WUNRN
Mikveh - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikveh
Israel - Kolech - Women's Religious
Forum
ISRAEL - MIKVE RITUAL BATH NOT ONLY
FOR MARRIED WOMEN
29 December 2011,
Jerusalem – The Center for Women’s
Justice, in cooperation with Kolech, filed a petition to the High Court of
Justice today against Religions Affairs Minister Yaokov Margi, Chief Rabbi Yona
Metzger, and the chief rabbinate, demanding that they publish new guidelines
allowing single women, divorcees and widows to immerse in the ritual bath
(mikveh) in Israel. This petition was filed on behalf of two litigants, a
soldier and a new immigrant, both single women who were prevented from
immersing in the mikveh because they were single. The purpose of the petition
is to cancel the existing guidelines that forbid these women from immersing.
The petition argues that the guidelines preventing
certain women from immersing violate the women’s freedom of religion and their
rights to equality. It also argues that this is religious coercion that
causes discrimination between single and married women. In addition, it also
violates the women’s right to privacy.
Attorney Susan Weiss, Director of the Center for
Women’s Justice, said, “This is a multifaceted petition that includes a demand
to recognize the rights of the individual in religion, and to acknowledge the
right to equality. The bottom line is that the state and its agents are being
asked to stop interfering with women’s private considerations when they go to
immerse in the mikveh, and to acknowledge that every woman who immerses has the
right to freedom of choice.”
The Center for Women's Justice is a public interest
law organization dedicated to defending and protecting the right of women in
Israel to equality, dignity and justice within Jewish law. CWJ carries out
legal activity and advocacy aimed at ending practices that discriminate against
women in the name of the Jewish religion. CWJ files key lawsuits in civil
courts across Israel, with the aim of setting legal precedents and achieving
systemic solutions to religious dilemmas that compromise gender democracy and
threaten the Jewish future. CWJ also carries out Social Awareness
activities which educate the public about marriage, divorce and social justice
in Jewish life and promote social change.