Supreme Court of the United States

The Supreme Court heard oral arguments Wednesday morning in Carson v. Makin, a case centering on the constitutionality of public funding of religious education. Following the arguments, activists and observers expect the justices to further broaden public funding of religious education, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.

Crux of the matter: At issue is whether Maine can bar students in rural areas without public school districts from receiving public assistance to attend parochial schools. The state provides families in such areas with funding to find schooling, but excludes sectarian schools.

Making the case: Michael Bindas, the attorney representing the plaintiffs — parents suing Maine over the rule — argued that “Maine’s sectarian exclusion discriminates based on religion. Like all discrimination based on religion, it should be subjected to strict scrutiny and held unconstitutional.”

Flip side: Maine’s Chief Deputy Attorney General Christopher Taub responded that under the program, the state is essentially “outsourc[ing]” public education to private schools. “Maine has determined that as a matter of public policy, public education should be religiously neutral,” Taub said. “The petitioners want an entirely different benefit, instruction designed to instill religious beliefs at taxpayer expense. They are not being discriminated against. They simply are not being offered a benefit that no family in Maine is entitled to.” U.S. Deputy Solicitor General Malcolm Stewart also argued in defense of the Maine law.

In agreement: Caroline Mala Corbin, a law professor at the University of Miami specializing in the First Amendment’s speech and religion clauses who opposes a ruling for the petitioners, told JI she expects the court to rule in the parents’ favor. “A lot of the justices seemed to be harping on this idea that any time you deny money to a religious organization it is discrimination against religion,” Corbin said. Other Jewish groups such as the Anti-Defamation League, National Council of Jewish Women, Union for Reform Judaism and Women of Reform Judaism filed an amicus brief supporting the Maine law.

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Constance Milstein attends the reception for 2014 Nobel Peace Prize Winner Kailash Satyarthi at Brasserie Ruhlmann on March 16, 2015, in New York City.

President Joe Biden announced the nomination of philanthropist and businesswoman Constance Milstein to serve as ambassador to Malta on Wednesday, Jewish Insider’s Melissa Weiss reports. Milstein, the daughter of New York real estate developer Seymour Milstein, has an extensive resume spanning the business and philanthropic worlds. With her brother, Philip Milstein, she co-founded Ogden CAP Properties, a New York residential real estate company.

Political pull: Milstein is a longtime donor to Democratic causes, according to the Federal Election Commission, having made hundreds of donations to candidates and Democrat-affiliated committees in recent decades. She’s also supported the campaigns of some Republicans, including former Sens. Bob Corker (R-TN) and John McCain (R-AZ), as well as Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK). Days after the 2020 Democratic National Convention, Milstein made a contribution of $725,000 to the Biden Victory Fund.

Military might: The philanthropist, a founding member of Blue Star Families, served in the Obama administration as a civilian aide to the secretary of the Army, after decades of work supporting U.S. servicemembers. In 2011, she co-founded Dog Tag Bakery, which employs and provides opportunities for injured servicemembers, their families and caregivers. Biden and former President Barack Obama made a surprise visit to the Washington bakery in 2018. In November 2020, Kamala Harris, then the vice president-elect, visited the bakery on Veterans Day with her husband, Doug Emhoff.

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Passengers arrive to Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport in Lod, east of Tel Aviv, on November 28, 2021.

A near-blanket ban on entry to Israel for foreign nationals due to the spread of the Omicron COVID-19 variant is occurring against the backdrop of two large-scale international events taking place this week, with hundreds of participants from multiple countries afforded a special exemption to enter, Jewish Insider’s Ruth Marks Eglash reports.

Background: On Wednesday, the 10th Flag Football World Championships, with 39 teams from 21 countries, wrapped up three days of games with a medal ceremony in Jerusalem. On Sunday, the 70th Miss Universe beauty pageant is set to take place in Eilat, with the 80 participants spending the weeks leading up to the event touring the country for photo ops.

