BETRAYED

(Tisha B'Av, 5769)

Four years ago exactly, we were betrayed, abused and violated.

We were betrayed by Ariel Sharon – father of the Settler Movement, who reestablished the Jewish towns and villages throughout Yehuda, Shomron and Gaza. And then who invented the accursed “Disengagement” program, to exile 9000 Jews and to destroy the 21 thriving communities of Gush Katif.

We were betrayed by the “right wing” Government which voted in favour of Disengagement, and gave Sharon the legal basis to implement his crimes against our people.

We were betrayed by the right wing parties – including our own Mafdal – who sat side by-side with Sharon, and enabled him to destroy and abuse the men and women who are the bedrock and heroes of the National Religious Movement.

We were betrayed by our ultra-orthodox brothers, who were absent from our struggle, let our shuls and yeshivas be destroyed, our graves with fresh bodies be desecrated, Eretz Yisrael be abandoned to the Sonei Yisrael - bribed into silence by promises of increased funding for "their" Torah.

We were betrayed by some in Moetzet Yesha, who took responsibility for directing our struggle, but crossed the line between “pragmatism” and “treachery”.

We were abused by the Media who vilified our rightful and righteous resistance to the crimes visited upon us.

We were abused by the Police, who beat us, arrested us, harassed us and invented grievous charges against our thousands of innocents.

We were abused by the Courts, who sent our innocent children into terrible prisons for months, and who dished out criminal records to heroes of our nation, instead of medals.

We were abused by the social services, who threatened to remove our valorous children who fearlessly resisted Disengagement, by forcefully removing them from their homes and placing them in welfare institutions.

We were abused by “Sela” who were handed hundreds of millions of shekels, and wielded awesome powers to help rebuild – but who instead cruelly starved thousands of their rights and compensation.

We were violated by our own Army, by soldiers who were our brothers, sisters, our children and parents – forcing us out of our homes, exiling our communities and destroying everything we had built, out of sand-dunes, over thirty years. Turning Jew against Jew, Defenders of Israel, against Defenders of Israel. Zionists against Zionists. Brother & sister against brother & sister.

Our dearest families, friends and communities were violated. Our beautiful homes were violated and demolished. Our sacred shuls were desecrated and destroyed. Our Betei Midrash and schools, filled with torah, were forever silenced and bulldozed. Even the graves of our loved ones, many who fell to protect our Jewish State, were uprooted. Our thriving businesses were bankrupted beyond repair. Our savings gone – only debts.

Our one shirt torn in “kria” from seeing Eretz Yisrael in ruins. Still unshaven from tisha b’av. Our kids, shaken, gaping, without even diapers or milk. We were stuffed into public buildings and shabby lobbies. Abandoned.

And worst of all, we felt betrayed, abused, violated and abandoned by… Hashem. Our Father, You knew our every fiber was devoted to You. Our lifetime enterprise was all in Your Name. Our Father, You surely heard the piercing heart-wrenching tefilot, of us, of our sons and daughters from your shuls in Gush Katif, from throughout Eretz Yisrael, from hundreds of thousands who gathered at the Kotel, the remnant of Your Holy Temple. PLEASE remove this Harsh Decree. Our Father in Heaven Please.

But You did not save us.

"Eicha?!"

Four years later, our people, still dazed and traumatized, are in a wilderness. No permanent homes, no rebuilt communities. Unemployment and previously unknown social ills. Left to rot. No past. No hope. Fearful of no future.

Betrayed. Abused. Violated. Abandoned.

Any Body For An Autopsy?

I have just now returned home from a ghastly funeral – a young mother of 10 kids, who never woke up this morning. A family friend and member of my shul.

According to a reliable source, who had been involved in an official capacity with the arrangements for the funeral, a contingent of ultra-orthodox folks from outside the neighborhood had turned up at the door of the bereaved, and they had physically stopped the hatzala people from taking the body of the mother out of the house in order to take her to her funeral.

