Negotiations continued in the two-day old teachers’ strike, but no settlement was in sight today. Civil Service Commissioner Avraham Friedman predicted tonight that the strike would last at least through the end of this week. Meanwhile, the walkout by some 60,000 teachers sparked a new dispute between Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef and Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi Shlomo Goren.
Yosef declared the strike contrary to halacha because it deprived children of education. Goren ruled yesterday that the strike itself was legal according to halacha because it was intended to protect the basic social rights of the teachers and did not contradict the laws of the State. However, he said, religious education should be continued. Religious school teachers began instruction in religious subjects in synagogues today.
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