PROJECT SHAHAR

            In 1954 Prime Minister Ben- Gurion gave a military exemptions to 400 religious scholars and now there are more than thirty thousand ultra-orthodox army-age men who receive military exemptions by enrolling in Yeshivas. Today Yeshiva students are a recruiting problem that the IDF faces and when Donna Rosenthal’s The Israelis was published the problem has changed. While the Knesset is pushing for equal rights for the Haredi in the IDF, more and more are enlisting.

            Rosenthal mentions that there are many forces in the Knesset who are trying to draft the Haredi into the army like secular men and women. But in an article found on Haaretz gives a warning that you shouldn’t force the Haredim into the IDF. Right now there is a Knesset panel that is preparing a plan for drafting the Haredim but because this panel has no ultra-orthodox participants it’s hard to see it being enforced. The plan set forth by the Netanyahu coalition includes no ultra-orthodox members since they are not included in the coalition but aim that in July of 2016 the Haredi draft about 5,000 eligible men into the IDF. Leaving about 1,800 to study at yeshiva. One of the controversies behind enlisting the Haredi is that the cost of maintaining them as opposed to a regular soldier is six to seven times more expensive. And when the IDF drafted 1,288 Haredi soldiers in 2011 the cost came to NIS 90 million. The reason? Is that there are strict measures that the Haredi must follow including: kashrut (dietary restrictions) and providing payments to the families since many of these young men are married.

            With the Knesset pushing to draft Haredi into the IDF maybe they should lay off because many of these men are choosing to join on their own. In fact according to an article in Jewish World Haredi recruitment into project Shahar (a program for Haredi in the IDF) was up by 25%. The Shahar project is an recruitment project that enlists ultra-Orthodox Haredi men in to what is referred to as ultra-orthodox integration. And in 2012 enlistment into the program increased to 763 men whereas in 2011 there were 608 men. Overall circulation into the IDF for the Haredi men was around 12.5%, which is still a significant increase in men. In 2013 project Shahar has received hundreds of requests from young men who wish to enlist as part of the Shahar project.

            So what is the Shahar project? Project Shahar was coordinated by Rabbi Ram Raved a retired lieutenant colonel that served as chief rabbi of the air force. Raved has successfully been able to successfully organize a draft amount Haredim families as part of a project that proved satisfactory to the IDF and the Haredi society. Raved coordinated project Shahar that the IDF has been able to recruit thousands of Haredi men with families for technological and logistical jobs. Despite the high cost the project has been successful. An important aspect of project Shahar is the integration of ultra- orthodox men into secular life. In fact the reason for it’s success is that society is gaining from their involvement in the IDF. According to IDF data about 90% of those who take part in project Shahar are later able to find work in the civilian sphere and are relevant to the work they did in the IDF. Project Shahar is different than the Haredi units in other brigades because they’re older if they’re bachelors and younger if they’re married and their service only lasts for 18 months.

            Rosenthal’s point of view of the Haredi is often critical saying that it’s a discriminatory draft and mentions that among the 30,000 enrolled in yeshiva and are receiving military exemption many don’t attend and some “’find religion’ shortly before they’re drafted” (Rosenthal, 53). But since Rosenthal is a little dated in what’s going on today and doesn’t include projects like Shahar and the fact that there are those who are joining and finding jobs and work outside of the IDF based on what they learned during their service her reliability is somewhat dated based on what’s in her book published in 2008. Based on the many articles that I read many felt that if you just give them time and allow programs like Project Shahar some time that many men will come forward and serve. As many recent sources have pointed out there have been many breakthroughs on the Haredi involvement in the IDF. 

Shas in the Opposition

In Donna Rosenthal’s novel The Israelis she focuses on the lives of ordinary people and does her best to keep out the famous because you can find information on them anywhere. One of the groups that she mentions are the ultra-orthodox Jews and the questions of what their representation in the Knesset looks like. Rosenthal makes many references to the Shas (Sephardi Torah Guardians) political party, but gives little information about their workings or core beliefs. Shas’ core values and beliefs are that they need to repair what it sees as the “continued economic and social discrimination against the Sephardic population of Israel” and to “return the crown to the former glory”. Sephardi Jews refer to descendants of those expelled from their homes in 1492. Both the Mizrahi and Sephardi observe Sephardi Judaism with an emphasis on distinguishing themselves against the traditions of the Ashkenazi Jews.        

