debating whether private rabbinic courts have a place in today’s reality comes in the wake of the growing problem of rabbinic courts’ inaction toward recalcitrant husbands.


Another happy day like that...

By Neri Livneh Opinion www.haaretz.com March 10, 2011

The feminist struggle will never end - especially not in a country like our own, where there is no separation between religion and state - until there is such a separation.

So long as religion rules our lives, our status as women will be regarded as inferior, and not just on issues of personal status.


Keep God on the right side

JPost Editorial www.jpost.com March 7, 2011

Religious leaders tend to enlist God on their side when their hegemony is threatened. Rabbis are no exception.

...in the case of the religious councils, when the rabbis were forced to choose between either recognizing the opposite sex’s right to representation in religious matters or relinquishing control over religious services, the rabbinic establishment duly backed down, tacitly admitting that the whole matter had more to do with power than with God’s will as expressed in Halacha.


The terrorism of Torah

By Rabbi Shlomo Riskin Opinion www.jpost.com March 11, 2011

The writer is the founder and chancellor of Ohr Torah Stone Colleges and Graduate Programs, and chief rabbi of Efrat.

We must free our Holy Torah from the petty politics of Torarism – the terrorism of Torah. We must understand that politics corrupts, and religious politics corrupts absolutely. We did not sanctify the political; we have politicized the sacred.


Rosh Hodesh Adar II: The Saddest Month

By Emily Shapiro Katz Opinion http://womenofthewall.org.il March 8, 2011

Photo: Women of the Wall

These women come to pray in a community of women, at the Kotel, to God. Is our presence at the Kotel a political act?

Yes, but only because of the rules that have been created to prevent us from doing so. The prayers of the women who join Women of the Wall are not spiteful or hateful. They are sweet and joyous. And, they are – even after 22 years – hopeful. Hopeful that one day equality, cooperation, and acceptance will prevail in Israel and in Jerusalem.


Not a “Shanda” – A “Kiddush Hashem”

By Rabbi Elan Adler Opinion http://womenofthewall.org.il March 9, 2011

What do you call women who pray as a group on Rosh Chodesh at the Kotel?

It depends who you ask.

Some would say a “Shanda”. I would say a “Kiddush Hashem”. Can’t be much farther apart than that.

Over the years, I can’t say I’ve been particularly attuned to Women of the Wall, except to say that I’ve read about the prayer groups at the Kotel and the legal battles and protests. Even as an Orthodox rabbi, I always reacted sympathetically to the cause, feeling that sincere women praying together and lifting their voices to God at the Kotel have at least as much right to be there as men.


PHOTOS: Women of the Wall celebrate International Women's Day at Kotel


Bill would let Chief Rabbis serve a second 10-year term

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com March 10, 2011

MK Eli Aflalo (Kadima) introduced legislation on Tuesday that would allow the country's two chief rabbis to serve a second 10-year term.

The Kadima MK wants the amendment to apply retroactively, so that the current Sephardi chief rabbi, Shlomo Amar, and his Ashkenazi counterpart, Yona Metzger, would be able to serve a total of 20 years each. Both rabbis' current terms are due to expire in two years.


'Out of 450 religious council members, only 22 are women'

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com March 7, 2011

Only 22 women currently serve as members of local religious councils out of the approximately 450 people on 133 councils nationwide, a new report compiled ahead of International Women’s Day reveals.

The NGO Hiddush: For Religious Freedom and Equality will be presenting members of the government and the Knesset with the data indicating that – despite a High Court of Justice ruling in the case of Leah Shakdiel from 23 years ago that women cannot be prevented from serving on religious councils – only one out of every twenty members is a woman. In addition, no council is headed by women.


State company trying to evict Evangelical Christian from Jerusalem's Jewish Quarter

By Nir Hasson www.haaretz.com March 9, 2011

The government-owned Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem is trying to evict a resident because he isn't Jewish.

The resident, an evangelical Christian, works with former minister Benny Elon on forging closer ties between Evangelical Christians and right-wing organizations in Israel. He is renting an apartment from Lorena Sokolovsky, the mother-in-law of Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat.


