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Rabbi Haskel Lookstein's degrading experience

Uri Regev 30/06/2016 14:24

If we needed any further reminder that the issue of "Who is a Jew" hits directly home in North America, the recent news regarding the refusal of the Israeli Rabbinic courts to accept Rabbi Haskel Lookstein's conversions is the most recent case in point.

Separate but equal in Israel? Why should this be considered okay?

Uri Regev 16/06/2016 23:44

Serious questions should arise, regarding the ongoing challenge of equal rights and access for the non-Orthodox movements Israel, which continues to follow the path of this unconstitutional principle of "separate but equal."

Israel's ritual bath controversy

Uri Regev 16/06/2016 23:00

Unsurprisingly, though extremely disappointingly, MK Gafni's partners in the Coalition Government have all bowed to his demands, and are supporting his legislative initiative to undo the landmark Supreme Court ruling on mikva'ot.

Politics casts shadow over encouraging legal progress & public opinion

Uri Regev 26/05/2016 12:07

Hiddush derives encouragement from developments on the fronts of public opinion and the legal arena, but on the political scene, the news is more bleak than encouraging when it comes to issues of religious freedom & equality.

Dishonoring Holocaust Remembrance Day

Uri Regev 06/05/2016 12:49

Leading up to Yom HaShoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day, which Israeli and Diaspora Jewish communities are marking today, the ultra-Orthodox Yated Ne'eman newspaper chose to highlight their theological linking between the State of Israel and worldwide growing anti-Semitism.

Landmark conversions ruling is a victory for religious freedom in Israel

Uri Regev 10/04/2016 16:33

The Israeli Supreme Court’s recent landmark ruling on conversion represents another blow to the Israeli Chief Rabbinate’s monopoly on religious affairs; it strengthens a pluralistic approach to Judaism; and it upholds the principles of religious freedom and the rule of law.

Updates: the Kotel agreement & Supreme Court mikva'ot ruling

Uri Regev 21/03/2016 14:39

In the last week, there have been a number of developments in the ultra-Orthodox political and rabbinical leadership's battle against the implementation of the Kotel agreement, as well as their battle against the Supreme Court's ruling to make Israel's public mikva'ot available for non-Orthodox conversion ceremonies.

Israeli Left Must Internalize That ultra-Orthodox Parties Are Not Partners

Shahar Ilan 16/03/2016 12:40

How is it that the left-wing and center opposition factions hardly deal with issues of state and religion? Is the opposition again deluding itself that the ultra-Orthodox parties will reward it by forming a government with it?

Israel pushed towards theocracy

Uri Regev 15/03/2016 21:36

Minister Rabbi Litzman: "Netanyahu either loves the Reform Jews of the Diaspora, or the Haredim of Israel; it's either-or. There are no two ways about it... The Supreme Court is destroying everything good related to religion & state, and... the only way to stand against it is by passing legislation."

Will the Pew Israel Report Open our Eyes?

Uri Regev 10/03/2016 14:41

Rabbi Uri Regev presents his first impressions of the 2016 Pew report on Israel's Religiously Divided Society. His intimate familiarity with the subject matter and the population surveyed provide him a unique prism, which served him in assessing the report.