Religion and State in Israel

Religion and State in Israel - January 23, 2012 (Section 1)

2012-01-24T11:38:00.000+02:00

Religion and State in Israel

January 23, 2012 (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.

IDF Personnel Chief: All Israelis including ultra-Orthodox should serve in military

By Jonathan Lis www.haaretz.com January 23, 2012

Head of the Israel Defense Forces' personnel directorate Major-General Orna Barbibai:

"There is no dispute that the challenging security reality demands that we enlist everyone into meaningful service," Barbai said.

We need to end this arrangement

By Nehemia Shtrasler Opinion www.haaretz.com January 20, 2012

Very few people know that the soldiers who take part in the hesder (Hebrew for arrangement) program do not serve 36 months like secular soldiers.

...Why should an arrangement like this not be given to any secular soldier who wants to study computers, engineering, economics or history at university? Are these subjects not as important as Gemara?

Therefore, it is not sufficient to cancel only the Tal Law and to recruit all the ultra-Orthodox to the IDF. That is clearly imperative.

But the hesder must also be canceled and religious youth must serve in the military for the full three years.

Mofaz: We must change the Tal Law

www.jpost.com January 23, 2012

Israel cannot accept a reality in which the IDF will transform from a people's army to a minority army, Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee (FADC) chairman MK Shaul Mofaz said Monday, according to Israel Radio.

Netanyahu backs away from 5-year Tal Law extension

By Jeremy Sharon www.jpost.com January 18, 2012

Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday that he would discuss with his coalition partners the appropriate length of time by which to extend the Tal Law, which is aimed at increasing ultra-Orthodox enlistment in the IDF, and then bring the decision for government approval.

On Sunday, Netanyahu told the Knesset’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee that the law would be extended for five years.

UTJ may declare coalition crisis over Tal Law postponement

www.ynetnews.com January 18, 2012

Members of the United Torah Judaism faction will hold an urgent meeting in the coming hours following Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's decision to postpone the vote on an extension to the Tal Law.

PM: Tal Law will not be extended by 5 years

PM postpones Tal Law debate

By Attila Somfalvi www.ynetnews.com January 18, 2012

Objections raised by ministers Avigdor Lieberman and Ehud Barak most likely played a central part in Netanyahu's decision. The prime minister postponed the debate so that he will have time to reexamine the issue.

Rabbi Regev says: Torpedo Netanyahu’s extension to the Tal Law

http://hiddush.org January 17, 2012

Hiddush President, Rabbi Uri Regev, remarked “We call on Israel Beiteinu and Independence parties to torpedo thisproposed extension,” saying “The Tal Law, which was supposed to increase access for ultra-Orthodox men into military and civil service, has failed, in part because of the opposition of ultra-Orthodox leadership.

Any extension beyond one year will reward this failure and encourage further draft dodging.

The year extension, as proposed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, could be a good opportunity to make real change, stopping the distinguishing between classes of people and lead us on a path to actually exercising the principle of compulsory service.”

Netanyahu: No IDF deferment for Yeshiva students

Don't extend the Tal Law

By Israel Harel Opinion www.haaretz.com January 19, 2012

A large sector, which is growing at an unprecedented rate, has no duty or obligation and is completely supported and maintained by the dwindling few who bear the whole burden and all the obligations.

...Only the gradual recruitment of Haredi men to the army and their integration into the country's intellectual circles and productive life can allay the fear among significant parts of the secular public.

The Haredi military unit and vocational training courses are to a large extent fiction, despite their public relations.

Secular Israelis pay for the ultra-Orthodox free ride

Patently unconstitutional inequality

Haaretz Editorial www.haaretz.com January 18, 2012

The law that perpetuates discrimination in favor of the ultra-Orthodox community at the expense of secular people - known as the Tal Law after retired Supreme Court Justice Zvi Tal - has justified its opponents' fears and proved wrong its supporters' pretensions.

...Israeli society, the military and - no less - the ultra-Orthodox community need shaking up. This must start with the shelving of the Tal Law.

