The court will have more than one Hearing, because the municipality contests the church's claim that the dismissal was unlawful. The church has called upon Christian believers all around the world to pray for the case which they consider as a "landmark legal proceeding, set to defend the right of Israeli Christians to fair employment opportunities.

In their plea,the church emphasized that Mr. Bern " is a firm and faithful member of our congregation. If the court upholds his rights, it will uphold those of all Christians in the country".

The story started when Yad Le?Achim (an Orthodox Jewish anti -missionary organization) began last year to apply pressure on the Petach Tivka (a town in the center of the country) municipality in order to obtain the dismissal of Ze?ev Bern, a computer and computer systems technician serving the municipality?s schools. Mr. Bern has an excellent professional reputation and he is much esteemed by the school principals he served, as well as by all his co-workers.

After pressuring him by various means in hope of obtaining his resignation, Mr. Bern was finally dismissed from his job due to his religious beliefs and in spite of his professional performance. Needless to say, he had never used his contact with the children at school in order to promote his religious views.

As a result of the dismissal,the church decided to bring the issue before the Israeli courts and the congregation voted:

1. To oppose the unlawful dismissal of one of our members by all legal procedures including getting maximal punitive damages, so as to render further such dismissals unlikely.

2. To fund the legal battle from the church's severely limited resources.

3. To assist the Bern family (Ze?ev, Rita and their two children) to feed themselves and meet their financial obligations until alternative employment is found.

4. To fund these expenses by increasing congregants? weekly contributions to the best of each family's abilities, and beyond current undertakings to the church.

"Come and See" editor notes that the ruling in Mr. Bern's will set a precedent that will have implications and that their is a good chance of getting a favorable one if the facts are proven due to the progressive nature of the employment laws in Israel.


Visit Mr. Bern's church's web-site at http://www.graceandtruthbulletin.org/