Israeli voters want a gov't without haredi parties
The public will no longer tolerate selling Israel’s future to the haredi parties, Rabbi Uri Regev, director of Hiddush – For Religious Freedom and Equality in Israel, said on Wednesday, in response to a public opinion poll his NGO recently conducted.
63% want equal state funding for all Jewish denominations
84% oppose military service exemptions for Yeshiva students
92% of secular Jews want end to Orthodox monopoly on marriage
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August 29, 2010
Only in Israel can a minority community of observant Jews bend the will of the majority and turn the height of summer into winter, at least officially.
Economist Nehamia Strassler explains the Israeli phenomenon of starting daylight savings times months early, in order to ease the Yom Kippur fast of observant Jews.
"The shekel drops/ winter is here", Nehamia Strassler, Haaretz.com
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Divorcing Judaism from politics
August 27, 2010
Only when Judaism in Israel is divorced from politics will it become more attractive to the populace and constitute a unifying, rather than divisive, force. Unless this occurs, the monopoly exercised by a small, extreme group of rabbis over the population will continue to alienate Israelis from Judaism, and may lead them to eventually do what their European brethren did more than 100 years ago: vote with their feet.
Robert Rockaway is professor emeritus of American Jewish history at Tel Aviv University.
Read Professor Rockaway's original article on Haaretz.com
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Hiddush activists fight haredi draft decision
August 19, 2010
The activist organization Hiddush – For Religious Freedom and Equality petitioned the High Court of Justice on Wednesday, asking the justices to cancel a cabinet decision making it easier for haredi men to avoid compulsory service in the army.
The petitioners took issue with the provision that stated, “The minister of defense is instructed to approve the request of anyone, regardless of his marital status, who is subject to perform security service to [instead] carry out public service, as long as he is 22 years old and has had a draft deferment for at least four years.
“We believe it is absolutely clear that no public authority with legal powers may apply them in the way that the cabinet approved the decision,” wrote attorney Yehoshua Schoffman, a former deputy attorney-general, who represents Hiddush.
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A decision-making procedure such as this is inconceivable, that is, one in which a public authority gathers dozens of different and diverse issues that the law has authorized it to deal with and instead of examining each issue individually, decides on the entire package en bloc.”
Read full Jerusalem Post article
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Government benefits never die
August 3, 2010
Hiddush's Shahar Ilan recently published an analysis of the Haredi political machine and asks what historical role Netanyahu will choose to play
"The Sharon-Netanyahu-Shinui coalition government that followed the 2003 elections cut child allowances to encourage these yeshiva students to enter the workforce. And the High Court of Justice recently invalidated income assistance to these students beginning next year, which could greatly encourage them to seek work. Atias' "half-price apartment" plan, however, is the new incarnation of these benefits. So it turns out the benefits to married yeshiva students haven't died. They have simply been replaced. Meanwhile, Shas is still pressing for an increase in child allowances and for a law that would continue income assistance to married yeshiva students."
Read full Haaretz article
About Shahar Ilan
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The Clinton wedding leaves Israelis envious of American freedom
August 1, 2010
David Breakstone writes in the Jerusalem Post about his envy of the Clinton-Mezvinksy wedding and dreams that his own sabra children will someday enjoy such religious freedom in the Jewish state of Israel.
"Keep Dreaming: When Chelsea wed Marc", David Breakstone
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Experts agree on danger to economy
July 28, 2010
Stanley Gold and Hiddush have been warning of the danger to the economic future of Israel posed by the current status of religion and state relations. This warning call is further strengthened by research published by Prof. Dan Ben-David and the Taub Center for Social Policy Research and recently by Bank of Israel chairman Stanley Fischer.
