We wish you and yours a happy Hannuka and we want to take this opportunity to highlight an often forgotten dimension of the holiday. Hannuka is the festival celebrating religious freedom. May we all enjoy the light of the candles and be inspired to bring light and freedom to our world.
For this newsletter, we are extremely honored to be doing something a little different with this column. Rather than bring our own message to you, we were delighted to read an encouraging and hearty endorsement of Hiddush by one of Israel's leading scholars and statesmen.
In an October 18th article appearing in "Globes" (in Hebrew) Prof Amnon Rubenstein, winner of the 2006 Israel Prize, a former education minister, Knesset member, former dean of the Radzyner School of Law of the Interdisciplinary Center, and former dean of the Tel Aviv University law school, wrote that "the will to be free of religious coercion is one of the few topics on which there is a consensus." He goes on to comment on the results of a public opinion poll conducted recently by Rafi Smith and Olga Paniel, commissioned by Hiddush—For Religious Freedom and Equality.
He states: "A large majority of poll respondents have no representation in the cabinet and minimal representation in the Knesset. The reverse is true; a minority of the Israeli population has the support of a large majority of the cabinet and the Knesset. This turns a large majority of the population into a negligible minority in the halls of government, while a small minority dictates the opinions of the legislative and executive branches. That is the absurd result of the proportional electoral system, which is ostensibly meant to provide proportional representation for the full range of views held by the voters, but actually represents only the minorities who determine our fate.
"Perhaps (the non-Haredi parties) don’t have the time to think about it, or maybe their leaders are telling themselves that all will be forgotten by Election Day and that the masses will continue to vote for those who ignored their interests. It may be that this cynical reasoning will be proved accurate come the next election, and that the vast majority of Israeli Jews will continue to vote for those who have spit in their faces.
"But the poll doesn’t support that conclusion. Thirty-five percent of the Jewish population said that in the next election, they plan to vote for a party supporting freedom of religion and equality in military and national service. That is an unprecedentedly high number. It’s double the rate of those who voted for Tommy Lapid’s Shinui party when it was at its height. Perhaps a surprise is due. It just may be that something is happening here."
*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!
80% of Israelis dissatisfied with state's religious policy
Poll finds 61% of non-haredi citizens support government without Shas, United Torah Judaism.
Freedom of religion: support high, and rising
Fall 2010 Religion and State Index key findings:
View full report HIDDUSH in the news
More Hiddush in the News Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics Releases ReportDetractors of the Hiddush enlisted polls, who emphasize the concept of 'consider the source' will find it difficulet to argue the results of the report released by Israel's Central Bureau of Statistics. The poll sampled 7500 people. A substantial number indeed, and the details deserve some investigating. According to the poll, 21% have become more religious as compared to only 14% that became less religious. But that is only a partial picture. Where did they move from and to? For instance, when asked "How do you see yourself now compared to age 15 religiously?", only 3% from 'secular' define themselves as 'religious' now. On the other hand, 28.4% from 'religious' now define themselves as 'not so religious/secular' and 18.6% say 'I am traditional/religious' and 70% of those who grew up secular and say we became more religious still define themselves as secular or not so religious. Don't be mistaken between 'not so religious' and 'orthodox'. So when you look at the data in detail, the push is actually moving away from orthodoxy, For instance, when asked: Do you support civil marriages? 61.7% support instituting civil marriages (including 9.6% of those that define themselves as religious and 89.8% of secular) 60.3% support opening up malls outside of cities on Shabbat 56.5% support separation of religions and state This is from the Israel government source which tells us the dynamics of public opinion in Israel and the clear support for religious freedom. Download Hiddush’s Summer 2010 Special Report to the Knesset Perception is everythingHiddush has made an impact, and we are succeeding in getting our message across. Hiddush has a goal of being all inclusive, and although our message never intends to be "against" any particular stream, it is sometimes taken that way. You will be interested in the observations offered last week by a Haredi columnist, on a leading Haredi website, analyzing the fast pace in which the political events surrounding the initiative to legislate a bill ensuring the yeshiva students' continued subsidies which the Supreme Courts ruled illegal. The writer describes the political and media scenes, and concludes: "Every word that is uttered, every letter that is written down, is being inspected with a magnifying glass. Everything which our MK's will say will be used against them. And if not now, then in two weeks. This week proves, to anyone who doubted it, that the anti-Haredi reactions have long since been spontaneous, but are pre-arranged and timed - they are the result of in-depth field work, the result of daily scrutiny of every word. "In this story we are caught in a pincer movement, with the two jaws being Kadima and Hiddush. Each jaw has its own interest. The target of Hiddush is the Haredis. Only the Haredis. The target of Kadima is Bibi. Only Bibi...." Read more religious freedom & equality news from Israel at Hiddush.org Tell PM Netanyahu the time has come to uphold the democratic principles of freedom and equality |
A recent survey published November 24th by the Smith Research Institute for the Hiddush - For Freedom of Religion and Equality. found that 80% of Israelis are dissatisfied with the current government's state, religious policy. The survey included 500 respondents which represented the adult Jewish population in Israel (maximum sampling error of 4.5%).
