Jerusalem Rabbinate requires beards in job application for inspectors
In addition, the tenders did not state that the positions were open to women and neither were they written using both male and female language.
By JEREMY SHARONUpdated: APRIL 29, 2021 22:29THE HEADQUARTERS of the Chief Rabbinate in Jerusalem, as seen here in 2013.(photo credit: YONATAN SINDEL/FLASH90)
Recent tenders issued by the Jerusalem Rabbinate for work in different fields of religious oversight included a requirement that applicants have beards and look religious – and they also failed to state that the jobs were open to women, as required by law.Earlier this month, the Jerusalem Religious Council, the local rabbinate, issued tenders for the positions of kashrut inspector, eruv (Shabbat boundary) inspector, and director of the Mikveh (ritual bath) Department at the Jerusalem Religious Council.The tenders for the kashrut and eruv inspectors required that candidates be married, or “not single,” and over the age of 30.The tenders did not indicate that the positions were open to women. Furthermore, the tender for mikveh department director gave preference to candidates who have rabbinic qualifications from the Chief Rabbinate.Since the Chief Rabbinate refuses to allow women to take exams for its rabbinic qualifications – and the tender did not state that women with qualifications issued by institutes of Torah learning for women would be given similar preference – this condition effectively discriminated against women.The Itim religious services organization noticed these problems with the tenders and sent a letter to the Jerusalem Rabbinate noting that it was apparently attempting to prevent women from applying with clauses such as a beard requirement, as well apparently implying that the positions were not open to women at all through its use of exclusively male language.Since a petition brought to the High Court of Justice by the Emunah organization against the Religious Services Ministry and the Chief Rabbinate was settled in 2014, the two bodies agreed to allow women to serve in positions of religious responsibility other than explicitly rabbinic roles. Women have officially been allowed to serve in such positions in local religious councils, which run religious services around the country.The Law for Equal Employment Opportunities requires that employers issue employment tenders written using male and female terminology. That was not done in this case.In addition, the Law for Requiring Tenders requires that the state, government associations, religious councils, health providers and institutions for higher education provide equal opportunity in employment tenders to all citizens. It prohibits discrimination against candidates on the basis of sex, personal status or and age, or demanding employment requirements which would cause such discrimination.Since Itim’s letter to the Jerusalem Religious Council, it has partially amended and republished the tenders, removing the requirement for a beard and the requirement to be married and over 30.However, the tenders still do not state that women may apply, are still not written in male and female forms of language, and the tender for mikveh department director still includes a requirement to have passed chief rabbinate exams.All three tenders still require that the candidate “looks religious.”“The level of disconnect between certain elements of the Jerusalem Religious Council and the realities of the twenty-first century is unfathomable,” said Itim director Rabbi Seth Farber.“Rather than recognize the legal responsibilities which govern their behavior, the religious council continues to act with a shtetl mentality that ignores both their responsibilities under the law and the achievements and capabilities of women,” he said. “The State of Israel must force the religious establishment to be equitable when this is in line with halachic practice.”Chairman of the Jerusalem Religious Council Yehoshua Yishai noted in response only that the tenders had been changed to exclude the requirements that candidates have beards, be over 30 and be married.
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