outrageous;totally wrongheaded policy

Being an aethiest I find amusment in the insistance of a few that wish to idolise learning.Wants to prayerDO IT AT HOME Hope the princepal upholds her desesion and does not allow this idoletary in the school. In france they are not allowed to extoll in public schools.

Not all jews choose to identify with judaism. That doesn't make them less jewish any more than germans who dislike beer or scots who don't wear kilts all the time need feel less what they are.

Who but goyim use the term "phylacteries" for tefillin? I guess secular Israelis.

I'm sure that Israelis don't want to be forced to be religious any more than you would, and the fact that Israel is a Jewish state doesn't negate the reality that the founders were overwhelmingly secular and socialist and had no intention of seeing Israel become a theocracy.

I hate to say it, but only in Israel would Jews be prevented from practicing their religion. if they were muslims. christians or budhists they would have made it into a cultural club and the missionary work could be done i earnest. May G-d have mercy on all of us

Now kids who just thought they were having a bit of fun, will be forced to think about their actions, leading to a lasting commitment to put on tefillin. These same kids will influence others, and before you know where you are, there'll be another large group of baalei tshuvah in Modiin.

I am usually one of the first to agree with articles about "Religious Insanity" but my annoyance is equally great against those who challenge religious practice. My son has attended an Air Force high school in which students are allowed to practice their Jewish religion. Religious services, kipot, girls who elect to wear skirts not slacks. All is allowed and all benefit from this. This principal should be fired. This type of religious outrage might have been acceptable in Moscow under Communism, but is disgusting in the Jewish State.

Could someone please explain the logic of the comment from the Modiin Municipality's spokesperson: "Nothing is stopping those who wish to put on teffilin at the school privately and personally. The student was asked not to bring his tefillin to school..." So nothing is stopping the student putting on Tefilin at school, provided that he doesn't bring his Tefilin to school - if this is the logic of our elected officials, no wonder that this city is in such a mess.

In Israel, even "Public Schools" are Jewish Schools for Jews, with Tanach (i.e. Hebrew Scriptures) being required, the Jewish holidays being the national holidays, Jewish history, customs, and traditions being part of the curriculum. So, a "public school" in Israel is NOT the equivalent of a public school in America. I say that if this principal has a problem with Jewish content in a school in Israel, then he should do us ALL a favor and move to America.

Let's get the fact straight. The school in question is a secular school. In such a school there are no provisions made for group prayer. There is no adult assigned to supervise the prayer. If a group of high school students decide to form a morning minyan, this could be very disruptive. It means that a group of students will regularly enter the class late. Over a year period it could amount to hours of valuable lost class time. As I see it, if a group of kids want to pray they should do it on their own time. A secular school should not be required to provide time and space for prayer. If it is so important, this student should go to a religious school

point well taken, and you are correct, I have never set foot in an American Public school, I only judge by its end result. The world wide secular public school system has removed G-D and replaced it with what? MTV, condoms at age 9 etc, etc, etc. Do we agree that the Isaraeli Secular system is robbing our children of values and our connection to G-D and the Torah he gave us.... Shanah Tovah and may we merit to have Nachas from our Children

Thank god we left Modiin when we did.... if this is the standard of the school principal, I shudder to think what the average teacher is like. I hate religious coercion as much as anyone, and would drag my husband in the opposite direction when we see a tefilin stand on the street, but if these kids are CHOOSING to put on tefilin in their own time and not forcing any other pupils to do it... I cannot see where hte problem lies. By making an issue of this she is making more problems in an otherwise "perfect school" ha ha ha...

I haven't read this and probably won't - but I find it fascinating the YNET chooses to put a picture of a an arm with tefillin and an orange Gush Katif band. While I personally wear the orange band with pride (and think the ones who should be ashamed are YNET and those who expelled the Jews from GK) but the picture is telling and damning as far as YNET is concerned. Yet another attempt to dismiss the religious as only "right-wing" extremists. Shame again, on YNET.

[ how do you call it ? ] muslim girls wear ? They can also go to a State school in Israel i presume . If they want to put on their tefilin , why don't they do it at home , Beth Knesseth ? And if they are religious , why are'nt they going to a State religious school ? There no problems . Regarding Jewish education , YES , our children have to know it , but not brainwashed by a chabad or charidi teacher .

B"H To Chaya Shitay: Head of Education and Culture for the City of Modiin I'm shocked and horrified that a high school in Modiin would forbid children from donning Tefillin on school grounds as reported at http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3603614,00.html I would like to inform you that forbiding a mitzvah is a grave anti-Jewish act and there is halacha (Jewish Law) on the punishment for this crime. Please act swiftly to overturn this evil decree and allow free public expression of our national and religious traditions in the Land of Israel. Thank you

I came to Israel from the former Soviet Union 19 years ago. Before applying for the exit visa I started to take interest in my Jewish heritage and started to wear publicly a kippa (sculcap). Nobody reproached me and nobody threatened to fire me from work. Mind, that was during the communist regime. Now I see that Judaism was more respected by the atheistic Soviet authorities than in this so called "Jewish" state.

