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Israel Government Acts to Meet Religious Needs of the Population

February 15, 1957
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The Ministry of Education instructed all government schools not to force pupils to bare their heads in classrooms or at meals. The action followed a complaint that a student had been punished for refusing to remove his hat in a classroom.

Porty synagogues will be established in new settlements in Israel within the coming year, Dr. Zorach Warhaftig. Deputy Minister for Religions, announced in Parliament today. He revealed that last year the government allocated loans to construct 29 new synagogues. Three hundred other synagogues, he noted, had received outright grants for repairs and extensions. The government also assisted 150 yeshivoth and rabbinical institutions with a combined student body of 6,500.

A system of regional rabbinates throughout Israel was established today to give spiritual guidance and to foster religious life in some 400 settlements established in scattered areas of the country in recent years. At least 60 percent of the new settlements do not have the full-time services of a rabbi. The regional set-up was pioneered in the Tiberias, Haifa, Ramleh and Rehovoth areas.

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