Relatives banned: The ongoing ban and uncertainty about Israel’s borders remaining open has been especially hard for relatives of immigrants to the country. Making the case for easing COVID travel restrictions for relatives of immigrants in a country “that values and encourages aliyah,” former Knesset member Michal Cotler-Wunsh told JI, “There are considerations that must be factored in as part of decision-making processes in advance, not in retrospect and in individual, reactive, ‘exceptional’ cases… There must be a separate category, with clear and transparent policies and consistent implementation. Families of immigrants are not tourists or exceptions; they are the rule.”

Safe travel: “I love sports and I am thrilled that Israel is hosting this championship, but doing so proves that we aren’t truly afraid of this new variant and there are ways to allow people into Israel in a safe manner,” said Dov Lipman, another former Knesset member and founder of Yad L’Olim, an organization that has been actively pushing the government to reconsider its entry policy. “Our leaders clearly have no idea how much pain they are causing immigrants, their families and global Jewry with entry bans and draconian rules.”

Bennett’s message: In a letter sent Wednesday to the top leadership of the Jewish Federations of North America, Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett appeared to recognize the frustration felt by those hoping to travel to Israel, explaining, “We did not take this decision lightly, and we are acutely aware of the severe hardship and disruption it is causing people around the world, particularly members of the Jewish community.” He continued: “I deeply regret any pain felt by you and those in your community, who are cherished members of our global Jewish family. The close relationship between Israel and world Jewry is a fundamental value of the State of Israel, and remains a cornerstone of my government’s policy, despite my having to take this step.”

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Stav Shaffir

Former Knesset member Stav Shaffir rose to prominence in 2011 as a leader of social justice protests that quickly spread across the country. A decade later, and after seven years in the Knesset, Shaffir is taking on an issue that is even more personal, reports Hannah Brown for eJewishPhilanthropy. Shaffir has gathered a group of families who are proposing an ambitious program that will support lifelong learning for people with autism, like her sister Shir.

A quiet revolution: Shaffir’s efforts are one of two parallel initiatives spearheaded by parents and family members in recent months that aim to provide more opportunities for adults with autism. They’re a part of a quiet revolution that could transform and enrich the lives of autistic people, making it possible for them to become more integrated into the mainstream community and to lead more productive and fulfilling lives. In Israel, individuals with autism “age out” of state-provided education programs upon reaching adulthood. With no pipeline to continued educational and vocational opportunities, many experience a deteriorating quality of life, and the stresses of caretaking are put on their loved ones.

On campus: The program Shaffir is seeking to build will create centers on university campuses, where individuals with autism will learn part-time, to the best of their ability in individual programs that will be run using university resources. They will also have an occupational component that will involve working alongside mainstream students, under the supervision of special-needs professionals. Work options might include gardening and recycling, services a campus needs, Shaffir said, and the courses of study would vary, depending on the interests and abilities of each person. She started a fundraising campaign to build the Shira Center to cover the expenses that the government and the universities are not able to absorb. To date, they have raised over NIS 650,000 (about $210,000) of their goal of one million shekels from over 3,000 donors.

Changing the system: Emanuel Cohen, 56, a Jerusalem father whose 22-year-old son has autism, recently went on a hunger strike outside the Knesset to draw attention to the problem. In a demonstration in October after he had been on the strike nearly three weeks, he appealed to Prime Minister Naftali Bennett and Social Welfare Minister Meir Cohen to change the system. “Once people with autism turn 21, they are pushed out of a helicopter,” he said, and given almost no services. Speakers at the demonstration — many of them parents like Cohen — described how the meaningless, repetitive work and lack of mental stimulation cause many people on the autism spectrum to deteriorate, noting that they sometimes become so frustrated they lash out violently against others and also harm themselves.

Budgeting needs: While they did not receive the increase of NIS 2000 ($645) per month per person that they had requested, the government did approve a NIS 1000 ($322) per month increase for stipends for those who have more severe autism, as well as 80 new training courses for staff members — many of whom currently receive little to no training — and the establishment of a commission on occupational and educational frameworks which includes parents. For people like Shaffir and Cohen, failure in this quest is not an option. “When they do something they are passionate about, it wakes them up,” said Shaffir, who noted that growing up with a sister on the spectrum fostered in herself a sense of empathy. “When we close our eyes to people who need more support, we are weaker as a society.”

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