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HEMDAT -- the Council
for Freedom of Religion in Israel -- is a broad, non-political
coalition of liberal religious movements,
women's
groups, new immigrant organizations, and civil rights
movements which serves as an umbrella organization promoting, through
mass action, advocacy, education and legal initiatives, freedom of
science, religion and culture in Israel based on the noble ideals
expressed in the Israel Declaration of Independence -- which promised
to assure all the citizens of Israel: "equal rights,
freedom of religion, conscience and culture....". It
works to help build bridges between Israel and the Jews of the world
by promoting religious pluralism.
HEMDAT:
- firmly believes that, side by side
with dialogue and the search for consensus, there must be a determined
activist-advocacy struggle for freedom of choice in religion and
pluralism in Israel;
- has initiated, together with Shatil,
a new broad coalition called the "Forum
for Freedom of Choice in Marriage," whose goal is to
enable every Israeli to freely choose between civil marriage or
a religious ceremony according to the religious stream of their
choice;
- has established and administers
the broad activist-advocacy Freedom Front to block the continuing
attempts by the Ultra-Orthodox/Haredi political parties to force
Orthodox lifestyle on the general population of Israel;
- works to promote
religious pluralism programs in the high schools which teach
about the important contribution of the Reform, Conservative and
Secular Humanist Movements in promoting modern interpretations
of Judaism;
- works with the Masorti (Conservative)
and Progressive (Reform) Movements to achieve their rightful
recognition and to prevent the passage of the Conversion Law and
changes in the Law of Return;
- advocates military service for yeshiva
students so that the burden of defending Israel is shared by all
her citizens in a just manner;
- believes that the growing disparagement,
and overt religious discrimination against
Reform and Conservative Judaism in Israel undermines
the unity of the Jewish People and threatens to destroy the ties
of the majority of world Jewry with Israel.
Questions regarding
this website should be addressed to the webmasters,
Arthur Obermayer and Betty Solbjor.
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In the diversity of
Judaism there is unity and strength.
Professor Naomi Chazan
elected as the new Chair of Hemdat... [more]
Alice Shalvi
"Thousands of citizens are denied the right to marry, divorce or
convert to Judaism...." [more]
Uri Regev:
"Israel is the only country in the democratic world that has no
civil marriage ...." [more]
Zamira Segev:
"Thousands of high school students and hundreds of teachers have
participated in HEMDAT's innovation programs to teach the principles of
religious pluralism and its vital role in a democratic society…[more]
Hillel Shuval
"The Orthodox Religious Courts in Israel, which hold a monopoly on
all religious matters, practice overt and covert discrimination against
women in matters of divorce…[more]
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