After Tal

JPost Editorial www.jpost.com January 17, 2012

[T]he state must find ways to maintain gentle but insistent pressure on haredi young men to share with their non-haredi brethren in the collective endeavor to defend the Jewish state.

Providing economic incentives to those who do serve, creating additional frameworks within the IDF and National Service that include the haredi population, and allowing evolutionary changes within this population to proceed unhindered are the best methods of facilitating integration.

All Israelis must share burden of national service

By Rabbi MK Haim Amsalem Opinion www.jpost.com January 17, 2012

The writer is a member of Knesset, a rabbi, and chairman of the Am Shalem Movement, www.amshalem.org

A Jewish state should require those who receive IDF exemptions to perform national or civil service for an equal period of time.

Those who do so should be recognized as having served the state and should receive the benefits that come from such recognition.

At the same time, most of Israel agrees that a small, select group of scholars who are totally dedicated to Torah learning should study as their national service.

Tal Law extension: Secular, Haredi teens present their stance

By Yoav Zitun www.ynetnews.com January 17, 2012

Some 4,000 high school seniors have already signed the 'senior's letter' - a petition calling on the country's leaders not to go ahead with the Tal law's ratification.

"We are motivated, but if we look at the data, our service, as significant as it may be, will not be enough at this rate. Our stance is against the law, not against the haredi sector. We do believe that their different must be taken into consideration but in a way that means they too will serve in the IDF."

Barak: Draft new bill for Tal Law

PM plans to extend ‘Tal Law’ for 5 years

Army unsuitable for Haredim

By Ohad Shaked www.ynetnews.com January 19, 2012

In the mid-1990s, and mostly after the year 2000, the army started to take in haredim, yet encountered a serious problem – they are different than the rest of society.

...However, the army, just like society as a whole, does not really wish to integrate the haredim. The military wishes to create a melting pot, thereby making the haredim like them. In other words, this is about secularization.

Rabbinate to establish c'tee on women singing issue

www.jpost.com January 19, 2012

The Rabbinate will establish a committee to find an arrangement for religious soldiers who want to avoid hearing women singing in ceremonies, Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger announced Thursday.

IDF Chief Rabbi: 'Loyalty to IDF can't be trifled with'

By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com January 19, 2012

Chief Military Rabbi Brigadier-General Rafi Peretz called on religious high school seniors to enlist with the army Thurday, saying that loyalty to the Jewish state must be unconditional.

Peretz's remarks came in response to a petition that was put forth by yeshiva students urging the army to abandon policies of "secular coercion."

National-religious youth vow not to enlist in IDF

By Jeremy Sharon www.jpost.com January 17, 2012

A small rebellion broke out in the heart of the national-religious world this week over the issue of women singing in the army.

Dozens of pre-army youth from several yeshivot have signed a petition in the past few days vowing not to enlist in the army until religious soldiers are exempted from army ceremonies in which women sing.

Har Bracha Yeshiva's Rabbi Melamed: Stop IDF draft

By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com January 18, 2012

Rabbi Eliezer Melamed, a prominent Religious Zionism leader, is calling on young religious men to delay their enlistment with the IDF until every soldier will be allowed to excuse himself from military ceremonies which include women performers.

Rabbi Melamed, head of the Har Bracha Yeshiva which was removed from the hesder arrangement with the army due to his refusal to condemn soldiers' disobedience, made the remark in an interview with the Galei Israel radio station.

Israeli religious soldiers' new kind of disobedience

By Amos Harel www.haaretz.com January 19, 2012

The next confrontation is brewing over female instructors for religious soldiers.

A document issued by the Chief of Staff's adviser on women's affairs, reported by Haaretz last year, cited several cases in which field-unit soldiers refused to receive instruction from women, claiming it could lead to forbidden physical contact.