There is a time and place for everything. If putting on teffilin is so important to a student, he can get up early and go to synagogue. The situation as presented in the article seems to me to be the attempt of a student to proselytize in a secular school. Such behavior is destructive and obstructive. Let the principal manage her own school Butt out, if your kid does not attend the school it is none of your business!

I'm proud to be a secular Israeli Jew . What would you say if children in a religious school came there without "tsitsit" , or refuse to pray ? Do you think that only religious Jews have Jewish values ? Do you think that you , religious man , is more respected in the world ? And finally , who has more Jewish values , a secular who defends his country , or a "yeshiva" boucher . Who has more Jewish values , a secular as i am , who made Alyah , or a religious one in a faraway country ? גמר חתימה טובה לך

I understand that you do not use the child's name as he might be under age. But the principal and the Municipal worker who answered you are old enough to be named and blamed for their behavior. Time to protest at that school

Don't you get it.? It's a secular school. There is no framework or provision for prayer in such a school. A group of 20 boys who want to make a minyan do need supervision.. Imagine that same group of twenty kids thundering through the school entering the class fifteen minutes late. It's unfair to the teachers and the other students. And on test days do these kids get extended time to make up for prayer time. The principal was doing her job by maintaining order within her school. If those boys want to pray, they should study at a religious school.

These kids should simply be educated. After waking up in the morning one puts on Tfillin and then davens shahrit, then you take off the tfillin and have breakfast and then go to school and start the day. They should each be bought an alarm clock. It's simple. How would one react to a child coming to school in pyjamas and eating cornflakes in class because he got up late or demanding to have a shower at school. It's the same principle. These children need to be taught time management. The principle is correct, it's nothing to do with religion.

i've checked with City Hall and it's all cool. the kids ARE allowed to use their tefillin. the only thing they are not allowed to do is go around asking other kids to do the same. there is no discrimination here. there was a slight misunderstanding in the article. no need to burn anyone in effigy !!

Nobody threatenet you ? And after applying for an exit visa , you were not fired ? Judaism more respected in the USSR ? by not allowing any import of prayer books ? by not allowing Hebrew lessons ?

and put on the serving table for "piece negotiations" we too will "butt out" since our kids dont go to school in golan and we dont live in golan so i guess its none of our business whats going on there. LOOOVE yo "i m my brother's keeper" logic--with jews like u we dont really need enemies

Arielush, why do you assume these kids are late for class? It doesn't take so long to daven. Why the assumption that 20 kids will want to form a minyan? Why the assertion that if they want to daven, they have to go to religious school? I know plenty of people who aren't dati by definition, who pray every morning, yet would be extremely uncomfortable in a religious school. These kids weren't proselytizing, if I understand the article correctly. They were not asking for the school to make space for them; they were using space already unoccupied. They were not asking the school to make a time for prayer for them; they were using their own free time. All in all, it sounds like they were not disrupting anyone or anything by davening. This is Israel, a Jewish state, whether you're religious or not. Everybody has the right to pray (or not to pray), regardless of your level of observance or your religion. Nobody has the right to tell you not to pray.

It is *not* a secular school. There is nothing in it that defines it as a specifically secular school. It is, first and foremost, simply a *public* school! And like I've already said, we don't live in a country where pure secular and public schools are synonymous. We do not live in France. We do not live in Turkey. And we most certainly don't live in a Communist country, thank heavens. The general public schooling system accepts *everyone*, just like the army does later on, Ariel. And just like the army makes allowances for religious soldiers who serve with everyone, and just like the various public service branches of the government respect the religions of people working in them, so must the public school system. Get it yet? And this is *without* the sheer absurdity of denying Jews their religious rights, in their own public schools, in their own Jewish country. There is *no* requirement to send children to a fully religious school simply because they want to observe *one* of their basic religious traditions during their break. And no one in the school has the right to deny that to them in their *free time* in the school, because we do *not* have laws or regulations that *enforce* secularism in the schools, and hopefully never will. If these kids should become more observant, then maybe a religious school would become a more suitable environment for them - but that's *their* choice, and the choice of their parents, not that of their principal. The general public schools of Israel haven't the right to deny a student based on cultural or religious grounds. *that*, at least, is a law we *do* have. Do note the difference.

Aliza, Everyone has the right to pray. But nothing is more delicate than the balance of order in a school. Kids are always looking for an opening to be disruptive or get out of class. As I see it, dobbining is some you do, right after you get up. There is no reason they should bring it into a school. As for the photocopy room, usually in the early hours of the morning it is the busiest room in the school.