The Knesset just passed some laws in their final readings and advanced some others. Here are a couple of the more interesting ones:

  -- The flag law was passed in its final reading.
This law intends to protect the sanctity of the flag (and other State symbols). According to the law until now, someone desecrating the flag would be liable for a fine of up to 300 lirot - yes, lirot - a currency that no longer even exists. According to the new law passed, that fine has been changed to being up to 58,400nis, along with the possibility of up to 3 years in prison.

As well, anyone caught burning the flag shows by his actions that he "does not want to be a citizen of the State" and will lose some of his or her benefits from the State they so despise. Examples of benefits they might lose are bituach leumi stipends and allowances, health care subsidies, academic stipends and subsidies, etc.
source: Knesset website

It is going to be interesting to see if this actually gets applied in practice and if the threat of the law minimizes the inclusion of flag burning in the multitude of protests and riots held by various communities on a fairly regular basis.

   --- the law allowing a division of "nursing hour" between fathers and mothers in the workplace was passed unanimously (by 42 MKs).

Until now a new mother back to work has been allowed, by law, to take an additional hour over the course of the day to be used for nursing her baby. This daily hour is limited to the first four months after returning from maternity leave.

The new law will allow both parents to divide this hour between them and decide whether the mother will use it to feed her child, whether the father will or whether they will split the time between them. The term "nursing hour" would be changed to be called "parenting hour".
source: Knesset website

This reminds me of the gemara that describes a man whose wife died, leaving him a newborn baby to care for. He was too poor to be able to hire a wet-nurse, so he davened to Hashem for a solution. Sure enough, he grew breasts like a woman and began lactating, thus he was able to feed his baby (the amoraim of the gemara debated whether this was a good thing or a bad thing).

That guy would have been able to fully take advantage of this law, even without changing the name to "parenting hour".

Regardless of that, it is a good thing to allow both parents the opportunity to spend the bonding time through feeding with the baby.

In Israel a working woman who gives birth is entitled to 14 weeks of paid maternity leave. By law, since 1998, the father can take some of that time as paternity leave instead of the mother.

MK Tamar Zandberg (Meretz) has now proposed a law by which the father and mother should be allowed to take maternity and paternity leave together, at the same time. The law proposal was submitted on Sunday, and was passed by the Ministerial Legislation Committee.

This proposal has actually been proposed before, by Minister, then MK, Uri Ariel in the previous Knesset and it passed its initial reading, but never advanced beyond that. MK Zandberg has now resubmitted the proposal with alterations based on agreements between the relevant ministries and also with parties from both sides of the bench.

This specific slice of paternity leave would be for the period immediately after the birth, meaning it would be in addition to the fathers ability to later split the maternity leave with the mother. This additional paternity leave immediately after birth would grant the father 3 paid vacation days and 5 paid sick days.

Zandberg says that being a parent is not just the job of the mother but is a joint right of both parents together. This law proposal will allow fathers to help and to start the relationship  with their child.
(source: NRG)

On the other hand, Globes says that Finance Minister Yair Lapid voted against the bill. Lapid says he is in favor of it, but says there is no money to finance it and nobody has explained how it will be financed...



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MK Michael Melchior has a great idea. He dislikes the term "Maternity Vacation". In English the term is really "Maternity Leave", but in Hebrew it is "Chufshat Leidah" which literally means "Maternity Vacation (or break)".

Melchior feels that the term "Chufshat" - Vacation - is deceiving. He says it gives people, including co-workers, the feeling that the new mother is taking a vacation tanning on some beach somewhere. the reality is really different, as the mother is trying to acclimate to a new child with a nursing and sleeping schedule. It is not a vacation, but a time that is demanding, both physically and mentally.

The only problem is that Melchior has not yet thought of an alternative name for the legally mandated "Chufshat leidah".

I think he should run a contest. Maybe the prize should be an extra 2 weeks of "chufshat leidah" for the mother who comes up with the best name.