Haredim trade IDF for police service

By Akiva Novick www.ynetnews.com January 17, 2012

Dozens of young ultra-Orthodox men are choosing to join the Israel Police instead of the IDF, following the army's war on the exclusion of women and the recent dismissal of the rabbi in charge of integrating haredim into military service.

In the police, the new recruits are promised better conditions matching their religious beliefs, such as complete gender segregation and strictly kosher meals.

Three Religious US Girls Become IDF Officers

By Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu www.israelnationalnews.com January 17, 2012

Three new immigrant girls from the US say they not only can stay religious and serve in the IDF but also can become officers, despite the Chief Rabbinate - and almost every other religious Zionist rabbi - ruling against it, enjoining girls to serve Israel through the National Service.

Remembering The Golden Era of the IDF Rabbinate

By Rabbi Eliezer Melamed Opinion www.israelnationalnews.com January 21, 2012

The writer is Head of Yeshivat Har Bracha.

Q: I am a military rabbi. After what you wrote in last week's column, should I resign?

A: You do not have to resign, but you must realize that you do not serve in a rabbinical role, and you certainly are not a 'mara d'atra' (local halakhic authority).

You are a military chaplain whose job is to help soldiers fulfill mitzvoth and connect them to Judaism.

Tzohar fires back against Metzger on marriage

By Jeremy Sharon www.jpost.com January 19, 2012

Chairman of the Tzohar national-religious grouping of rabbis, Rabbi David Stav, sent a letter to all Members of Knesset on Wednesday, accusing Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger of trying to deceive them regarding Metzger’s opposition to the so-called “Tzohar bill.”

Stav said in his response on Wednesday that the law “clearly allows marriageregistration with the rabbinate alone” and that its dignity and status would not be harmed in anyway.

Bar-On urges sanctions on men who refuse divorce

By Jeremy Sharon www.jpost.com January 18, 2012

Knesset State Control Committee chairman Ronnie Bar-On (Kadima) called on Wednesday for broader implementation by rabbinical courts of a law that allows dayanim, or rabbinical judges, to impose punitive sanctions on men who refuse to give their wife a bill of divorce.

“The rabbinical courts must make greater use of the halachic authority that the law provides them, including taking steps to impose punitive sanctions on the initiative of the rabbinical courts themselves,” said Prof. Ruth Halperin Kedari, co-author of the Rackman report, during the hearing.

Shameful discrimination in Israel

Haaretz Editorial www.haaretz.com January 20, 2012

Thousands of Israeli couples are forced to marry overseas or live as common-law spouses because of the ongoing capitulation by successive Israeli governments to the rule of the rabbinical establishment.

Given this reality, it's hard to even imagine the state granting full recognition to the rights of same-sex couples.

Israel’s High Court: Appoint women to committee that chooses rabbinical judges

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com January 20, 2012

Women must appear on the committee that appoints dayanim (rabbinical court judges), the High Court of Justice said on Thursday.

The petition was filed by religious women's organization Emunah, and the court has now given the sides two weeks to try to find a solution to the problem.

How Women's Exclusion Threatens Coalition Gov't

By Elana Sztokman Opinion http://blogs.forward.com January 17, 2012

The Committee to Appoint of Rabbinical Judges (dayanim) is, for the first time in more than a decade (since women’s groups started protesting the issue), is an exclusively male panel.

...Consider how many other issues are burning in Israeli society — half a million tent protesters this past summer, a country currently paralyzed by all-out strike, members and former members of government on trial for bribery — and yet none of these issues have raised the ire of the religious parties like this, causing them to cry foul this way. As if the only thing that really scares some men is to actually give women some power.

Scandal in Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's family rocks Shas

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com January 22, 2012

The document describes attempts by Shas to get a string of its people appointed to key offices - including Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef, another of Rabbi Ovadiah's sons, to the office of chief rabbi of Jerusalem, Rabbi Benjamin Atias, the brother of Housing Minister Ariel Atias, to lead the Petach Tikvah rabbinate, Yaakov Chikotai, who is married to Rabbi Ovadia's daughter, as head rabbi of Modi'in-Maccabim-Reut and others.