The contingent said they would not let the body leave the house, lest there be an autopsy. And they apparently made it clear that, if there would be any suspicion that an autopsy might take place, there would be painful consequences (the official told me he understood they were threatening to initiate rioting in ultra-orthodox neighborhoods).

Apparently, only when Rav Kupschitz provided a signed letter to these people, assuring them there would be no autopsy, did they let the funeral proceed.

I do not know what my response would have been to such an event if, chas veshalom, I had been bereaved. I would imagine I would have been even more distressed by this behaviour, on top of my loss.

These people were outside of their neighborhood, they were outside of their "eida" (this was a solidly dati-leumi family) and they were imposing their understanding of halacha on others by force and by threats.

Their threats were not empty.

In January 2007, a 40 year old woman was found dead near Ramat Bet Shemesh (Bet) under suspicious circumstances. According to reports, a crowd of several hundred local men arrived at the scene and forcibly prevented police from moving the body.

In the ensuing riots, four police officers were lightly injured and three men were arrested for assault.

After successfully keeping police from the body, the rioters carried away the body, which was hidden from the police; those who took the body, refused to return it until they received assurances from the authorities that only an external medical inspection of the body would be performed, but not an autopsy.

And earlier this month, a 36 year old mother of 7 in the city of Elad passed away suddenly from (semeingly) heart failure. The authorities (i.e. police) wanted to perform an autopsy. That reportedly led to the residents going out to protest by the thousands.

The halachik issues of if, when and how to perform autopsies is not straightforward, as there are circumstances in which many/most halachik authorities would allow an autopsy to take place. It is a delicate balance between the wellbeing, even financial, of living parties (such as to remove a pace-maker, or to obtain life insurance, or to learn from medical errors, or to detect a murder, etc…) against the "disgrace" to the body.

However, since when should a factor in these weighty decisions by responsible parties, be threats of communal violence and fears for public security?

The Ultimate Child Abuse: Murder

Assaf Goldring allegedly murdered his own 3 year old daughter Noa in their home in Batzra, Israel.

Goldring is reported to have confessed to strangling his daughter using plastic saran wrap, before attempting to take his own life.

The horror brings back another recent case (August 2008) where a step-parent murdered their wife's child. In a bizarre and gruesome circumstance, that 4 year old girl, Rose Pizem, was murdered by her step-father Ronnie Ron (who was simultaneously Rose's grandfather), who then dumped Rose's body in a red suitcase, into the Yarkon river.

Where were the mothers? Assaf's wife Lisa reportedly became orthodox and the couple had separated. Rose's mother Marie-Charlotte Renault left Rose's father Benjamin Pizem when the child was still an infant, later marrying her father-in-law, Rose's grandfather, Ronny Ron – the murderer.

"Child abuse" is a general term which can include sexual abuse, psychological abuse, verbal abuse, and physical abuse. The ultimate physical abuse is murder.

The classic stereotype of child abusers being strange men in long coats, loitering at night in parks, is dangerously misleading. Over 80% of perpetrators of child abuse are people who are carers, or otherwise trusted parties by the family of the child. The first thing the abusers abuse, is that trust.

Child abuse exists in all societies, and that is a "given". In every country, in every economic class, and in every level of religiosity. No group is immune. In response to this fact, national governments throughout the world have legislated the response to child abuse.

In response to the tragic murder of a girl in Tiberius in 1989, the Israeli Government toughened up Israel's anti-abuse legislation. In the Tiberius case, several parties had been previously aware that the girl was suffering abuse – but no-one had seen that as being their responsibility. Though "widely known" the abuse was not reported to the authorities. Until the girl was dead.

Israel's "Child Abuse Reporting Laws" are now amongst the most severe in the world. The requirement to report suspected child abuse is applied to both professionals (which is common in other countries), and even to every citizen (which is not the case in many other countries). Here in Israel, no-one can say "I suspected abuse, but I had no requirement to report".

