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Haifa's Technion
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Technion rabbi: Remove mezuzot from gay couples' rooms

Religious students protest Haifa's Institute of Technology's decision to allow homosexuals to live in dorms designed for married couples

The study routine at the Technion, Haifa's Institute of Technology, has been disrupted in recent days over a decision allowing homosexual and lesbian couples to live in dorms designed for married couples.

 

Following the decision, the Technion's rabbi demanded that demanded that the mezuzot (piece of parchment affixed to the doorframe of Jewish homes) be removed from the rooms where the gay couples are slated to reside.

 

The decision to allow homosexual and lesbian couples to live in dorms designed for married couples was approved several days ago by Technion's management, together with its legal advisor and the Student Union.

 

"Excluding Bar-Ilan University, gay couples are given the option of lodging everywhere, and the Technion helped us solve this problem," said Uri Avinoam, a biology student who headed the battle to change the current situation.

 

Activists of the Technion's religious students' organization, Achvat Aharon, led by the Technion's rabbi, Eliyahu Rachamim Zini, refused to accept the decision. Under the title "Sodomy sponsored and financed by the Technion", they wrote a protest letter to Technion President Yitzhak Apeloig.

 

"They are trying to force us to acknowledge that if a person was born with a sexual abnormality he can live with it, and that there is no need to overcome it. This immoral saying has no room in a society which cherishes the future of the Israeli family," the letter said.

 

'Worse than beasts'

As part of the protest moves, Zini and his people asked the Technion's management to remove the mezuzot affixed to the doorframes of the rooms where homosexual and lesbian couples are slated to reside.

 

In response, gay couples held a demonstration on Thursday outside the dorms. "The rabbi and his men should be ashamed of their remarks," said Yuval, one of the protestors.

 

Rabbi Zini's supporters arrived at the area carrying flags of Israel and clashed with the gay protestors. One of the signs they raised read, "Better a male with a dog than a male with a male."

 

"You are worse than beasts, a disgrace to society," said Yair, one of the religious protestors. "You are impure. What you are doing is a great shame and abomination."

 

Rabbi Zini refused to comment on the matter. Technion Spokesman Amos Levav said in response, "The Technion management made a decision recently to allow unmarried couples presenting a financial agreement to live in dorms intended for married couples. This is the custom in academic institutions across Israel, and it is now customary here at the Technion. It has been legally examined."

 


פרסום ראשון: 03.06.09, 11:37
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