The impact of the scandal will depend to an extent on the state comptroller, who must decide whether or not to open an investigation into the appointments or even freeze them.

Accusation: Shas leaders ‘taking over Rabbinate’

By Jeremy Sharon www.jpost.com January 23, 2012

MK Nitzan Horowitz (Meretz): “The rabbinate, despite all its problems, is not the private business of one man, and it is not acceptable that it is managed in a ‘Sicilian’ style according to the interests of one family or another.”

State comptroller receives complaint on Rabbi Ovadia Yosef

www.ynetnews.com January 20, 2012

The State Comptroller's Office confirmed they had received the letter by Labor MK Eitan Cabel. It is being examined.

Shas Minister Yishai apologizes for linking IDF failures in Lebanon War to lack of faith

By Ophir Bar-Zohar www.haaretz.com January 18, 2012

Interior Minister Eli Yishai on Wednesday apologized to the families of the Israel Defense Forces soldiers killed during the Second Lebanon War, a day after he declared that Israel had failed in the Second Lebanon War because the troops did not "raise their eyes to God" and pray.

Interior Minister Yishai: IDF failed in Lebanon War because soldiers didn't pray

By Ophir Bar-Zohar www.haaretz.com January 18, 2012

"In the Six Day War, every Jew, and every Jew that went to battle, raised their eyes to the creator," the Interior Minister said. But in the Second Lebanon War, Yishai said, the IDF relied only on its own strength.

"This is a great lesson," Yishai said. "When all Arab states are against the Jewish people, what will save the Jewish people is study of the Torah."

Yishai: Jews survived thanks to Torah

By Kobi Nahshoni www.ynetnews.com January 22, 2012

Interior Minister Eli Yishai said Wednesday that the State's senior officials consult Shas spiritual leader Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and that "everything he has said and they have done – has been a huge success."

What was Eli Yishai thinking?

By Rabbi Uri Regev Opinion http://hiddush.org January 23, 2012

While fully appreciating the potential efficacy of faith and prayer, it is another matter altogether to distort the facts to fit your religious purpose, claiming knowledge of Divine conduct in the outcome of wars without any humility.

Had Yishai said “Faith and prayer strengthen Israel and its ability to meet external threats”, very few would have faulted him.

...Either Yishai believes what he said, in which case, his perception of reality is suspect, or he does not believe what he said, in which case, he is a manipulative liar. In either case, he is unfit to serve.

We all scream for ice cream

By Rabbi Andrew Sacks Opinion www.jpost.com January 23, 2012

Rabbi Andrew Sacks is the Director of the Masorti Movement's Rabbinical Assembly in Israel and the Masorti Movement's Bureau of Religious Affairs.

Sound like the Chief Rabbinate has gone over the top? Sound silly? Well it is not.

This is part of an ugly effort by Israel’s Chief Rabbinate to become the equivalent of a papacy by setting religious standards for all communities, both in Israel and abroad.

In entering Israeli politics, Yair Lapid eyes force of socioeconomic protests

By Linda Gradstein www.jta.org January 17, 2012

“This is potentially an explosive transformation,” said Rabbi Uri Regev, the director of Hiddush, an organization that promotes religious freedom in Israel.

A poll conducted by Hiddush found that 43 percent of the general Israeli public and 55 percent of the secular public welcomes Lapid’s entry into politics.

One-third of the respondents said they would seriously consider voting for Lapid whether he forms a new party or joins an established one.

“This may be the beginning of the end of the dominion of the haredi parties,” Regev said.

Yair Lapid comes out against Tal Law, supports civil marriage

Lapid comes out against Omri Casspi Bill

By Gil Hoffman www.jpost.com January 23, 2012

Journalist turned politician Yair Lapid continued to reveal more of is views on key issues Monday, telling his followers on Facebook that he opposes giving Israelis abroad the right to vote.