To fail to report suspected child abuse is a criminal offence in Israel, carrying jail terms.

It is sometimes true, as in Dickens Oliver Twist, that "the law is an ass". But the laws to protect children in Israel are solidly grounded on the concept of "pikuach nefesh" saving lives.

The requirement to report suspected child abuse to the police and/or Child Protection Officer of the Social Services – even where the suspicion or nature of the abuse may not seem "serious" to the untrained eye – is an absolute legal and halachik obligation upon all of us.

The First Human Right: To Live

(The week of Tisha B'Av returns us to the destruction of the two Temples, the tragic exiles & massacres, and the terrifying prospect of further disasters visited upon the Jewish people, chas veshalom....)

The report this Friday that the latest tests of the Israeli Arrow Missile Defence System, which took place in the USA, failed – is beyond just being worrying. The Arrow was specifically developed, as a joint Israel + USA joint venture, to counter the ballistic missile threat, primarily from Iran. Without an effective anti-ballistic missile defence umbrella, we in Israel are denuded.

I write this, located within the tiny State of Israel, and within 2000 km of the Iranian missile launchers.

That is to say, me and my family, my community and over a third of the world's Jews, are now within ballistic missile range of Iran. This conventional and severe threat has been present for several years - and it is due to increase to Armegedon proportions with the development of nuclear weapons by Iran, and the Iranian regime's stated intent to "wipe the Zionist entity off the map".

The development of a nuclear bomb by Iran is reportedly imminent - measured in months; and the mating of this technology into a ballistic missile is perilously close to fruition. Let's face it, that combined nuclear warhead plus ballistic missile technology, is now over half-a-century old. As the expression goes, hardly rocket science…

Any agendas for anti-abuse, anti-corruption and working for Civil Justice – pale in comparison with this.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (http://www.un.org/en/documents/udhr/), adopted by the United Nations in 1948 states:

• Everyone has the right to life, liberty and security of person.

A reliance upon international diplomacy to ensure the State of Israel's right to life, is utter madness – there is no rational basis that such diplomacy will, or even can, succeed in the current environment. Both China and Russia oppose appropriate levels of diplomatic pressure – and the US and other western Governments lack the will or capability to force Iran to drop its nuclear program.

So our pragmatic options for survival, in my opinion, are limited to just one. The only practical plan for ensuring the survival of the Jewish (and Palestinian, by the way) population of Israel, is for Israel to launch a pre-emptive strike on Iran. The same way we did against the Arabs in 1967 (Six Day War), and against the Iraqi Nuclear Reactor in Osirak in 1981.

It is clear that this entails risk – and unknowns. Certainly, unknowns to Joe-average, like me – those of us who rely on publicly available information. But beyond these there also Unknowables, even to the Defence Establishment and to the politicians who control it. Our US allies have made statements focusing on these risks, including to the USA itself, of Israel launching a pre-emptive attack, most recently "A senior US defense official has warned that an Israeli strike on Iran could have profoundly destabilizing consequences, and would directly affect US interests." (Jpost, 20^th July 2009)

However, post-Churban, post-Holocaust, post-Hiroshima, and post-Iranian Revolution – for President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's regime to be nuclear armed will be an assured, immediate threat to all of us in Israel. Therefore our most primary Human Right must now be asserted, without any further delay. In spite of any (unknowable) risks to the USA and even to ourselves.

It is therefore my opinion that our Fundamental "Right to Life" now necessitates a pre-emptive strike by Israel on Iran's Nuclear facilities.

