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Women Barred From Speaking At Gynecological Conference in Israel Due Pressure From Orthodox Jewish Groups

A conference on “Innovations in Gynecology/Obstetrics and Halacha [Jewish law]” will be held this week to discuss such things as “how to choose a suitable contraceptive pill” but women will be barred as speakers. Bowing to ultra-Orthodox Jewish leaders in Israel, the Puah Institute has barred female speakers and ordered that women are to be segregated in female-only areas. With the ongoing protests over the mistreatment of women and girls by Orthodox Jews in some areas, the conference only magnifies the tensions in the country.


Despite objections from various groups and the decision of some doctors to decline to speak, the Puah Institute has remained firm in its discriminatory treatment.

The United Torah Judaism party was given the position of Deputy Health Minister because it cannot formally join the coalition of Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, due to its religious objections to accepting the concept of a Zionist state. Netanyahu is technically the minister to allow the ultra-Orthodox to control the health ministry.

Again, Israel faces these difficulties due to a lack of separation of temple and state, in my view. These religious parties have inflated importance due to the constitutional system where coalitions control governments. The result is not just political instability but investing extreme groups with unwarranted power.

Source: Globe and Mail

71 thoughts on “Women Barred From Speaking At Gynecological Conference in Israel Due Pressure From Orthodox Jewish Groups”

  1. There is absolutely nothing in Halacha forbidding a Jewish woman to speak in public. Consider the Prophet Deborah, who was a judge in ancient Israel and advised the military. The men who protested female speakers on a medical topic are not observant Jews but misogynistic thugs.

  2. Nice post. I learn something new and challenging on blogs I stumbleupon every day. It’s always interesting to read through content from other authors and use something from other sites.

  3. Step in to my parlor said the spider to the fly……i felt proud of the many individuals who responded here as one with Jewish ancestry especially and also the poem rocked by anonymous .Of all the people in the old and new testament Jesus seems the most Jewish to me.So what. the issue here is we as citizens of the world will not tolerate enclosed communities where the child molestation rate exists such as the data on the subject suggest regarding orthodox communities of any type.More importantly……any one who is Jewish or even identified as one as a total non Jewish Jewish man of the world Jewish man,….,….or woman,…….We will not tolerate this in our own cultural totality and we would be wise to work to change it.is there a dissenting voice?

  6. *decloaking*

    Blouise, I’m sorry to hear Tex was ill. Your self described ‘job’ is incredibly difficult and I know it takes its toll on you. You and Tex are in my thoughts.

  7. How absurd can it be that a conference on halacha should be unable to observe it?

    1. “How absurd can it be that a conference on halacha should be unable to observe it?”

      Carol,

      About as absurd as that conference is not observing Halacha, but the beliefs of a minor cult that twists Halacha in the interests of Misogyny. If you know Halacha, you understand that it is the duty of a husband to please a wife sexually. I’m willing to bet that in these cults there is a huge predominance of sexually frustrated wives.

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