Three of Israel’s best legal minds are mulling over the question of whether a belly dancer’s right to a living can be pre-empted because her performance offends the sensibilities of a kashrut supervisor.
Justices Gabriel Bach, Theodor Or and Shaul Aloni of the High Court of Justice spent most of Tuesday hearing arguments on whether belly-dancing is kosher. They will rule at a future date.
The Israel Civil Rights Association brought suit against the Jerusalem Rabbinical Council on behalf of American-born belly dancer Ilana Raskin.
She claimed that her bookings at hotels, restaurants and wedding halls began to plummet a year ago, when the rabbinical council threatened to withdraw the kashrut certificate of any establishment that hired her.
The council has the exclusive authority to issue the certification to public and private eateries, which must employ a kashrut supervisor during business hours.
The civil rights association’s lawyer, Netta Ziv-Goldman, appealed to the court to advise the public that kashrut rules apply to food, not entertainment. The type of artist an establishment hires should not be the criterion for granting kashrut certificates, she said.
But attorney David Kirshenbaum, representing the rabbinical council, said it is impossible for a kashrut supervisor to fulfill religious duties in a room where a scantily clad woman is performing.
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