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Aug 24, 2025
shuls in Tel Aviv under attack
UPDATE:
Minister Yariv Levin, acting Minister of Religious Affairs, confirmed this is not accurate. After looking into it it seems this was an initial draft with the clause being included in contracts for all government property but was removed from the contracts with shuls already a few months ago...
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The City of Tel Aviv is renewing land leases for different organizations operating shuls on city property. These are shuls that never completed their registrations with the Land Registry. The new contracts that would allow the shuls to continue to operate include a clause never before included.
The clause stipulates that the synagogues must provide religious services to all neighborhood residents, regardless of age, gender, or belief.
The various shuls leadership/boards are concerned this would in essence prevent them from functioning as an Orthodox shul and would open them up to lawsuits of discrimination for having a mechitza and for nor offering Muslim prayers, and the like.
Some shuls have already refused to sign this new contract and have been given eviction orders.
source: Hamechadesh
Whatever they are trying to do, I suspect it is going to backfire and there will be a backlash against the city's efforts. If groups want to open Reform or Conservative shuls and have mixed seating or multi-denominational services, they should open those as they see fit, but I dont think forcing this on Orthodox shuls is going to work.
In past years when they did not want to allow public prayer on the High Holidays in public areas due to gender discrimination, they justified it by saying there are plenty of shuls all around Tel Aviv offering traditional services. And now they are running a campaign to stop the shuls from offering those traditional services?
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Labels:
gender equality,
shul,
Tel Aviv
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Sadly, for Tel Aviv this is believable. After all, this is the city that permits segregated Muslim prayers in public but is then outraged when Jews want to do the same thing.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like the secular Tel Avivians are as crazy as the charedim. They want to alienate also the religious Israel supporters in who live outside of Israel.
ReplyDeleteExcept the story isn't true.
DeleteThe story's not true but the culture part is.
DeleteTel Aviv has always been the secular capital of Israel. The understanding is that the religious could have Bene Beraq and Jerusalem but Tel Aviv and Haifa belong to the secular population. An increasing religious population in Tel Aviv demanding public rights is as threatening to the seculars as seculars moving into apartments in Geulah.