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set a minimum for mandatory studies – Hebrew language, history, sciences and the like, and shall supervise that this minimum is met, but will grant full freedom to every stream to manage education according to its conviction and shall avoid any infringement upon religious conscience.
Respectfully, on behalf of the Jewish Agency,
D. Ben-Gurion, Rabbi Y.L. Fishman, Y. Gruenbaum
Ben-Gurion was Chairman of the Executive, Rabbi Fishman represented, as stated, the "Mizrachi" in the Executive and Gruenbaum was the representative of the General Zionist Party.
This document, known as the "Status Quo Document" (although the words "status quo" do not appear in it), constitutes the keystone in the complex structure of life in Israel since its establishment. It was another "tenant" of the National Institutions Building who contributed the words status quo to the definition of the document, shortly after it was drafted. This was Zerach Warhaftig, the representative of "Hapoel HaMizrachi" on the Executive of the Jewish National Council and the Head of its Legal Committee. Warhaftig would eventually become a Knesset Member and Minister of Religions on behalf of Mafdal.
Status quo, for those who do not know, means maintaining the existing situation, and in this case – with regards to religious life in the state. It was the foundation upon which heaps of interpretations and guidelines were constructed, which direct our life to a large extent.
Equally interesting is what the document omits: The issue of transportation on Sabbath, the drafting of yeshiva students and the service of women in the army. Neither does it mentioned issues such as violation of the Sabbath or non-observance of Kosher laws in the public space.
Finally, a minor issue that has been forgotten over the years: Despite acceptance of the "Status Quo Document," the leader of "Agudat Yisrael" Rabbi Yitzhak Meir Levin did eventually appear before the UNSCOP Committee, although in his statements he addressed the religious aspects more than political aspects.
And yours shall be a Hebrew name!
During the first years of the state, Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion had used any possible pulpit to call upon Israelis with foreign names to change them to Hebrew names. He demanded this first and foremost from IDF officers, emissaries and athletes travelling abroad and the state's representatives. It turns out, there was someone who beat him to it: The President of the Jewish National Council Yitzhak Ben-Zvi had approached the members of the Executive of the Jewish National Council in 1946 and 1947 and tried to convince them to adopt Hebrew names. And so he wrote on November 6, 1947, when the bells of the historic UN Resolution were already ringing:
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