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From: wkp@lanl.ARPA
Newsgroups: net.religion.jewish
Subject: Human rights and Judaism: A hope for 5746.
Message-ID: <31087@lanl.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 26-Sep-85 06:56:26 EDT
Article-I.D.: lanl.31087
Posted: Thu Sep 26 06:56:26 1985
Date-Received: Mon, 30-Sep-85 01:58:12 EDT
Distribution: net
Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory
Lines: 44


Not that anyone should care, but here is my wish list for those issues which
I feel need to be raised by all Jewish communities during this new year:

1. The responsibility of religious Jews to human freedom in South Africa.
   Most orthodox rabbis, unlike their counterparts in other movements,
   have remained silent in South Africa on apartheid.  Only one courageous
   orthodox rabbi, Rev Ben Isaacson, has been outspoken in his condemnation
   of racism.  ("You cannot suppress the G-d given rights of fellow human
   beings with impunity." he has stated).  Rev Isaacson is now being called    
   a "rebel rabbi" since his ostracization from the orthodox establishment
   in South Africa.

2. The treatment of Ethiopian Jews by the orthodox establishment in Israel
   in order to obtain more money from the government.  Both =former= chief
   rabbis (Shlomo Goren and Ovadia Yosef)  have supported the Ethiopian
   position.  Rev David Shloush, the current Sephardi Chief Rabbi of
   Netanya, and a member of the Chief Rabbinical Council, also supports
   their position.  The refusal of the current powers-that-be in the
   Rabbanut (especially Ashkenazi elements) to discuss the situation
   fairly is an unfortunate result of the mixing of religion and politics.

3. The refusal of most of the orthodox establishment to confront the
   issue of women's rights.  Many orthodox women in Israel, members of
   the Israel Women's Caucus, are observant Jews who only wish to change
   their demeaning status by appeal to halachic authorities.  Many point out
   that, for example, the ineligibility of women to be witnesses (which is
   a crucial element of female legal inferiority) rests on very weak
   foundations.  [cf., Talmud Yerushalmi Yoma 6 or Rambam's Hilchot
   Edut 9].

   As a postscript to this, I would like to bring up the recent psak
   halacha decided on by Rev Moshe Feinstein and the North American
   Rabbinate (all males, of course) regarding the ban on husbands
   accompanying their wives into birthing rooms.  Ostensibly, as reported
   in the Hebrew press, the ban on husbands assisting their wives in
   the birth of their children was due to the fact that it violates the
   principle of modesty and also that the husband upon seeing his naked
   wife may do "an ugly and shameful thing" (lit., "she'hoo ya'aseh davar
   mchoar v'mayvish") or may violate the laws of Niddah.  I personally
   find the reasoning behind this ban to be rather dubious.
--

bill peter                                       ihnp4!lanl!wkp