Editor – Joel Katz
Are the rabbis - and the Sicarii - sensing
dramatic internal changes within ultra-Orthodox society itself?
...Economic
distress alone is enough to push the ultra-Orthodox to reform, which in turn
damages the supreme ultra-Orthodox value of separatism, "the pure cruse of
oil."
The change in values is keeping the rabbis awake at night. The more
openness there is, the more they seek to close things off.
In a letter published on Tuesday and described
as "historic, of incredible significance for now and future
generations" by his followers, Rabbi Yosef Shalom Elyashiv - who is
considered the leader of the Lithuanian non-Hasidic faction of Ashkenazi
ultra-Orthodox Jews - called for a total boycott of frameworks, such as the
programs that enable Haredim to serve in separate army units or learn a
profession in the IDF, and the colleges where thousands of ultra-Orthodox
study.
By Kobi Nahshoni
www.ynetnews.com December 29, 2011
Rabbi Uri
Regev, head of Hiddush – Freedom of Religion for Israel, said in response that
"the rabbi's letter, which comes out against positive procedures in the
haredi society is further proof of the terrible leadership crisis the haredi
public is experiencing.
"The general public, secular and religious, will not agree to continue sustaining the cost of the haredi society and reinforcing and expanding the haredi society of students with taxpayers' money."
By Jeremy Sharon
www.jpost.com December 28, 2011
“They warned that the purpose of these programs is to change the spirit and essence of the haredi world and to subvert it with all different types of other influences, nationalist and enlightenment ones, which are not the values of our fathers.”
The extremists in Beit Shemesh and elsewhere
don't vote. Certainly not for Likud. They don't recognize the state. But
Netanyahu is besmirched by kowtowing to them more easily than previous prime
ministers.
He is trying terribly hard to be everyone's prime minister. You
won't catch him making divisive remarks this term.
…Will
the anti-Haredi wave hurt Netanyahu, and if so, to what extent? It depends what
the key issues are in the next elections. A civil agenda could be lethal for
Netanyahu and Likud.
Haaretz
Editorial www.haaretz.com December
28, 2011
The rioters in Beit Shemesh are criminals in
every sense of the word. They cannot hide behind their religious worldview,
behind their rabbis' rulings on matters of halakha, Jewish religious law.
The public if fully aware that Beit Shemesh is
not "the Haredim," and that the reason "the Haredim" don't
work or serve in the army, and their children go to separate schools, is
entirely political, and that it harms the Haredim themselves.
Shas Interior Minister Yishai's municipal property tax
reform just happens to benefit large families
By Revital Hovel
www.haaretz.com December 28, 2011
According to the new
rates, for example, a family of five will have an 80-percent discount on city
taxes if it earns no more than NIS 6,136, rather than NIS 4,909.
...Union of Local
Authorities Chairman Shlomo Buhbut estimated the cost of the discounts at more
than NIS 1 billion, and said local authorities had not been consulted.
By Nadav
Shemer
www.jpost.com December 28, 2011
Shahar Ilan, CEO of Hiddush-For Religious Freedom
and Equality, said the reforms greatly favored yeshiva students and religious
institutions, and constituted “a shameless robbery of the public purse.”
By
increasing concessions to families with more children, and allowing yeshiva
scholarships to be taken into account when calculating reductions, Yishai is
essentially deciding that haredi municipal councils will collect less taxes,
and that taxpayers from non-haredi municipalities will fund the deficit through
balancing grants, Ilan said.
By Tali Farkash www.ynetnews.com
December 28, 2011
Beer
Hatorah Yeshiva has decided to take back students who were expelled after
secretly getting driver's licenses, as long as they deposit a check of NIS
4,000 (about $1,058) and promise not to drive.
The students' driver's licenses will not be
revoked, but should any of them be caught driving – the yeshiva will cash the
check as a fine.
The yeshiva management used the students' ID
numbers, against the law, to check the Transportation Ministry website and find
out who of its 350 students owns a driver's license.
By MK Yochanan Plessner Opinion www.israelhayom.com
December 27, 2011
This demographic and geographic growth is likely to continue, so
we have no choice but to ensure that the principles of equality are applied
across the board in our public spaces.
...As long as we do not change course and integrate the
ultra-Orthodox community into the nation's service sector and workforce, the
trend of radicalization is likely to continue.
Israeli genius: Letting 400 Yeshiva students turn into a Haredi
revolt
14. A Nobel Prize will be awarded to the genius who figures out how 400 yeshiva students - the maximum agreed between Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion and Minister of Religions Yehuda Leib Maimon - turned into tens of thousands of ultra-Orthodox extremists who are leading the country to a revolt and themselves to suicide.
There's no question the day will come when the secular community gets tired of them and deals them a devastating blow.
15. There's no shortage of Hasidim and yeshiva students in New York either - but they are loyal to their country. They work in clothing and electronics stores, and even pay taxes.
By Rabbi Daniel R. Allen Opinion http://ejewishphilanthropy.com December
30, 2011
Even while we in chutz l’aretz – outside
of Israel (not in exile) – work diligently to support Israel’s legitimate
security needs, we must also challenge the Government of Israel to live up to
its Declaration of Independence.
