We want to wish you and yours a Happy [Secular] New Year. We are very proud of the work we did in 2010 and we will continue and step up our efforts in 2011. Our advocacy for religious freedom and equality in Israel was recognized as a major force for raising public consciousness and mobilizing support across the board both in Israel and abroad.
As our Religion and State Index proves and anyone who follows the news coming out of Israel knows, support for religious freedom is high and growing. It is expanding even in Orthodox circles who now more than ever before realize that religious freedom is a virtue and not a threat. Fascinating and important, illustrating this trend is a recent Op-Ed article in Haaretz written by Dov Halbertal, a lecturer on Jewish law who served in the past as the head of the office of Israel's chief rabbi. We are highlighting the article in this newsletter and it is highly recommended you read it.
Slowly but surely, more voices sounding the clarion call for religious freedom and equality are coming forward. Hiddush is undoubtedly an active stimulant for this important development.
It is not a coincidence that a number of Haredi news outlets have pointed to Hiddush as a source of public consciousness raising. However, we need your partnership to continue our work. As is true for many, Hiddush also has a New Year's Resolution: Help make our resolution of creating a shared vision of a Jewish and democratic Israel come true.
Friends: To keep Hiddush work going and growing we need your support. Please consider making a contribution to support Hiddush work.
*Hiddush is a registered 501(c)(3) tax-exempt organization
Tell Netanyahu
...the time has come for religious freedom and equality
Join Israelis in telling Netanyahu that you too care about Israel’s Jewish and democratic character and that you urge him to uphold the promise of Israel’s Declaration of Independence for freedom of religion and conscience. That Israelis too, citizens and new immigrants, should enjoy the right to marry, that Jews by Choice should enjoy equal recognition and rights under the law, that women should not be pushed to the back of the bus.
Write PM Netanyahu now!
Good News...Bad News
Shalom {FIRST_NAME},
The battle over the military conversion bill which has occupied many headlines and numerous political debates in recent weeks provides us with an encouraging and important insight as to the viability of effecting change. The bill aims at sealing through civil legislation the validity of conversions of new immigrant soldiers during their military service. This need arose in the face of the retroactive nullification of such conversion by both stringent rabbinic judges and marriage registrars. The haredi parties tried hard to prevent this legislation from coming up. They pressured and threatened but the govt. under public pressure felt compelled to approve it. When it came to a preliminary vote on December 15th, it won a rare majority of 74-18. This was significant not only because of the huge majority, but because support for the bill came from both coalition and opposition MKs. What this demonstrates once again is that when the cause is right and the public speaks up loud and clear bringing pressure to bear on both sides of the political aisle, the myth of haredi dominance is shattered. This has happened a number of times before, and most recently a few months ago when public pressure brought about a shift of 180 degrees regarding the construction of the emergency room in the Ashkelon Barzilai Hospital . There too, haredi politicians thought they could force their will but public will and public good prevailed. Similarly, collaboration between diaspora Jewish leadership and Israeli activists is successfully preventing the Rotem Conversion Bill from completing the legislative process. The bill is meant to strengthen the hold of of the chief Orthodox rabbinate over conversions in Israel and undermine non-Orthodox conversions. The good news: So, the good news is that we can make a difference when we raise awareness and mobilize the public. The public often feels powerless but the truth of the matter is that when constructively motivated it can serve as a mighty power for change. Regarding the challenge of Israel's character as a Jewish and democratic state, the change happens when more and more people realize that the current religion and state relationship is neither moral nor sustainable. It is time for Israel to realize its own founding promise of religious freedom and equality. Hiddush plays a key role in such public awakening and mobilization, as can be seen in this newsletter. Unsolicited testimonials to Hiddush's role can be found in such statements as Rabbi Deri's, former leader of Shas, radio interview, "...these reports and data [by Hiddush] are the heart of the problem. This is our [the haredi community] real problem...We need to know that against numbers and data, demagoguery and tricks will not work..." Similarly, a leading haredi columnist warned their Knesset members, "...every word that is uttered, every letter that is written down, is being inspected with a magnifying glass [by Hiddush]...and they will be made to pay for it...this is the result of in depth field work, the result of daily scrutiny of every word." The bad news: While the conversion bill is an indication that the political arena can be persuaded "to see the light," for many it's still politics as usual. And rather than change policy, politicians often prefer to put a new spin on old objectionable policies. A case in point is the publicly objected to continued mass exemption of yeshiva students from military service and the excessive funding they enjoy from public coffers. In spite of Supreme Court rulings to the contrary and overwhelming public criticism the coalition govt. has preferred to mask existing haredi privileges by proposing "reforms" that in effect will keep both for many years to come. Moreover, many more millions of shekels have been added as payoff to the haredi parties for their support of the budget that has just been approved. An interesting perspective has now been made available to the public regarding state grants. A few weeks ago the Controller General launched a new govt. website that lists all the state grants. There is nothing new except it is all now under one "roof" and is accessible and comparable. When you look at the 2009 grants, you realize that 56% of state grants went to religious institutions. Compare this to 28% to culture and sports together. The largest single recipient is the Mir Yeshiva which has received in 2009 over 42 million shekels. Also, this week the governmental committee on legislation approved two initiatives pushed by the Ashkenazi and Sephardi haredi parties for generous subsidies for housing mortgages for young couples. While appearing to be universal in its application, review of the haredi media and the construction plans of the Shas minister of housing show that it is primarily motivated by the desire to provide additional state funding to tens of thousands of yeshiva students who refuse to enter into the work force. The dire consequences of both the refusal to participate in the work force and to teach core curricular studies in their schools is highlighted in a Newsweek article this week in an interview with Professor Stanley Fischer, the governor of the Bank of Israel. When asked about his assertion that Israel's human capital and education becomes a concern, he states: "...One reason is that there are separate education systems here. The ultra-Orthodox have one with a different curriculum which is not really good - a lot of English and math and things like that [are missing]...so, it's a problem." Professor Dan Ben-David, an economist and director of the Taub Center for Social Policy Studies in Israel, warned in a NY Times article, "We have a few years to get our act together...if not, there will be a point of no return."
