Avital writes:, "Last week I spent Rosh HaShanah (Jewish New Year) in the Tel Aviv/Petach Tikva area, bouncing back and forth between family and friends, and again no one around cared too much about actually observing the holiday. Of course, as an officially Jewish state, most businesses and transportation services shut down on these days. But that doesn’t stop most Israelis from maneuvering their way around these ‘inconveniences ‘and taking shared taxis, crowding into the few open coffee shops, and going to the beach."

Seeing this overwhelming secular side of the Israeli public always makes me wonder why people are so insistent on maintaining the Jewish character of the State and why the Orthodox Rabbinate is given so much power to dictate policy here. Why is it that my friends must bring proof that they are Jewish to the Ministry of Interiors in order to obtain a volunteer visa for the year? Why is it that this proof must come in the form of a letter from a Rabbi who must meet strict Orthodox standards which frown upon converts and children of mixed marriages and anyone who belongs to any other Jewish denomination? How can such a secular Israeli public allow the government to support, both financially and politically, religious fanatics creating settlements in the Palestinian territories?

A few days ago I went on a tour of East Jerusalem and was exposed first hand to the reality of settlements right in my back yard (almost literally). The tour also highlighted the incredibly unequal distribution of funds and the ironic fact that Palestinian residents who are always first to pay their city taxes, still do not have a reliable waste collection service or enough schools for their kids to attend, and the only nice roads and sidewalks seen in the Arab areas are paved only to serve the new settlements that are constantly being constructed there. The tour ended with a view of the Shoafat Refugee Camp, which is technically within the municipal borders of the city of Jerusalem, but has been cut off from the city by the wall that was built around its perimeter. Read more

Israel: Not a Jewish State, A Zionist State