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Agunot – A Sharp Indictment of Israel’s Rabbinic Courts

31/03/2022 21:46

“This should have been the mission of the halakhic decisors: to make sure no woman finds herself for even one day or one night without a divorce!”

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Shaked won: The 'Jewish' has beaten the 'democratic'

Sagi Agmon 22/11/2018 21:24

It happened just this week. With little ado, the Supreme Court overturned a 25-year ruling and told the Rabbinical Courts that they could do whatever they please because the laws of the state no longer really apply to them.

Hiddush in the service of world Jewry

Uri Regev 16/11/2018 22:48

Every so often, Hiddush receives requests for assistance from outside of Israel. One recent appeal is particularly interesting and important, and we will continue to report on it again as it develops.

First woman ever appointed as legal advisor to rabbinical courts

07/08/2018 12:58

We at Hiddush are delighted by the appointment of Attorney Shira Ben-Eli as legal advisor to Israel's rabbinical courts.

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

High Court: Women may manage rabbinical courts

16/08/2017 14:41

The High Court justices ruled that a woman could be appointed head of the Rabbinical Courts.

Growing frictions between religion and state in Israel

06/04/2017 01:09

Israel's Supreme Court has handed down two decisions that demonstrate the critical importance of an independent civil judiciary, but the Government Coalition continues to capitulate to the ultra-Orthodox political parties.

Theocratic rejection of Israel's civil judiciary

20/03/2017 04:05

The theocratic forces among Israel's political and religious leadership have been increasingly aggressive of late, pushing to expand the jurisdiction of Israel's rabbinical courts, at the expanse of Israel's civil courts. A key element of this theocratic outlook is the rejection of the legitimacy of Israel’s laws and civil judiciary.

90% dissatisfied with rabbinical courts' dealings with Agunot

09/03/2017 15:28

90% of the adult Jewish public is dissatisfied with the Israeli Rabbinical Courts' way of dealing with Agunot and women whose husbands refuse to grant them divorces. 87% believe that the rabbinical courts should force husbands to grant their wives divorces in cases of domestic violence. Measuring which institutions the public trusts most, 59% of respondents trust the Supreme Court, but only 16% most trust the Rabbinate, 13% - the Knesset and 12% - the Government!

A shocking Rabbinic Court ruling regarding a battered wife

Uri Regev 10/02/2017 01:05

Hiddush has repeatedly challenged the continued monopoly of the Chief Rabbinate and rabbinic courts over matters of personal status of all Jews in Israel. Last week, we saw one of the most shocking and deplorable examples of why this authority should urgently be withdrawn.

Landmark Supreme Court cases emblematic of Israel's religion-state divide

Uri Regev 12/01/2017 22:31

This week has been very busy on the legal front of religious freedom & equality in Israel. In many ways, it has been symptomatic of the intensity and diversity of the many issues confronting Israel along the religion-state divide.

Hiddush's 2016 findings and data on marriage

25/12/2016 13:20

In the past year, Hiddush focused on the battle for marriage freedom in Israel as our leading cause, conducting a comprehensive series of surveys and studies that highlighted a clear trend: the Israeli Jewish public supports marriage freedom.

Supreme Court rules on illegal writs of refusal from rabbinical court

19/07/2016 14:47

The Supreme Court required the Attorney General's office to decide soon whether or not to file charges against the judges of the private, ultra-Orthodox rabbinical court who issued an excommunication notice to a Haredi resident Elad who are also suspected of blackmail, threatening private citizens, and obstruction of justice.

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.

64% unaware that legal divorce available only via Orthodox rabbinical courts

26/05/2016 12:44

Two-thirds of the Jewish Israeli population are unaware that Jewish couples can only get legally divorced through Israel's rabbinical courts, even if they were married in civil ceremonies abroad; 57% of the public underestimate the number of Israeli citizens from the former Soviet Union who cannot get legally married.

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.