America’s Jewish community is increasingly militant about the injustices that flow from Israel’s government-sponsored religious monopoly. The new, blunt tone shows US Jews see these issues as a priority – as they should.
Leaders and members of the Progressive and Conservative movement gather outside the meeting of Orthodox rabbis condemning decision to pay non-Orthodox rabbis.
A few years ago, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (pictured), the spiritual leader of Shas, called a surprise “emergency rally” at a wedding hall in Jerusalem. Hundreds 
of Shas MKs and functionaries, high-ranking administrators of the Shas Ma’ayan Hachinuch Hatorani school system, rabbis and rabbinic judges and representatives from the news media received word that the rally was slated to take place within a few hours. After hasty preparations, hundreds converged on the wedding hall, not far from Yosef’s home in the Har Nof neighborhood. A packed crowd waited expectantly as Yosef took the stage. No-one knew the reason for the rally.
