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The Knesset Research Center prepared an update for a meeting of the Knesset Committee for Religious Services and National Enterprises that was held this week, addressing the integration of the ultra-Orthodox sector in the workplace.
There is no more just and vital initiative, than the recently published plans by Minister of Finance Avigdor Lieberman to reduce funding for ultra-Orthodox education networks by 25% (at an estimated NIS 1 billion per year) under the next Economic Arrangements Law.
How Pindrus and his colleagues perceive Israel: two trees, side by side: portraying Israel’s Independence as a rotting or burned black tree, bearing the stinking fruits of corruption, licentiousness, terror, bereavement, etc. while the tree of the exile bears a glorious display of the finest and brightest fruits such as Shabbat, holiness, kashrut, education, etc.
Passover is the festival of freedom and liberty. This has been one of its most important themes, ever since the Children of Israel escaped from slavery to freedom.
The events of recent days have changed the public, political, and media agenda overnight, of course. Nevertheless, religious issues and the path of the Jewish state play a central role in the current discourse.
Let us hope and pray, in the spirit of the month of Adar and the holiday of Purim that we mark today, that the encouraging words of the Scroll of Esther come true for us all, for the Ukrainian people are suffering from a vicious attack that has already resulted in killing, destruction, and millions of refugees…
We hope and pray that reason prevails and international pressure will prove effective. May the invasion of Ukraine be withdrawn. However, until then, we amplify President Zelensky’s call (in Hebrew) to the Jewish people: “Cry out against Russian invasion!” This is a call that should not only be heeded by world Jewish, but also by Israel as a Jewish state.
It's time to change direction; and, instead of illusions and creating friendlier-acting Orthodox substitutes for the Chief Rabbinate, Israel’s politicians should recognize that the real and only solution is turning the Declaration of Independence’s promises of freedom of religion and equality into constitutionally protected principles.
The political system has largely lost its sensitivity to hypocrisy, hate speech and religious coercion. In the eyes of many of its leaders, buying the votes of the ultra-Orthodox parties justifies paying the price of surrendering to their demands, even knowing that they are hurting the country's economy, its security, and the freedom of religion promised by the Declaration of Independence.
On Tuesday, Hiddush filed a complaint against senior rabbis in ultra-Orthodox Judaism following their declaration that city rabbis who dare to act in accordance with the law after the adoption of a kashrut reform in the Knesset and certify food as kosher outside their city limits will have their kashrut certification banned everywhere, including in their own cities, and they will be considered as " having departed from the congregation of God and transgressing against the will of God." The declaration is signed by Rabbi Shalom Cohen, the spiritual leader of the Shas movement and Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky and Rabbi Gershon Edelstein, the leaders of the ultra-Orthodox-Lithuanian community.
It has been a challenging year for the whole world and naturally for us at Hiddush as well, but as the year ends, we can look back with satisfaction and pride.
Tomorrow, on December 10, the world marks International Human Rights Day. Unfortunately, this day and the event it commemorates (the adoption by the UN of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights on 10 December 1948) are not widely known in the US.
As we’ve written, the word "Reformers" has long since become a generic invective used by politicians and the ultra-Orthodox rabbinical establishment. In recent days, another example presented itself in the words of the leader of Agudat Israel in the Knesset, MK Rabbi Litzman.
A picture is worth 1000 words. The veracity of this statement has been proven in recent days in at least two areas: 1) The ultra-Orthodox and Zionist ultra-Orthodox bullying of the Women of Wall; and 2) The growing phenomenon of vandalizing the faces of women in public spaces.
As hoped, some positive recent developments can be pointed out in advancing pluralism in Israel's political arena. These are direct results of the existence of a coalition, in which several member parties hold worldviews that support religious freedom and equality...