Shani Boianjiu Quotes

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.

Porush was one of the Haradi--ultra-orthodox Jews. In the land of the Jewish people, he argued against religious freedom for Jews unless they were Orthodox Jews, while ironically, the majority of Jews in the world and even in Israel followed the Conservative or Reform branches of Judaism or were secular. At the time the Orthodox Jewish movement was the only one that was recognized officially by the government. Porush and some of the more fanatical Haradi were determined to keep the Conservative and Reform Jewish branches unrecognized and unsupported by the government. (Israel does not have separation of church and state and economically supports the Orthodox Jewish establishment but not the other majority branches of Judaism.) The "Women of the Wall" is one of the major groups in Israel advocating equal government treatment for all citizens o0f Israel. Orthodox Judaism, like many other orthodox religions are very sexist and women were actually banned from praying at the holiest of Jewish places, the Western or Wailing Wall. Women of the Wall had won a major decision of the Israeli Supreme court that women could not be denied the right to pray at the Wall. The orthodox rabbis who the government allowed to control access to the Wall, set aside a small area for women at the "Dung Gate" where the garbage was carried out. Women of the Wall were back in court and this prompted Porush's outburst. He was cebsured by the Ethics Committee of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament).

Some Muslim women in Holland are virtual prisoners of their husbands and families. Many are beaten in conformity with a fundamentalist interpretation of the Koran. Some are even killed. Under previous concepts of Dutch tolerance and respect for pluralism the Muslims in Holland were not interfered with. However, due to her efforts, the rights of the women are now taking a higher priority and are not being subjugated to tolerance of Islam generally.

Conflict between religion and evolution does not exist in most churches. There are exceptions of some orthodox Jews, fundamentalist Christians and Muslims. However, in this case the highest prelate of the American Episcopal Church not only sees no conflict but urges that evolution be taught in schools.

See {619709}. Ever since the Jews were ejected from their nation by the Romans, there have been some Jews and non-Jews who believed that the refusal of other nations to allow Jews citizenship inhibited their assimilation and was God’s way of maintaining the Jews as a distinct people so that they may fulfill Biblical prophesy and return to the Land of Israel. Stiles was a leading historian of his day and specialized in ancient Biblical history. Most people however, and most Jews, do not hold with this theory.

Like Protestantism, there are different sects of Judaism but not so many. The Reform Jews are the most modern Jewish religious group. Reform Judaism originated in France and developed in America in the 19th century, and most American Jews belong to this branch of Judaism. In Israel, the Reform Jews are a minority like the ultra-Orthodox of which this Rabbi was a leader. He was the head of the ultra-Orthodox Shas political party which often has substantial political power when the two major parties do not have enough votes to make a majority and they need Shas as a coalition partner. This minor party often has a great deal of political influence. Religiously however, Shas speaks for a small minority of Israelis. However, they and some other ultra-Orthodox have been able to control or be very influential with the Israeli Ministry of Religion and they have used this power to not give Reform Judaism any official recognition. Reform Rabbis—which include women—are not officially recognized in Israel and so far as this Rabbi and many of his followers are concerned, Reform Judaism is a great danger to Jews and Israel. The hatred, as in this quotation, for the Reform Jews, is greater than any animosity for the Arabs. In actuality, this rabbi and his followers, are culturally and religiously very much like the Muslims. As Sephardic Jews, they have grown up in the Middle East and before Israel’s founding, they lived in Islamic counties and absorbed much of their culture. Like ultra-orthodox Muslims, they believe in theocracy and oppose democracy. They oppose religious freedom, and oppose civil law and civil courts in favor of religious law and Rabbinical courts. See {637098} for their hostility to the Supreme Court. The friction between the secular, Reform and most Jews in Israel and the ultra-Orthodox simmers just below the surface and breaks out every so often, but the pressure to refrain from major political strife is great lest there not be enough of a united front to protect the Jewish people from the extremists in the Middle East who want to nullify the Israeli state by force and would threaten the very lives of Jewish people.

In 2016 Hoffman was part of a congregation of Jews who carried Holy Torahs (Handwritten scrolls of the first 5 Books of the Old Testament and most sacred document to Jewish people) to the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. The group included men and women. With the religious politics of Israel, the “custody and management” of the holiest of Jewish site, the Western Wall of the original Temple, had been awarded to an Ultra-Orthodox sect which had ruled that women should not be allowed to pray at the Wailing Wall—only males. The majority of Jews, Orthodox, Conservative, Reform and Modern have no such gender bias. When they were rebuffed beforeaall, the case ended up in the Israeli Supreme Court which ruled that women as well as man had an absolute right to pray. After some delay, the government created an area where women and gender integrated groups could pray and hold ceremonies at The Wall. However, the ultra orthodox, still managing the facility, also believed that women carrying and leading prayers from a Torah was sacrilegious. When the mixed gender group approached The Wall with Torahs, a mob of ultra orthodox surrounded the gender integrated group and started roughing them up. The quotation describes the feelings of the the group who for the fist time since Israel regained control of the Western Wall in 1967 (Arabs then prevented any Jews from praying at The Wal) had a gender mixed group of Jews conduct a service at the Wailing Wall.