Recent publications on economic threat
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15% of Israelis unable to marry
July 25, 2010
"Approximately 1 million citizens from the former Soviet Union live in Israel today, and like all olim (Jews who move to Israel), they became Israeli citizens under the Law of Return. But, although under that law a person can qualify for citizenship simply by having a Jewish father or grandparent, she (or he) will not be considered a Jew by the rabbinate’s Orthodox standards without being able to trace a clear lineage of matrilineal Jewish roots, or else undergoing an Orthodox conversion. Approximately 350,000 of the Israelis from the former Soviet Union — 15 percent of Israel’s citizens — are not Jews according to the Orthodox rabbinate. And because the rabbinate has, since the Jewish state’s founding, been in charge of all major lifecycle events in Israel — including birth, marriage, divorce and burial — that status has serious implications. “They are Israeli citizens,” Regev said, but “they cannot marry in Israel.” "
Read entire Jewish Journal article, "The Israeli conversion bill: What it means and why everyone's so mad" Jonah Lowenfeld
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A call for religious tolerance
July 22, 2010
Rabbi David Ellenson, president of the Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute for Religion published a moving call for tolerance and acceptance within Jewish Israeli society. The article "A call for state-sanctioned religious tolerance" was published yesterday in the Jerusalem Post. He laments the religious coercion rampant in Israel today while mainaiting hope that change has begun and Israel will be able to fulfill its vision of a Jewish and democratic state.
"AS A scholar of Orthodox Judaism, I am perplexed that the government has allowed a rabbinic tradition of such openness and flexibility on the issue of conversion to be hijacked by its most retrograde and stringent interpreters. Sadly, I believe it is due to the corrupting enmeshment of religion and state."
Read full JPost article
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In-depth analysis of conversion bill
July 14, 2010
Hiddush CEO Rabbi Uri Regev offers in-depth analysis of the current version of the Conversion bill put forth by MK Rotem of Israel Beiteinu. Though Rotem has invested great efforts in trying to quell the fears of Diaspora Jews the law clearly establishes the ultra-Orthodox controlled rabbinate as the official authority responsible for conversion and explicitly requires converts to swear to follow the yoke of mitzvot and enroll their children in religious schools.
Read full analysis
Download in-depth analysis of proposed conversion bill
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Conversion bill passes law committee
July 12, 2010
Liberal Jewish leaders in Israel and the Diaspora are outraged by revisions made to the Conversion Bill by MK Rotem that completely disregard understanding they had with the government that they would be included in dialogue about the Bill.
Hiddush CEO Rabbi Uri Regev, slammed Rotem for “knowingly and deliberately acting against the Jewish people... by kneeling to the Chief Rabbinate and haredi politicians, and crowning them as responsible for conversion in Israel.”
If the Bill passes the Knesset Law Committee this morning, it could reach the Knesset for a first reading later today.
Read Jpost article, "Rotem revises conversion bill" by Jonah Mandel
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Bill to institutionalize draft dodging
July 7, 2010
New finance ministry proposal would greatly increase the ways in which young haredi men can defer military service by reducing the age for exemption from reserve duty by ten years from 35 to 25 and provided the option of civic service at an earlier age.
CEO of Hiddush - For Religious Freedom and Equality, Rabbi Uri Regev, told Haaretz that the proposal was "an anti-Zionist plan to institutionalize draft dodging, discrimination and the cancelation of the people's army."
Read full Haaretz article
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Tel Aviv march for democracy
July 1, 2010
Saturday night's March for Democracy in Tel Aviv
Demonstrators chant "One law for all", "Free, democratic and Jewish Israel" and "NO to discrimintaion - Where is our prime minister?
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Free Market Judaism
June 23, 2010
'to my mind the great lesson of America is that religion thrives when religion and state are constitutionally separate' Prof. Jonathan Sarna tell the Jerusalem Post in a special interview of the Jewish historian at the close of a year spent in Jerusalem
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Full article by Amihai Zippor as it appeared in the Jerusalem Post In Jerusalem
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Taking in order to give
June 21, 2010
Abolishing guaranteed income allowences for haredim will increase the workforce and cause a dramatic decrease in t heultra-Orthodox community's poverty level
By Shahar Ilan, VP Research & Information, Hiddush
Though the ultra-Orthodox clash with the Supreme Court erupted over the Immanuel school segregation case, the court's really important ruling last week was its abolishment, as of the end of 2010, of welfare payments for married yeshiva students. As Haaretz reported back in 1998, these income maintenance payments constitute a key component of the benefits this community receives.