Peres at inauguration ceremony of new judges to the rabbinical courts

By Greer Fay Cashman www.jpost.com March 8, 2011

Peres made it clear that the rabbinical courts exist to uphold the tenets of Judaism and not to distort them.

Peres cited as an example some of the radical discrimination against non-Jews, and reminded the rabbis that all human beings are created equal. He also expressed concern at the growing rift between religiously observant and secular sectors of society and their mutual suspicions.


Ben-Gurion University honors UK Chief Rabbi Sacks

www.jpost.com March 10, 2011

In a speech titled “The Challenge of Religious Difference in a Desecularizing Age,” Sacks declared “there is no such thing as a ‘postsecular age’” – explaining that since Alexis de Tocqueville’s seminal 1831 work, Democracy in America, “intellectuals” have been sure that enlightenment and democracy would spell the end of religion.


Chief Rabbi Metzger slams recent trend of 'rabbi letters'

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com March 10, 2011

Chief Ashkenazi Rabbi Yona Metzger spoke out sharply on Wednesday night against the trend of rabbis’ letters addressing various social or political causes, declaring that such letters led to disparagement of religious leaders.


Rabbis for Human Rights petition raps rabbis who support Katsav

www.jta.org March 9, 2011

Hundreds of rabbis and Jewish leaders have signed on to an online petition by Rabbis for Human Rights denouncing rabbinical defenders of former Israeli President Moshe Katsav.


Sundays Off For Israel?

By Michele Chabin www.thejewishweek.com March 8, 2011

What [Deputy Foreign Minister Silvan] Shalom is proposing would change the way Israelis work, rest and play. Instead of the current Sunday through Thursday work week (with banks, post offices, shops and schools open till at least noon on Fridays), the minister wants to introduce a Monday through Friday workweek “that would put Israel in sync” with the Western world.

To accomplish this, people would need to work an extra half hour each workday and until two or three hours before the start of Shabbat on Friday.


VIDEO: Zomet Institute Finds Ways to Use Technology on Shabbat

By Elad Benari www.israelnationalnews.com March 11, 2011

Click here for VIDEO

For 30 years, Machon Zomet (Zomet Institute) has been working to make modern technology compatible with Jewish law, especially on the Sabbath.

The institution’s staff, comprised of 25 rabbis, researchers and engineers have devised practical and pragmatic halakhic solutions for institutions, businesses and private citizens. Its engineers have developed and implemented technologies that enable products such as metal detectors, security jeeps, elevators, electric wheelchairs, and coffee machines to be used on the Sabbath in certain cases through specific techniques.


Jewish Futures Project - The Impact of Taglit-Birthright Israel: 2010 Update


Identity = ?

By Yehudah Mirsky Opinion www.jidaily.com March 10, 2011

Through the Law of Return, Israel, for better or worse, links Jewishness to citizenship; and through its (deeply dysfunctional) coalition politics it also links the conferral of citizenship to the most reactionary elements of the Orthodox rabbinate.

This does not mean that Jewishness in Israel is not chosen (though the choices are more limited, and dramatically more so for haredim).

But it is chosen differently, and the results of that choice look different—less ambient, "hybrid," and open-ended—than is the case with its American cousin.


Do American Jews still like Israel?

By Shmuel Rosner Opinion www.jpost.com March 10, 2011

An excerpt from JPost blogger's new Hebrew book, "Shtetl, Bagel, Baseball."

And no, they didn’t think this reflected the convention-goers hostility toward Israel – just indifference.

They also cited the polls: 91% of Orthodox Jews feel a strong sense of belonging to the Jewish people, 74% of Conservatives and only 56% of Reform Jews. The same goes for the connection with Israel; 68% of Orthodox Jews say that they feel strongly, as opposed to only 21% of Reform Jews.


Former African-American IDF Soldier Wrestles with Distinguishing Between God and Israel

By Rosalina Nieves, USC “Reporting on Israel” Journalism Student http://blog.onbeing.org March 5, 2011

Moshe Hillel Eytan, born Marcus Hardie, is a Long Beach, California native who converted to Judaism at the age of 22.

