BELARUS NEWS AND ANALYSIS

DATE:

14/06/2006

Belarus Jewish school under political pressure

A Jewish kindergarten in Belarus was forced to remove Jewish symbols from classrooms after a prosecutor accused the teacher of violating the country's religious law.

The prosecutor says Lyudmila Izakson-Bolotovskaya violated the law by holding Jewish religious celebrations inside the school, which is located in a government building in the city of Mogilev.

The prosecutor's action came after recent Purim celebrations in the kindergarten, which featured a children's Jewish musical group, were shown on local television news.

Prosecutors argued that Izakson-Bolotovskaya, who also leads the music group, violated the children's rights, and that television coverage of the event illegally propagated Judaism. The teacher was warned that she might be prosecuted if the actions are repeated.

According to local Jewish leaders, menorahs and Stars of David were removed from the kindergarten.

Source:

http://jta.org/page_view_breaking_story.asp?intid=3103