Lapid also came out against the Tal Law on haredi (ultra-Orthodox) service in the IDF. He said the law should be repealed and a civil service authority should be formed.

When asked about separating religion from state, he said he supported civil marriage and separating religion from politics, but he did not back a complete separation of religion from state or the cancellation of the Law of Return.

Keep Halakha out of Israel's health system

Unacceptable Halakha

Haaretz Editorial www.haaretz.com January 22, 2012

Nonprofit associations dedicated to guaranteeing that fertility treatments comply with Jewish religious law (halakha) are thriving in Israel.

...Is it that only the ultra-Orthodox deserve double oversight of the combining of eggs and sperm - oversight by both the fertility center and the kashrut supervisors?

Do non-Haredim undergoing IVF not deserve the same protections? And what about the medical training of these kashrut supervisors? Who decides that they have the skills needed for the job? And why are they given access to confidential medical information?

Israel's Chief Rabbinate freezes plan to help decide brain death, after surgeons protest

By Dan Even www.haaretz.com January 19, 2012

The Chief Rabbinate has frozen a tender it had issued for establishing a service to help families establish brain death for their loved ones, after transplant surgeons said they would not tolerate rabbinic involvement.

The tender under dispute was for setting up an office, with the rabbinate's help, that would operate 24/7 for families seeking halakhic and medical guidance in determining brain death, so they could give permission for their loved ones' organs to be harvested for transplant.

Father Judaism and mother democracy

By Yair Sheleg Opinion www.haaretz.com January 22, 2012

The proper thing to do is relate the tension between Judaism and democracy as being pressure between two manifestations of the value of human dignity: dignity for the universal person, and dignity for the Jewish person who has the right to political and cultural sovereignty.

Any tension in this regard should be examined individually to try to resolve it with a minimum of damage to either of these two values.

Drought and emptiness prevail

By Benny Katzover Opinion www.haaretz.com January 22, 2012

I did not call for the establishment of a state based on Jewish law instead of a democratic regime...

...I did say the basic solution is to prefer something "Jewish" to something "democratic," as long as there is no "moral" clash between the two.

No Compulsion in Religion

By Rabbi Tsafi Lev www.myjewishlearning.com January 17, 2012

Rabbi Tsafi Lev, is a CLAL Rabbis Without Borders Fellow. He is the Director of Jewish Studies at New Community Jewish High School in West Hills, CA, and a Lecturer for the Fingerhut School of Education Master of Arts in Education program at the American Jewish University.

I suggest that Israel make a clear separation of Synagogue and State.

...Only without a government sponsored Rabbinate can freedom of religion really flourish in Israel.

When that happens we can see Orthodox, Hassidim, Reform, Reconstructionist, and Conservative Jews, and even right-wing Haredim, support each other in continual growth and closeness to our shared, One and Only God.

Religious Zionist bulletin blurs photo of woman murdered in Itamar for 'modesty'

By Chaim Levinson www.haaretz.com January 20, 2012

A religious-Zionist Jewish studies center this week published a photograph of the members of the Fogel family who were murdered last March in the settlement of Itamar, but blurred the face of the mother for modesty reasons.

'Modern' Orthodox Org. Behind Blurred Fogel Pic

By Allison Kaplan Sommer http://blogs.forward.com January 23, 2012

Machon Meir published an apology:

…If you read the apology carefully, it is clear that they believe the “mistake” was running the picture at all — not blurring Ruth Fogel’s face. From the apology, it is understood that the publication, like too many places, is officially a female-free zone.

Not Pro Israel Enough?

By Jason Boxt Opinion www.huffingtonpost.com January 19, 2012

But for me, these incidents aren't as insidious or fundamentally troubling as the battle that is being fought by people like Anat Hoffman, of the Israel Religious Action Center and founder of Women of the Wall.

Her crusade -- well-off the radar of American mainstream press -- is to allow women the right to carry Torah, to pray as equals.