Marcus, who was raised Baptist and belonged to one of Southern California’s most notorious gangs, the Eight Ball Crips, says he found what he had searched for all his life. He found refuge in a religion that offered him a home and an identity that, he says, connected him to God.


British Chief Rabbi Sacks receives Ben Gurion University award

By Raphael Ahren www.haaretz.com March 11, 2011

Rabbi Sacks said in a lecture at the university after receiving the award.

Speaking of the Jews' "long and successful experience" with separation of powers - as the "only real power is the king of kings [God] and not the pharaoh or other leader who ruled as a god," he could not resist taking a swipe at Israeli politics, which critics say often blurs the boundaries between church and state.

"We did learn to separate religion from power - the state of Israel has temporarily unlearned it but we'll get over that," the Chief Rabbi said.


WZO sets its sights on aliyah promotion

By Raphael Ahren www.haaretz.com March 11, 2011

The World Zionist Organization intends to fill the void left by the Jewish Agency for Israel's recent organizational restructuring in the realm of promoting immigration to Israel, Anglo File has learned. Plans are in the early stages for seminars and pilot trips to Israel for professionals from Latin America, Scandinavia, France and the U.K. considering immigrating are, WZO officials say.


Why do we need a Jewish state anyway?

By Gil Troy Opinion www.jpost.com March 8, 2011

The writer is professor of history at McGill University in Montreal, a Shalom Hartman research fellow in Jerusalem

Belonging to a people, not just a religion, fills our identity. It roots us in the sweep of history, binds us to a community, connects us to a rich values conversation, ties us to national moments, making us a part of something bigger than our selves.


Temple Mount Mughrabi Bridge renovation gets municipal nod

By Melanie Lidman www.jpost.com March 8, 2011

A plan for the renovation of the Mughrabi Gate bridge, which leads from the Western Wall plaza to the Al-Aksa Mosque and the Temple Mount, received final approval from the Jerusalem Municipality last week, enabling construction to begin at any time.

...The new bridge is a scaled-down version of the original project, which proposed a massive 95-meter bridge leading from an archeological garden.


Religion and State in Israel

March 14, 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 - March 14, 2011 (Section 2)

Religion and State in Israel

March 14, 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.


Israeli rabbis launch initiative to marry gay men to lesbian women

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com March 11, 2011

Rabbis from the religious Zionist community have launched an initiative to marry gay men to lesbian women - with some surprising successes.

All the matches were arranged by Rabbi Areleh Harel of the West Bank settlement of Shilo. He teaches at a yeshiva in Elon Moreh and has a name in religious circles as the go-to rabbi for homosexuals.

Harel said all his couples receive close support from a team of psychologists, marriage counselors and social workers.

They also consult frequently with rabbis, including Rabbi Aharon Lichtenstein of the Har Etzion Yeshiva, Chief Rabbi of Ramat Gan Yaakov Ariel, and especially Rabbi Menachem Burstein, head of the Puah Institute, which specializes in halakhic solutions to fertility problems.


Gays and the Rabbis who may harm them

By Rabbi Andrew Sacks Opinion www.jpost.com March 8, 2011

Rabbi Andrew Sacks is the Director of the Masorti [Conservative] Movement's Rabbinical Assembly in Israel

So it comes as a surprise that several prominent rabbis, here in Israel, have backed an initiative by an organization called “Kamoha” – a GLBTQ Orthodox organization – that has set up a fund a charity to pay for "conversion therapy" for religious men aged 18 to 25 who are attracted to other men.

A spokesperson for Kamoha stated, “We consulted many rabbis on the issue – Zionists and haredim – and they all welcomed the initiative and congratulated us, and some even donated money.”

This support for conversion therapy is a violation of everything Jewish.


A curious disappearing act

By Einat Hurvitz Opinion www.jpost.com March 7, 2011

The writer is director of the legal and public policy department at the Israel Religious Action Center.