Haredi women at work in Malam IT center in Beitar Ilit that caters especially to their needs. Photo: Nati Shohat/Flash90
It is doubtful that there has ever been a worse investment in the Israeli economy than the NIS 135 million budgeted for this purpose. Not only did this money help 11,000 men study in yeshiva instead of going to work, but it also created a situation in which it was not worth it for either them or their wives to work, because that would entail the loss of the allowance. In other words, more than this money has boosted incomes, it has served to perpetuate poverty and sabotage Israel's gross national product.
more>>
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Haredi school ordered to end ethnic segregation
June 20, 2010
Hundreds of thousands of Ashkenazi haredi protest the high court of justice order that would force integration of Sephardic and Ashzenazi girls. Parents of Ashkenazi girls have been ordered to send their daughter to school alongside Sephardic girls. Fathers who refused to send their daughters have been arrested.
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Hiddush builds religious freedom momentum
June 2, 2010
Less than a year since beginning operations, Hiddush has already made waves in pushing religious freedom and equality to the top of the national agenda. Public opinion research submitted directly to members of the Kadima party helped arm them with evidence and get the ball rolling for a special conference on Religion-State held in the Knesset last week. Hiddush’s VP of Research and Information, Shahar Ilan, was a guest panelist at the event.
In addition to the event, MK Shlomo Mola (Kadima) formed a new Knesset caucusfor religious pluralism in Israel on Tuesday with 11 MKs.
The numbers we learned at that council meeting had a big impact on me and many other Kadima MKs,” Molla said. |
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“I believe the time has come to welcome American Reform and Conservative Jews to Israel through the front door and not the back door. We planned on forming the lobby for a while but Hiddush strengthened our opinion that it was essential.”
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May 27, 2010
The London-based Financial Times published an article this week about the growing tension between the ultra-Orthodox and the rest of Israel. Hiddush's Shahar Ilan was quoted about how issues of religious freedom and equality are rapidly rising to the top of the political agenda.
Ilan said "Usually, Israeli politics is all about the peace process. But now people are beginning to ask questions about this important topic. People can no longer look aside"
The next Israeli election, he argues, "will be fought on the subject of religion and the state"
Read full article
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A message from Jessica
May 23, 2010
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Dear Hiddush
I wanted to personally thank you for fighting for religious freedom and equality. The organization and the people involved have been a tremendous support through the difficult experience I had regarding the doubting of my Jewish identity
The outcry of support that I had following the article was heartwarming. It strengthened my belief in the international Jewish community and Israeli society
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Despite what I have been through, I am still a Zionist, in every sense of the word. As an Israeli and a Jew, I hope that together we can come together and bring about change and a more progressive form of Judaism in Israel. I love Israel and hope that we will be able to revolutionize the country into a more evolved and advanced democracy. I truly believe that this will be the fulfillment of Herzl’s dream
If you have not done so already, please take a moment to sign your name to two important online advocacy campaigns:
I will continue to fight and support the rights of religious freedom and I hope that others will continue to be involved and speak up for the right to be a free Jew in the Jewish state
Jessica
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Israelis want haredi schools to teach math and English
May 17, 2010
Haredi elementary schools are legally bound to teach the core national curriculum, but the Education Ministry does not assign enough supervisors to ensure implementation according to data from the Knesset’s research department presented by Hiddush
Hiddush CEO Rabbi Uri Regev said in a statement: Only forcing all the haredi institutions to teach a full core curriculum, including civics, will prevent the destruction of the Israeli economy and democracy, and help encourage haredim to serve in the army or take part in national service. The public’s will is clear, beyond any doubt
read full Jpost article
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Debate over state funding of haredi schools, non-employment heats up
May 5, 2010
Leaders of the Haredi policital machine have responded harshly to comments made by Tel Aviv mayor Ron Huldai at an education conference Sunday. Huldai said that by funding the Haredi school system, the state is supporting, "an aloof and ignorant people, who are growing at an alarming rate, and draining our social and economic strength." His comments may not have been made with diplomatic elegance, but they are nothing new and reflect a growing frustration amongst the non-Haredi majority in Israel.
