While the resignation of the Orthodox Ministers from the Israel Cabinet is one of the major issues in the country, a number of developments were reported here today pointing to the fact that the government has always been attentive to the religious sentiments of its members and of that part of the Jewish population which is strictly Orthodox.
Acting on a decision of the Cabinet, all government-operated kitchens are being “Kashered” to make them accessible to strict observers of Kashruth. To date, all police kitchens, railway workshops and mining enterprises in the Negev have been converted to kosher. The process of converting other state-operated kitchens is expected to be completed by next month.
The Ministry for Religious Affairs today announced that it has arranged for the circumcision of over 2,000 males between the ages of 2 to 20 during the last few years. The youths are children of new immigrants from East European countries who were unable to have the rite performed in their wanderings during and after the World War.
A spokesman for the Ministry said that the circumcisions had been performed at the request of parents or of the youths themselves. About 70 percent of the boys were between 2 and 10 years of age, while the remainder ranged up to 20 years of age, the spokesman stated. The charge of 20 Israeli pounds per operation was borne by the Ministry for Religious Affairs.
Dr. Yitzhak Kister, of the Tel Aviv District Court, ruled this week that a foundling adopted in Israel could be regarded as Jewish for civil purposes. The ruling was issued in the case of a farm worker who five years ago found a healthy girl, six hours old, in an abandoned orange grove.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