Hiddush petitioned to the Supreme Court challenging the govt. attempt to formalize the haredi exemption from the army. So, the govt. rewrote the whole thing so that there would appear to be reform but in effect it would enable the haredim to continue avoiding the draft. The govt. coalition also chose to maintain the excessive funding for yeshiva students even though the Supreme Court held it to be illegal and therefore should be voided. Hiddush is an active part of a group of organizations that will be challenging this “new” funding policy once again. Not only has the govt. seen fit to maintain the illegal funding, but they've added onto it 27 million shekels bringing this budget line to 140 million shekels. The benefits extracted by the haredi parties in the current budget exceed 1 billion shekels, but at the same time approved the lowest budget in five years for the state funded prescription basket reducing it by 115 million shekels compared to last year. The Israel daily newspaper, Yediot Ahronot on December 15th attempted to trace some yeshivas and kollels which were in receipt of millions of shekels in state funding and found that they don't exist at all; some claimed hundreds of students but only had a handful. With some bearing the name "Life of Torah" and "Fear of Heaven" or "The Chosen People," there is no wonder that so many in Israel are alienated from Judaism altogether and sense feelings of disgust and cynicism. This expose' followed a recent police raid on a number of yeshivas where thousands of forged ID cards as well as printing and forgery equipment was found serving to fabricate fictitious students for state funding. Yesterday it was announced that funding for 67 yeshivas would stop, following an investigation that was conducted in 2009. The number of institutions that will now be penalized based on the recent police raids is still unknown. Of course, one should not read the incidents described above as implicating the whole yeshiva world. Surely, many in the community would never dream of such conduct, but what remains disturbing is the fact neither the rabbinic nor the political leadership of the haredi community chose to strongly denounce this behavior and highlight its religious unacceptability.
Haredi scholar speaks out
Dov Halbertal, a lecturer on Jewish law who served in the past as the head of the office of Israel's chief rabbi, wrote an op-ed for the December 22, 2010 issue of Haaretz. In it he states, "The mix of politics and religion in this country has created an endless cycle of "The only possible solution, for the benefit of religion and for the benefit of the state, is to adopt the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution and separate church from state. "I don't believe anyone has to pay for my beliefs. It's not ethical that the secular public finances yeshiva students and the high birth rate among the ultra-Orthodox. There is nothing more infuriating to secular Israelis than to be spit in the face after they've given the ultra-Orthodox a generous sum of money. The ultra-Orthodox oppose the values of a secular society - Zionism, creativity, army conscription, sexual equality and more. However, they have no qualms about demanding and receiving money from this society, thereby intensifying public animosity toward them."
Read entire article in Haaretz Online
HIDDUSH in the news
More Hiddush in the News 22 organizations sign on to Call to Action22 organizations representing most sectors of Israeli society, at the initiative of Hiddush, launched a call to the Prime Minister and ministers to cancel the sweeping plan to grant exemption from military service for yeshiva students. These organizations include: The Burden Equality, Student Union, National Parents Association, White Hand, POW Veterans Organization - "Awake At Night" Hiddush, Organizations of the Combatants, Disabled IDF veterans, Bereaved Families, students, streams of Judaism and Organizations for the Freedom of Religion and Equality of Burden, and more. They warned that the meaning of this "reform" is the elimination of the people's army. The Call to Action, said: "We, as a group of organizations working for equality and social justice, urge you to cancel the sweeping plan to grant exemption from military service for yeshiva students, in the spirit of the call made by the Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, and former army chief Shaul Mofaz." According to the organizations, "the proposed plan is an elimination of the people's army and an historic mistake of which the devastating results can not be predicted. The army has already proved possible to recruit Haredim when done right. The solution to the problem of deferment of the ultra-Orthodox from service is not a sweeping exemption. The solution is an investment of much greater effort and resources towards the recruitment of yeshiva students to achieve real equality." Hiddush is playing a central role in the initiative to create the Mandatory Service Forum. To date 40 grassroots organizations have joined it, all of whom support making military or civil service mandatory for all. The first public showing of this new forum will be a three day military-style endurance march from the recruitment base outside Tel Aviv to the Prime Minister's Residence in Jerusalem. The march will reach Jerusalem in time for the hearing scheduled in the Supreme Court in a number of pending petitions that challenge the continued mass exemption of yeshiva students from service.
Read more religious freedom & equality news from Israel at Hiddush.org Click here to view the previous newsletter Tell PM Netanyahu the time has come to uphold the democratic principles of freedom and equality Photos courtesy of Flash 90 |
moral turpitude and fraternal hatred. The religious establishment corrupts the fabric of the state, while the state corrupts the fabric of religion.