Since 2001, the Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC) has been monitoring demands by haredi extremists to introduce gender segregation in the public sphere.

...It is impossible to ignore the fact that demands for segregation invariably involve relegating women to the back of a given space; sometimes they also imply their conceptual exclusion from the space.


Ed. Ministry appoints Haredi supervisors, petition looms

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com March 7, 2011

The Education Ministry announced on Monday the selection of 14 new supervisors for the haredi educational system.

Despite initial apprehension from within the haredi world, all of the new supervisors conform to the broad definition of ultra-Orthodox.

The legality of the standard tender published by the commission in October for supervisors was challenged as discriminatory by the Haredi Clinic for Human Rights at Kiryat Ono Academic College and Rabbi Haim Havlin of Jerusalem, who, despite being an ordained rabbi with many years of experience as an educator, was denied the possibility to compete for a slot as a supervisor as he lacks an academic degree.


Jerusalem builds fence between secular, religious playgrounds

By Nir Hasson www.haaretz.com March 7, 2011

Secular parents demonstrated yesterday against a fence built on a Jerusalem playground to keep children from a secular nursery school from playing with peers at an ultra-Orthodox one.

The Jerusalem Municipality completed the fence yesterday, which drew criticism from some Orthodox parents as well.

Ultra-Orthodox supporters of the fence, in the Kiryat Yovel neighborhood, said it was there to keep their children from seeing other little boys in T-shirts and without skullcaps.


The new Israeli barrier: a fence that splits Jewish nursery in two

By Harriet Sherwood www.guardian.co.uk March 7, 2011

One ultra-orthodox parent, picking up her daughter, said she was saddened by the fence but reluctantly accepted its necessity. "I don't want my children to see immodest women," said the mother, who did not want to give her name.


Playground fence symbolizes Jewish split in Israel

By Batsheva Sobelman www.latimes.com March 10, 2011

Some see the playground as a metaphor for the bigger picture.

"This case encapsulates the entire story of religious-secular relations in Israel," said Aliza Gershon, director general of Tzav Pius, an organization advocating conciliation and dialogue within Israeli society.

"I am saddened by the segregation. Such separation is unnecessary, certainly at such a young age."


Wedding once in 60 years

By Roman Yanushevsky www.ynetnews.com March 13, 2011

The Hurva Synagogue in Jerusalem's Old City hosted a wedding Tuesday night for the first time since 1948, following its renovation and reconstruction.

The happy couple, Avi Pashnov and Racheli-Orly Jorno, joined a distinguished list of couples who were married at the synagogue, including the son of the first British high commissioner of Palestine, Herbert Samuel, who was married there in 1920.


Hurva Synagogue is home to first wedding since 1948

By Joshua Haberman www.jpost.com March 9, 2011

During the ceremony, Pashnov said he and his wife were “only a tiny chain link that brings together the past and the future.”

The next wedding is scheduled for Sunday. Couples had married at the synagogue’s ruins before the rededication ceremony.


Israel trip has missionizing bent, charge participants

By Or Kashti and Yael Gaton www.haaretz.com March 11, 2011

This winter, 11th grader Noa Possek took part in the Israel Journey, a weeklong educational program operated by Mibereshit, a movement set up by Rabbi Moti Elon and cosponsored by a private foundation and the Education Ministry. She found it to be strange.

The program of the Israel Journey was coauthored by society and youth department staff from the Education Ministry. Mibereshit, whose name plays on the first book of the Bible, from Genesis (Bereshit), began operating the program five years ago, and to date more than 60,000 11th graders, mostly from state schools, have taken part.


MK Hotovely, is Women's Day a happy day for Israel's women?

By Mazal Mualem www.haaretz.com March 8, 2011

Q: Have you ever been discriminated against as a woman?

No. Let me think. Maybe about security issues there is a feeling that the male milieu doesn't like women expressing opinions. Personally, I appreciate remarks based on knowledge when it comes to matters of state.

Q: And in the religious environment in which you were raised?

I come from religious Zionism. Women are empowered there. It's something I always take with me. In my world there are no real barriers.


