About the blog

Regev Responds

President of Hiddush, Rabbi Uri Regev, gives his views on the topics that are most affecting Israel's campaign to establish religious fairness and equality.

Tools

Users: Login

Text size: A | A | A

Search:

Search Tips

North American lawyers address the new government

Uri Regev 30/11/2022 01:00

On November 30, JPLAN, a network of Jewish lawyers, judges and legal scholars from North America (the Jewish Pluralism Legal Action Network, which works to strengthen Israel’s identity as a Jewish and democratic state in a manner that fully expresses freedom of religion and equality as promised in Israel’s Declaration of Independence) addressed the leaders of the parties currently working to form the new government.

Full Story »

More Stories

Inching closer to the next "Who is a Jew" explosion

Uri Regev 24/05/2018 13:59

This week, additional information leaked as to the nature of Moshe Nissim's recommendations regarding a new conversion bill. As our readers may remember, Moshe Nissim was appointed by PM Netanyahu to do damage control after Diaspora Jewry’s uproar last June when the government ceded to the demands of the ultra-Orthodox parties to pass a conversion bill aimed at preempting a pluralistic Supreme Court ruling in a pending case. This bill would further entrench the Orthodox monopoly over conversions performed in Israel.

Justice Silberman Abella speaks out against delegitimizing Israel's Court

Uri Regev 28/04/2018 22:43

Justice Rosalie Silberman Abella, the senior judge on the Supreme Court of Canada, delivered a lecture at a symposium with Justice Aharon Barak (former president of the Supreme Court of Israel) regarding the ongoing attempt among members of Israel's Coalition Government to delegitimize the reputation of the judiciary.

The conversion draft bill is a land mine!

Uri Regev 24/04/2018 11:36

"The minefields of Israel's religion and state arena and Israel-Diaspora relations will explode in the coming days," Rabbi Uri Regev responded to reports about the upcoming legislative initiative on conversion, based on the recommendations of former minister Moshe Nissim.

What does it mean for Israel to be a Jewish state?

Uri Regev 17/04/2018 11:59

Israeli Independence Day celebrations are almost upon us, and the divisions over the identity of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state are greater than ever before.

Israel’s Chief Rabbinate is a threat to Jewish unity and democracy

Uri Regev 28/03/2018 17:00

Last week, Israel’s Sephardic chief rabbi, Yitzhak Yosef, explained a point of ritual by likening a black child born to white parents to a “monkey.” Immediately following the publication of his racist remarks, a storm erupted. It was widely broadcast, including by JTA, Newsweek and the Palestinian media.

Chief rabbi calls black people ‘monkeys’

Uri Regev 21/03/2018 12:59

Rabbi Yitzhak Yosef uses pejorative term 'kushi' for African Americans in weekly sermon

What do draft-dodging and the national budget have in common?

Uri Regev 18/03/2018 14:19

The "draft-dodging" bill is being demanded by the ultra-Orthodox political parties, lest they topple the government and force new elections.

Masquerade Ball: Don't comply with the Haredi parties' demands

13/03/2018 10:49

The bill presented to the Ministerial Committee on Legislation is complex and full of words, but it can be boiled down to this: any yeshiva student who does not want to enlist will not be drafted into the IDF

Nearing the point of explosion!

Uri Regev 01/03/2018 20:36

"The storm is rising," I wrote recently. Now, I can definitely say that the situation is nearing the point of explosion! Also, this time, it is clear that the religion-state clash is an integral part of the approaching explosion.

Tzohar enters the kashrut certification market

Uri Regev 01/03/2018 20:24

An important chapter in the ongoing saga of religion and state has been written in Israel this week. In a widely covered press conference, the Zionist Orthodox Tzohar rabbinic organization announced that it is launching a kosher supervising entity that will compete with the Chief Rabbinate and offer the Israeli food industry an alternative supervision more convenient than that of the state.

Most Israelis favor revoking the rabbinical courts' monopoly

Uri Regev 27/02/2018 14:14

69% of the Israeli public supports revoking the monopoly of the rabbinical courts on Jewish personal status matters, supports the establishment of a parallel civil system, and supports alternative, lenient rabbinic courts as a solution to alleviate the phenomenon of agunot

Another nail in the Chief Rabbinate's coffin

Uri Regev 26/02/2018 13:04

Hiddush welcomes the announcement that Tzohar rabbis will be entering the kashrut certification market with its own private certification in direct competition with the Chief Rabbinate's state empowered monopoly. This religiously coercive monopoly is unparalleled in the democratic world.

The storm is rising

Uri Regev 15/02/2018 21:52

It seems that matters of ethics and the moral, appropriate behavior of Israel’s political leadership (in which the ancient prophets of Israel showed great interest), don't interest the Haredi parties, nor require taking a stand from the perspective of the leaders of parties that claim to represent authentic Judaism.

A constitutional bill to define Torah study as a form of national service

Uri Regev 01/02/2018 21:28

Today's news sheds light on a new effort by the Haredi parties to permanently avoid requiring their adherents to equally shoulder the burden of national security.

Israeli couples are voting with their feet!

Uri Regev 30/01/2018 21:41

The Ministry of Religious Services has now reported a 4% drop in the number of couples marrying via the Rabbinate from 2016 to 2017. (The decline is really greater, because they ignore the increase in the Jewish population). In Tel Aviv the decline is greater than 15%!!