Study: IDF officers less committed to Jewish values after visits to Nazi death camps

By Chaim Levinson www.haaretz.com January 20, 2012

The Israel Defense Forces has been "stunned" by the findings of a new study which says an officers' visitation program to Nazi death camps, meant to reinforce Jewish and national values, has had the opposite effect on up to 20 percent of the soldiers.

A better approach to aliyah

By Alan Hoffmann Opinion www.haaretz.com January 20, 2012

Alan Hoffmann is director-general of the Jewish Agency for Israel.

The Jewish Agency's new directions provide concrete answers to some of the Jewish people's seminal challenges, positively affecting Jewish identity, attachment to Israel and aliyah, and even a cursory look at the numbers seems to bear this out.

Edelstein: Israel-Diaspora dynamic a two-way street

By Gil Shefler www.jpost.com January 17, 2012

Shmuel Rosner said he welcomed “meddling” from Jews abroad.

“To the Diaspora I would say come, criticize, intervene and meddle on one condition: Make sure you know what you’re talking about,” the journalist said.

Raising a Daughter, Without Adelson's Help

By Allison Kaplan Sommer Opinion http://blogs.forward.com January 19, 2012

Don’t get me wrong: I share your vision of a kinder, gentler, rabbinate (since it is unrealistic to fantasize about separation of church and state). And it would certainly be wonderful if such an effort came to be.

But I’m not waiting around for American Jewish organizations or individual U.S. Jewish billionaires to ride in on a white horse.

Poll: Majority thinks MKs should consider Diaspora

By Ruth Eglash www.jpost.com January 23, 2012

Using a sample of 509 adults here, the poll asked respondents ‘How important do you believe it is for Israeli lawmakers to consider the views of Jews in the Diaspora when creating legislation such as ‘Who is a Jew?’ In response, 77 percent said it was extremely important and 23% said it was important.

Conference honors memory of Israeli American soldier

By Melanie Lidman www.jpost.com January 21, 2012

North American students studying in Israel will grapple with difficult questions about what it means to be Zionist and about Israel’s purpose for world Jewry at the second annual Avi Schaefer Symposium in Jerusalem on Sunday.

Religion and State in Israel

January 23, 2012 (Section 1) (see also Section 2)

Editor – Joel Katz

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

Religion and State in Israel - January 23, 2012 (Section 2)

2012-01-24T11:37:00.002+02:00

Religion and State in Israel

January 23, 2012 (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.

Lechery, Immodesty and the Talmud

By Rabbi Dov Linzer www.nytimes.com January 19, 2012

DovLinzer, an Orthodox rabbi, is the dean of Yeshivat Chovevei Torah Rabbinical Schoolin the Riverdale section of the Bronx.

This is part of a larger battle being waged in Israel between the ultra-Orthodox and the rest of Israeli society over women’s place in society, over their very right to have a visible presence and to participate in the public sphere.

Tzipi Livni on Halacha and secular law

Tova Ben-Dov elected WIZO president

By Gil Shefler www.jpost.com January 20, 2012

Tzipi Livni addressed the WIZO delegates, telling them Israel did not have to pick between Jewish law, or the halacha, and state laws.

“There is a clash between those who derive authority from the torah and halacha and the rabbis and another group to whom the source of authority is the law and judges,” she said.

“I don’t think you have to choose between the Jewish values and democratic values of Israel.
That’s not the choice. We have to act so that both sides live in harmony so that it is possible.”

A Woman’s Place

By RabbiHaviva Ner-David Opinion www.slate.com January 23, 2012

When I called my state socialized-medicine provider a few weeks ago to make a doctor’s appointment, I was told to come in modest dress, because the clinic is located in an ultra-Orthodox neighborhood.

Uncomfortable with the mandate, I made the appointment to see the same doctor somewhere else, although I will have to travel farther to get there.

It is winter here, so wearing a big, long coat would not have been a major inconvenience. But on principle, I will not be party to this blatant—and rapidly spreading—violation of my civil rights.

