The Tipping Point

“The film was enough to make your blood boil. Bearded hassidim talking about how it was God’s will to spit on little girls who didn’t follow the dress code.”

“No woman should wait to hear the last kaddish for the obvious reason that women should make their exit before the men, lest they mingle with them… No woman aged less than forty should attend the synagogue for the afternoon and evening services…whether on a weekday or on the Sabbath, with the exception of the New Year and the Day of Atonement.” New regulations in Beit Shemesh? It wouldn’t be hard to believe. But actually, the above paragraph refers to regulations adopted by the Jerusalem Rabbinate in 1854 and is taken …

…continue reading The Tipping Point

Bleak House – The Sordid Story of the Michal Tal Case

“I have finally received some measure of belated justice, and I would like to believe that more will come.”

Last week, after five long years of my being dragged through the courts, defamed, libeled and slandered, Israel’s Supreme Court issued a ruling in the Michal Tal case that stated: “There is not and never was any basis whatsoever for any claim of plagiarism or copyright infringement brought against Naomi Ragen in the Jerusalem District Court.”

Far from a mere technical victory, this ruling was an acknowledgement by Tal’s own children, one of whom is a lawyer, who had attended the court sessions and listened to testimony throughout, that this case was frivolous and baseless. For had they had the slightest …

…continue reading Bleak House – The Sordid Story of the Michal Tal Case

More about “Copyright Infringement”

Dr. Michael Factor is an expert in intellectual property law in Israel. He has a blog in which he writes about cases involving copyright infringement.  He has just read all 92 pages of the recent judgment against me in the Sarah Shapiro case, and has posted his conclusions, which are very favorable to me. Thank you Michael!

Dr. Factor has confirmed what I have believed all along, that I have done nothing wrong, and given me hope that I will ultimately prevail in this case, as I prevailed in the Michal Tal case.

From Dr. Factor’s blog entry:

To find Ragen guilty, Judge Joseph Shapira performed legal gymnastics to have the case admitted at all, since there were strong grounds …

…continue reading More about “Copyright Infringement”

בית המשפט העליון קבע שהסופרת נעמי רגן לא העתיקה

בית המשפט העליון קיבל ביום 3/1/2012 את בקשתה של הסופרת נעמי רגן למתן פסק דין, לאחר שבית המשפט המחוזי בירושלים מחק את התביעה בעקבות מותה של התובעת, מיכל טל ז”ל.

פסק הדין, שאושר השבוע ע”י בית המשפט העליון (כב’ הנשיאה בייניש , כב’ השופט גרוניס וכב’ השופטת ארבל) דחה את התביעה ,וקבע כי “אין ולא היה כל יסוד לטענה כלשהי בדבר ביצוע של “העתקות” ו”הפרות” זכויות יוצרים אשר הועלו בתביעה כנגד  גב’ רגן בביהמ”ש המחוזי”.

בפברואר 2007, שלח עו”ד גלעד קורינאלדי מכתב לרגן שבו דרש “לפצות את מרשתי בגין הפרת זכויותיה ובגין רווחיך שהעשירו אותך שלא כדין בסכום ראוי ביותר” תוך “חמשה ימי חסד”, אחרת “מרשתי תגיש תביעה כספית (מיליוני שקלים)” …

…continue reading בית המשפט העליון קבע שהסופרת נעמי רגן לא העתיקה

Supreme Court Rules: Author Naomi Ragen Innocent of All Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement in Tal Case

The Supreme Court of Israel accepted the appeal of author Naomi Ragen for a verdict in the case brought against her by Michal Tal after the Jerusalem District Court vacated the case following Tal’s death. The verdict on Tuesday by Chief Justice Beinish and  Justices Gronis and Arbel, accepted the agreement reached by Ragen and Tal’s heirs, rejecting Tal’s case, stating that “There is not and never was any basis whatsoever for any claim of plagiarism or copyright infringement brought against Naomi Ragen in the Jerusalem District Court.”

In 2007, Tal’s lawyer, Gilad Corinaldi, sent Ragen a letter in which he demanded that Ragen “pay my client, in light of the copyright violation and the profits you have made from …

…continue reading Supreme Court Rules: Author Naomi Ragen Innocent of All Plagiarism and Copyright Infringement in Tal Case

Fed Up

Encouraged by my own uneventful ride on a once sex-segregated bus a few months ago, I thought the whole topic was dying down and we were miraculously learning to live and let live. Unfortunately, the story of Tanya Rosenblit has brought the reality of bullying fanaticism masquerading as religious piety roaring back into the headlines again, with greater force than ever.

Traveling to the Givat Shaul neighborhood in Jerusalem from her home in Ashdod, she’d boarded the 451 Egged bus from Rova 7 in Ashdod, which would leave her a five-minute walk from her destination. Innocently, she selected the seat behind the driver simply because she wanted to ask him when to get off.

The driver didn’t say anything. What …

…continue reading Fed Up

Naomi Ragen is an American-born novelist, playwright and journalist who has lived in Jerusalem since 1971 and who writes regularly to her mailing list about Israel and Jewish issues. Naomi has published eight internationally best selling novels, and is the author of a hit play (Women's Minyan) which has been performed more than 500 times in Israel's National Theatre (Habimah) as well as in the United States and Argentina. She is a tireless advocate for women's rights in Israel, campaigning against gender segregation on Israeli buses and bias in rabbinical courts.


Naomi is a sought-after lecturer all over the world. If your group is interested in hosting Naomi, please click here.
Women to the Back of the Bus!!
I Am Not Sitting in the Back of the Bus (published in the Jewish Chronicle on 23 Feb 2007) - Why, together with other women, I filed suit to put an end to the primitive and degrading gender-segregated bus lines now popping up all over Israel.

Read my original article about how I was attacked by a religious fanatic because I refused to move to the back (the "women's section") of a Jerusalem bus.

Read about an American woman beaten because she refused to move to the back of a Jerusalem bus.

Read my article explaining why segregated buses are just the latest crazy idea of fanatics with too much free time on their hands.

Read about haredi women who want to sit with their families and don't want to be forced to crowd together in the back of the bus.

Israel Bus Rule Sparks Religious Row - How the liberal western media perceive all this fanaticism.

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