Israeli High Court rules in favor of equality for Reform and Conservative Judaism (05/19/2009)
May 21, 2009 by nicola
JERUSALEM – On Tuesday, May 19, 2009, the Israeli High Court of Justice, in a ground-breaking case, awarded equal funding to Reform and Conservative Jewish conversion programs. The Israel Religious Action Center (IRAC), the legal advocacy arm of the Reform Movement in Israel, originally filed this petition in 2005 against the Immigration Absorption Ministry for discrimination and today the Supreme Court agreed.Taken from the IRAC website. Click here for the latest updates.
To date, the State of Israel funds privately-run conversion centers alongside state centers; however, only Orthodox centers are recognized and therefore only Orthodox centers received state funding.
The State defended its position in court based on the fact that Reform and Conservative conversions are not recognized in Israel.
The Court noted that most converts in Israel immigrated by the Law of Return, but are not Jewish according to halacha, traditional Jewish law. They wish to convert in order to embrace their Jewish identity and to become more integrated into Israeli society, a goal achieved in conversion programs of all Jewish streams.
The Court called the State’s practice of favoring only one Jewish stream discriminatory and contradictory to the State’s responsibility of ensuring freedom of religion: “The duty of the State to pluralism is not only a passive duty, but an active one as well.” They also sited their previous ruling (Naamat and IRAC in 2002) that “Jews in Israel cannot be seen as only one religious sect.”
The verdict in this case calls for all private non-Orthodox conversion programs to be reimbursed retroactively for the years 2006-2009 and for all future funding to be given equally to conversion programs of all Jewish streams.
Attorney Einat Hurvitz, IRAC’s Legal Department Director, responded to the Court’s ruling: “Today’s verdict reaffirms the fundamental right to equality and religious freedom by ruling that the State may not discriminate between people based on their choice of Jewish stream. Today, the Court set a precedent, mandating State-funding for religious services of the Reform Movement and other non-Orthodox streams of Judaism. We hope that this clear message from the court leads to a change in government policy and puts an end to the exclusion of the Reform movement by the State.”
Taken from the IRAC website. Click here for the latest updates.
Help to bring freedom for Gilad
May 6, 2009 by Steve
1,000 days in captivity and still no sign of freedom. Just click on this link in order to try and persuade the USA to use its influence
Right of Reply: The Jewish case for the Israel Democracy Institute
May 5, 2009 by Steve
May 3, 2009 21:22 | Updated May 4, 2009 10:51
Last week, the Israel Democracy Institute won the Israel Prize for Life Achievement. According to the prize committee, IDI is a unique forum for open dialogue among all segments of Israeli society. It is no coincidence that the four individuals who nominated IDI for the prize served in the past as mayor of Bnei Brak (Mordechai Karelitz), YESHA Council chairman (Benzi Lieberman), head of the Supreme Arab Monitoring Committee (Shauki Hatib) and Labor minister (Uzi Bar-Am).
A Jewish nation state has no precedent or parallel. Man showing his children military hardware on display at Jerusalem’s Ammunition Hill on Independence Day.
Photo: AP
The institute’s achievement has unbalanced a number of people. Particularly unhinged was the reaction of Dr. Yitzhak Klein ("The strange case of the Israel Democracy Institute," April 26), who attacked the institute in this newspaper, alleging that "IDI’s ideal model is a secular, nonnational, economically and socially liberal society with its Jewish character and ethic pressed as much out of view as possible."
This is nonsense. In recent years, IDI has focused on two areas: first, the study of Israel as a democratic state; and second, the study of Israel as a Jewish state. The institute appointed a vice president at the head of each of these two research divisions, allotted significant resources to each area and drew up long-term goals and a plan of action.
Only with these facts in mind can one understand why one of the most important rabbis on the West Bank would write in a letter congratulating IDI on its achievement: "Personally, as the rabbi of a leading settlement in Yesha… I find in the institute a loyal partner for advancing the revival of the Jewish people in recent generations. The differences of opinion between us, even the deeper ones, are perceived as legitimate differences of opinion within a broad Zionist family."
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THE QUESTION of the Jewish character of the state is an existential one. For 2,000 years, the practice of Judaism was limited to the private, familial and communal spheres. Only in the last 60 years have we been given the opportunity to realize a Jewish life in the public sphere. But how is this to be done? We have no historical model to follow because we have not enjoyed political sovereignty in more than two millennia. Nor are we prepared simply to mimic the liberal democracies of the age, because we aspire to the realization of a dream that is unique: a Jewish nation state, which has no precedent or parallel. This is an enormous challenge. It is the mission of our generation.
Such considerations explain why IDI has been investing so much effort in the Jewish character of the state. Here is a sample of IDI publications on the subject: "Religion and State in Jewish Thought of the Twentieth Century," "Religion and State in Jewish Philosophy: Models," "On the Jewishness of a Democratic State," "Jewish Israelis - A Portrait," "Unhalachic Jews: On the Non-Jewish Immigrants," "A Jewish and Democratic State: A Multicultural Perspective," "State, Law and Halacha," "The State of Israel - Between Judaism and Democracy," "Jewish Statehood," "Halachic Rulings on Questions of Foreign Policy" and "Secular-Religious Relations." The authors of these publications include religious and secular, right-wing and left-wing Jews - indeed, the entire spectrum of Israeli Jewish opinion including numerous representatives of religious Zionism.
