LGBT families in Israel have significant protections: most marital law rights are granted to cohabiting couples, marriages are recognized, and second parent adoption is allowed, yet campaigns to allow civil union for same-sex couples or civil marriage for all couples have been stalled, surrogacy for gay men is disallowed, and dissolution disputes have no certain venue for adjudication. Exploring the complexities of LGBT family law offers a wonderful opportunity for lawyers, judges and advocates in the US –Jewish or otherwise – to experience a unique dimension of Israeli law and society, and to meet some of the true pioneers in LGBT advocacy.
The tour will be hosted by Frederick Hertz, an attorney and author based in the San Francisco area, and Elizabeth Schwartz, a family law attorney leading the fight for LGBT rights in Florida. The program will include a series of pre-tour phone-in classes on Israeli family law and LGBT advocacy, and a week of half-day meetings in February with Israeli lawyers handling surrogacy cases and same-sex dissolutions, civil rights advocates, and scholars and activists working on the core issues in this emerging field. Participants are encouraged to spend additional days on their own (or with other participants) in Israel, or visiting nearly Petra.
There will be no charge for the educational programs, and continuing educational credits will be provided courtesy of the National LGBT Bar Foundation. The tour will occur immediately following the Tel Aviv conference of Men Having Babies.
The study program is scheduled to take place the week of February 15-20, 2015, with 4 days in Tel Aviv and 2 days in Jerusalem.
The gay surrogacy group Men Having Babies will convene its 2015 conference in Tel Aviv February 12-14, and we encourage participants to attend that conference before our program. Click here for further information about their most recent conference. We will keep you posted on their 2015 conference.
In order for you to recover from jet lag we encourage you to arrive in Israel no later than Friday, February 13th. Once we know everyone's schedules we will propose activities for those who may wish to arrive early in Israel. Based upon the survey results, we are planning a post-program cultural/food/art tour of Jerusalem, followed by a short visit to northern Israel (possibly to Haifa, Akko & Sfat).
Please let us know your schedule as soon as you have made your flight reservations, and let us know if you are interested in joining any pre- or post-program activities with us.
Keep in mind that the "weekend" in Israel runs from Friday afternoon through Saturday night, with many facilities (especially in Jerusalem) closed on Saturday, and Sunday being the first day of the business week. While it can be rainy and a bit cold, February is a great time to experience the cultural scene of Tel Aviv and the historic monuments of Jerusalem, and to relax in Eilat or travel to Jordan to visit Petra. We have both traveled extensively in the region and would be happy to talk with you about potential itineraries and hotels.
The program will offer 15 hours of CLE credit, and will be qualified for each state's program – courtesy of our friends at the National LGBT Bar Association. If you haven’t already done so, please send Fred an email with your name, state of residence, and state bar number to obtain CLE credit for the programs.
We will convene in Tel Aviv the evening of Saturday February 14, with our first educational program starting at 9 a.m. on Sunday morning. The Tel Aviv programs will take place at the Brown Hotel on February 15, 16, 17, and 18, and the Jerusalem programs will be near our hotel on February 19 and 20, with a farewell reception on Friday evening the 20th. The detailed schedule can be found below.
We will be co-hosting a networking event with attendees of the Men Having Babies group on Friday evening, February 13th. Click here for Information about their conference. Please be in touch with me if you wish to attend either day of their conference or the networking event.
We have assembled a terrific assortment of optional activities, some of which are specifically focused on LGBT issues, and others are events we believe will interest you. Most are at no cost, and for those that have a cost you will be able to pay your own fees at the time of the event. There will be numerous times in Tel Aviv and in Jerusalem for you to visit the museums on your own, so we have not listed them as group optional activities.