Two Major Scandals This Week - One Major Issue

Scandal One: Romania: Israeli physicians arrested on suspicion of egg trafficking

Tel Aviv (YNet) 21st July 2009 -- Father, son who run Sabyc Medical Center in Bucharest arrested for allegedly trafficking in human eggs, stem cells; both remanded for 29 days. Romanian authorities order two other Israeli doctors not to leave country, confiscate passports of five other Israelis involved

Scandal Two: New York man accused of trying to broker kidney sale

NEW YORK (CNN) 23rd July 2009 -- One of the sweeping criminal complaints unveiled Thursday in New Jersey against 44 public officials and others includes a New York man accused of trying to arrange the private sale of a kidney from a donor in Israel.

Levy Izhak Rosenbaum, who lives in Brooklyn and is not a licensed physician or medical professional, faces charges of acting as a human organ broker. He offered to obtain a kidney for an undercover FBI agent and a confidential witness working for authorities, the criminal complaint says. The price was $160,000.

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Often referred to as "trading in body parts" or "trafficking organs", providing financial reward to donors of organs is now illegal in most developed countries.

Several years ago, I was approached by a man in Israel, "Yaakov", who suffered from chronic kidney disease, and was on dialysis for many years. Yaakov's arms were thickly scarred and little suitable space remained for the dialysis to continue. The doctors had told him Yaakov needed a kidney transplant to ensure he would see his next birthday.

"There are very few kidneys donated in Israel," Yaakov explained to me, "so the doctors have to prioritize who gets to receive them. Given the choice between saving the life of a middle aged man like me – I'm 56 - or saving a teenager, who would you choose? So practically speaking, I will never receive the kidney I need to live, by waiting in line. I'll be waiting in line for the grave-yard."

The alternative to "waiting in line" in Israel, would be to go privately. The transplant operation would cost around $70,000 and would be carried out in a third country. The top-notch Israeli surgical team would fly out with Yaakov to that country, where the live donor of the kidney was also located, for the transplant operation. In that third country, the procedure was legal*.

He asked me to help him and his family raise the money for the operation.

I had successfully raised funds and made arrangements for other major life-saving procedures several times – so I had few doubts I could help this man also.

My only hesitation was, even if the operation was legal, was it kosher?

Before I could ask people to donate to saving Yaakov's life, I needed to know if halachikally it was the correct thing to do.

So I called up Rabbi M* (by coincidence I was staying by his son, who put me through to his father); Rabbi M is a leading international authority on medical halacha.

I explained the issue and Rabbi M replied (I paraphrase):

"The medical profession are hypocrites about this issue.

"At a transplant operation, will the surgeon be paid?" he asked me. And answered his own question "Of course he will!"

"And will the anesthetist be paid? Of course… And the nurses? The hospital itself? Even the cleaning staff! Everyone will be paid!"

"The only person who is not even 'allowed' to be paid, is the guy who's giving part of his very body for this operation – the organ donor. He's not just giving his time, he's giving his kidney – and he's not allowed to be compensated?!!"

Rabbi M went on to explain how paid kidney donors are typically poor people, from third world countries.

" You should understand that we are over-endowed with kidneys – we need just 10% of one kidney to function normally – but our Creator gave us each two. The second one is an insurance policy, in the case the first one fails. These kidney donors are cashing-in their insurance policy. They get paid between $10-20,000 for their kidney. And for them, it's a good deal. Instead of working as cheap labor, for a fee rupees per hour, to struggle a life-time to feed their families on rice, they receive enough money for their kidney to enable them to purchase some land. Once they have land, they and their families are no longer considered serfs, but move into a higher class. The organ donors are not being abused – they do this with full understanding and willingly.

"And above all, there are not enough organs to meet the needs, so this is saving a life. Pikuach nefesh. And there is no alternative."

Rabbi M concluded that, where the transaction is legal, it is also kosher, and encouraged me to participate in this important mitzva.

I therefore proceeded to raise the funds needed for Yaakov's life-saving kidney transplant operation.

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The connection between my story, and the two scandals which have come to light this week – one in Romania and one in New Jersey – is the issue of obtaining organs or other biological material from live donors for payments.

