MKs mull bill to recognize, fund pluralistic Jewish studies

Knesset Committee on Rights of the Child hosts study session on issues regarding women studying and teaching Torah.

By JONAH MANDEL
YOHANAN PLESNER (photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
YOHANAN PLESNER
(photo credit: Ariel Jerozolimski)
The Knesset Committee on the Rights of the Child on Tuesday hosted a study session on issues regarding women studying and teaching Torah.
Lawmakers and representatives of Midreshet, a chain of 22 pluralistic organizations involved in shaping a Jewish- Israeli identity primarily through various study frameworks, took part in the study session.
Committee chairman Zevulun Orlev (Habayit Hayehudi) was joined by MKs Yohanan Plesner (Kadima) and Tzipi Hotovely (Likud) for the third event of its kind this year. The topic of women in the Jewish scholarly world is especially relevant to Orlev, who, along with five other secular and religious MKs, is sponsoring a bill to make the state recognize and fund pluralistic institutions for Torah study.
The draft of the bill is being negotiated with representatives of the Culture and Sport Ministry, in hopes of reaching a version that will enable a definition of pluralistic Jewish institutions, including the fact that women will study and teach in them, that won’t provoke the resistance of haredi lawmakers.