Shas was formed in 1984 by Rabbi Ovadia Yosef (Yosef currently serves as the spiritual leader of Shas) when ethnic divisions between the Sephardi and the Ashkenazi reached an all time high. Yosef felt that the ultra-orthodox party gave little representation to the Sephardi Jews and therefore broke away to create Shas. The party name defines the party leaders as those who will protect or guard the Sephardi. Since it’s creation it has formed it’s own council of Council of Torah Sages which is their policy making group of four. In 1984 Shas was just a small political group, in the first election winning only 4 seats of the 120 in the Knesset. Since then the greatest amount of Shas members to sit in the Knesset was 17.

            Politically Shas has moved from the left to right on different issues and started moderate on the Israeli- Palestinian conflict declaring that lives are more important than territories. Now Shas has moved to the right and opposes any freeze in Israel’s settlement activity in the West Bank. Shas believes in a “United Jerusalem” and in 2010 joined the World Zionist Organization. Shas strongly urges helping the poor and struggling Sephardi and encourages aid to schools and housing in Sephardi neighborhoods. Being an ultra-orthodox political party Shas opposes homosexuality and expressions of it including parades. Although Shas believes that homosexuality is “a plague as toxic as bird flu” it condemns any form of violence against gays and lesbians.

Shas Today:

            Today Shas stands as the fifth largest party in the Israeli government and lies outside the Likud/ Netanyahu coalition instead being apart of the Labor party’s opposition. The thirty- third government of Israel is the first government in a decade to not have representation from an ultra-orthodox party. The response from Shas about the new coalition, and their exclusion, was very bitter and after Prime Minster Netanyahu announced they would not be included in the coalition they pronounced the new government as “un-Jewish, anti-Jewish, shameful, evil and heartless”. Members of Shas are continually upset at their exclusion in the government and in an article on Haaretz , “New Israeli banknotes let the Ashkenazi-Sephardi genie out the bottle, again”, they recently let their anger known when the current cabinet approved new banknotes that failed to represent the Sephardi and Mizrahi, Netanyahu’s response was to promise that the next new banknote will be of the spiritual leader Yosef.  The significance of this article is that the Sephardi are constantly feeling discriminated against in the eyes of Shas and this is why they broke away in 1984.

            A big issue that faces Shas today is the support that is growing for drafting young ultra-orthodox men into the army. In an article titled “Sephardichief rabbi blames 'devil' for plan to enlist ultra-Orthodox” the ultra-Orthodox Rabbi Shlomo Amar criticized those who support drafting the Haredim in the army citing that “the devil has prompted people jealous of Torah study to fight against it”. Unfortunately I was unable to get information on the Shas information site because alas I don’t speak or read Hebrew, but the sources that I did find to use proved to be reliable and from major newspapers in Israel including haaretz, Jerusalem Post, and The Times of Israel.

A Beginners Guide to an Israeli Wedding

            For those living in Israel a wedding is a major event. Couples invite everyone and their mother’s mother. But the process to get to the alter, or the huppa, requires many different steps. In The Israelis by Donna Rosenthal in her chapter about Israeli weddings got me wondering about the entire process of an Israeli wedding. Based on what people post online about going to a wedding in Israel it sounds like the most fun you will ever have, but based on the process the whole thing seems like a nightmare from having to prove you are Jewish, finding a rabbi who is considered orthodox and sanctioned by the rabbinic court, I find myself thinking that I would take the way many have taken also and just jump on a plane literally anywhere else in the world where this matter is considered civil and not religious. But alas those who get married in Israel have chosen this route.

