Stockholm – Sweden’s unemployment agency has been found guilty of discrimination for expelling a Muslim man from a job training program because he refused to shake hands with a woman.
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A Stockholm court Monday ordered the Public Employment Service to pay 50,000 kronor ($6,700) in damages to an immigrant from Bosnia who lost his jobless benefits when he was kicked out of the program.
Citing his faith, the man had refused to shake hands with a woman when he was interviewing for an internship. The agency said his behavior was part of the reason he didn’t get the position, and decided to exclude him from the program.
The court ruled that the man was discriminated against because of his religion. It wasn’t immediately clear whether the ruling would be appealed.
it is a yehareg va’al yavor!
Continental Europeans are so anti-religion and anti-Islam it’s disgusting.
If this was a Jewish person, all of the anti-Torah commenters here would be saying, “This is America, compromise! It’s not really so bad! He should’ve shaken her hand, ‘cuz it’s not Derech Chibah!” Let’s see what directions they take this time.
“…ordered to pay $6,700 in damages to who lost his jobless benefits…”
This is craaazy!
He was getting benefits to be unemployed, but because he lost them ( due to discrimination) he now gets damages as well!
Is it just me or has the world gone completely mad?!
Soon I think I’ll claim Unemployment damages and discrimination as there is no reason not to employ me without any valid reason!
What would you say if a Jewish man lost his job for refusing to shake a woman’s hand? Would you think it’s right? Of course not!
Hashem is doing us a favor by making a Muslim do the dirty work in a court case against discrimination of a person who doesn’t want to shake hands with a women. Many people think that this kind of negiyah is okay. If a Muslim was willing to keep this Halacha, we better recheck ourselves.
to # 3 and # 9:
#3: first of all, it is not “yehareg v’al yaavor”, i certainly hope you were joking, i am sure that if a man shook a womans hand in a business meeting and then tried to go further with it with any other tpye of touching, he would be brought up on charges for harassment.
#9: we should not keep a level of halacha because a muslim does it, and so we should “check ourselves” as you say.
we should keep halacha both because of our own levels of ‘ahavas hashem’, and our intellectual understanding of a matter based on the halachas in the shulchan aruch.
we do not take examples on our law from the customs of other nations. taking on such a ‘chumra’ because you saw a muslim doing it is NO DIFFERENT than getting a certain haircut because you saw it amongst the non jews, remember, the ‘lav’ of ‘chukas hagoyim lo saileichu’ is both on the leniencies and on the stringencies
as with any issue, you should open up a shulchan aruch, look at the m’chaber, rema, shach and taz or other nosei keilim, go see what the tur, beis yosef, darchei moshe have to say, then the rambam, and then back into the gemaras mentioned by the beis yosef.
I agree with #9 . Though I still think, as a frum Jewish woman, that when I explain in short to a goy, attractive or not, that I can’t shake his hand “for religious reasons…”. They understand and are respectful. People should not be afraid to stand up for what’s right, even if it’s NOT like #3 said…
stupid europeans. this is whaat they are all like. snotty, stuck, spoiled, anti-religous bratz