Nat'l-religious rabbis, educators support social workers

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com March 7, 2011

Fifty national-religious rabbis and educators issued a public letter Monday in support of the striking social workers and their demand for better working conditions.

“We rabbis, educators and social-national activists wholeheartedly support the social workers, their life work, their dedication and essential contribution to the State of Israel, and call for an immediate improvement in their terms of employment,” the short message read.


City planning for the Haredi community

By Gerard Heumann Opinion www.jpost.com March 13, 2011

The writer is a Jerusalem architect and town planner.

While recognizing the severe land shortage, more Betar Illits or Modi’in Illits are not the answer. The present government’s policy of planning new, exclusively haredi cities – Harish in the North and Kasif in the Negev – should be reexamined. Political and social considerations aside, such dispersion is extremely costly in terms of infrastructure, and unsustainable.

How can architects and planners design economic new haredi neighborhoods truly reflecting their inhabitants’ unique social structure and way of life?


Kfir Brigade troops threaten mutiny

By Yair Altman www.ynetnews.com March 9, 2011

Soldiers from the Kfir Brigade stood firmly by their colleague who deserted following the destruction of his home in the West Bank outpost of Havat Gilad by the Civil Administration.

Two of Shimon Weisman's friends told Ynet they placed loyalty to their rabbi above obeying their commander, and others threatened the brigade commander with mutiny.


IDF trains Haredi men for classic female role

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com March 13, 2011

The IDF completed on Thursday the first-ever training of haredi soldiers who will now begin to fill the function of “conditions of service” non-commissioned officers (NCOs) in haredi units.

Part of a standard military unit is the presence of a soldier, usually female, who is trained to fill a function similar to that of a social worker.


Haredim: Call off Jerusalem food festival

By Ari Galahar www.ynetnews.com March 8, 2011

A food festival planned for the end of the month at Jerusalem's Old City has managed to stir a row among residents of the Jewish Quarter due to the sale of non-kosher food in the Christian and Muslim Quarters during the event.

Jewish Quarter Rabbi Avigdor Nebenzahl sent a letter to Shlomi Atias, CEO of the Company for the Reconstruction and Development of the Jewish Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem, urging him to prevent the festival from taking place.


Rabbinate, J’lem City Hall at odds over food festival

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com March 10, 2011

[The] head of the rabbinate’s kashrut division, Rabbi Ya’acov Sabag, sent Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat a letter last week protesting that an event including un-kosher eateries is taking part under the auspices of the city.

“The city of Jerusalem – beyond its historic sanctity – serves as a metropolis for tourists from all around the world,” Sabag wrote. “We respectfully ask that only kosher food stands would be included in this project, for the benefit of the public – and preventing the misguidance of the public.”


New Harish homes to suffer noise nuisance

By Zafrir Rinat http://english.themarker.com March 8, 2011

The state is advancing with plans to build neighborhoods in the new ultra-Orthodox city of Harish, despite the future homes' proximity to the Trans-Israel Highway.

The homes would suffer noise up to four times the permissible levels, claim Housing and Construction Ministry officials.


Super-Sol partners with Haredi charities in marketing push

By Nati Tucker http://english.themarker.com March 9, 2011

Super-Sol wants a larger chunk of the ultra-Orthodox community's Passover spending: it's offering a membership card that grants a 4% discount at its Yesh groceries. It's launching the club in conjunction with two ultra-Orthodox charities, Va'ad Harabanim and Kupat Ha'ir, which manage social safety net programs. The two will help marketing.


Pamela Anderson says ‘L’Chaim’ to animal rights in TA

By Sharon Udasin www.jpost.com March 8, 2011

Among those crowded around Anderson was MK Ronit Tirosh (Kadima), who drafted a Knesset bill banning the trade of animal fur in Israel – excluding fur in haredi apparel, such as shtreimels – in conjunction with Israel’s International Anti-Fur Coalition.

The bill is being prepared in the Education, Culture and Sports Committee headed by MK Alex Miller (Israel Beiteinu) for its second and third (final) readings in the Knesset plenum.


