Today's High Court hearing: Chabad and Tzanzi members demand that the Supreme Court not decide who is Haredi

July 21, 2020   

High Court judges are expected to hear today (Tuesday) a petition by religious and ultra-Orthodox students against the decision of the Council for Higher Education (CHE) that prevents them from registering for segregated academic tracks, because according to the CHE definition, they are not "Urdu.". It's worth checking: You may be entitled to a lot of money from National Insurance. The decision discriminates, in scandalous conduct, against graduates of Chabad and Sanz institutions, in relation to studies at academic institutions operating in the Haredi sector, because these Hasidic institutions are formally defined as institutions affiliated with the HaMamad stream by the Ministry of Education – and are not defined as Haredi. His secret: Earn a prestigious degree without preparatory school and without prerequisites • Want one too? Graduates of these institutions claim that, although there is no doubt that they are Haredi, the Council of Religious Education forbade the Ono Academic College, for example, from allowing them to study in segregation, because they do not meet the Council's criteria determining "who is Haredi.". More on the topic: High Court Justices to the Supreme Court: Explain why the definition of 'who is Haredi' will not change” These definitions and decisions also affect those who have repented, who did not study at Haredi institutions, as well as seminaries for girls that are not officially defined as Haredi institutions – and because of this, they are not allowed to study on the separate campuses. The first petition against the Council of Higher Education was filed three and a half years ago. Only a year and a half ago, the High Court judges ordered the Council of Higher Education to explain, in response to the petition, why the definition of 'who is Haredi' will not be changed. The official position of the Council for Higher Education, currently headed by the Minister of Higher Education and supplemented by Ze'ev Elkin, prohibits gender-segregated studies, and permits the existence of a number of such tracks only for those who are defined as "Haredi", according to the criteria established by the Council, and even then only for undergraduate degrees. The petition claims that the Council of Higher Education is prohibited from preventing institutions from accepting students based on social and religious backgrounds, and that it is not within its authority to decide for institutions who is 'Haredi' and who is not. The petitioners claim that the Higher Education Commission should focus only on its role according to law: to supervise the academic level of the institutions and degrees. The High Court will also hold a hearing against the Higher Education Commission's decision to limit the operation of segregated study tracks in academia. The petitioners further claim that segregated tracks do not constitute discrimination, because they do not impose anything on anyone, and offer equal conditions to women and men. "The Israeli legislature has explicitly stated in the Student Rights Law that segregation on grounds of religion will not be considered discrimination in higher education," the petition claims. The petitioners also believe that the limitations set by the Higher Education Commission stem from a concept that seeks to educate the ultra-Orthodox public and determine for them what the correct lifestyles are - and there is no legal basis for this.