Haredi man banned from public transport for harassment of female soldier

By Jeremy Sharon www.jpost.com January 19, 2012

Shlomo Fuchs, who allegedly called a female soldier “a whore” on a bus he was traveling on in December, has been released from house arrest.

However, he remains banned from using public transport, as stipulated by the Jerusalem District Court after he was first arrested.

Haredi who cursed soldier banned from using buses

www.ynetnews.com January 18, 2012

At the police's consent, the judge canceled all other restrictions imposed on Fuchs, including house arrest.

The struggle for our Jewish daughters

By Chaim Landau Opinion www.jpost.com January 17, 2012

The writer is the director of Perspectives Israel

The question, then, is what we citizens can do about this escalating situation. Looking into my smiling daughter’s face, I am resolved to take the following steps:

1. We must be active in our schools, whether Mamlachti (state) or Dati Mamlachti (state-religious), to ensure that our daughters and sons receive a top notch Jewish education taught in an engaging way.

2. If we want our daughters to be full members of the Jewish community, then we should affiliate ourselves with those synagogues and institutions that relate to women as full members and not as spectators.

3. On the political level, as voters, we must make it clear to the parties with which we affiliate or choose to vote for that religious freedom and the inclusion of women are not negotiable.

New in Modiin Illit: Segregated elevators

By Ari Galahar www.ynetnews.com January 18, 2012

The exclusion of women is taking on a new form in the ultra-Orthodox city of Modiin Illit: Extreme haredi elements posted signs in one of the city's business centers last week, calling on men and women to use separate elevators.

Jerusalem gets dancing for equality

By Melanie Lidman www.jpost.com January 17, 2012

More than 200 women threw off symbolic black head coverings on Tuesday afternoon to protest discrimination against women in public, during a “flashmob” that took place in downtown Jerusalem.

Click here for VIDEO

Who picks up the tab for manufactured social conflict?

By Jonathan Rosenblum Opinion www.jpost.com January 20, 2012

How Israel has one of the most easily manipulated medias in the world and is once again paying a heavy price for media-generated hysteria.

Reflections on Israel in light of Martin Luther King Day

By Rabbi Micah Peltz www.haaretz.com January 18, 2012

While we exposed them to the complexities of the land, we also watched as they each developed their own sense of Ahavat Yisrael – their love of Israel.

… But this love is tarnished when women are needlessly discriminated against. Especially when it is by those who claim to be living Torah while they are actually subverting it.

Can ultra-Orthodox culture go overboard in its quest for modesty?

It's a question of respect

By Robin Garbose Opinion www.haaretz.com January 20, 2012

Robin Garbose has been directing theater, network television and film for nearly 28 years.

Can Haredi culture go overboard in its quest for modesty?

When women are denied a voice or when intimidation is used to hinder critical thinking, there is a problem. And assaulting women, either physically or verbally, in the guise of enforcing tzniut is unconscionable.

As Adina Bar Shalom, daughter of Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, recently asserted, "The exclusion of women from the public domain violates Torah. Halakha treats women with the utmost respect."

The gender industry

By Deborah S. Dahan Opinion www.jpost.com January 22, 2012

The point is not whether my friend bears unfounded grudges towards the haredi community for the treatment of its women; rather it is about her seeming lack of concern for other groups of women in Israeli society who suffer from humiliations far more disturbing than traveling on a segregated bus.

Haredi men are afraid

By Rafi Walden Opinion www.ynetnews.com January 19, 2012

...The reason is deeper and is one that the haredim would never admit to: There is a reason for concern.

While no less strict haredim in New York or London work and provide for their families, in Israel’s haredi strongholds women are the breadwinners who provide for the family.

...these men feel a need to emphasize, time and again, that they are the center of their surroundings, thereby having to stress the inferiority of women and excluding them.

Enough: Israel Crushes Extremism. Others Promote It.