Budget chief: Mortgage subsidy is 'populist'

By Meirav Arlosoroff http://english.themarker.com March 13, 2011

Through the bill, Atias is seeking to help primarily his ultra-Orthodox constituency, but they'll also be hurt by the measure, Nissan said. The bill would subsidize mortgages for first-time buyers in the periphery by NIS 140,000.


Rabbi Wolpo regrets inciting remarks

By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com March 9, 2011

Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpo, chairman of the SOS Israel and Our Land of Israel movements, is taking back his call to fire rubber bullets at Israel Defense Forces soldiers and beat them up in response to similar actions on their part during the evacuation of Jewish communities in the West Bank.


Peace Now calls on AG to investigate rabbi for incitement

By Ron Friedman www.jpost.com March 8, 2011

In response to Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe’s call on Saturday evening for settlers to violently resist evacuations of outposts, Peace Now secretary general Yariv Oppenheimer wrote a letter to the attorney general on Tuesday, asking that he investigate Wolpe for incitement.


Rabbi to settlers: Shoot back at troops

By Jonah Mandel www.jpost.com March 8, 2011

“The army has decided to fight against the Jewish settlers of the Land of Israel,” Rabbi Shalom Dov Wolpe, head of the Eretz Yisrael Shelanu movement, told Israel Radio’s religious Reshet Moreshet station last week.

“So when Jews or Arabs come the way they did at Gilad Farm to destroy homes, and they shoot rubber bullets, they should have rubber bullets shot back at them. And if they come to beat people, they should be beaten back,” he said.


Rabbi Wolpo: Fire rubber bullets back at soldiers

By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com March 8, 2011


Former Shas head Deri angered by apparent mock political sabotage campaign

By Gil Hoffman www.jpost.com March 10, 2011

Former Shas leader Arye Deri expressed outrage on Wednesday over a campaign that was apparently launched in an effort to prevent his return to politics.

Some 10,000 people received automated phone calls Tuesday night asking if they wanted Deri to “return to leadership and unite the people of Israel.”

Newspapers were sent mock advertisements with Deri’s picture and campaign promises about returning the Left to power.


A Monk in Confinement, Waiting to Reclaim a Title

By Isabel Kershner www.nytimes.com March 7, 2011

Like a figure in a medieval drama, the monk Irenaeus I has been cloistered for the last three years in a third-floor apartment in the compound of the Greek Orthodox Patriarchate high above a narrow, bustling alleyway of Jerusalem’s Old City, unwilling or unable to leave.


The Center for Jewish-Christian Understanding and Cooperation collaborates with Zion's Gate International

http://cjcuc.com March 9, 2011

“We have always looked at Rabbi Riskin as a visionary for his people, but the willingness to open the first orthodox Jewish center to religiously dialogue with Christians is truly historical,” commented Gary Bachman.

He added that “Christians and Jews are two different covenanted communities of interpretation. However, the commonalities that bind us such as telling the world about a God of love, peace and morality far outweigh our fundamental differences. CJCUC has created that platform.”


Unabsorbed

By Daniella Cheslow www.tabletmag.com March 10, 2011

Chani is one of the last 8,000 Ethiopians claiming Jewish roots who will immigrate en masse to Israel, following a government decision in late November. It marks the end of a dramatic transfer of Ethiopia’s entire 2,000-year-old Jewish community, which began fleeing pogroms and persecution in 1970s.

...But as the newest immigrants arrive and settle in Israel, the 120,000-strong Ethiopian-Israeli community has seen only limited success in integration.


A Friday in the Old City of Jerusalem: March 11, 2011


Day Three in Photos: March 12, 2011


Israel Council of Higher Education report: Future of Judaism studies at risk

By Tomer Velmer www.ynetnews.com March 9, 2011

A new report presented to the Council of Higher Education warns of a grim future in the field of Jewish philosophy studies, following a drastic decline in research funds and the number of faculty members in the field.

While the global interest in Jewish thought has been surging, Israeli universities opt to invest funds in more "financial" departments.


Religion and State in Israel

March 14, 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.