By Tibbi Singer
We have grown accustomed to these letters being directed at Haredi women. Now, surprisingly, this letter is addressed specifically to the men.
Against the background of the expiration on August 1 of the Tal Law, which attempted to manage Haredi recruitment, the Moetzes Gdolei HaTorah (Assembly of Torah Sages), the supreme rabbinical policy-making council of several Haredi organizations in Israel convened Monday night in Bnei Brak at the home of leader of the Lithuanian sector, Rav Steinman, to solidify the policy of military conscription.
Senior Jerusalem rabbis permitted a late-night removal of the body of a Haredi rabbi from its grave, on the night between Thursday and Friday last week, because family members, who are Breslov Hasidim, claimed the "spiritual level" of the nearby dead was insufficient, causing what could be considered the desecration of the dead.
By Tzvi Fishman
We learn from Moshe that the true meaning of Haredi is someone whose fear and reverence of God so fills his being that he rushes to do every mitzvah as speedily and completely as he can. We also find this Haredi quality in Moshe’s great desire to live in the Land of Israel. Moshe wanted to make aliyah more than anything else. This is a sign of a true Haredi Jew – a towering love for the Land of Israel and a passionate desire to live there.
Bashing Haredim on the dole is easy; but doing the same thing to the Muslims, who don't report income or pay taxes, is dangerous because it comes too close to a real national problem. Going on about your children being shot at because of the settlers is safe, but talking about the destructive political interests that ceded portions of the West Bank and Gaza to Islamic terrorists is a dangerous topic.
By Moshe Herman
Yishai is joined by Meir Eisenman and together they discuss the situation regarding the integration of Ultra-Orthodox Jews into the ranks of the Israel Defense Forces
By Tibbi Singer
Haredi consumers are not, by and large, part of Israel's social protest movement, but their shopping savvy, it turns out, is evolving constantly.
As a frequent traveler abroad, I rarely see a community where everyone is alike. Though the comfort of "living with your own" is understandable, there is much to be said for a Jewish community in which Streimlach walk on the same sidewalk with Kippot Serugot, and girls wearing heavy stockings walk to shul on Shabbat together with those wearing sandals without any socks.
By Alex Abel
A spokesperson for Yisrael Beytenu said, “We’ve had 64 years to evolve,” he said. “Demographically, it will be impossible to pass this bill 20 years from now.”
For the second time in just two months, the Israeli political universe was upended when Shaul Mofaz’s Kadima Party voted to quit Israel’s governing coalition.
A high-number of Haredi women responded to the survey. Haredi women suffering from eating issues also face a particular set of challenges.
If there’s any story inside the Jewish community that closely parallels the sexual abuse cover-up inside the Catholic Church, it’s the story of Avrohom Mondrowitz.
Two Haredi men ride a camel on the Mount of Olives. The Knesset committee tasked with crafting an alternative to the Tal Law for haredi service in Israel is reportedly almost done drafting its proposal. According to the plan, Haredi men would perform two years of national or military service (in contrast to the three […]
The assembly of at least 2000 began by saying Slichot, led by Rabbi Yaakov Chanun, who is the baal tefilah at the Munkatch beit Midrash on the Yamim Noraim. The assembled repeated chapters of Tehilim, verse by verse, and sat down on the ground in mourning just as Jews do on the day of Tisha B'Av.
Speaking at a discussion of the Knesset Education Committee on the changing status-quo of religious and ultra-Orthodox education, committee member and chairman of the National Union MK Ya'akov Katz (Ketzaleh) said: It's all about the numbers. The change in the status-quo stems from demographic change. When I was in an officer training course 40 years […]
A study by the UJA-Federation of New York found that the population of the New York Jewish community - comprising the Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, Staten Island, Nassau, Suffolk, and Westchester - has grown nearly 10% since the last study in 2002. New York City's Jewish population stands at 1,086,000, with 40% identifying themselves as Orthodox, a 7% increase from 2002.
By Tibbi Singer
Towards the end of last week, a story had come out about a new brochure issued by the NY City Health Dept. discouraging the practice of "metzitza b'pe." DOH's commissioner Dr. Thomas Farley was pushing the story, hoping to get New Yorkers to spread the word. There are important reasons why the practice should be […]
Belgium’s health minister Laurette Onkelinx said she was “profoundly troubled” by the behavior of her Israeli counterpart, Yaakov Litzman, after the Haredi official refused to shake her hand at a conference. The website Juif.org wrote: "There are indeed only two possibilities: either this lady is ignorant, or has malicious intent."
On the issue of ultra-Orthodox military service, 41% of those surveyed said they would be moderately or very interested in joining the Haredi IDF program, while 59% said they had either little or no interest. Still, the percentage of interest is substantially higher than the current annual rate of Haredi enlistment in the IDF.
The intensifying focus on legislating an alternative to the Tal Law has the ultra-Orthodox parties in the Likud-led coalition defensive yet intractable. Shas and UTJ - representing 15 seats in the government - have declared that they will not participate in the coalition committee on finding an alternative.
By JTA
Brooklyn’s district attorney has inflated the results of a program for combating child sexual abuse in the Haredi Orthodox community, a New York Times investigation concluded. The Kol Tzedek program was launched in 2009 by the district attorney’s office in order to combat sexual abuse in Brooklyn’s large Haredi community and encourage reporting of such […]
By Jewish Press Staff Reporter
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's government on Monday submitted a bill to dissolve the 18th Knesset and call for early elections, which was passed by the House Committee vote of 13 to 4. The move was designed to undermine Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's attempt to promote his bill calling for drafting Haredi citizens.
By Tibbi Singer
Our daily roundup of the Jblogosphere goes to Hirhurim, The Jew and the Carrot, Failed Messiah, and Cross Currents. We'll be here every weekday with whatever caught our attention out there. Your comments are welcome, and if you're a habitual Jblogger and just uploaded your heart online, please let us know so we'll come visit.
By Tibbi Singer
According to Police, B'Hadrei Haredim's directors attempted to "squeeze" rabbis, politicians and business executives, as well as business outfits, over the past two years, threatening that if they did not pay large sums of money, the website would publish negative reports about them and block the posting of positive articles.
By Tibbi Singer
"Magen" is a new Child Protection Agency operating in Ramat Beit Shemesh, whose Haredi vs. National Religious and Secular clamorous encounters made headlines a month or so ago. But Magen deals with a quieter, more sinister aspect of life in this area. Founded two years ago, Magen now reports the presence of at least 36 suspected child abusers in the community of Ramat Beit Shemesh.
By Rafi Harkham
The Knesset has quickly assumed a proactive role in filling the void left by the the Israeli High Court's decision to annul the Tal Law. Two bills pertaining to mandatory service were already debated and voted upon today, Opposition chairwoman Tzipi Livni continued to blast the low enlistment rate of the Haredi population, and FM Avigdor Lieberman pledged to propose more legislation on the matter in the future.
Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, Chairman and Founder of ZAKA, made his comments in an extended opinion his Facebook page.
By Sam Ser
Dozens of haredim stoned the car of a woman as she hung posters for a lottery; similar incidents have sparked debate over the treatment of women in haredi society
The law sought to increase the numbers of ultra-Orthodox yeshiva students serving in the IDF.
Rabbi Amsalem admonishes UTJ MK Gafni for recent comments that Haredim should not serve in the IDF.
Move likely motivated by recent IDF-Haredi tensions.
By Sam Sokol
The Jewish Agency for Israel has called on local residents of the city of Beit Shemesh in central Israel to submit proposals for “promoting dialogue and cooperation between Haredi [ultra-orthodox] communities and other communities in Beit Shemesh".