It is demeaning enough to be on unemployment benefit. But to be refused help simply because of religious observance is discrimination, plain and simple. Observant Jews in Manchester were told that they could not have Jobseeker’s Allowance if they refused to work on Shabbat. No longer. Thanks to a campaign by local MP Ivan Lewis, Jewish employment charity JCom and pressure from the media — not least the JC — the government has put new guidelines in place. There is one caveat to the good news: Jewish festivals have been overlooked. That, too, should be corrected.
