The director of the Religious Services Ministry issued a letter forbidding the heads of Religious Councils from participating in a conference headed by Chief Rabbi HaRav Yosef Yitzchak.
The two-day conference is scheduled to take place next month in a hotel in Tiveria and discuss current religious issues, including the reforms to kashrus and the expected reforms to giyur and marriage. Chareidi MKs Moshe Gafni (UTJ), Aryeh Deri (Shas) and Michael Malchieli (Shas) are expected to attend the conference as well as Religious Zionist MKs Betzalel Smotrich and Avi Maoz (Noam).
After the conference was publicized last week, the director of the Religious Services Ministry (headed by Religious Affairs Minister Matan Kahana) published the letter banning the heads of Religious Councils or Rabbanim employed by Religious Councils from participating in the conference.
“It is forbidden for civil servants to attend and take part in the following ‘political’ conference,” the director wrote.
The next day, Shas MK Moshe Arbel sent a letter to the Religious Ministry’s legal adviser demanding that the ban be canceled.
“Contrary to what is claimed in the letter, the participation of Knesset members in the conference is not a sufficient reason to term it ‘political,'” Arbel wrote. “In this case, it is actually the opposite as davka Chareidi and religious Knesset members from different parties are attending as well as the Chief Rabbi.”
“Even the issues to be discussed at the conference are not political in nature but professional and dealing with them is the core of the work of the Religious Councils and local Rabbanim,” Arbel asserted.
Arbel then slammed the director of the ministry, saying that his ban is the “shutting of months of Rabbanim and Council members from even discussing the issues, indicating the political intention of the one banning it. The ban indicates political decisions in accordance with the current minister’s political views.”
Arbel concluded by demanding to know whether the directive was legally permitted and requesting the legal adviser’s intervention in thwarting the ministry’s political intervention in preventing Religious Council employees from attending the conference.
(YWN Israel Desk – Jerusalem)
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6 Responses
Something tells me that the הייליגער דברי יואל foresaw much of what’s going on!
what a person this kahane,he should join liebermans Party. Take of your kippah.
If you paid by a government agency, they tell you what to do and what conference to attend (at least on company time). If the conference is held outside of working hours, could civil servants go on their own time? If no, that is a real issue.
In the US, if Biden were to prohibit civil servants from attending a meeting about supporting actions to prevent climate change, or critical of the government’s COVID-19 policies, or opposing abortion or opposing “critical race theory”, it would be perfectly legal if the prohibition covered working hours, and totally unconstitutional if regulating what civil servants do on their own time and with their own money.
One needs to remember that in countries where the “official religion” is supported by and financed by the government, those who make political decision dictate what the religion believes in and how it goes about its work. For this reason alone, religious Jews in Israel should oppose the government support with, and entanglement with, religion.
Zionism at its best! Feh!
I really think that it is high time that in the ברכה of ולמלשינים we have in mind Naftoli Bandit (no printing error), Matan Kahane, Avigdor Lieberman and their ilks. If we all do that, they’ll disappear from the scene even faster than can be expected naturally.
To Imanonov: I think the brachah of Vilamalshinim already includes those people. It says minim, and oivai amcha, and it says malchus harish’ah.