First in order to get a marriage license in Israel you must first prove that you are Jewish and have been born to an uninterrupted line of Jewish mothers. If a person does not meet the religious requirements for marriage they will not be allowed to marry in Israel. For many people that came into the country as refugees, especially those who fled the Soviet Union during the cold war, proving that you are Jewish in accordance to the orthodox tradition can prove to be a challenge. An article titled “Getting Married in Israel: Why it so Often Means Hiring a Detective” describes a case Har-Shalom, a man who runs a non profit detective agency who tracks down Jewish ancestry, takes on in order to track down a young woman’s Jewish ancestry. Each year Har-Shalom takes on roughly 1200 cases and the rabbinic court almost always accepts his conclusions about a person’s status.

After fulfilling the terms set by the Rabbinic Court then congratulations lets begin planning an Israel wedding ceremony. Israeli weddings today keep a lot of the traditional aspects of an Israeli wedding, but there are many modern touches as well. Some of the traditional aspects kept in Israeli weddings are the signing of the ketuba, which is a prenuptial agreement in which spells out a man’s legal obligations to his wife. Today there are many places where a woman can amend the document to fit their needs and eliminate words about a man buying his wife. During the ceremony the couple gathers beneath the Huppa, which is like a canopy and symbolizes a home for the new couple. After the blessings have been read in either Hebrew or English the bride and groom sip from a cup of wine. At the end of the ceremony it is tradition to break a glass, most people believe that it is a symbol of the destruction of the Holy Temple and the fragility of love and marriage.

Mazel Tov! Now you’re married and it's time for a party. In Israel it is considered to be a great mitzvah to celebrate a wedding in order to bring happiness to the newlyweds. Based on many different primary sources written by people who have attended a wedding in Israel or multiple weddings in Israel the reception is like nothing found in the US. For one thing during the ceremony the people gathered there pay little attention to what is going on and the dress code is often relaxed and simple jeans being typical to the attire. Those men who are found in suits are usually the man marrying the couple or a few guests from out of town. In a blog written by Benji Lovitt he writes about how he has been to many Israeli weddings and even offers “An Idiots Guide to Israeli Weddings” in his comical post he writes about everything from the laid back attire to the gifts, Israeli newlyweds have no gift registry they want money, to the traditional chupah. In another first hand account of an Israeli wedding found in the San Diego Jewish Journal writer Tinamarie Bernard writes about her experience at an Israeli wedding and found many of the informalities that were also noted in Lovitt's blog like the fact that there was little attention paid to the actual wedding ceremony.  

In Donna Rosenthal’s chapter about Israeli weddings she describes ceremonies that are tense and how stupid some of the required rules are like the fact that only an orthodox rabbi can marry people not reform or conservative rabbis. If married by a reform or conservative rabbi this marriage will not be recognized and going abroad is necessary for a civil marriage. Rosenthal’s point of view is that orthodox rabbis should not have the exclusive right to marry people in Israel.

Women Being in the Selection Process for the Chief Rabbi

           

            In Israel the position of Chief Rabbi is recognized as the chief spiritual authority for the Jewish people. The position holds a single ten-year term and once it’s over there is no chance for reelection. This is because they do not want a single rabbi monopolizing power. The process of choosing the Chief Rabbi is an election process that requires a panel of 150. In a new bill that was introduced earlier this month would raise the bar in the process for selecting the Chief Rabbi and ensure that the body would include women. The bill does a couple different things: first it states that the Chief Rabbi must have education and experience as a rabbi and judge in a court of Jewish law, that the election body would expand to 200 people, instead of 150, on the condition that 50 members are women.

Miriam Fierburg the 1 woman of 149 men. 

            According to the article in Haaretz by Jonathan Lis, "Male Habayit Hayehudi MKs balk at move to put women on panel choosing chief rabbi", of the current selection committee of 150 members there is only one woman.

In the proposed bill there is discussion about extending the term of the current Chief Rabbi by four months in order to come up with a new selection committee that includes women. Lis explains that the current committee consists of 80 seats designated to Rabbis and the other 70 are public representatives 17 of which are represented by the Prime Minster. This doesn’t leave much room for women as Rabbis are all men and the majority of public officials are also men closing off opportunities for women. In Lis’s article he is on the side of the petition stating that these 17 seats chosen by the Prime minister should be allocated to women.

