Tel Aviv University (Photo: Shatterstock)
A Tel Aviv Magistrate’s Court judge has decided to put an end to one of the things that excludes kosher observers at social and business events as part of their work. In a ruling in principle given yesterday (Monday), the judge accepted a lawsuit by a knitted student against Tel Aviv University, for prohibited discrimination on the grounds of religion.
Adi Deutsch, a student in the University’s Faculty of Management, was invited to meetings of university students with foreign students in non-kosher restaurants, time after time. Deutsche requested that at least some of the events be held in kosher restaurants, but the university ignored his repeated requests.
“Attempt to impose food type on participants from China…”
In the ruling, Judge Barkai states that in ignoring the assessments of the events in kosher restaurants, the university discriminated against kosher students, in an abusive manner, without exercising discretion, while belittling and lashing out at their requests for consideration. In response to Deutsch’s request, he was told at the university, in an angry response, quoted by him in which she slammed the plaintiff that he wanted to “please only your personal needs.”
It was also written to him that the demand for kosher food is from “an attempt to impose the type of food on the participants from China” and even claimed before him “to remind you that about a quarter of the country’s citizens are not Jews but are equal citizens” (a strange claim. The filing of Deutsch’s lawsuit, too, was finally defined by the university as an act of bullying.
The court ruled that “the university was so disrespectful to the plaintiff’s inquiries that it responded with an outrageous letter” and that “his religious background request for kosher food is not so unfounded, certainly not in a country where most Jewish citizens like Muslims are aware of the limitations of eating kosher food.” “The university provided a public service while excluding anyone who adheres to the rules of kashrut, ie the rules of the Jewish and Muslim religions.” And that the exclusion was made “while completely ignoring kosher considerations.”
Deutsch has demanded 100,000 compensation for the discrimination, and a restraining order prohibiting the university from discriminating between students and holding events in non-kosher restaurants.
NIS 45,000 compensation for a student
The judge did not issue a restraining order because it was an “administrative intervention at the discretion of the university in the management of its activities.” But despite avoiding a principled determination, he ruled that the university’s refusal to schedule some meetings at kosher restaurants is discrimination. The court ruled that the university aborted the plaintiff on four different occasions at events held at different restaurants, turning time and time again and asking for her consideration. A court ruled that “the possibility of looking for a kosher restaurant in the Tel Aviv area to which the Jewish and Muslim students could be invited did not even consider the burden of observance.” Beyond these important and important rulings, the court awarded the plaintiff compensation due to his discrimination in the amount of NIS 30,000 and legal expenses in the amount of NIS 15,000.
Adv. Assaf Benmelech, a partner in the firm of Ben Tzur Korb & Co. and chairman of the Torah and Labor Trustees Movement, representing the plaintiff, responded: “To request that some of the events held as part of his studies be held in a kosher place. The court today corrected the distortion and conveyed an extremely important message.”
A response has not yet been received from Tel Aviv University and it will be attached when it is received
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