By Rabbi Dov Lipman Opinion http://pjmedia.com January 17, 2012

The myth must be dispelled. Religious extremism is not taking hold in Israel. It is being squelched. In a world where fanaticism and fundamentalism are so rampant, the citizens of Israel are putting on a clinic regarding the only way to stem the tide of the ever-spreading reach of such ideologies: staring it in the eye and calling it what it is: bad, evil, unspiritual, ungodly, and intolerable.

What are the questions?

http://makomisrael.org January 20, 2012

For several weeks now there has been an ongoing furor about the place of women and religion in Israel: Orthodox soldiers walked out of a ceremony involving singing women. Mehadrin bus lines force women to sit at the back of the bus.

Women are removed from advertisement hoardings in Jerusalem. A Haredi sect in Bet Shemesh uses unacceptable means to try to stop girls going to school in their area.

In an attempt to clear our heads, we are trying to work out what are the underlying fundamental questions at play? What, if anything, do these different incidents have in common?

Jerusalem Police District chief starts cracking down on ultra-Orthodox lawbreakers

By Yair Ettinger www.haaretz.com January 22, 2012

Beginning this week, there has been a sharp break between the Eda and the police. Moderate elements within the sect are coming out secretly against the radicals, out of ideology but also because they fear the violent branding will affect the Badatz kashrut authorization that provides a living for hundreds of Eda families.

The police are emerging as the winners in the struggles. The Gur Hasidut, which is embroiled with the Sicarii in a real-estate war in the Batei Warsaw neighborhood of Jerusalem, is nurturing its relations with the top police commanders.

Ultra-Orthodox teens accost U.S. immigrant boy in Beit Shemesh

By Oz Rosenberg www.haaretz.com January 17, 2012

On Monday, just two weeks after a big demonstration sparked by an incident in which an ultra-Orthodox man spat at a local 8-year-old girl dressed "immodestly," another student at Beit Shemesh's Orot state religious school was targeted by Haredi teens on the short walk home from school.

A Tale of Two Countries and One People

By Steven A. Rakitt Opinion http://ejewishphilanthropy.com January 19, 2012

Many in Beit Shemesh told me how proud they are of their community. They point to excellent schools, the beautiful countryside, good jobs and friendly mixed neighborhoods of haredi, secular and modern Orthodox Jews.

They urged me to help tell the story of the “other Beit Shemesh”, the part of the community that is not in the news.

Non-haredi members of the community reminded me repeatedly that the extremists do not reflect the vast majority of haredim in the community who oppose the harassment and violence. They tell a more nuanced story.

Haredim: Israel in need of psychiatric care

By Ari Galahar www.ynetnews.com January 16, 2012

The exclusion of women phenomenon, which has stirred a row in Israel, has been occupying the country's ultra-Orthodox media in recent weeks as well.

Building tolerance – even for Haredim

By Rabbi Natan Slifkin Opinion www.jpost.com January 17, 2012

The writer is the author of a variety of works on the relationship between Judaism and the natural sciences. His website is www.zootorah.com and he also maintains a popular blog, www.rationalistjudaism.com.

Haredi society has achieved astounding accomplishments in building up a society of commitment to Torah study and religious observance. But it is now undergoing a period of unprecedented internal and external turmoil.

...More than ever, there is an opportunity, and a need, to integrate haredi society into Israel. But there are forces in haredi society that are strongly opposed to such integration, and many haredim maintain a healthy dose of suspicion vis-a-vis the non-haredi world.

An Insult to Women--and to Men!

By Rabbi Marc Angel Opinion www.jewishideas.org January 17, 2012

While the Hareidi extremism has correctly been criticized for its unfair attitudes and treatment of women, I believe the Hareidi position is equally insulting and unfair to men.

...Our goal as thinking halakhic Jews is to be clear on our responsibility to be holy, and to treat ourselves and others as fellow human beings--not as sexual objects.

As we live as modest and respectful human beings, we enhance our own dignity and the dignity we show to others. This is not an inconsiderable accomplishment.

Men at Work? Israel’s Ultra-Orthodox Join the Job Market