           Another article found on Haaretz explains that women's rights organizations are on the move to gather support for women to be selected. The current selection committee is clearly discriminates against women and the petition will help set things on the right path.The selection body for the approaching election has not been chosen yet and there is belief that there will be more women appointed to the committee especially with the support of the prime minister. 

            Jonathan Lis is writing about there needing to be a little bit of change in the selection committee for choosing the Chief Rabbi. He is giving informative information about a process that needs to be updated. Women make up half of the population in Israel and should be given the opportunity to make decisions that represent the best interests of Israel as a whole. Jonathan Lis is giving the point of view on how the selection committee is unequal for women and that the 17 seats that the Prime minister controls should be given to women in order to balance the decision making. Lis gives many reliable figureheads in Israel to back his claim that there needs to be a change. 

             Like many articles published for Haaretz there is little bias or unreliability to be found. The author is giving clear reliable information about a petition that Prime Minister Netanyahu has to consider. The petition has considerable support but male MKs from Habayit Heyehudi have refused to sign the petition. 

UN Wants Hunger Strikes to End

In the article “UN Urges Israel to Reach Solution for Hunger Strikers” Elad Benari outlines the problematic hunger strikes that are occurring in Israeli prisons. The prisoners who are striking are Arab terrorist prisoners. In the article Secretary-General of the UN Ban Ki-moon urges for the end of the strikes and expresses his concern for the conditions of those in the prisons. Another one of his concerns is that those being held in prison have not been charged and Ban wants them to be charged, face trial in regards to international standards. The current strike emphasizes four prisoners, who are in rapidly deteriorating conditions, but their influence has stretched to hundreds, but these strikes aren’t new to Israeli prisons. These strikes have been used several times in the past in order to pressure Israel into releasing the prisoners. Israelis have caved several times in releasing Palestinian terrorists who refused to eat. In another article by Elad Benari he describes a female terrorist, Hana Shalbi, who wouldn’t eat for 43 days. Shalbi was arrested and refused to cooperate with investigators, but after her strike was released.

This article by Benari is trying to inform the reader about the current situation in Israel prisons and how the UN is trying to get Israel to cave to the terrorists and look for an agreement. In my opinion the author isn’t sympathetic towards the plight of the Arab terrorists. One example of this is that he talks about the current health and living conditions of the prisoners and how Ban sees these conditions as being bad, but he gives no examples as to the condition that they are living. Benari’s point of view comes from Israel who probably has no sympathy for those refusing to eat. The Israelis aren’t refusing to feed them, so the condition they’re living in is entirely up to the prisoners. Benari’s position on the strikes is that the prisoners know that if they strike then they will be freed because that is what they’ve seen in the past.

One of the interesting cases that the UN chooses to point out is the condition of Samar Issawi whose health is rapidly declining because of his refusal to eat. But Samar has been tried and sentenced according to international standards and has been serving his sentence for violating an agreement previously made for his freedom. My opinion is that these prisoners have committed a crime and should be formally charged. If they are charged then they have earned their place in prison and if they choose to engage in a hunger strike that is their problem. The Israeli government should not release these prisoners because they refuse to eat. They are more than capable of harming others should they be released. My question would be what is the UN’s magical solution to the prisoners. Let them be free and risk the lives innocent people who could be hurt if the terrorists are set free? Force-feed the prisoners?

The author is getting his information from public officials like the UN Secretary- General, Jerusalem courts, and statements coming out of the EU who urge Israel’s “full respect of international human rights obligation towards all Palestinian detainees and prisoners”. The author does a good job at giving details by pointing out to particular inmates, but fails to tell us how many of those refusing to eat have been officially charged.  Another point the author fails on is telling the reader what the Israeli detention law is and that suspects can be detained indefinitely without trial or charge. Many in the UN and EU feel that this is an aggressive policy. The ability of Israelis to be able to detain suspected prisoners indefinitely is extreme because there is the issue of what if they’re innocent. But as far as the hunger strikers go the pressure from the UN to “fix” the problem or let them go is unreasonable because some of the strikers have been tried and are striking because they want to be freed.