Leaders of the Israeli Reform and Conservative movements sent a letter of complaint to the Israeli government charging that Israeli hotels discriminate against non-Orthodox Jews.

In a letter to two government ministers, the leaders of the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism and the Masorti Movement alleged that Israeli hotels discriminate by refusing to grant non-Orthodox guests rooms for religious services and the use of Torah scrolls. The complaint follows reports that a Conservative tour group was denied the use of a Torah scroll by a hotel because it planned to hold an egalitarian prayer service. The group ultimately conducted a service without the use of a Torah rather than hold a service led only by men.

“The attitude is insulting and humiliating,” Gilad Kariv and Yizhar Hess wrote in their letter to Stas Misezhnikov, the Israeli tourism minister, and Yuli Edelstein, the minister for public diplomacy and Diaspora affairs. “We ask that you find the proper public manner in which to make it clear that this is an invalid policy that is not compatible with the law, a policy that damages relations with Jews in the Diaspora and the image of the State of Israel as a Jewish democratic state.”

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis of the crisis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

A message from our CEO & publisher Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you move on, I wanted to ask you to support the Forward’s award-winning journalism during our High Holiday Monthly Donor Drive.

This year, we have stood together in strength and sorrow. Our Forward team has worked around the clock to help you find clarity amid the chaos.

If you’ve turned to the Forward in the past 12 months to better understand the world around you, we hope you will support us with a gift now. Your support has a direct impact, giving us the resources we need to report from Israel and around the U.S., across college campuses, and wherever there is news of importance to American Jews.

Make a monthly or one-time gift and support Jewish journalism throughout 5785. The first six months of your monthly gift will be matched for twice the investment in independent Jewish journalism. 

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

Join our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.

$36 $500

$120 $180 Other amount