If written today I am afraid it might have
read as follows (additions
in parenthesis):
THE STATE OF ISRAEL will be open for Jewish (halachic) immigration and for the Ingathering of (certain of) the Exiles; it will foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants (if they are Jews, preferably ritually observant according to the chief rabbinate) ...
It is possible that we are witnessing today a
change to the face of Israeli society.
Two terms that have seeped into our
lives in recent days - "price tag" and "exclusion of women"
- are the leading signals of this change, and there in fact exists a strong
connection between the two terms.
By Yossi
Beilin Opinion www.israelhayom.com
January 1, 2012
The
principle that guides the multicultural adage "live and let live"
does not guide the extremists.
Just as
multiculturalism is ready to accept anyone who is different, to them
'different' is 'infidel', and they cannot accept infidels.
Therefore,
any effort to impose unity on them will not succeed – the only way for them to
maintain their way of life is in the ghetto.
From this
we can conclude that separation is necessary, and will diminish their ability
to impose their way of life on the uninterested.
Ultra-Orthodox residents have expressed their
objection to Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan to divide Beit Shemesh
into two separate cities – one for haredim and the other for secular and
religious residents.
The protest wave against the radical haredim is
more than important, yet it must not get confused or get overly excited.
Israel’s majority must remind itself all the time that not only women have
rights. The haredi minority has rights too.
By Roni Shuv Opinion
www.haaretz.com January 2, 2012
The
writer is the editor of the women's supplement of the Haredi magazine Bakehila.
We
aren't really what you think; we are actually people who are aware, cultured
and wise. But to our great horror, everyone around begins shaking their heads
in pity.
By Yitzhak Laor Opinion www.haaretz.com January 2, 2012
The Haredi community is the only one
challenging the state's modernist ethos.
The conflict between modernism and
anti-modernism appears to be inevitable, and it has turned the left into the
persecutor, as if it were the state, as if the opposition doesn't need an
alliance with those who object to state policies - including Haredim, Mizrahi
Jews and Muslims.
Interview with Mercantile Discount CEO Jacob
Tennenbaum
"The haredim
are on the brink of a great breakthrough into the economy," says
Tennenbaum.
"They are too big to remain self-contained. There is now
legitimacy, and a need, to go out to work so that the family will be
economically self-supporting.
We are seeing an increasingly large number of haredim
studying in colleges adapted for their special needs, and more and more of them
are entering the workforce. At a certain point we will reach a watershed, and
then there will be a flood."
Most of the right-wing activists who vandalized
the Ephraim Brigade's base two weeks ago were students at Jerusalem's Mercaz
Harav Yeshiva, police have discovered.
If you would like to know the source from which
your brothers derive their brazen behavior, go over to the study hall and open
a page of Talmud.
It's true that the Torah has 70 faces, but the trend of these
faces is clear: The source of the pollution is in halakha (Jewish law) itself.
What is happening in Beit Shemesh and its satellites is not "contrary to
halakha," it is mandated by halakha. And the rest will be told to the
grandmothers, daughters and granddaughters.
A few
days ago there was in the Hebrew University on Mount Scopus a discussion over
the controversial book “Torat Hamelech” (the torah of the king).
This
conference was initiated by Beit Hillel and the Department of Jewish Thought
and irritated both, the opponents and the supporters of the book. The
participants of the discussion were: Prof. Abraham Roznak, Prof. Rachel Elior,
PhD. Eli Hadad, PhD Mustafa Abu Suweid from Al Quds.
By Daniel
Estrin AP www.salon.com December 30, 2011
Israeli rabbis, however, are less accepting of
the immigrants’ New Year merrymaking. Since 1998, they have banned most of the
country’s hotels and banquet halls — which are under their kosher supervision —
to display trees, ornaments and other reminders of the holiday.
Not even
15 years of hearings, centuries-old documents, ancient maps and testimony by
archaeological, historical and linguistic experts were enough to help the
Jerusalem Magistrate's Court determine who owns a small chamber in the basement
of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem - a Muslim religious trust or
the Coptic Church.
Adding to the confusion, the Prime Minister's Office decided last week that the basement is not a holy site.
By David
Rosenberg The Media Line www.jpost.com
December 26, 2011
But these
incidents, said Ron Kronish, director of the Interreligious Coordinating
Council in Israel, do not reflect the general state of inter-communal
relations.
On the whole relations with the Jewish majority are “relatively
good,” said Kronish whose ICCI serves as an umbrella group of Christian, Jewish
and Muslim organizations promoting mutual understanding.
By Julia Niemann
www.haaretz.com December 30, 2011
Shifting demographics are changing the landscape of Israel's
Christian communities as an influx of migrant workers poses a new set of
demands for local churches.
While the number of Christians with roots in Israel - including Arabic, Ethiopian, Coptic, Greek and Armenian Christians - is diminishing due to immigration, statistics show the overall population of Christians remains steady due to the arrival of many foreign workers. In fact, the churches themselves appear to be growing.
Editor – Joel Katz
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