The tragic truth is that there are not enough people willing to donate organs for love alone, to save all the people who need them. And every day people do die, "waiting in line". However there are people willing to donate for money.

By placing a blanket ban on giving ANY compensation to live organ donors, as is the case in most western countries, we create a situation which is comparable to "Prohibition". The Prohibition of alcohol in many countries during the early 20^th Century did not succeed in stopping the production and trading of alcohol. It merely succeeded in taking it from a controlled environment to an uncontrolled one – where the mafia filled the vacuum, and made plenty of ill-gotten-gains.

Today, the still-new technology which enables seriously ill patients to live longer by obtaining kidneys and other organs from live donors – has generated blanket legislation banning compensating organ donors.

This has not stopped the practice of compensating organ donors – but merely driven it underground, into the murkey world of illegal transactions, ,money laundering, document forging – and this week – Chilul Hashem B'rabim (the public desecration of G-d's Name).

In my opinion, a smarter way of addressing this issue, would be for the US and other Western Governments to regulate, not ban, the reasonable and fair compensation for live organ donors.

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* Note 1: I have called the Rabbi "M", because I have not yet asked him for his permission to publish his name. I do not know if he would agree or not, so I am "playing safe".

* Note 2: Since the events described in my story, the laws have changed in Israel, making it now illegal to make arrangements in Israel for any medical procedure which would be illegal in Israel, even if the surgery is legal in the location where it will be carried out.

Minister for Welfare Visits Lema'an Achai Today

Israel's Minister for Welfare, Mr Yitzhak ("Boozie") Herzog made an official visit, together with Bet Shemesh City Mayor, Moshe Abutbol, and other government officials, to Lema'an Achai today.

Lema'an Achai was the sole non-Governmental organization selected for a Ministerial visit, during Mr Herzog's official visit to Bet Shemesh.

A big honour!

When The Price Tag Is Too High

"On Monday, Settlers burned olive trees, stoned Palestinian vehicles, blocked West Bank roads and allegedly assaulted Palestinians in direct response to the Civil Administration's destruction of scattered structures in three outposts earlier in the day." Jerusalem Post, 21^st July, 2009.

I would not believe it, if I hadn't seen it with my own eyes.

In December 2008, I was entrenched at Bet Hashalom, Hebron – I was one of a handful of adults together with several hundred youngsters. I visited several times over the space of a few days, and stayed overnight also. I knew a lot of the kids – and I can vouch that they are from "the best families". They are ideological, G-d fearing and are fervently protective of Eretz Yisrael. I have no doubt that future heads of state, army generals and Nobel prize winners were amongst those kids.

I am in awe of how these kids establish new camps, then whole communities - on dusty, barren hilltops - and their incredible mesirat nefesh - physical hardships - they willingly endure to perform the mitzva of yishuv ha'aretz - resettling our Land.

I had decided to take on "observer status". I would watch and listen, but planned to avoid getting directly involved or interfering. This was the kids' show – not the adults'.

My first shock was when I visited to roof of Beit Shalom, and saw Jewish teenagers wrapping their heads in scarves, and throwing rocks at Arabs on the street below. I broke my rule, and explained to the kids that these stones, thrown from this height, would likely kill somebody. They stopped for a few minutes, but then carried on.

It was actually a regular event – the kids threw large rocks at local Arabs, and also at our own soldiers. Jewish kids torched groves and cars. And Arab kids also threw rocks

A classmate and friend of my son was hit by a rock directly on his head, and was hospitalized in critical condition. (B"H miraculously he has now recovered).

I also saw dozens of Jewish kids storming the valley at night between Beit Hashalom and Kireat Arba, smashing windows and destroying property of the Arab homes in the valley. I thought of how it must have felt to be a family sitting inside those homes, under siege.

These are kids who normally make us proud.

But now I was ashamed. It was ugly.

What I witnessed was the tactic of Tag Machir – the Price Tag .

