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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.

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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.

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So, who owns Judaism?

Uri Regev 08/04/2021 01:36

MK Israel Eichler [United Torah Judaism] had this to say yesterday about the new Labor MK, Rabbi Gilad Kariv when the new MKs were sworn in and the new Knesset launched its anticipated stormy, possibly short lived, term. Kariv was, until recently, the Executive Director of the Israeli Reform Movement, and Eichler’s vitriol is not directed against him personally, but rather against all Judaism’s liberal streams:

The Fourth Elections are upon us

Uri Regev 19/03/2021 05:59

Next Tuesday, Israel will go to the polls for the 4th time in two years. All the many polls being conducted ahead of the elections indicate uncertainty as to their outcome.

What they said about the landmark Court ruling

Uri Regev 05/03/2021 01:06

The Supreme Court was kind to Israel in issuing its ruling this week on the matter of the eligibility under the Law of Return for Reform and Conservative Conversions performed in Israel. Opponents of recognizing non-Orthodox converts rushed to condemn the Court and criticize it for not waiting another few weeks or months, after having waited 15 years, until after the next Knesset elections. However, the truth is that the ruling is of great importance in helping the public decide whom to vote for and what direction it wants the State of Israel to grow. It wasn’t the the verdict itself, which is important, but rather the violent [verbal] reactions , not yet physical] that erupted from the very moment it was published and the political demarcations that divide the responding camps.

A glimpse through the eyes of the English media

Uri Regev 19/02/2021 01:42

There is not a day that the media in Israel does not deal with the meeting points Between the ultra-Orthodox and the secular, as well as between religion and politics in the context of the pandemic.

Legal Groups Protest Israel's Interior Minister

Uri Regev 21/01/2021 23:44

J-PLAN, the Jewish Pluralism Legal Action Network, a network of Jewish lawyers in North America, working in partnership with Hiddush – Freedom of Religion for Israel, and the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists [AAJLJ] sent a letter on January 18, 2021,to Israel’s Interior Minister, Attorney General, and other officials, to protest the Ministry of the Interior’s recent decision to suspend registration of civil marriages of Israeli citizens lawfully married under the laws of "Utah County in the State of Utah.

Update on COVID-19 and religion

Uri Regev 07/01/2021 20:00

There is almost no news broadcast on radio or television these days on the COVID-19 pandemic that does not mention the ultra-Orthodox issue.

This is not the democracy we aspire to

Uri Regev 07/01/2021 18:18

The thoughts of many of our readers, especially in the United States, are on yesterday's events in Washington, DC. It’s hard to believe that those events occurred, and they will make their mark on American society and politics for a long time to come.

Taking the battle into 2021

Uri Regev 24/12/2020 19:39

Your support for Hiddush’s work is especially important to enable us to maximize the exposure of the battle for freedom of religion and equality of civic burden and to emphasize their implications for the future of the state and the Jewish people.

Hiddush’s effective advocacy from an ultra-Orthodox perspective

Uri Regev 24/12/2020 17:20

On Dec. 13th, 2020, the following news appeared in an ultra-Orthodox news portal, describing their perspective on Hiddush’s success in overcoming decades of Orthodox control over military burials in Israel, which historically excluded secular and non-Orthodox alternatives for families of fallen soldiers:

Legal advocacy – not for sprint runners!

Uri Regev 10/12/2020 17:54

In the last two weeks, there have been some important developments in Hiddush’s legal arena, and they remind us that this legal battle is not intended for short distance runners. It takes a great deal of time and perseverance.

A Four-Way Circus – the Conversion Battle

Uri Regev 26/11/2020 22:55

By Monday, the State Attorney’s Office is required to update the Supreme Court as to where the government is with regard to the “Who is a Jew?” issue in the context of a number of pending cases that have been before the Supreme Court for many years.

The Israeli government's ploy to prevent marriages through consulates

Uri Regev 09/11/2020 23:27

Hiddush would certainly welcome the opening of another narrow window to marriage in the form of removing the barrier to recognizing consular marriages. However, the real solution is, of course, for Israel to join the rest of the world’s Western democracies, which all recognize the right of their citizens to marry as they wish.

Israel-Diaspora consultation by law?

Uri Regev 29/10/2020 00:39

In the last few days, several noble initiatives converged and have been shared widely both with world Jewry and the Knesset. They focus on formalizing a process of consultation between Israel and world Jewish leadership on issues that directly affect the diaspora.

Should ultra-Orthodox sector determine Israel's pandemic response?

Uri Regev 15/10/2020 11:00

In Israel, response to COVID-19 pandemic is largely dictated by the fragile political reality and the extraordinary weight of the ultra-Orthodox political parties.

Israeli health authorities are increasingly concerned

Uri Regev 02/10/2020 01:18

Israeli health authorities are increasingly concerned about the serious coronavirus outbreak among Hasidic groups, amid reports of widespread flouting of health regulations and plans for mass gatherings over the upcoming Sukkot holiday, following such prohibited gatherings over Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur.