Word: orthodox
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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...usual Arab-Jewish conflict but instead a Jew-against-Jew struggle to determine the character of Jerusalem -- and by extension, the very nature of the state of Israel. On one side, wearing beards, side curls, long black coats and fur-rimmed hats, are the ultra-Orthodox militants, who want all Israelis to live according to the strict dictates of the halakhah, or religious law. On the other side, constituting the vast majority of the country's 4.3 million citizens, are the secular Jews, who believe Israel should be a modern democracy based on the principles of individual rights, tolerance...
...fields ranging from entertainment and sports to education and public transportation, ultra-Orthodox militants, who make up only about 6% of the country's population, are fighting to impose their religious views on the majority. In the face of that onslaught, many non-Orthodox Israelis have responded with anger and resentment. Warns Uriel Reichman, dean of Tel Aviv University law school: "These things only create hatred of religion. For the vast majority of Israelis, their delight in Jewish tradition is being taken away...
...roots of the struggle go back to well before Israel's birth as a modern state in 1948. Many Orthodox Jews opposed the Zionist movement, which, starting in the late 19th century, called for a return to Palestine. For them, ^ there could be no Israeli state until the appearance of the Messiah. In order to overcome such objections to nationhood, David Ben-Gurion, the country's political founder, shaped an agreement with Jewish religious leaders in 1947 that attempted to define the role of religion in Israeli life. That declaration, known as the "status quo," made several key concessions...
...ultra-Orthodox are the strictest observers of Orthodox Judaism, which along with the Conservative and Reform branches is one of the three major Jewish congregations. Known in Hebrew as the haredim (the trembling, or God- fearing, ones), the ultra-Orthodox believe all Jews must live according to the teachings of the Torah and the Talmud, as distilled in the 613 commandments that make up the halakhah. Many commandments concern observance of the Sabbath, which Jewish scholars have traditionally interpreted as prohibiting almost any activity on the holy day. To accommodate those beliefs, Israeli municipal governments have passed numerous Sabbath-keeping...
...question shot to the forefront of national political debate this summer, when Shimon Peres, the Foreign Minister and Labor Party leader, sought early elections over the unrelated issue of an international peace conference on the Middle East. The ultra-Orthodox Shas Party, which has only four Knesset seats, seized the occasion to seek a major concession. In return for supporting Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir's opposition to new elections, Shas demanded that Shamir's Likud bloc back the Orthodox definition of who is a Jew. Shamir tried to ram through a vote to that effect in July, but a handful...