Devastated by the failure of the campaign to stop the diabolical "Disengagement Plan" – the forced evacuation of 9000 residents of Gush Katif in 2005 – these kids were seeking an alternative to the largely passive resistance by the Orange public.

The kids, referred to as Noar HaGavaot (Hilltop Youth) embarked on a more militant, more aggressive policy they called "Tag Mechir"; that for every act by the authorities against the settlement movement, a heavy "price tag" would be extracted. Whether that price was "paid" by the representatives of the Government, or by uninvolved Arabs.

The aggressive resistance by these kids to the destruction by the Government of nine houses in Amona in January 2006, was arguably more effective than the whole Gush Katif campaign. Indeed, such was the Government's regret at the pitched battles at Amona, that Amona was the only major evacuation attempted by the Government, between the evacuations of Gush Katif (August 2005) and Beit Shalom (December 2008).

My problem with tag mechir is not regarding its effectiveness (although the houses in Amona did get demolished, and Bet Hashalom was evacuated, in spite of Tag Mechir) – but I object on ethical grounds.

The problem with absolute causes, be they "Eretz Yisrael", "the sanctity of the Shabbath", "Sanctification of G-d's Name", "King and Country", or whatever, is that an Absolute Cause can demand an Absolute Price. The expression "bechol mechir" – "At Any Price" - gets bandied around as a truism.

But this is not the case. There is a price which is too high to pay, even for a cause which might be described as "absolute".

In the case of Tag Mechir – getting down-and-dirty, attacking our soldiers and third parties (uninvolved Arabs), and wantonly destroying property and terrifying private families – is too high a price tag, even for Eretz Yisrael.

Why "The Burka Lady" Is Going To Prison

The woman from Ramat Bet Shemesh who found notoriety for wearing a "burka" – head to foot black cloth associated with Islamic fundamentalists, rather than regular orthodox Jewish women's attire – has now been found guilty of serial child abuse.

The woman and her husband were found guilty of charges of violence and other abuse against six of their twelve children. The gory details include that the children were sometimes locked in a hut outside their house, inside which acts of incest then took place.

This case was one of many which was mismanaged by the authorities. This woman was known to have been abusing her children for a decade, before the wheels of the law began to move. The exposure of this mismanagement of the The Burka Lady ("Talibanit" in Hebrew) case, resulted in the termination of the Manager of the Bet Shemesh Social Services Department earlier this year.

Indeed it seems to me that the timing of the publicity of this lady's Buka attire in the press and media in Israel and internationally – and her arrest on child abuse charges just a few weeks afterwards - was not coincidental.

The publicity about The Burka Lady was a major embarrassment to the city of Bet Shemesh, and to her ultra-orthodox community in particular.

Only when her community in Ramat Bet Shemesh Bet, and the secular authorities, such as the social services and police, were united in their embarrassment about the "Talibanit", were the conditions finally ripe for the lady to be arrested and brought to justice…. Without creating the inflamed rioting in Jerusalem and Bet Shemesh which have erupted when child abuse or other charges were pressed against members of the ultra-orthodox community.

It is tragic that it took TEN YEARS for the various "interests" of the parties involved, to finally coincide with the best interests and protection of these six unspeakably abused kids.

From Terror in Mumbai to Judaism in Israel

"From Terror in Mumbai to Judaism in Israel"

Motivational & Inspiring Talk by Dr Aharon Abraham

Divrei Bracha - Rabbi Yaakov Haber, Rav of Kehilat Shivtei Yeshurun, RBS.

Sunday 19th July, 8pm

At: "Ohr Shalom" Shul (Soloveichik)

Rehov Nahal Maor, Ramat Beit Shemesh

___________________

It is a privilege to invite you to hear the amazing story of how a Hindu Indian doctor from Mumbai, found his way to Judaism and moved to Israel (three weeks ago!). Dr Abraham will recount his first-hand traumatic experience of the Mumbai Terror Attack on Beit Chabad.

