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Compromise Lets Israel's High Court Release School Parents From Jail

By Howard M. Friedman

In Israel, a compromise has led to the release from jail of the fathers of 35 girls enrolled in the Beit Ya'acov school in the town of Emmanuel. As previously reported, Israel's High Court ruled that a group of parents of the Slonim Hasidic sect would be imprisoned for two weeks for contempt if they did not obey the court's previous order to send their girls back to a school where they study together with Sephardi girls. Ultimately only the father's were jailed. According to today's Jerusalem Post and Haaretz, under the compromise all the girls will spend this week's last three days of the school year together hearing lectures about unity. Everyone agrees that this satisfies the Court's order. Then over the summer, the parties will meet to work out a more permanent solution. The Jerusalem Post says that the agreement calls for the right of Ashkenazi Hasidic parents to establish a new school next year. The haredi community calls the compromise a victory by religious forces over the state's secular institutions. [Thanks to Joel Katz (Relig. & State in Israel) for the lead.]

Full post as published by Religion Clause on June 27, 2010 (boomark / email).