Yaakov Neeman Quotes

The reference to sex with Niddot refers to having sex with a menstruating woman which the ultra-Orthodox see as a serious sin. Few modern people the world over obey this biblical injunction. The Israeli Supreme court has constantly invalidated laws and government regulations that require other Jews and non-Jews in Israel to obey all the Sabbath laws of the Bible. That in the view of Ovadia is “desecrating” the Sabbath.

Hadadi are the Ultra Orthodox Jews of Israel and Rauchberger. At the time the Reform Jewish Movement, the most popular branch of Judiasm in America, was not regognized in Israel where only Orthoxox Jewry is officially recognized by the Conservative government. In this case, the Israeli Jewish Refom Movement had taken the Jeruselem to Court for violating the Israeil Constitution. 9 of the public libraries in Jeruselem were segregated by gender in different hours. That meant that a mother could not take her son to one of these public school libraries and teach him to select books or particiapate in library activities or services. The Haradi did not believe in separation of church and state and in this telling quotation, the Rabbo insists that the people will do as their rabbis instruct regardless of the laws or the Constitution.

Joseph ben Matthias. The term was coined by Josephus to refer to the fundamentalist, orthodox Jewish view of a proper state, as opposed to a secular government. The Jewish fundamentalist dream of a theocracy came down through modern times. There were ultra-orthodox Jewish groups who opposed the creation of the State of Israel on the grounds that it is not a theocracy and there are some who still want to see Israel transformed. The term became generalized and is applied to any state where the religion is the state and religious leaders dominate and control the state. The ultra orthodox Muslims, as in Iran, are generally the only religious group who have created theocracies or semi-theocracies as Islamic states. See {638106} for the context in which the term was first used.

Bigots in Judeo Christian societies have always justified their bigotry with Biblical passages which they take our of context or interpret as supporting—sometimes commanding—their views. Just as the overwhelming majority of clerics in the world condemned slavery just before the Civil War, a few Southern ministers could be found who claimed that slavery was God’s will and cited Biblical passages in support of their inhuman viewpoints.

Torah is the first 5 books of the Old Testament. Shammai’s school was a contemporary (and competitor) of that of Hillel. Most Rabbinic thought to this day has historically been based in the school of Hillel. Shammai was more strict and rigorous. There is no known surviving picture of Shammai. The graphic is a photograph of his tomb.

the Jews of Ancient Israel

The Torah comprises the first 5 books of the Bible (Old Testament). The Arab countries of the Middle East are not alone in having to content with ultra-religious clerics who want to control the government and use it to impose religious law on the entire population. Israel also has the problem. In the Arab countries to deny being religion is to put yourself in danger including risking your life. So no one really knows what proportion of the population supports the religious imposition from the government. In Israel, however, this is easily determined by polls. The majority of Israelis are secular Jews. Of the religious Jews, the majority of them believe in extensive separation between the state and the religion. But there is a minority of ultra-orthodox which would have Israel to be a Theocracy. They are a minority but they are politically very strong. They receive large financial support from extremely wealthy Americans, have religious political parties, are extremely passionate advocates, and are willing to devote huge amounts of time to make Israel a more religious state and ideally a theocracy. Ironically, there is a great religious and philosophical similarity between the extremist Jews of Israel and the extremists Muslims in many of the Arab nations. They both want a theocracy. The only difference is which religion should the Theocracy represent.

This is one of the characteristics of a theocracy—that all law comes from the Deity and religious law is civil law and vica versa. This is similar to the modern views held by the extreme conservative Muslims regarding their Islamic law, Sharia.

Some of the Homopbobic Rabbis prevailed on the government to block adoptions by homosexual couples who are otherwise well qualified.

The Torah, the first 5 Books of the Bible, are the statement of Jewish law. The Talmud is a compendium of commentary on Jewish Law—–reflecting the views of a number of learned Rabbis of old. In a sense, they are much like legal opinions from many different judges. They are disparate views and often contradict on another. Few if any other religions, have an official document like it. Other religions key documents are prescriptive, and where there are occasional contradictions , effort is made to rationalize. However Judaism has the strong religious tradition of dissent from singular dogma. Different Jewish sects and groups differ in what in the Talmud they follow, and Reform Jews, the largest group in America, assume a continuing discussion of the Talmud with the ancient Rabbis having no more weight in their opinions that modern thinkers—–theologians, philosophers, and others.

The Supreme Court limited authority of religious courts to matters where both parties belonged to the religion. Jewish courts had tried to assert the power to annul mixed marriages where only one party was Jewish on the grounds that orthodox Jews oppose mixed marriage. Conflict between religious & civil courts has existed ever since there have been civil courts. Historically there was no separation & the Religious Courts in ancient Israel, early Christendom & Islam had universal jurisdiction. As Europe’s civil authorities wrested authority from religious courts, modernity has diminished or eliminated the legal jurisdiction of religious courts. Even in the United States there are courts operated by some religions; if members wish to voluntarily submit their disputes, they can. In most Islamic countries & Israel there are religious courts which have some authority over family & purely religious matters & in Muslim theocracies the religious courts are the only courts as in ancient times.

The Shas Party is an ultra-orthodox religious minor political party in Israel. Although the Israeli Supreme Court always voted to uphold the rights of the Orthodox Jews, it also protected the rights of Jews who were not orthodox and of non-Jews. This infuriated the Shas party who wanted their interpretation of traditional Jewish religious law to be imposed on all citizens of Israel. Reform Conversion is the right of a reformed Jewish Rabbi to perform a conversion to Judaism. Shas wanted only their orthodox rabbis to have that prerogative. Only a minority of Israeli citizens follow the Jewish Dietary Laws, and many Jews want to buy and eat pork. The Supreme Court upheld the right of a private store to sell pork products if it wished to, despite the distress of Shas and other fundamentalist Jews.