Hiddush's Shahar Ilan responded in the JPost, "The fact that two-thirds of haredi men do not work is becoming a very serious issue to people. Therefore, what Huldai said is not some isolated utterance, its part of a rising public discourse,"
"Haredi MKs rail against TA mayors comments, Ben Hartman, Jpost
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Israeli politicians visit US to calm fears of proposed conversion law
April 29, 2010*********************************************************************************
April 27, 2010
MK Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism), chairman of the Knesset Finance Committee, has demanded an additional NIS 250 million for haredi programs in negotiations to pass the two-year national budget currently underway in the Knesset. The significance of this move is to automatically guarantee the funds to Haredi institutions as an integral part of the budget instead of a one-off coalition agreement. In an interview with the Haredi newspaper Yated Ne’eman, Gafni said
I demand that funding for the yeshivas and Torah-based educational institutions be"no different from higher learning institutions and other education systems, where the funding is in the basic budget and the discussions regarding them are very tangential
What Gafni fails to appreciate is that non-haredi schools are required to comply with national curriculum requirements, university funding is limited to a set number of students and only a few scholarships are awarded to the most deserving students. Of course, the strict-ethnic and gender separation that is implemented in haredi institutions would also no longer be tolerated. If Gafni truly wants equal conditions for haredi institution, this would mean integration, teaching math and science and an end to generous hand-outs to haredi heads of households who choose not to work
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Tipping point reached
April 9, 2010
This week even leading Haredi news website has been flooded with scathing criticism of the warped abuse of power by Haredi politicians. Last week Israel’s Deputy Minister of Health, Yaacov Litzman, a Gur Hassid from the United Torah Judasim party, threatened to resign if the construction of a sorely needed secure emergency room at Ashkelon’s Barzilai hospital is approved
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Why would a health minister oppose building a rocket-proof ER that would allow the provision of live-saving medical services to civilians and soldiers in the line of fire
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Because millennia old human remains found at the site, just might be Jewish. Even though leading archeologist have determined the remains are Byzantine, not Jewish, and leading Halakhic scholars insist that in this case Jewish law allows for the respectful reinterring of human remains in order to allow building that would provide essential medical care to the living, Litzman staunchly opposes the construction.
To the non-Haredi majority in Israel it is clear that the sanctity of human life must not be sacrificed for the ‘worship’ of the dead. The government has a clear duty to provide adequate medical facilities for the 500,000 civilians living within range of Gaza missles, not to mention the soldiers injured in the line of duty. It is obvious that non-Haredi Israelis be outraged by Litzman’s actions, but less expected is the outpouring of criticism in the Haredi press. Many Haredi leaders and community members think that Litzman has gone too far with the Barzilai ER issue and blame Litzman for doing grave damage to the Haredi community by turning the country against them.
A harshly-worded opinion piece in the Haredi Kikar Hashabat website (Hebrew)said, “Litzman received the backing of the haredi dailies in the form of their silence,” and “aggressively and disgracefully exploited his power in a way that turned the entire nation against us... it is not the honor of the dead at stake here, but solely that of the deputy minister,” whose insistence “to safeguard the graves, while it was clear to [Litzman] and anyone who dealt with the topic that there is no Halakhic, ethical or moral problem, has brought a holocaust upon our heads that will take many years to amend.”
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Worst year of the decade
Hiddush Religious Freedom report highlights significant deterioration of religious freedom in Israel during last year. The report sites escalation in religion-state conflict, violence in the name of religion, damage to religious freedom, attempts at religious coercion, budget allocations to religious institutions and pro-religious legislation – and warns of worse to come.
Rabbi Uri Regev , CEO of Hiddush: The coalition parties do not hesitate to cynically trade away the civil liberties of the Israeli public in exchange for votes from ultra-Orthodox parties. Our research shows a huge gap between government policy and public opinion. The overwhelming majority of the public seek greater religious freedom and more equitable distribution of the economic and military burden
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Hiddush – For Religious Freedom and Equality – strives to fulfill the promise of freedom of religion and conscience, promised in Israel’s Declaration of Independence. Hiddush -Hebrew for innovation and renewal - works to raise public awareness of matters of religion and state in Israel, and rallies the support of both Israelis and world Jewry, to join together in promoting religious freedom and equality, so that Israel can achieve its full potential as a free and flourishing Jewish democracy.
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*Hiddush is a tax-exempt 501(c)(3) organization.
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