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25 Adar II 5771 - March 31, 2011 | Mordecai Plaut, director Published Weekly
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NEWS
Knesset Tells High Court Yeshiva Ketana Law is Constitutional

By Eliezer Rauchberger

The Yeshiva Ketana Law approved by the previous Knesset, which allows the yeshivos ketanos to continue functioning according to the tradition handed down through the generations and yet to be eligible for funding, is legal said Knesset Legal Adviser Atty. Eyal Yinon in an opinion he submitted to the High Court in a petition to reject the law as unconstitutional.

The petition was filed by Professors Amnon Rubinstein and Uriel Reichman, claiming the law to exempt yeshivos ketanos from the so-called Core Curriculum was unconstitutional. According to the petitioners, the law harms chareidi students' "human dignity" by depriving them of the ability to integrate into society and of acquiring the essential skills needed to exercise their human autonomy and to make life choices freely.

The High Court issued a decree nisi against the Knesset, saying the case would be heard by a bench of nine judges.

Now the Knesset, in a notice submitted to the High Court, insisted that the law is legal and that the court should not intervene in the matter. The Knesset explained that the curriculum taught at the yeshivos ketanos has been in place since the founding of the State and that the law has not created a new norm, but merely enshrines an established practice in law.

Knesset Legal Adviser Yinon said the petitioners' claim is highly problematic because it is based on a paternalistic outlook that seeks to impose a set perspective of citizenship on a minority group that holds different perspectives. The Knesset's legal adviser also rejected the petitioners' attempt to frame the constitutional interpretation according to the values of the secular majority, adding that the variance and values of chareidi society should be respected and taken into account.

 

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