It was bizarre and amusing to read Klein’s complaint about the extensive involvement of researchers from Bar-Ilan University in IDI’s activity. Since when does Bar-Ilan represent the "secular left-wing elite"? Nor are those who selected IDI for the Israel Prize particularly known for their desire to minimize the Jewish stature of the state. Prize committee members included a renowned scholar of Jewish identity and a former brigadier-general in the IDF. Both are religious.
RECENT IDI CONFERENCES have focused on whether or not there is a Zionist halacha and on the relationship between rabbis and sovereignty - the latter event held in partnership with the largest association of rabbis in Israel, Tzohar. What is the role of a rabbi in Israel? The institute will publish two volumes on this. What is the source of authority in a Jewish and democratic state? What is the halachic attitude toward non-Jewish minorities? What is the welfare policy of a Jewish state? How should conversion take place in a Jewish state? What are the Jewish sources for a democratic lifestyle? These are just a few of the subjects occupying IDI at present in the field of religion and state.
And there are other fields as well. Recently, the institute launched a new project, "The Nation State," headed by Prof. Anita Shapira, the celebrated historian of Zionism and winner of the Israel Prize. Her project will examine issues such as justifications of the Law of Return, international pressure on the nation state and the relationship between domestic and international law. IDI also intends to start a large-scale research project on Jewish culture in Israel.
A careful look at IDI programming would reveal that the institute has decided to take on all aspects of a sovereign Jewish existence: religion, nationhood and culture. To the annoyance of some, IDI is working to strengthen the Jewish character of the state based on the belief that its Jewish and democratic qualities complement each other. This is the real difference of opinion between IDI and its attackers, both on the Left and on the Right.
MUCH OF THE IRE directed at IDI stems from the institute’s ambitious effort to propose a draft constitution for the State of Israel. "Constitution by Consensus" begins with the Declaration of Independence, declares Israel to be a Jewish and democratic state and goes on to delineate a set of arrangements that guarantee and strengthen the Jewish character of the state. For instance, IDI proposed that the Knesset (and not the courts) have the last word on personal law, conversion and the Sabbath. The institute is also promoting a legislative proposal to close shopping centers and businesses on Saturdays and holidays in order to strengthen the special character of the public sphere. At the head of IDI’s constitutional effort stands the former Supreme Court president Meir Shamgar. Does anyone seriously believe that Shamgar, a veteran of Betar, desires the diminution of Israel’s Jewish character?
By Yedidia Z. Stern www.jpost.com Opinion May 4, 2009
The writer is vice president for research on Israel as a Jewish state at the Israel Democracy Institute, a professor of la at Bar-Ilan University and co-editor of the journal Democratic Culture and of the book series Israeli Judaism.
[This article was copied, with thanks, from the State & Religion in Israel website]
Only state-run Jewish-Arab school threatened with closure
May 5, 2009 by Steve
Last update - 06:13 28/04/2009 
By Or Kashti
Tags: Israel News, Weizmann School 
The only public elementary school in Israel with both Arab and Jewish students may shut down because of lack of support from the Tel Aviv municipality, according to parents and teachers at the school.
Weizmann School in central Jaffa is the only school in the country with a mixed Arab-Jewish student body with a below-average socioeconomic background. There are several private integrated schools that cater to students whose families are middle-class and above.
The Jaffa school has about 350 students, from preschool to sixth grade, with roughly equal number of Arabs and Jews.
"The Ministry of Education and [Tel Aviv] City Hall have not unequivocally stated that they intend to uphold this unique model, which can and should be emulated in other schools," Hagit Gur-Ziv of Tel Aviv’s Seminar Hakibbutzim, the Kibbutz Teachers College said. She has been working with the school for a number of years. "There’s no real backing. [The ministry and the municipality] should be leading the change," she said. A teacher at Weizmann concurred, saying "The policy of City Hall is to have no policy."
Other sources connected to the school said that the city’s decision to allow Jewish parents from Jaffa to send their children to schools outside their school zone indicates a lack of faith in Weizmann on its part. They also said the municipality was refusing to give a clear answer regarding the school’s future.
"It’s hard to believe we’re in late April already and no decision has been made. Each and every day we are losing Jewish pupils whose parents fear the school might close," one figure close to the school said. "Instead of taking pride in us and advertising the school, the municipality prefers to let demographics dictate its course and to shut it down."
A second teacher said that if the school was closed it would represent the loss of a great opportunity. "And in the long run, it would also kill any attempt in the future to create integrated education," she said.
One Jewish parent, however, said, "There are too many Arab kids in this school. It’s a Jewish school after all, and it’s important for us that it stays this way. No Jewish parent would agree for his child to be in the minority. Some are already running away because of the number of Arabs."
Tel Aviv municipality yesterday rejected the claims, but refused to guarantee the future of Weizmann beyond the next school year. Sources in the municipality said the reason for the uncertainty was the diminishing number of Jews in the neighborhood served by the school. "The Jewish population in the school must be strengthened. The way to do this is to give the school a unique Jewish character that does not harm the Arab pupils. This can be achieved through cooperating with the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, the Reform movement," one official said.
Representatives from the Reform movement, which recently established a new youth hostel and study center in Jaffa, are reportedly meeting with school officials to work out an agreement to enable members to send their preschool-age children to Weizmann.
[This article was copied from an article from Haaretz on the Religion and State in Israel website]