Discrimination accusation levelled at Moriah College

ZIONIST youth movement Netzer has launched a petition against Moriah College claiming the school is “discriminating” against the group, by barring them from canvassing on campus and participating in school events.

The Sydney group, which is the youth arm of the Progressive Jewish movement, set up the online petition on May 12, describing Moriah’s position as “concerning” given that it is the “only youth movement prohibited from acting within college grounds”.

The petition had already collected 590 signatures from across Australia, and even as far as Israel, at the time of going to press.

But Moriah president Roger Kaye defended the school’s position.

“Moriah College has always operated within its modern-Orthodox Zionist ethos. It is the longstanding policy of Moriah College not to allow Netzer … to promote its activities on our campus because their religious platform is in conflict with Moriah’s ethos,” he told The AJN.

“This is not the case with the other four Zionist youth movements [Habonim Dror, Betar, Bnei Akiva and Hashomer Hatzair] … which either do not have a religious platform or have a religious platform that is aligned with Moriah’s.”

But it appears that Moriah is alone on this one.

The AJN understands that other modern-Orthodox schools in Melbourne and Sydney do grant Netzer access to their campuses.

“[Moriah’s policy] is not fair,” said Netzer head Bella Williams, who decided to start the petition after the group’s letter to the school, requesting to discuss the matter, went unanswered.

“The school thinks of Netzer as not Jewish or religious enough, and the board is not willing to talk to us or hear us out.”

Despite their different religious ideologies, Williams emphasised that Netzer share similar aims with Australia’s biggest Jewish school.

“The Gen08 survey showed that students attending Jewish day schools are being ‘jewed out’ and removing themselves from the community,” she said. “It is the movement’s aims to keep them as part of the Jewish community. We urge Moriah and the rest of the community to focus on what unites us instead of what divides us.”

Ultimately, she added, it should be up to the students to decide. “They should be allowed to make their own minds up,” she said.

The Union for Progressive Judaism (UPJ) has come out in support of the petition.

“Given that Moriah is such an outstanding institution that is committed to creating thinking, independent Jews, it seems shocking that they would ban a Zionist youth group from campus because they don’t like the brand of Judaism they practise, “said UPJ executive director Steve Denenberg. “It’s time for Netzer to receive support from the community for such a simple request.”

To view Netzer’s petition, visit www.petitionbuzz.com/petitions/ netzermoriah.

CHANTAL ABITBOL

Photo: Giselle Haber