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62% of the Jewish public in Israel and 71% of the non-Haredi population support the right of Conservative and Reform converts to make use of Israel’s publicly funded ritual baths, which are operated by the municipal religious councils. 38% oppose this. 86% of secular Jews and 58% of traditional Jews support this, but 63% of Zionist Orthodox Jews and 91% of ultra-Orthodox Jews oppose it.

This survey was conducted by the Smith Polling Institute for Hiddush – Freedom of Religion for Israel. It was conducted by telephone among a representative population sample of 500 people from Israel’s adult Jewish population. The survey examined the extent of public support for the ritual baths law promoted by the ultra-Orthodox parties in order to prevent non-Orthodox Jewish converts from immersing in the State’s publicly funded ritual baths. Last night the Knesset approved the law on its first reading by a majority of 28 to 18. This survey was conducted with generous support from IREP – the Israel Religious Expression Platform.

Hiddush VP Shahar Ilan responded that “this vote was nothing less than a slap in World Jewry’s face, as well as an insult to the Israeli public, which has repeatedly expressed overwhelming support for state protected equal rights for all branches of Judaism. No immersion in any ritual bath could clean the Knesset of the disgrace of groveling before MK Rabbi Moshe Gafni (United Torah Judaism party), the Chairman of the powerful Knesset Finance Committee who spearheaded this legislation and strong armed the Government Coalition into supporting it. This bill aims to bypass the High Court and trample upon Israel’s rule of law.”

According to Ilan, “It turns out that the best way to predict the Government Coalition’s course of action on matters of religion and state is to poll the Israeli public and assume that the Coalition will do exactly the opposite. This has been the case regarding equality of civic burden, increasing government stipends for yeshiva students, operating public transportation on Shabbat, and access to Israel’s publicly funded ritual baths.” Ilan noted, however, that “the more MK Gafni and his colleagues aggressively push forward their religiously coercive policies, the closer we come to the day when Israel will once again be ruled by a civil government without the ultra-Orthodox parties, which will undo all of the terrible laws this Coalition has passed in the arena of religion and state.”

The wording of the survey question was as follows: “The Supreme Court ruled that Reform and Conservative converts have the right to immerse in publicly funded ritual baths, which are operated by municipal religious councils. The ultra-Orthodox parties are promoting a bill to prevent the implementation of this ruling. Do you: support or oppose Reform and Conservative converts being allowed to immerse in the publicly funded ritual baths?”

62% of adult Israeli Jews expressed support for the right of Reform and Conservative converts to make use of the ritual baths, of which 40% expressed strong support, and 22% expressed moderate support. 38% were opposed, of which 24% were very opposed, and 14% were moderately opposed. Although 63% of Zionist Orthodox Jews opposed this, 57% of voters for the Zionist Orthodox Jewish Home party voiced their support. This once again underscores the high number of secular and traditional Jewish Home party voters.

Among the Coalition parties: 58% of Likud voters support the right of Conservative and Reform converts to immerse in the publicly funded ritual baths, as do 71% of Kulanu voters and 73% of Yisrael Beitenu voters. 82% of Shas voters and 93% of United Torah Judaism voters oppose this. Among the Opposition parties: 97% of Yesh Atid voters, 87% of Meretz voters, and 76% of Zionist Union voters support this right.

SURVEY DETAILS

As noted, 72% of the Jewish Israeli public support some form of public transportation on Shabbat: 41% partial, and 31% full scale. However, 28% are opposed to operating public transportation on Shabbat and holidays, of which 19% favor the current situation (with almost no public transportation available on Shabbat), and 9% support doing away with the limited transportation that is currently available.

94% of secular Jews support the operation of public transportation on Shabbat, as do 67% of traditional Jews. Particularly interesting: 52% of Zionist Orthodox Jews support this initiative (49% support partial, and 3% support full scale). 97% of ultra-Orthodox Jews oppose public transportation on Shabbat, of which 55% favor doing away with the limited public transportation on Shabbat, which is available in Israel today.

Among voters for the coalition parties, support for operating public transportation on Shabbat on a partial or full scale is high: 65% of Likud voters, Kulanu – 86%, Yisrael Beitenu – 91%, Jewish Home – 65%. Voters for the opposition parties support public transportation on Shabbat as well: The Zionist Union – 93%, Yesh Atid – 94%, Meretz – 94%. Only a majority of the Haredi political parties’ voters oppose this initiative: 80% of Shas and 100% of United Torah Judaism voters are opposed.

Head of Hiddush Rabbi Uri Regev responded, “There is an intolerable gap between the public’s support for the operation of public transportation on Shabbat, including the support of voters for the Government Coalition parties, and the obstinate, criminal indifference of the Coalition. Despite the tremendous level of public support, and despite the public’s vital need, the Ministry of Transportation does not allow it.

Regev noted that: “It is difficult to think of a bill more fair and reasonable than MK German’s proposal. The decision as to whether or not to operate public transportation on Shabbat would be turned over to local residents; and public transportation would only be operated on particular central bus lines, and only in a limited capacity. There is no reasonable excuse for rejecting this proposal, other than kowtowing to the ultra-Orthodox parties’ political coercion and bullying. This is exactly the kind of coercion that makes the ultra-Orthodox parties and the Chief Rabbinate Judaism’s greatest enemies, and leads the general public to hate the Jewish tradition.”

“Further,” added Rabbi Regev, “There a few social justice causes more justified than the operation of public transportation on Shabbat. Those who suffer the most under the current political reality are Israel’s most vulnerable: those with special needs, the elderly, the young and soldiers who do not have vehicles or cannot drive. Even worse, it is also a matter of life and death: the lack of public transportation on Shabbat requires young soldiers on leave to drive when they go out to drink with their friends, and consequently increases the risk of road accidents and harm. However, the elderly, the poor and the young of the secular and traditional populations are invisible to the ultra-Orthodox politicians. They are only concerned with their ultra-Orthodox religious preferences.”

MK Yael German (Yesh Atid) who proposed the bill responded to Hiddush’s survey: “This proves once again that most of the Israeli public is interested in having public transportation available on Shabbat. Support increases every year, and it crosses party lines, including the Zionist Orthodox Jewish Home party’s voters. Again, we find that a minority of Knesset politicians, only 5% of its members, prevents a law from passing, which would bring social justice to those populations who cannot drive or do not have cars, improving quality of life standards for all Israelis.”

(YWN – Israel Desk, Jerusalem)