Dr Aharon Abraham's story is deeply moving and inspirational, and was recently featured in Mishspacha Magazine and other publications.

The evening is in benefit of Lema'an Achai and is dedicated to the memories of Rabbi Gavriel and Rivka Holzberg, H"YD.

Suggested Donation: 30 NIS.

There is limited seating - so I recommend you come a few minutes early.

The Skeletal Child

I spent much of the years 2004 and 2005 demonstrating against the Expulsion of Gush Katif's 9000 Jewish residents. And much of 2006 and 2007 working to provide those same expelled families with desperately needed relief aid.

During that period, I saw first-hand how the Government could use the Army, the Police, the Courts, the Press, even the Social Services, as pawns in this outrageous "Disengagement" plan.

So when I see the Eida Chareidit demonstrating in Jerusalem and Bet Shemesh about a lady accused of abusing her child, by starvation, I am not the first to assume that these same Police, the Courts and Press.. are necessarily correct in denouncing the "violent rioters".

The case centers on a three year old child, who is described as skeletal – just 7kg. And his mother, who is suspected of starving him, perhaps as a symptom of a psychiatric disorder Munchausen's-by-proxy. The mother's defence lawyer has apparently refused to allow his client to be psychiatrically evaluated.

One could be forgiven for assuming that the demonstrations are in anger and protest at the alleged behavior of this mother against her own child. Such an act of wanton unnatural cruelty would indeed provoke considerable indignation and disgust, even in the most passive of folks.

And that the police are arrayed in the protection of that mother, sheltering in custody from the enraged mob.

But this is not the story here. Far from it.

The demonstrators are acting to protect the Mother from the police, from the doctors, from the courts. They are ignited against the decision to take her into custody, under suspicion of starving her own child – because they see the mother's custody as an attack on their community.

The demonstrators are so incensed by the arrest of one of their own, that they seem to have overlooked any concern for the skeletal child.

For those with some insight into the culture which has generated this response, there is no surprise here.

Of course everyone loves children. However, protecting the welfare of children does not always come before the interests of the adults.

In our case, the rioting now is directly related to the rioting by the same Eidah Chareidit over the past few weeks, sparked off by the opening of a (no charge) car park on Shabbat.

And that is directly related to the recent election of a secular mayor Nir Barkat in Jerusalem, rather than the ultra-orthodox candidate Meir Porush – and therefore the 'loss' of the council from the previous ultra-orthodox domination, to a secular one.

For those pulling the strings which control the demonstrators, whether the "cause" is a car park, or protecting a suspected child abuser, is not important. It's about territory and power.

So let an alleged abuser walk free. And let the skeletal child starve.

Slavery in Your Salon

Do you have a cleaner or other household employees?

If so, let's call her Miriam.

When did Miriam last have paid vacation days or paid sick leave?

What will Miriam do when she reaches pension age?

If Miriam gets sacked, will she receive full compensation/pitzuim?

If Miriam is injured at work, will she be compensated?

If Miriam is abused by her employer, can she protect herself?

Miriam is not just "the cleaner", Miriam is your employee and has rights - no less than your own.

And you have an obligation to give Miriam everything she is entitled to.

Both legally and morally.

Chances are, you've never thought about Miriam in this light....

So here's some of your obligations:

1. To pay Miriam's bituach leumi (National Insurance)
2. To pay towards Miriam's Pension & Pitzuim Fund (law in Israel, as of 1st January 2008)
3. Pay Miriam full pitzuim if you ask her to leave (generally one month's salary for each year worked)
4. Give Miriam paid vacation (according to the law) & sick days (against doctor's note)

There's a lot more besides, for example see
for hourly workers rights: http://www.kavlaoved.org.il/UserFiles/rights32_file_en.doc
for new laws regarding pensions: http://www.bacs.co.il/articles.php?articleid=46

Slavery was officially abolished a century ago. For goodness sake, let's now get it out of our homes!