The tentative schedule is as follows (all CLE programs starting at 9 am):
OPTIONAL PRE-PROGRAM EVENTS
Friday, February 13, Tel Aviv
- 10am-1pm; 1:30-3:30pm: Men Having Babies Conference at the LGBT Center [click here for conference program in English]
- 6-7:30 pm: Networking reception with MHB participants at the Brown Hotel
- 8:30pm: Friday night dinner, location TBD
Saturday, February 14, Tel Aviv
- 10 am – 1 pm: Men Having Babies Conference, at the LGBT Center
OFFICIAL PROGRAM EVENTS
Saturday, February 14, Tel Aviv
- 6pm: Welcome reception at Brown Hotel
Sunday, February 15, Tel Aviv
- 9am: Session on marriage, relationship recognition, contracts and mediation
- Noon: (Optional) Report from MHB conference, speaker from gay fathers group
- Afternoon activities: On Your Own
(TA Museum of Art; North Port Area; Carmel Market)
- 6:30pm: Group dinner at Oasis
- Evening activity: Cultural event with Yoav Shamir
Monday, February 16, Tel Aviv
- 9am: Session on family formation, parentage & surrogacy
- 11:30am: Participant presentations
- 1pm: Optional afternoon activities (Jaffa Museums, Group Food Tour)
- 5pm: Meeting with Judge Esther Stein, Family Court, and Judge Dori Spivak, gay judge, Labor Court
- 7pm: Group Dinner at Yahaloma
Tuesday, February 17, Tel Aviv
- 9am: Session on dissolution, civil & family court jurisdiction
- 11:30am: Participant presentations
- 1pm: Lunch gathering at LGBT Center, with representatives of Agudah, hosted by San Francisco Jewish Federation
- Afternoon activities: On your own
(Jaffa museums)
- 7pm: Evening reception, discussion on gay refugee issues with filmmaker Yariv Moser & ORAM ED's Neil Grungras at Neil's apartment
Wednesday, February 18, Tel Aviv and Jerusalem
- 9am: Session on transgender rights, activism
- 10:30am: Session on legislation/impact litigation
- 11:30am: Participant presentations
- 2 pm: travel to Jerusalem, check in at Harmony Hotel
- 4pm: (optional) Visit to Old City Jerusalem
- 7pm: Group dinner at Satya
Thursday, February 19, Jerusalem
- 8am: (optional) Breakfast and Discussion of LGBT courses and faculty at Hebrew University, with HU student Noam Herzog
- 9:30am: Jerusalem Open House: the Jerusalem communities, LGBT activism, religious issues
- Noon: Lunch at Tmol Shilshom, discussion of parenting & surrogacy issues
- Afternoon & evening activities: On Your Own
- 6pm: Meeting in the Harmony Hotel Lounge with Yiscah Smith, a transwoman who was formerly an orthodox rabbi and is now an author and activist
- 9pm: Chava Alberstein at the Jerusalem Theater
Friday, February 20, Jerusalem
- 9am: Breakfast meeting with Sarah Weil, lesbian Orthodox activist at the Harmony Hotel Lounge
- 10am-5pm: On Your Own (Tour of Yad Vashem; Israel museum; Machane Yehuda Market)
- 5pm: Kabbalat Shabbat Dinner with Orthodox LGBT community at Jerusalem Open House, sponsored by Greater Miami Jewish Federation
- 8:00 pm: Farewell reception at Harmony Hotel
OPTIONAL POST-PROGRAM EVENTS
Saturday, February 21
- West Bank Tour
Sunday, February 22
- 9:00am: Jerusalem Old City Tour
Elizabeth and Fred are covering their own expenses and are not being compensated for their time. The San Francisco and Greater Miami Jewish Federations are helping out with logistics, arrangements, and making connections for us.
We have made arrangements for discounted hotel rooms at the Brown Hotel in Tel Aviv and the Harmony Hotel in Jerusalem. In order to receive the discounted rooms you will have to reserve a room by November 1st – and we will send you details prior to that date on making your own reservation. The cost will be about $200 per night, including breakfast, and there may be a few lower cost single rooms available at the Brown Hotel. If you are interested in sharing a room with another participant, let us know and we will put you in touch with those who want to share a room.
Participants will pay their travel and meal expenses. The estimated costs for a week in Israel are: airfare ($1,500), 7 nights hotel (including breakfast, $1,500), lunches and dinners ($400), and transportation within Israel ($100), for a total of approximately $3,500.
There will be no cost for the educational programs or to receive CLE credits. However, we will be asking our participants to contribute approximately $250 to a fund to cover small honoraria to our Israeli presenters. We will provide more details about this request once we know if we have raised any funds to cover these expenses and we know how many participants are joining the tour. We will be arranging for the shared expenses (i.e. lunches as part of the program, chartered van transportation within Israel, a few group dinners, and possibly some other group events, plus the speaker honoraria), and we will need for you to send in your share of these estimated expenses no later than November 1st. We will provide you details on this in a few months as our plans firm up.
Expenses may be tax-deductible as an educational expense.
In order to keep costs to a minimum, we do not plan to hire a tour organizer for this program, except for a few optional afternoon tours. We will provide you with a list of optional activities in the fall, and we'll ask for a commitment (and payment) at that time from those who wish to participate. Each of you will need to arrange your own travel and hotel reservations, and be responsible for your own travel and most of your meals within Israel. We will provide everyone with ample information about transportation and restaurants within Israel, and we will organize transportation to those sessions that are not taking place at the hotel. Please feel free to contact Fred or Liz with your questions about travel to Israel, and we will also include time for these questions at the end of our background educational presentation this fall.
There is ample bus and train service between Tel Aviv and Jerusalem, and between the airport and Tel Aviv, so there is no reason to rent a car while you are in Tel Aviv and Jerusalem. It is easy to rent a car or use public transportation for your touring before or after the program, and we can give you suggestions for these options. (Note: there is no public transportation on Saturdays and taxis charge a "Shabbat" premium, so plan your arrival and departure accordingly).