Chief Rabbi demands Civil Service course for haredim remain gender-separate

Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef ruled that gender separation is a necessary requirement in Jewish law for all study frameworks.

By JEREMY SHARON
Updated: APRIL 12, 2018 05:10
Young haredim take part in a protest against mandatory IDF conscription, March 2018 (photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Young haredim take part in a protest against mandatory IDF conscription, March 2018
(photo credit: MARC ISRAEL SELLEM/THE JERUSALEM POST)
Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef has called on the head of the Civil Service Commission not to turn a special course for haredi male cadets into a mixed-gender course, as demanded by a recent ruling of the Jerusalem Labor Court.
In a letter to head of the commission Udi Praver, Yosef essentially ruled that gender separation is a necessary requirement in Jewish law for study frameworks, and that haredi men and women would leave the newly established courses if forced to study together.
The court ruled earlier this week that the decision to set up a course only for men ran counter to Israeli laws on equal employment opportunities and was injurious to “the basic right of women to equality.”
And the judge’s decision instructed the state to either integrate 10 women into the course or that it halt the course within 30 days.
The course was designed to help integrate people from the haredi sector in the Civil Service Commission, and a separate women’s course was also in the process of being established.
The judge ruled however that the state should have first tried to run a mixed-gender course for haredi cadets and only if it experienced problems to consider other options.
Yosef said in his letter to Praver that the petition by the Israel Women’s Network “has no place at all,” argued that “separating between men and women doesn’t even have the faintest hint of injuring women’s rights,” that the Torah teaches to respect women, and that separating men and women helps both sexes.
Yosef said that if haredi men and women would be required to participate there would be “personal and group processes which require great closeness between colleagues,” something he said would be impossible for haredi men and women.
The chief rabbi insisted that separating between the sexes was not a stringency but rather a basic requirement of Jewish law, citing sources in the Talmud, medieval Talmudic commentaries and the Shulhan Aruch codex of Jewish law.
“There is no doubt, that if the decision of the labor court stands, all the haredim and those who fear God will be forced to leave this program and its entire purpose will be totally voided,” said Yosef, adding that if it the gender-separate course is left as it is, it would be “beneficial for all.”


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